I would like to take the opportunity to introduce myself to those of you who don’t know me, as well as to reach out to those of you whom I either know, or our paths have crossed as ‘nodding acquaintances’ from time to time at Guild events.
I have been a member of the Guild for around 25 years, as member of St Michael’s church in Basingstoke where I have in the recent past held various positions including Tower Captain for 5 years, Steeple Keeper and Treasurer.
For me, the pleasure of ringing is not only self satisfaction, but also to help others to develop their skills in the tower. Within my own tower this may include bespoke practices to benefit learners specific requirements, quarter peals to give them the opportunity to both learn a method well and to enjoy the reward of achievement, and generally supporting all of the ringers in their goals and ambitions.
I am now seeking to spread my wings a little in support of the Guild and would like to offer my services as Vice Master at the upcoming elections. Personally, I look forward to learning a little more about the Guild, meeting and supporting its membership and working with the executive committee and sub committees to carry on the excellent work of the outgoing team.
David Mattingley will be reporting, from the Central Council Conference 2016, to our A.G.M. tomorrow.
Meanwhile, you may be interested in these few snippets from a Ringing World editorial:
“The Winchester and Portsmouth Guild did a fine job of hosting the meeting”
“Election of new blood to many of the committees”
“An Action Group is now being set up to undertake a detailed review of the Council’s rules and activities with a view to making recommendations for modernisation at the 2017 meeting”
“The mood of the weekend was definitely one of reform and modernisation”
So, a good time to come forward to serve as a Guild C.C. Rep. maybe?? Help to shape the future of The Central Council and ringing?
Hope to see you at New Alresford on tomorrow!
Here are some more photos from the CC 2016 weekend’s events. Unless otherwise stated these were taken by Alan Bentley, one of our stewards for the weekend, who has kindly said we may use them.
Here is the audience listening intently to the CC meeting.
And here are the CC officers on their top table.
At the open meeting on the Sunday, a panellist of well known ringers discussed questions from the floor. Left to right – Chris Mew, Tina Stoecklin, Andrew Wilby, Elva Ainsworth (chair), Michael Foulds, Pip Penney, Nigel Orchard.
This year the CC leapt into the 21st century and broadcast its meetings to anyone who wanted to tune in via the internet. After a few teething troubles it all worked quite well.
Here is the CC IT man, Dave Richards, keeping an eye on the technical stuff.
A number of people from the W&P (and beyond) very kindly offered to help out and be stewards at the meetings, counting votes and running round with microphones. They were very conspicuous as we made them wear bright yellow tee shirts. These were a surprisingly sought after item, and a few surplus ones were purchased by souvenir hunters. Here are some of the stewards.
We also had several volunteers who spent time on the Help Desk answering a range of queries from CC reps and other hotel visitors. While the meetings were going on, and the Help desk was quiet, they took a few moments to update their Facebook statuses. (photo Peter Hill)
Over the weekend of 27-30 May, 200+ Central Council members, family and friends came to Portsmouth to enjoy a packed programme of events.
The HQ hotel was the Royal Beach Hotel on Southsea seafront. Many of the visitors stayed there, and the lucky ones got a seaview. The weather was sunny and warm all weekend- a real added bonus.
Saturday saw the members out visiting towers from Netley to Havant, and from Privett to Portsmouth. Some souls ventured further afield and visited Shanklin, Swanmore and Ryde on the Isle of Wight.
W & P members manned a help desk in the hotel for the weekend, answering questions on a wide range of topics. We had bright yellow t-shirts so we were easy for the visitors to spot us!
After the ringing on the Saturday there was a curry and real ale supper in the hotel. We bought in real ale from three local breweries after much debate about how much ringers would drink. We worried needlessly about having some left over – the 340 pints were all gone by the Monday………
The real ale ready to go
W&P members enjoying their curry
Sunday morning saw members disappearing off to ring at various local towers, while others set up their various stands and displays. The real business started on Sunday afternoon with 120 members and visitors attending an Open Meeting. A panel of six well known ringers fielded various questions on the future of ringing and the Ringing world amongst other topics.
After that, a quick dash to the Cathedral, where two courses of Stedman Cinques preceded a rousing Evensong, with lots of good ringing hymns and a thoughtful sermon preached by Canon Jo Spreadbury. Then back to the hotel to change for the Formal Dinner, where we were pleased to be joined by the Bishop of Portsmouth and his wife, and the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Portsmouth.
On Monday the main meeting of the weekend was held – the AGM of the CCCBR and also the AGM of the Ringing World. This took all day and many substantial motions were debated. Many members then left for their homes, while others stayed on for a few more days to enjoy some sightseeing.
Here are some more photos from the CC 2016 weekend’s events. Unless otherwise stated these were taken by Alan Bentley, one of our stewards for the weekend, who has kindly said we may use them.
Here is the audience listening intently to the CC meeting.
And here are the CC officers on their top table.
At the open meeting on the Sunday, a panellist of well known ringers discussed questions from the floor. Left to right – Chris Mew, Tina Stoecklin, Andrew Wilby, Elva Ainsworth (chair), Michael Foulds, Pip Penney, Nigel Orchard.
