Ringing World 5267 (6 April 2012)
Front Cover: Harold Walter Rogers
A life full of strength, success, enthusiasm and happiness – these were the words used by Michael Uphill to sum up Harold’s long life in his tribute at the Service of Thanksgiving held at All Saints’, Isleworth, on Thursday 15th March.
In recent years Harold was perhaps best known among ringers for his remarkable enthusiasm for peal ringing well after his 90th birthday. This brought him much happiness and the success of most of his peal attempts was largely due to excellent organisation by David Dearnley, whose first peal Harold had called many years before. By this time he was not as physically strong as previously, when he was usually to be found round the back end often turning in tenors, but he remained mentally as strong as ever. Indeed, even after a year of poor health and several stays in hospital, he never gave up hope of fulfilling his aim of ringing 100 peals after the age of 90. He actually managed 85, far more than anyone else. It was this positive outlook on life that characterised everything that he undertook and kept him going after Olive’s death in 2004.
Learning the Ropes – A progressive scheme by Peter Dale
The Ringing Foundation recognised the fact that much of the teaching going on around the country was random and one of its original briefs was “to create a structured teaching and learning process” and provide “curriculum for instruction and learning change ringing”. Learning the Ropes addresses this brief.
A structured progressive teaching and learning process enables a higher percentage of students to achieve success at higher levels. For example, although some musicians are self-taught, most people learning an instrument take lessons from a teacher who takes them through a series of progressive grades to build their skills. The same principles apply to ballet and other forms of dance also to karate and other martial arts.
Another Great ITTS Training Day at Kineton…
Saturday, 17th March saw an ITTS follow up day for Teachers and Mentors at The Harry Windsor Ringing Centre, Kineton. Thirteen ITTS trained teachers, three mentors and two tutors with lots of learners gathered together for a revision session. This allowed ‘observed’ lessons to take place, and the new teachers to develop and revise their skills to progress towards accreditation as a teacher.
No.9 at Inverness – please help!
Which is the most northerly tower in the World with bells hung for change ringing? –Yes, Inverness has that honour – if you have rung here you may know that the Cathedral’s 9th bell has been badly out of tune for a long time and cannot be corrected.
Letters
Harold Rogers - Gavin E. Price
Holy Week - Angela Newing
Wellington’s problem - Peter Perry
Imperial Oatlands bells - John Burnett
Peal correction - Barney Bell
An archivist’s nightmare! - Derrick McRobert
Peal statistics - John Pusey
Platt’s Crown Bob - J. David Adams
Bellringers and Clergy - Mavis A. Whitehead
Great Malvern’s Good News - John Clements & Trevor Still
In praise of the ITTS scheme - Lucy Gwynne
Be positive - Frank Seabright
Communication quest - Graham Nabb
Peal to mark the 200th Anniversary of the opening peal at Writtle
by Andrew Brewster, Tower Captain, All Saints Writtle
No-one knows when the tower at All Saints Writtle was built but it was described by Essex historians in the eighteenth century as a “lofty tower of stone, with battlements: in it a ring of eight bells”. Another writer in 1769 said “the church consists of a body, two noble ayles, a lofty tower of stone, having a lanthorn on top and in the tower eight bells”. During the latter part of the eighteenth century the tower evidently fell into considerable disrepair and by 1800 was beginning to cause some anxiety as to its safety. The anxiety was only too completely justified, for in April of that year the tower collapsed entirely.
Thought for the week
Churches, usually, are wonderful buildings which tell of God’s love for the world. The sound of the bells is a reminder of His love for all who hear them.
Central Council 2012 hosted by the Chester Diocesan Guild
Three and a half years ago a group of volunteers in the Chester Diocesan Guild started to meet to organise the 115th meeting of the CCCBR.
Some of us visited Council Meetings at Worcester, Derby and Hereford, others researched venues, booked towers, wrote, edited and printed booklets, created a website, and sought volunteers. Now, countless man-hours later, we believe we have the basis of an excellent weekend with a variety of activities planned for ringers and non-ringers.
Closure of second Bacup church
We are sorry to learn that Christchurch Bacup, Lancashire which has a ring of eight bells (10-2-7 in Ab: back six C & G Mears 1854; trebles Whitechapel 1923) will close, after a two year fight by campaigners to save it failed. A panel of church commissioners including the Bishop of Chester, the Rt Revd Peter Forster and the Bishop of Oxford, the Rt Revd John Pritchard is reported to have spent nearly eight hours deliberating whether the closure should go ahead.
