tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91962004660380354012024-03-27T07:21:30.628+00:00St Mary's BellsThe Bells and Bell Ringers of Saint Mary's Church, BridgwaterBazzerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09099542338109645931noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9196200466038035401.post-39218789515300430922023-10-04T09:25:00.002+01:002023-10-04T09:25:43.010+01:00Tower Captain's Report 2019-2021<p> Tower Captain’s Report 2019 – 2021</p><p>Since my last report over 2 years ago so much as happened so I have decided to cover it in sections. </p><p>Our augmentation started at the beginning of December 2019 by having everything removed from the belfry. We had two more trips to Loughborough to see the last three new bells being cast. The bellhangers returned in March 2020 only for COVID to hit. Work started again at the end of May and on a lovely sunny morning in June the bells arrived back. We invited our ringers in to see the bells at the back of the Church, all under the Covid restrictions. At the end of July, the four ringers in our Covid bubble, rang to mark the marriage of our curate, Suse, to Tobie Osmond, vicar of St Mary’s Taunton. I would like to thank Richard and John Hallett, from Westonzoyland, for their hard work in supporting the bellhangers. The Sound Control was completed by end of December. The clock chimes were re-contacted in March 2021 by Simon Gilchrist ably assisted by Richard. The replacement lighting to LED’s happened in July and the replacement carpet was fitted in September, this means that most of our project is now complete. I would like to thank those who came in and helped either in the belfry or in the kitchen.</p><p>During covid restrictions we embraced technology by setting up a WhatsApp group, celebrated St George's Day, and having a special practice using different bells to ring rounds via Zoom. In August, 2020, we rang for the last Sunday service for our vicar Revd Trish Ollive as she retires and moved to Taunton and then there was another national lockdown. Easter Day, 2021, saw four bells being rung under strict Covid restrictions. Normal practice night resumed at the end of May for 45 minutes and limited numbers. In July we were requested to ring to open the Bridgwater Quayside Festival. The inaugural ring on our 12 bells by some of the ringers and towers who have supported our project took place in August. In September our monthly 12 bell practice started, with support of our friends from St Mary’s Taunton. Also our U3A group resume ringing. At the beginning of October we rang 8 bells for the licensing service of our new vicar, Rev Suse Osmond. We have taken part in many national events, tolling on Remembrance Sunday, tolling 100 times to mark the life of Captain Sir Tom Moore, a half muffle bell for the National Day of Reflection. A single bell tolled half muffled on the day of the death of His Royal Highness, Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh, also the following day and on the day of his funeral. In October we marked the eve of COP26 conference. Six bells, half muffled were rung for the Remembrance Sunday.</p><p>During the year we have welcomed children from St Mary’s School, Eastover School and St John’s and St Francis School which is always an enjoyable experience.</p><p>We finished the year with an enjoyable Christmas Lunch at the Old Vicarage and welcomed members of the Bridgwater Branch of Bellringers for their Christmas practice which included Mulled Wine and Minces Pies.</p><p>I would like to thank, Isabel for Facebook, Gina for Twitter and Richard for our website and keeping everyone informed outside of our tower walls.</p><p>These last 2 years have been exciting times, we started lockdown with an empty tower and finished with 13. What a privilege to see history in the making. Thank you all for your support, friendship and sense of fun.</p><p>Margaret Lee</p><p>Tower Captain</p><div><br /></div>Live Ringerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971538401415469620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9196200466038035401.post-88532356901478131292019-11-14T07:32:00.000+00:002019-11-14T07:42:51.226+00:00Tower Captain’s Report 2018/ 2019<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Wow what a year, I have no idea where to start.<br />November saw us opening the tower for Carnival Day, a busy and successful day it turned out to be.<br />Remembrance Sunday 2018 will stay with me forever, after attending the service I walked into the tower room to be met by a sea of smiling faces all wearing their blue tops. We were all taking part in the national celebration of the ending of the Great War and ringing the bells at 12:30. This was a very moving time for us, Trish came up and said a prayer, visitors came to join us, including a couple from America, to be part of this historic event. In our normal ringers way we finished of by a glass of bucks fizz and cake.<br />At the end of November we had a table at the Frost Fayne in Glastonbury, another successful event for us.<br />We enjoyed a delicious Christmas Meal at the Great Escape, thank you to Isabel for her organisation.<br />In April it was a now or never moment for our project so for the third time of asking we applied to the Heritage Lottery Fund, within four weeks of our application being submitted we were successful.