Welcome Guest
In Memory Of
The following members were remembered at our last business meeting on 4 January 2012:
Harold A May
of Petersfield, Hampshire, elected 2nd April 1945, died February 2010.
Harold Reynolds
of Eastbourne, Sussex, elected 9th October 1971.
Alan Ball
of Bexley, Kent, elected January 1940.
The following member was remembered at the business meeting on 1 October 2011:
Bessie Hacker
elected 29th September 1945, died August 2011.
We were very sad to hear of the passing of Dennis Beresford, of Devon, elected 21.1.15, died June 2011. An ex Master, Officer and Trustee of the Society, Dennis was responsible for transforming the Society when it was a low point in its history. His funeral was held on Monday 11th July at 2pm at the Church of St James the Less, Huish. The Society was well represented at the funeral and 8 past masters were present.
We remembered Dennis at our business meeting on 9 July 2011 in Skipton, along with other members whose deaths we have recorded:
Laurence V C Knowles
of Egham, elected 14.5.51, died April 2009
Monica Savage
of Loughborough, elected 17.1.70. died Feb/Mar 2011
Jack King
of Winchester, elected 4.12.50, died December 2010
Renée Armstrong
of Essex elected 21.1.56, died June 2011
Violet Castle
of Hurst, elected 21.4.51, died December 2000
Bernard Castle
of Wokingham, elected 21.4.51
The following member was remembered at the business meeting on 12 March 2011:
Geoffrey Dodds
of St Albans, Hertfordshire, elected 19th October 1946.
The following members were remembered at the business meeting on 5 January 2011:
Olive Barnett
of Mere, Wiltshire, elected 21th February, 1947.
Eileen Sweet
of Harbourne, Birmingham, elected 9th April 1983.
The following members were remembered at the business meeting on 2 October 2010:
Frank Arnold
of Norwich in Norfolk, elected 10th October, 1970.
Joan Ward
of Greater Manchester, elected 12th September, 1956.
Elizabeth Wycherley
of Southend on Sea in Essex, elected 15th January, 1972 (Assistant Secretary 1977-1978).
The following members were remembered at the business meeting on 10 July, 2010:
Ken Newman
of Kimpton, elected 20th January 1962 (Junior Steward 1964-1965, Senior Steward 1965-1967, CCCBR 1966-1969).
The following members were remembered at the business meeting on 13 March, 2010:
Betty Murtagh
of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, elected 4th October 1986.
Beryl Paton
of Dorchester in Dorset, elected 20th January 1973.
Malcolm Tyler
of Weston Flavell in Northhamptonshire, elected 8th July 1972.
The following member was remembered at the business meeting on 6 Janary, 2010:
Jean Sanderson
of Cambridge in Cambridgeshire, elected 3rd October 1979.
Robert Stokes
of Minnesota in the USA, elected 10th July 1999.
Phil Tocock
of Dorcester in Dorset, elected 2nd May 1938.
The following member was remembered at the business meeting on 3 October, 2009:
Kevin Betesta
elected 2nd April 1966.
Carol Hardwick
of Frome in Somerset, elected 8th January 1992.
The following member was remembered at the business meeting on 11 July, 2009:
Caroline Harris
of Horning in Norfolk, elected 11th July 1998.
The following member was remembered at our last business meeting on 6 May, 2009:
Patricia Medley
of Chelsea in London, elected 1st April 1992.
The following members were remembered at the business meeting on 14 March, 2009:
Patrick Harrisson
of Staplehurst in Kent, elected 3rd April 1971.
Monica Martin
of Bendigo, Victoria in Australia, elected 17th January 1953.
Robin Turner
of Melbourne, Victoria in Australia elected 18th September 1954.
The following members were remembered at the business meeting on 21 January, 2009:
Harry Brown
of Burgess Hill, West Sussex elected in 1949.
Brian Porter
of Hassocks, West Sussex elected 22nd January 1976.
Andrea Purchase
of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.
David Reed
of Dorchester, Dorset elected 22nd January 1956.
Ernest Willcox
of Shrewsbury, Shropshire elected 15th May 1954.
The following members were remembered at the business meeting on 4 October, 2008:
Jean Darmon
of Amersham, Buckingham elected in 1960.
Jocelyn Gardiner
of Great Yarmouth, Norwich elected 12th October 1946.
John Rance
of Crowthorne, Berkshire elected 22nd January 1938.
Peter Romney
of Tonbridge, Kent elected 15th May 1955.
The following member was remembered at the business meeting on 12 July, 2008:
Brian Jeffery
of Edenbridge, Kent elected 7th December 1957.
The following membere were remembered at the business meeting on 7 May, 2008:
Audrey Short
of Taunton, Somerset elected 27th September 1947.
