Category: Monthly Reports

The Staplehurst Bellringers hope you all had an enjoyable Christmas and wish you all the best for the New Year.

As usual, the Christmas period was a busy time for our ringers. On Saturday 13^th December some of our ringers joined those from other churches in the area for a special Bellringers’ Carol Service at Addington, followed by mince pies and mulled wine. However, due to the non-availability of several of our ringers in the weeks preceding Christmas it was decided to postpone our “Christmas” Dinner until the New Year. In addition to the normal Sunday Services we also rang for the Christingle Service on Christmas Eve and on Christmas Morning. By the time you read this, we will also have enjoyed our traditional New Year’s Party and will have “rung in” 2015.

We are always looking to recruit new ringers to ensure that our bells continue to be rung for many years to come. As you will see above there is a good social side to bellringing. We nearly always adjourn to The King’s Head for liquid refreshment after practice, and once a year we have a day’s outing ringing at churches in other parts of the country. Why not make it one of your New Year resolutions to come and visit us at our Tuesday practice and see what it’s all about?   For more information contact our Tower Captain Daniel Brady on 01580 891840. In case anyone is wondering, I must stress that there is absolutely no requirement for ringers to attend the church services that they ring for (although if they wished to, they would be most welcome).

During January we will be ringing on our normal Tuesday practice evening and for the regular Sunday Services. At present we have no visiting bands coming to ring on our bells in the early part of 2015, but that may well change as we move towards Spring.

It is with deep regret that I have to begin this month’s report with the sad news that Derek Wood, one of our former ringers, passed away suddenly on the night of Wednesday 22nd/Thursday 23rd October. Derek had been a loyal and regular member of the Staplehurst band for 36 years until shoulder/back problems prevented him from ringing a few years ago.  We were glad that he continued to join us in the King’s Head every Tuesday after practice and many of us had enjoyed his company just two days before his death. A quarter-peal was rung to his memory on Sunday 2^nd November and we were honoured to ring for his memorial service on Friday 14^th November.

We also rang for the Thanksgiving Service for the life of Brian Thompson on the afternoon of 4^th November.

The Staplehurst Bellringers held their AGM on the evening of 4^th November with Patrick, our Churchwarden, in the Chair. Sue Bassett, who had been Tower Captain for almost 10 years, had decided not to stand for re-election and we are grateful for all she has done in that time. This triggered several changes in Tower Officers, with Daniel Brady being elected as the new Tower Captain and Sue Gullett and Richard Barclay as Assistant Tower Captains. We are grateful also to previous Assistant Tower Captain Ann Fulcher who has also stood down this year. Chris Bassett was re-elected as Steeplekeeper, Roy Barclay as Secretary and Sallyann Barclay as Treasurer. We were pleased that Patrick was able to join us for refreshments in the King’s Head afterwards.

On Saturday 8^th November we entered two bands in the Maidstone District Striking Contests at Otham, one in the method competition and the other in the called changes competition. We won both these competitions last year and we are pleased to say that we won both again this year. The winners’ shields are proudly hanging in the ringing room once again.

Looking to the future, as well as the regular Sunday Services we will be ringing for some of the extra services over Christmas and, of course, our normal Tuesday practices. We will, as usual, be ringing in the New Year.

Finally the Staplehurst Bellringers would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.

As many of our readers will know, we are lucky to have several up and coming young ringers in our band and on Sunday 14^th September one of them, 13-year-old Roddy Lucas, rang his first quarter-peal.  Although Roddy has been ringing for several years this was his first attempt at a quarter-peal, which involves 45 minutes’ continuous ringing, and our congratulations go to him for his achievement.  By chance the quarter was also Roy Barclay’s 200th on the bells.

We also rang a quarter-peal on Sunday 12^th October, this time in celebration for the life of Janet Mackay whose husband Iain was a member of our band until his health prevented him from ringing some years ago.

On Saturday, 11^th October we hosted the Annual Meeting of the Maidstone District of the Kent County Association of Change Ringers.  Other ringers from churches around the Maidstone area joined us for ringing, and for Evensong kindly led by Silke. This was followed by tea and then the business meeting at which the District Officers for the forthcoming year (including several from our own tower) were elected.

By the time you read this, our ringers will have taken part in All Saints’ Birthday Celebrations on Saturday 1^st November where the tower was open for visitors to see the bells and learn a little about their history and about bellringing in general.

As to the future, on Tuesday 4^th November we will be holding our Tower AGM at which we will be electing our own tower officers for the coming year, so ringing will be somewhat curtailed that evening.  Then on Saturday 15^th November we will be welcoming visitors from the Tonbridge District who will be ringing our bells from 7 – 9pm. This apart, we will be ringing on our normal Tuesday practice evening and for the regular Sunday services during November.

As autumn approaches things are getting back into full swing in the tower with our ringers now home after their holidays. Although, as mentioned last month, August was a quiet month, we did have some visitors from the Whiting Society. You wouldn’t have heard the bells being rung though as the clappers were tied and the sound transmitted to the ringing room by means of a simulator. This is an ideal way of enabling ringers to have extended practice without disturbing our neighbours. Our simulator was the creation of steeplekeeper, Chris Bassett, – maybe we could persuade him to write an article about it at some stage.

At the beginning of September two of our ringers attended the Ringing Roadshow at Newbury Racecourse in Berkshire. The Roadshow is a mixture of ringing activities, seminars, trade and organisation stands from the world of ringing, and of course the obligatory real ale bar (which your scribe was unable to do justice to as he was driving!).

Looking ahead, our ringers will be participating in All Saints’ Birthday Celebrations on Saturday 1st November when the Tower will be open from 2.00 – 4.00pm for visitors to see the bells and learn a little about their history and about bellringing in general. Before that however we are hosting the Annual Meeting of the Maidstone District on Saturday 11th October. There will be ringing from 3.00pm until 4.30pm, when there will be a Service at which anyone is welcome to join us. This will be followed by tea in the church and possibly further ringing afterwards. This apart, we will be ringing on our normal Tuesday practice evening and for the regular Sunday services during October.