<br />We also hosted a training day for ART, Roger Booth took a course on Using a Simulator, we catered for a dozen candidates, my thanks goes to Mary and Hasu for their help.<br />Later in the month the Ladies and Gentlemen of the tower took part in the annual branch striking competition which was held at Fiddington, I will not dwell on who won out of our teams needless to say the Gentlemen retained bragging rights for several weeks.<br />We rang for St George’s Day celebrating in our usual manner. <br />At the beginning of June we said goodbye to Jane Cooke, who bravely lost a battle with her illness and sadly passed away. Many of us attended her funeral, we rang a quarter peal in the evening, which was Rob’s first quarter peal, Rob was taught by Jane and I know she would have been very proud of him. Jane supported us in many ways, baking such lovely cakes and making items for our craft table to name just two.<br />In June we had a day out visiting five local towers, some may say interesting, rounding the day off with a lovely meal at the Compass Inn.<br />July saw us open the tower for the Quayside festival and the start of our guided tower tours, thank you to Gina for writing the guide and leading the training. <br />September saw 10 of our members join the branch ringing outing to Dorset, a very enjoyable day was had by all.<br />Heritage Day saw the tower open on the Friday, which was usually busy with many visitors.<br />In October some of us visited Taylor’s Bell Foundry to see the first two of our new bells cast, what an experience, to see history in the making.<br />At the end of the month we opened the Tower on the Bridgwater Hospital League of Friends Fayne.<br />During the year we have rung for 6 Weddings, given a talk to the Bridgwater Civic Society, given private tours to Bridgwater Air Cadets, Shapwick Cubs, St Mary’s School, St Mary’s Brownies, Bawdrip History group, Bristol Civic Society and Bridgwater Homberg link group, I would like to thank those who helped.<br />I still find this hard to believe, as we look forward to the bells being augmented to 13, it a very exciting time for us. I would like to thank Richard for his support and hard work to get to where we are today.<br />And finally I would like thank you all for your support, friendship and fun over the past year and I look forward to ringing our 12 bells in the spring.<br /><br />Margaret Lee<br />Tower Captain</span></div>
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<style type="text/css">p { margin-bottom: 0.25cm; direction: ltr; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 115%; }p.western { font-family: "Liberation Serif", "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; }p.cjk { font-family: "Noto Sans CJK SC"; font-size: 12pt; }p.ctl { font-family: "Lohit Devanagari"; font-size: 12pt; }</style>Live Ringerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971538401415469620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9196200466038035401.post-15359369455096194982019-04-27T14:38:00.001+01:002019-04-27T14:38:12.656+01:00Ringing for England - and Tower Open Day!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We had a lovely time - and a lovely cake - Ringing for England on St George's day!</div>
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We joined towers aross the country at 6pm on April 23 ringing in honour of the patron saint. A delicious cake break followed, then more ringing before finishing up an hour later. As you can see, a strict dress code was enforced!</div>
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Then on Saturday we welcomed visitors young an old to our tower as part of the Bridgwater Food Festival.</div>
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The incredibly windy weather was certainly magnified on the parapet at the top of the tower, but the views were definitely worth it for those who braved the centuries-old spiral staircase.</div>
Thank you to all our visitors for letting us share our tower with you.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9196200466038035401.post-83162422744704347212019-01-09T21:24:00.000+00:002019-01-09T21:24:00.963+00:00Tower Captain's Report 2017/18Tower Captain’s Report 2017 /18<br /><br />This has proved to be a year of highs and lows.<br />Our project is moving ‘slow but sure’ in the right direction; in July the PCC stopped us fundraising locally but still allowed us to continue with our craft table in the Church. November saw the crafty members have a table at the Glastonbury Frost Fayne, we were blessed with a dry cold day so many<br />visitors to the town. Jane made Christmas decorations which were a overnight success. In September Gina opened her house as part of Somerset Art week and raised a brilliant amount for our project.<br />In November the tower was open for Carnival Day, what a fun day that turned out to be, I lost count how many times we climbed the steps and to finish the day Kate, Richard and I had a celebratory supper in the Blake Fish bar.<br />We have rung for six weddings during the year and marked the wedding of Prince Harry to Megan Markle. St George’s Day saw us celebrate in the normal way and our picture can be found on the Ringing for England website for all to see.<br />On a very hot day in June we had a tower outing visiting five towers locally finishing at a pub for a evening meal.