Shirley Rymer
of Calne, Wiltshire elected 19th March, 1953.
Jessie Kippin
of Billericay, Essex elected 27th September 1947.
Sampson Walklate
Chaddesden, Derby elected 30th May 1957.
The following member was remembered at the business meeting on 8 March, 2008:
Shirley Drew
of Norwich, Norfolk elected 23rd January 1960.
The following member was remembered at the business meeting on 9 January, 2008:
Dennis Hall
of Solihull, Warwickshire elected 4th September 1943.
The following members were remembered at the business meeting on 6 October, 2007:
James Mossop
of Egremont, Cumbria elected 22nd April 1956.
Richard Hedges
of Gillingham, Dorset elected 26th April 1980.
Nancy Bramley
of Wimborne elected 4th January 1989.
Roy Harris
of Reading elected 12th April 1987.
Marion Perryman
of Orwell elected 10th July 1999.
Joan Summerhayes
of Worcester elected 19th March 1953. Senior Steward 1969-1971, 1977-1978. Assistant Secretary 1974-1977.
The following members were remembered at the business meeting on 14 July, 2007:
Patricia Doorn
Revd. Prebendary J. G. M. Scott
F William Midwinter
Bill was elected a Member of the Society on 18th September 1954 and was one of the regular attendees in the late 50's early 60's at the Society Annual Dinners along with such stalwarts as the late Jack Millhouse, Jim Raithby, Arthur Chilton, Harold Stevenson etc.
Bill was a Founder Member of the Southwell Guild and Chairman from 1963 to 1979 having deptised for the late Canon R.F. wilkinson for many years before that. It was in his capacity as Chairman that in May 1967 he welcomed the Central Council to its only Meeting held in Nottingham. He was for many years either Master or Tower Secretary at Newark Parish Church and it was in this capacity that he was every ready to welcome visiting ringers with a welcoming smile.
Ill health prevent Bill from ringing in recent years but in 2006 he wrote a book entitled "Once Upon A Time In Nottinghamshire" - Reminiscences of a 90 year old former Amateur Actor and Retired Church Bell Ringer, in which he details much of his life both on the stage and his love of bells and bell ringing. Among the many photographs in the book is one of the ringers taken at a reception in the Sheriff's Office following a peal at St. Peter's Church, Nottingham complimenting Councillor C.W. Judge, Bill's uncle, on being elected Sheriff of Nottingham on 18th May 1970.
Bill was a tall and kindly man and perhaps a measure of his popularity was that he rung not only some 368 peals and in over 900 churches but that his only means of transport throughout his whole life was a bicycle and he was never known to ask for a lift, he just materialised.
Perhaps Bill is best summed up in a comment from Mark Lewis on learning of Bill's death - "I shall always remember the gentle giant who introduced me to bell ringing (and illicit pints at the Ferry on Friday evenings)".
The following members were remembered at the business meeting on 2 May, 2007:
Ann Bethell
Ann Bethell died suddenly at the age of 57 on Easter Monday. Ann was from Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire and was elected a member to the Society on 14 July, 1973. She was the Assistant Secretary from 1978 until 1981 and rang 42 peals for the Society. We saw her most recently at our recent country meeting at Northfield, where she also rang her last peal. Ann was looking forward to joining members on the current trip to Australia, but unfortunately that was not to be. She was remembered at our May meeting with much affection and sadness.
Alfred House
Alf House was our longest serving member when he died at the age of 94 on the 10th of April, having been elected on 19 January, 1935. Alf was from Chard, Somerset, having learned to ring in Cheshunt, Herts. His 10th peal was a long length (15144) of Plain Bob Major at Bennington in 1933 - then the longest length of Major ever rung; his first Society peal, 4 spliced major at Erith, in 1935, was the first of such for the Society and his last peal was also 4 Spliced at Cattistock, again for the Society, on the 60th anniversary of the Erith peal. He rang around 740 peals, 41 of which were for the Society and 24 of which were with the legendary Bill Pye. Apart from ringing many peals of Steman Cinques at St Martin in the Fields, he rang over 200 on the 7th at Willesden where many new methods were rung and named. It was good to see Alf at our 250th dinner and more recently at the Exmouth country meeting last year where he renewed many old friendships and many of us were privileged to meet him for the first time. The loss of a real gentleman of ringing.
John F Jennings
John was a quiet man who took his ringing seriously. John spent many years in Woodbridge and was a mainstay of the band there. In later life he and Barbara moved to Wickham Market and supported ringing both there and at Pettistree. Always modest about his own abilities, he was a reliable ringer but not a prolific peal-ringer. Parkinson’s Disease brought an early end to his ringing career and my last memory of him was meeting him at one of the by now renowned Veteran's Afternoons at Debenham where he was among many of his old friends.