This year the CC leapt into the 21st century and broadcast its meetings to anyone who wanted to tune in via the internet. After a few teething troubles it all worked quite well.
Here is the CC IT man, Dave Richards, keeping an eye on the technical stuff.
A number of people from the W&P (and beyond) very kindly offered to help out and be stewards at the meetings, counting votes and running round with microphones. They were very conspicuous as we made them wear bright yellow tee shirts. These were a surprisingly sought after item, and a few surplus ones were purchased by souvenir hunters. Here are some of the stewards.
We also had several volunteers who spent time on the Help Desk answering a range of queries from CC reps and other hotel visitors. While the meetings were going on, and the Help desk was quiet, they took a few moments to update their Facebook statuses. (photo Peter Hill)
Excitingly several local radio stations have interviews going out over this weekend.
Premier Christian Radio‘s live broadcast featuring Central Council’s PRO Kate Flavell will go out at 7:50am on Friday 27th. 1305-1332 MW
BBC Radio Solent’s Tim Daykin will be interviewing David Mattingley on Sunday 29th from 7:45-8:00. 96.1 FM
Isle of Wight Radio will broadcast their interview with Guild Master Viv Nobbs and John Stock the Tower Captain of Ryde sometime on Friday afternoon. 102 & 107 FM
The W&P are looking forward to welcoming the many Council members who have bought tickets to the Informal Social Evening at the Royal Beach Hotel on Saturday.
The evening starts at 7 p.m. and there will be a licensed bar featuring three local real ales. The curry supper will be served at 8 p.m.
Anyone who has not bought a meal ticket, whether or not a Council member, is very welcome to join us from 9 p.m. to enjoy a drink and catch up with old friends.
Not intentionally but this is the second blog which has slipped to bi-monthly, just too much going on.
Following an Administrative Committee meeting on 19th March it was a welcome break to go on holiday to Italy and Switzerland. I had the privilege in Verona of being met by the president of the Veronese Association and on Easter Sunday went round with the very hospitable Verona ringers, visiting no less than 7 towers in 2 hours – makes us look slackers.
The first key activity in April was the memorial service for Sir Arthur Heywood, first President of the Central Council, held at Denstone and the two-day “Heywood Weekend” ably organised locally by the Derby Diocesan Association. A full history of Sir Arthur Heywood appeared in the RW issue of 22nd April and this has been followed by a report in issue of 13th May. I think it is appropriate to pass on thanks of the Heywood family to all the ringing fraternity for recognising and celebrating their great grandfather.
The next week started by joining the Founders Company in their Court Lunch and the following day an interview and filming with the Wall Street Journal. The latter has now published a bell ringing related article and video including ringing at St Paul’s Cathedral and interviews with Martin Cansdale and Elva Ainsworth.
The next duty was to attend a Heritage Open Day conference in Birmingham, an earlier one in London having been attended by our PRO Kate Flavell. As many towers as possible are being encouraged to commit and register to ring in September and a flyer outlining the event is available on the CC website. Do join in and get publicity for your tower and ringing, Who knows what recruits you might pick up.
I happened to be ringing in Leicester on the fateful day when the local team were presented with the Premier League Trophy.
Needless to say the City was like a giant carnival and it was pleasing (and amusing) that as we waved from the Cathedral stairs gallery passers- by saluted, presumably in the belief that we were ringing for their team. Just goes to prove that people do notice and appreciate the ringing of bells.
The next Saturday I had the privilege of attending the Salisbury Guild AGM in Devizes and it was great to see not only good attendance but evidence of a lot of hard work in maintaining and developing local ringing. It was good to be presenting certificates including the “Most Improved Junior Ringer” award to Lewis Hurry, aged 13. Congratulations too to the Guild on winning the Tewkesbury Shield the previous weekend.
I will sign off now with the Council Meeting in Portsmouth looming in less than two weeks, if you are coming along do stop me and say hello.
Chris Mew May 2016
Ryde has been ringing for 130 years this year so we thought it time to do a history lesson and we’re hoping to include the records of Island ringer William Rayner, who died in 1823. These records haven’t seen the light of day for nearly 100 years and they do make interesting reading, so worth a visit to view this.
If the attached poster could be printed off and displayed for people to see during and on the run up to the weekend on the mainland I would be very grateful, as it may be an extra incentive to come over to the Island to have a ring at Ryde and Shanklin and view the exhibition.
Contact John Stock-Facebook: Yes Telephone: 01983 719502 Email: Use Form
“Question Time” for bellringers comes to Portsmouth as part of the CC2016 events on Sunday 29 May at 130pm to 3pm in the Royal Beach Hotel, Southsea. Open to all ringers – this is your chance to challenge leading ringers on current hot topics.
Why not come along (or join in online) and put your questions about the Ringing World future to Nigel Orchard, or let Pip Penney from the ART know your views about ITTS? The panel also includes Chris Mew, Andrew Wilby, Tina Stoecklin and Michael Foulds, and the session will be ably compered by Elva Ainsworth.
This event is FREE – to book a place, and to submit your question in advance, Click for details here. Places are limited so book now!