<br />In September we opened the tower for Heritage Day which was a success more visitors climbed the steps than in other years.<br />We have welcomed new ringers from the national campaign ‘Ringing Remembers’ and from our recruitment week.<br />So I am pleased to say we have more highs than lows this year.<br />This year Keith has decided to stand down as secretary, I would like to thank him for his hard work and support over the years, he will still stand as Deputy Tower Captain, Tower Correspondent and a valued member of the team.<br />Next year looks like an exciting time for us all in St Mary’s with new and old friends hopefully enjoying our new bells.<br />Together we can achieve anything.<br />Thank you all, I am very proud of you.<br /><br />Margaret<br />Tower CaptainUnknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9196200466038035401.post-48483184763409337762019-01-09T21:21:00.001+00:002019-01-09T21:21:33.125+00:00Tower Captain Report 2015-17When I look back to 2015 it seems a long time ago and you may ask what have we<br />achieved in this time? We have seen the launch of our appeal ‘and 5 makes 13’, more<br />about that later, the Church has been reordered and after returning in May of this year, we<br />have held a successful recruitment week and started the stand alone group from U3A. We<br />have also held a tester session for two pupils from Blake School, along with their teacher<br />an existing ringer from Brent Knoll.<br />While the Church was closed for the reordering we joined local towers for their practice<br />nights and to keep our spirits up we were known to meet for the odd pint, or two. In<br />October we marked Keith’s 80 th Birthday by throwing a party in his home, some of the<br />members rang in a quarter peal which was interesting ringing in semi darkness because<br />the electricity was off.<br />Our appeal got off on a brilliant start having 3 out of the 5 new bells been donated, we<br />have received grants from our Association, the Central Council of Bellringers, the Town<br />Council and Sedgemoor District Council. Our fundraising have seen us holding a Jazz<br />Supper, a Quiz, Car Boot Sale, Opening the tower and providing refreshments for the<br />Quayside Day, Heritage Day and a steady stream of sales from our Craft Table – I do<br />apologise if I have forgotten anything.<br />So as you can see we have achieved quite a lot.<br />I would like to thank you all for your help, support and laugher over the past two years and<br />I look forward to moving our ringing forward, it is a very exciting time for us in St Mary’s.<br />Together we can achieve anything.<br />Margaret Lee<br />Tower Captain<br />November 2017Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9196200466038035401.post-348500654405710422018-12-04T23:13:00.001+00:002018-12-04T23:13:14.954+00:00Ringing Remembers <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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St Mary's band joined towers across the country in ringing at 12:30pm on Armistice Day in remembrance of ringers lost in the First World War.<br />
Newcomers from the nationwide Ringing Remembers campaign to recruit 1,400 people - the number of ringers lost in the war - and experienced members of the team all played their part. The event followed the church's remembrance day service, where the stories of the three St Mary's ringers lost were told.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9196200466038035401.post-16827451586452623062015-11-04T08:57:00.000+00:002015-11-04T08:57:36.575+00:00 Tower Captain Report 2015<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Tower
Captain Report 2013 – 15</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">'How did
these Australian ladies come to visit us? Richard chatted them up'</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Is it
really two years since my last report? So what have we achieved? It
may feel like very little but we certainly have kept the bells
ringing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">In no
particular order we have marked many national events, St George's
Day, Our Queen's anniversary of longest reigning monarch, VE Day,
Magna Carta, rang 349 changes at the start of the anniversary of the
first World War this being the number of lives lost from Bridgwater, </span>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Locally we
rang for the institution of the Rev Trish Ollive, Bath and Wells
Association of Change Ringers 125 years celebration attending the
service and delicious lunch, with the Bishop, which followed, it is
worth noting that many ringers commented how our tower came to
support an association event, Georgina read at the Town Carol
Service, Mayor Making, Light up a Life service, Weddings and the late
Peter Cattermole's funeral.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">We have
taken part in our branch striking competitions and had two tower
outings.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Richard
has set up the Branch Training Centre here with the help of our
Association providing the simulator and local ringers donating the
lap top and speakers. The centre is used weekly for ITTS tied bell
teaching sessions and have proved an assets for our tower.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Practice
nights can only be described as busy attracting ringers from
