St. Peters bell ringers and friends rang for 1 hour to celebrate St. George’s day and Shakespeare last Saturday morning.
Southampton, Hampshire
Winchester & Portsmouth Diocesan Guild
On Saturday, 23 April 2016 in 0h 58m
Christchurch, Dorset
Priory Church of Holy Trinity
Tenor: 27-0-0 in D
1344 Canterbury Pleasure Bob Triples
Composed by Jack R Pease (no. 28)
1 Luke Brooke
2 Polly Osborne
3 Marisa P G Bartlett
4 Sarah Newman
5 Rosemary Rogers
6 Richard Woodward
7 Jack R Pease (C)
8 Tim M Martin
First in the method for all. First blows for 2, 4, 6.
First on 8 for Luke.
100th quarter peal: 7
Rung on the back 8 to celebrate St George’s Day and
the 90th Birthday of HM Queen Elizabeth II.
Sparsholt tower is Ringing for St George’s day at 8.30am
We will be “Ringing for England” at Wickham on Saturday 23rd April from 2-3pm. Anyone wanting to come along would be very welcome. We could do with another inside ringer for PB and/or Grandsire.
If you rang for St. George’s day please let us know and we can add you to the reports below. (Scroll down for the email form)
We have received the following update from Libby Alexander of Ringing for England, which takes place on St. George’s Day Saturday April 23rd.
I am contacting you because I wonder if I could put to you a proposition. In the past I have suggested to all the Branches/Guilds that perhaps, since the act of ringing is special on April 23rd a tower within each City could be dedicated to being ‘open’ to the public for them to try their hand at ringing. I am always being told there are not enough ringers or they are worried about the future and I thought this was the perfect solution. In the past, whenever it has been done, the response has been excellent and local media have loved it. By having an open day on St. George’s day would unite the idea of being part of a national event, being part of a community activity, being a celebration of our special churches and, most important, being exposed to the skills of bell ringing. It would also make the public feel more at ease in approaching a church, which they might not otherwise do, if they felt others across the country were doing the same.
Your cities of Alton, Bournemouth, Southampton, Portsmouth and Winchester have several lovely churches and with everyone out and about on a Saturday it must surely be an excellent draw. The first one this year to come forward is in Somerset and the response from social media has been terrific even though it is only in a village. I feel sure being in a city would definitely be a positive move for your Guild. I would love to hear your views on this and look forward to hearing from you.
I have just heard that CCT and English Heritage have now been joined by The Landmark Trust who also want to be involved. My Best Regards, Libby
Libby Alexander
Ringing for England Campaign – April 23rd 2016
Telephone: 07799 23 04 23
Dear Secretaries and Ringing Masters,
May I first of all wish you all a very special and successful New Year. I thought I would bring you up to date with the progress for this year. There have been and are going to be several meetings with interested parties outside of the ringing circle. This is all bodes well for you for on hearing more of what you do they have been delighted and are keen to contribute in some way.
Many television and film celebrities have voiced their joy that this Campaign exists and the latest is Bill Bryson. Sadly he will be out of the country as he would have loved to have rung a bell or two somewhere and wishes every success to all who take part.
Then there is the challenge of the ‘Rolling Ring’. We already have North Bucks of ODG who were the first to sign up and they were followed by Taunton and now we have Preston with Middsx & London, Witney & Woodstock and Chelmsford as possibles. We would of course love more to come on board and just give it a go as it will be great fun and should earn you much rewarded support from your local area.
If you were able to use the RforE Facebook you would see all the up to date news and keep in touch that way. If not then I shall send out another update around the end of February if I think it would be of help. Good Luck with everything – Libby
Libby Alexander
Ringing for England Campaign – April 23rd 2016
www.ringingforengland.co.uk
Telephone: 07799 23 04 23
Dear Secretaries,
Each year I write to thank you for your wonderful and continuing support for ringing out on St. George’s Day and hope that you will manage to persuade even more of your ringers to join in . With 2016 being a Leap Year making 23rd April fall on a Saturday we are hoping that next year will bring even more towers into the event.
Getting ringing earlier this year as the main feature on the BBC One Show for St. George’s Day was a huge bonus. Whilst it may not have been executed in quite the most orthodox way it showed how the campaign is beginning to have an impact with the national media and a wider audience.
To encourage the spread of interest meetings have been held with the Hand Bell Ringers of Great Britain, with The Churches Conservation Trust, and with English Heritage. Other organisations have been approached to sound out their possible involvement with the campaign such as: The Scouts (who are very interested but have already organised their activity for 23rd April so will try them for 2017), the Guides, The Landmark Trust, The Duke of Edinburgh Award, Prince’s Trust, Women’s Institute and Town Criers and these too have expressed an interest in taking part in some way. My aim is not only to try and make ringing on St. George’s Day THE event of the day but also to create an event that will encourage new ringers to come forward and try their hand at the ropes, most especially the young.
Next year will see the start of a competition: ‘The Rolling Ring’ to get as many towers as possible within a designated area ie a Branch of a Guild, to ring out consecutively on the day. Two Branches have already committed and four possibles have voiced their interest. This will be great fun and a tremendous addition to the day. It will surely make the national media sit up and take note of such a brilliant way of not only celebrating the day but of acknowledging your skills.
Please do encourage as many towers as possible to take part for 2016 and get England ringing. May I wish you all a Most Happy Christmas and I look forward to being in touch in the New Year.
With My Very Best Wishes, Libby
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Libby Alexander
Ringing for England Campaign – |