As part of the CC2016 weekend’s events there will be a special Songs of Praise Service at Portsmouth Cathedral. Everyone is invited to come along at 4pm on Sunday 29 May and join in the service. Central Council members will be ringing the Cathedral bells beforehand so you will hear some amazing ringing!
This Month’s edition of Pompey Chimes (which is handed out in all the churches in the Portsmouth Diocese, and reaches about 8000 readers) is running a centre spread which includes 3 articles on bell ringing, covering news from Ryde and Brighstone (Isle of Wight) and Wickham (Winchester District), as well as the forcoming visit to Portsmouth of delegates from the Central Council of Church Bellringers, for their Annual General Meeting.
Click image to see a more readable, pdf, version of this!
The brochure for the event is a lengthy document – the contents summary is below:
The Winchester & Portsmouth Diocesan Guild of Church Bell
Ringers
4
Welcome from the Bishops of Winchester and Portsmouth 6
Welcome from the Master of the Winchester & Portsmouth
Diocesan Guild 7
Hotel Accommodation 8
Friday Ringing 9
Saturday Ringing Tours 11-15
Map of Portsmouth 12-13
Saturday Informal Social Evening 17
Sunday Service Ringing 19
Sunday Afternoon Open Meeting 19
Sunday Afternoon Songs of Praise 19
Sunday Evening Reception & Dinner Menu 20
Monday Business Meetings 21
Help Desk 22
Car Parking & Travel 22
Do you appreciate their work?Do you dislike their work?Or have you never heard of it?
Whatever your views are about the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers, Our W&P Guild has the honour of hosting its AGM in Portsmouth over the weekend of27th-30th May 2016.
Each year a Guild is chosen to receive members of the CC and this year they will be coming to Hampshire from across the world to enjoy a packed weekend of activities and meetings. Have a look at the details at the event page wpbells.org/cc2016/ – and if you fall in the “never heard of it” category, take a look atwpbells.org/cccbr-central-council to see what they do and who our representatives on the Council are!
A small group of people have been working very hard getting everything in place for CC2016 and now we are looking to our great Guild for volunteers to do their bit and help out with the events over the weekend.
In particular we need people to:
Act as stewards for the meetings – there is an open meeting on Sunday 29 May 1-3pm, and the main meeting 9am-1pm and 1-5pm on Monday 30 May. For these we need people to take roving microphones round to speakers, and also on the Monday to act as tellers in any elections/votes, and to help officers etc out where needed.
Go round some of the towers on the Saturday tours – making sure we are met, that ringing only takes place in the allotted times, collecting money/checking day tickets, controlling the crowds and possibly ringing to make up numbers. The towers have been split into six “helper” routes so it shouldn’t be too rushed. If we get enough helpers, it would be nice to have three or four at each tower to make sure people arriving on their own get a ring.
Be on the Help Desk in the HQ Hotel at various times to welcome people and answer visitors’ queries.
As you can see there is nothing complicated, we just need as many people as possible from our Guild helping and showing the world how supportive and lovely our ringers are.
If you can help in any way, or want to know a bit more please email cc2016@wp-ringers.org.uk or give Christine a ring on 01794 518068.
Plans are coming on, we’re going to print with the brochure by the end of the year.
Please put the date in your diary and your District Diary now because HELP will be needed from Stewards, and help manning the open towers and the Help Desk for the weekend, greet our guests, etc.
This article introducing Christine appeared in the Guild Newsletter
I was born in Suffolk and learnt to ring at Bramford in Suffolk, at the age of 11. My parents had both learnt to ring there as part of the post WW2 band and they encouraged me and my sister to learn. Bramford is a six bell tower andI rang mainly on six bells, including a few peals, until going to Cambridge University when I was 18. There was a strong CUG band at that time and I made the most of the opportunities.
When I left I had a decent degree, and had rung lots of peals including surprise major, royal and maximus, and also a few as conductor. I was vice master, and subse- quently master of the CUG, and also joined the Cumber- lands during that time.
Not really knowing what I wanted to do after university, I found a job in Trading Standards with Hampshire County Council and moved down to Portsmouth in 1982. Peter moved to join me when we married and thirty years later we’re still here in Hampshire, and have two daughters who have both turned out to be pretty handy ringers.
I’ve found plenty of ringing opportunities in Hampshire
and have been a member of bands at Portsmouth Cathedral, Hambledon and Southampton City Centre at various times – nowadays we ring at Hursley. We’ve enjoyed Sunday service ringing over the years, also peals, quarters, outings and striking competitions, and are proud to have been part of the Liss Campanile Youth and Hursley bands which have taken part in the National 12 bell contest.
I’ve always believed in supporting the W&P and have held office in all three of the Districts we have lived in. However, apart from a brief stint on the striking competition committee in the 1980’s I’ve never got involved with the W&P
At a Guild level, I’m looking forward to my time as vice master, supporting Viv as Master, and learning more about how the Guild operates. I’m still an enthusiastic ringer and believe ringing should be enjoyed, and people given the chances to learn and try new things, and I very much hope that I will be an asset to the management team over the next three years.
Winchester and Portsmouth Diocesan Guild of Church Bell Ringers