neighbouring towers, it is structured which seems to work with slots
for learners and new methods to learn which in turn advances our
ringing. </span>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">One member
of the Church family commented to me that what ever the ringers do in
seems to involve cake, well not to disappoint under the direction of
Jane Cooke, we have provided teas at three Vintage Fayre's, held
Coffee Mornings and provided the refreshments for the Deanery Synod
when it was held in St Mary's and not forgetting celebrating Ben's
18</span><sup><span style="font-size: medium;">th</span></sup><span style="font-size: medium;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">In April
of this year we opened the Church for our second recruitment week
where we had several people interested and the result is that Mikolaj
Baj has joined our team and he is doing very well and is now ringing
with us on Sunday mornings. </span>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">So what
for the future? In September Rob, Richard and I went to the PCC
meeting where we presented our vision for the bells after which we
received permission to have the repairs done and augment to ten
bells. So I have a couple of targets for you – ideas on how we are
going to achieve this and to have 20 bellringers by 2020.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">I would
like to thank you all for your help, support and laughter over the
past two years and I look forward in moving our ringing forward, it
is a very exciting time for us in St Mary's. Together we can achieve
anything.</span></div>
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<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Margaret
Lee</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">November
2015</span></div>
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Live Ringerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971538401415469620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9196200466038035401.post-83564314091288154222013-10-19T10:59:00.001+01:002014-05-29T18:16:28.888+01:00Tower Captain Report 2012/13Tower Captains Report 2012/13<br />
<br />
'Let's hold a recruitment week to encourage new or lapsed ringers' little did Richard know how successful it turned out to be, more about that later.<br />
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An AGM was not held last year because of changing our year to run from 1st November to 31st October which is in line with the Association year.<br />
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So what have we achieved in the past two years? It has been a time of change where we have lost 6 of our ringers for various reasons but gained 8 not counting our associate members of Ben and Emma. Rob and Georgina joined us in May, Karole, a lapsed ringer, joined us during the recruitment week and I would like to welcome Carol, Frances, Kate, Emma, Donna, Cliff and Eric who have come into ringing as a result of our very successful Recruitment Week, one of these only came in to see what it was all about with no intention to become one! Which leads me on to the Recruitment week - I would like to thank the ringers who made cakes, teas and coffee and generally welcomed visitors into the Church, a special mention to Richard, who mastermind the event including appearing on the radio, and to Keith and Sean who also came in every day.<br />
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We have rung for St George's Day, where we appeared in Ringing World and Mana magazine, Forces March, Diamond Jubilee, Olympics, Richard's special birthday, Mayor Making Ceremony, Open Tower Days, the birth of Prince George of Cambridge, hosted Coffee Mornings, rung for several weddings, Light up a Life Service, Carnival Day, Town Carol Service and sold Home-made sweets and biscuits at the Church Craft Fayre.<br />
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Practice nights have been successful with regular visiting ringers who have become 'honorary' members of our tower, namely Keith, Jane, Sean, Bob, Belinda and Melinda. We are now progressing on to having a 'Method of the Month' to advance our ringing.<br />
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As many of you know we had 4 bellhangers visit in 2012 to check on our bells and to investigate the possibility of augmenting our bells to 10, this is an ongoing discussion which we will revisit next year.<br />
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I would like to thank you all for your help and support over the past two years and I look forward in moving our ringing forward, it's an exciting time for us at St Mary's.<br />
<br />
Margaret Lee<br />
Tower Captain<br />
2013Live Ringerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971538401415469620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9196200466038035401.post-7657640889197510452012-01-01T00:00:00.000+00:002014-05-29T18:18:42.592+01:00Tower Captain's Report 2011Tower Captain Report 2011<br />
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There has been many highlights for me this year, we have all progress with our ringing as a team which enabled us to take part in the striking competition at Wembdon in April, the taster day in May which was a very successful day in the interest it generated but unfortunately we did not get any new members may be next time, we celebrated John's special birthday in June, ringing the handbells at North Newton for a wedding in July, thank you to Viv for master minding this for us, the opening of the Association Library and we had an enjoyable Christmas meal at the Captain's table, thank you Richard for organising this.<br />
