If you have rung at St Martin's Dorking, recently you will know what a handful the bells are. The Dorking ringers with the support of the PCC have placed a deposit with Taylors of Loughborough for the removal of the existing bells and the installation of a 10-bell frame and a peal of 10 bells, tenor 18cwt. They have applied for and been granted funds from the Central Council Millennium Fund, the Guild BRF and the Surrey Association Bell Fund. They are hopeful that the work will be carried out in the summer of 1997, so be prepared for the dreaded phone call `Can you help at Dorking on.....?'
All Saints, Crondall, have found rot in the bell frame and have applied for a grant from the BRF towards the cost of repair. The Executive Committee have approved a grant of £750. St Nicholas, Alfold, which has three bells that are unringable, has approached the Guild for help and guidance in restoring the existing bells and possible augmentation. Mr Colin Jobson and myself carried out an inspection of the installation and based on this have produced a guideline budget. We await developments.
The PCC at St Andrew's, Farnham, have accepted that a new bell frame is needed and are to include this in the major restoration work to be carried out on the Church.
Thanks to the generosity of a ringer's husband at Ranmore, the Guild now has a large stock of ash for stays. Two trees from their front garden were felled and are now seasoning ready for use in a couple of years. I still have a stock of ash so if you break a stay get a new one from me at £10 a time. I also have a stock of pre-stretched polyester rope for sale. The more you buy the bigger the BRF balance will grow.
The annual appeal letter for donations for the BRF is going out shortly to PCCs. Please encourage your PCC to give generously so that the bank balance of the BRF is increased.
Finally, the new BRF leaflet is enclosed with this issue. Please use your copies in the tower, give them away or leave them in the church - whatever gives the BRF the most publicity.
Dudley Elsmore Guild BRF Administrator
These pluses we feel amply justify the necessary increase of a pound or two on the ticket price. We hope you agree and look forward to seeing you.
In answer to the most frequent complaint about the Cathedral Refectory, there will be a quiet area set aside for those who do not wish to dance. The price for the four-course meal (excluding wine) has been set at £25 and every tower should have received their application forms. If you have not, please contact Jackie Roberts. The speakers are expected to include our President, the Bishop of Guildford, and David Thorne, shortly before his retirement as Editor of the Ringing World.
The number of members attending the Dinner has fallen in recent years so we hope the change of venue will encourage more of you to attend. The more who come, the cheaper the tickets could be in 1998!
From the Dinner Committee
We kicked off with the usual draw cum negotiation at East Molesey, then began the proceedings at Thames Ditton about half an hour later. I was at Thames Ditton all afternoon, so I can confirm a good standard of ringing in the six-bell contest.
When we finished at Thames Ditton we returned to East Molesey for tea to
find that an encouraging number of people had responded to my emergency
call for cakes, and the eight-bell contest done and dusted - even the
results had been announced! After an interval for us to have tea, the
judges of the six bell-section did their stuff, and the results in the
end were:
8-bell
Guildford Cathedral
Farnborough
Egham
Ashtead
Farnham
6-bell
Witley
Aldershot
Holy Trinity, Guildford
Leatherhead
Epsom St Martin
The enormous cheer which came from the Witley corner of the room when
the results were announced left us in no doubt about how pleased with
themselves they were.
For the record, the Cathedral have won the eight-bell every year since 1991, sharing the trophy with Egham in 1992. 1990 was their worst year when they were pushed into third place by Farnborough and Egham. Mostly the top three places are shared between these three towers but the six-bell is much more open. Witley last won it in 1988, and were third in 1993. Since 1987, Aldershot have won four times, and Leatherhead three times, including 1995 when they shared first place. Other winners have been Frensham, Ashtead and Epsom St Martin. Thanks to all the people who made the contest a success: the judges Paul Flavell from Kingston and Barbara Foster and John Soar from Basingstoke; East Molesey (and everyone else who contributed) for the tea; and the incumbents of Thames Ditton and East Molesey for allowing us to ring. Next year the contest will be in the Guildford District.
Jackie Roberts
The intention is for the Web pages to include the Guild's tower
directory: the contact names and ringing times for each Guild tower. If
you are a tower correspondent, Guild or District officer and object to
your name, address and/or telephone number appearing on the pages please
notify Jonathan immediately. His telephone number is (01428) 654147)
E-mail: ees1jd@ee.surrey.ac.uk.
A special peal rung by one of the Guild's Vice-Presidents
Chiddingfold, 12th October 1996, 2 hours 42 minutes
5184 Bristol Surprise Major
Composer: Andrew Tyler
1. David D Smith - Cond.
2. Tom Page
3. Joan Summerhayes
4. Beryl Norris
5. Robin J Walker
6. Ian P Hastilow
7. Martin J Turner
8. Peter J Munday
To mark the 50th anniversary of the first peal of Bristol by the ringer
of the 2nd - same bell.
Heritage Day in Guildford (14th September) The idea behind this day, organised by the Civic Trust, is to open up buildings to the public that are normally in business use or are unusual and would be of interest to visitors. The towers of St Nicholas, St Mary's and Holy Trinity were open for most of the day. We set up the Guild Display Boards at St Nicolas, Guildford together with leaflets for people to pick up and had ringing demonstrations at regular intervals during the late morning and early afternoon. A large number of visitors climbed the stairs and we think we could have persuaded a lady to join Ash, another to go along to Chobham and there were three hopefuls for Guildford.
Congratulations to the following:
First Quarter: Eliot Johnson (Chertsey District); Heather Nelson, Martin Layley, Mike Kelly and Richard Payne (Farnham District); Paul Rolleson (Guildford District).
First Inside: Celia Wood (Chertsey District); Jim Midgley and Denise Williams (Farnham District); Sue Saunders (Guildford District).
First as Conductor: Ben Evans and Adrian Nash (Farnham District). Full details will be published in The Ringing World.
Jackie Roberts