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The bells were rung for the Royal Wedding Day, 9 Weddings, Light up a Life Service and the Town Carol Service. Some ringers joined other members of our branch to ring at Wells Cathedral in July and some went on the ringers outing to Lacock area in September. Richard and Keith attended a training day at Lydeard St Lawrence where they are being trained on the new way of teaching also Keith has been appointed as the branch tower maintenance officer. In addition the tower has hosted two training days for the branch, organised by the branch education officer, Richard, of which I would like to thank Steve and Keith for their help and support in making it a successful day, we have hosted two coffee mornings for the Church funds. <br />
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I would like to thank the British Flag Carnival club for coming to our rescue in sorting out one of our stays.<br />
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We welcomed back Keith Lane after his operation and have welcomed many visitors to our practise nights which has helped us to progress our ringing. <br />
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We look forward to what promises to be a busy ringing year nationally with the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics.<br />
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I would like thank you all for your support, friendship and sense of fun over the past year but in particular I would like to thank Steve for being my helpful assistant.<br />
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MargaretLive Ringerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971538401415469620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9196200466038035401.post-25082846292736923072011-01-03T17:43:00.000+00:002014-05-29T18:19:26.652+01:00Tower Captain's Report 2010Tower Captain Report 2010<br />
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This year can only be described as having highs and lows. <br />
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The lows were the stressful time over the issue of CRB checks and losing our title in the Branch Striking Competition but there is always another year.<br />
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The highs, I am sure you will agree with me, far out number the lows. In March we had the Bell Simulator installed and it is proving a hit with our newest recruit Ben. In April Steve became a member of the Association, we also welcomed back Keith Petersen. In July four of us joined other members of the branch to ring at Wells Cathedral. In September some of us enjoyed going on the Branch outing to Seaton which included the Tower Table football tournament, the final was between Keith and Richard and I can not tell you won. As well as hosting our Coffee Mornings for Church Funds we welcomed members of the branch to the AGM which was held in October. In February we celebrated Christmas with a delicious lunch at the Tudor Restaurant, our thanks to Richard for organising this successful event. <br />
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In addition to ringing for 9 weddings, Town Carol Service and the Light up a Life Service we have been able to ring all 8 bells most Sundays and achieve one of the targets I set last year which was to ring Plain Hunt on 7. <br />
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Housing the Association Library in the clock room as turned out a positive for us as once a month David Bromage, the librarian, joins us helping us to progress with our triples ringing.<br />
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2010 was a busy year personally for six of us, one reaching ' Life begins at' two reaching half century, one a Golden Wedding and two taken early retirement which we celebrated along the way and by a quarter peal in December. <br />
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At the quarterly meeting in January Richard was elected as the Branch Education Officer, for which I wish to congratulate him. <br />
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There is so much I would like us to achieve this year so these are my targets for us all<br />
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1 Recruit new members to the art of bellringing<br />
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2 To achieve ringing plain hunt on 7 on another bell and a plain course of St Mary's Treble Place Doubles<br />
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3 To have a Ringing Day Out<br />
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4 Master raising and lowering the bells in peal<br />
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Finally I would like to thank you all for your support, fellowship and sense of fun in such a remarkable year<br />
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MargaretLive Ringerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971538401415469620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9196200466038035401.post-64610238439171306342010-01-01T17:52:00.000+00:002014-05-29T18:19:54.397+01:00Tower Captain's Report 2009Tower Captain Report 2009<br />
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'Are we there yet?' Asked Hasu as we left Bridgwater altogether on our way to our heat of the final of the Association Striking Competition which was held at Lympsham, a challenging anti clockwise ring near Weston Super Mare. The judge said we were nervous which helped him to place us last. We decided to celebrate by having an ice cream at Burnham on Sea which rounded off a very enjoyable afternoon.<br />
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In September five members went on the Branch outing to Abergavenny, ringing in various towers and an enjoyable day was had by all.<br />
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During the year Richard organised us to clear and clean out the clock room, also we hosted two coffee mornings for Church Funds, opened the tower on Carnival Day, and enjoyed a Christmas Meal at the Tudor Restaurant. <br />
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Our ringing activities included Julia's ordination, 8 Weddings one where we were asked to join in singing, Light up a Life, the Town Carol Service and at Chilton Trinity for the benefice service.<br />
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John Long has become and member of the Association and Steve Holman will become a member at the next meeting in April and Tony, our newest recruit, is making good progress.<br />
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We welcome Kate and David Cameron, who have moved to Othery from Dorking, who support us and enable us to progress our method ringing. During the year we have welcomed many visiting ringers who have been on holiday heard the bells and decided joined us.<br />
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Keith Petersen, who was our Assistant Tower Captain and Steeple Keeper at the beginning of the year, has decided to take time out and since moved to Taunton, but he has told me that he will come back to visit us from time to time.<br />
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I know you are all waiting to see what targets I am going to set, while they are the same as last year with one exception<br />
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1 To ring Plain Hunt on 7 bells<br />
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2 To recruit more members to our art of bellringing<br />
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3 To attend 8 bells practices both here and at other towers<br />
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I would like to thank the other committee members Keith and Richard for their support, enthusiasm and commitment in driving the tower forward in getting a simulator, which is being installed on March 30th and arranging for the Bath and Wells Association of Change Ringers Library to be housed here in the clockroom.<br />
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Finally I would like to thank you all for your continued support, companionship, sense of fun and keeping the art of bellringing here at St Marys. an enjoyable experience, long by it continue.<br />
MargaretLive Ringerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971538401415469620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9196200466038035401.post-38975068672133232962009-11-01T18:01:00.000+00:002014-05-29T18:10:08.737+01:00Bath and Wells Association Library<style type="text/css">P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; }</style>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Dedication of the
Bellringers Library and Book Launch.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>'5<sup>th</sup>
Nov 1776, Crave allowance for a hogshead of cider £1 0s 0d Pd
for 77 lb of Beef at 1¾d per lb & 14 lb of salt 12s 03d
Pd Jas Newton for a Bushel of Potatoes £2 0s'</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The above quote is from
the book Church Bells in Somerset by the late George Massey launched
in St Mary's on November 5<sup>th. </sup>
It is interesting to note how well the 'Gunpowder Plot' was
celebrated at Brent Knoll. Whereas the average parish seemed to pay
about five or ten shillings to fete the ringers, things were then
done in style.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Rev Tim Hawkins, Master of
the Bath and Wells Association of Change Ringers, and Charles jointly
officiated at the ceremony to dedicate the Association Library and
announce the book launch. Tim gave an eloquent description of George
Massey's dedication to bells and ringing, and, present a copy of the
book to his son David, other ringers were also present to collect
their copies. Richard Lee was thanked for having the foresight to
bring the library to the clock room and this has justified all the
hard work by our ringers to create an asset for the Church and the
Association.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The event was rounded off
with some open ringing by the many visiting ringers and a celebratory
toast of bucks fizz.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Margaret Lee</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Tower Captain</span></div>
Live Ringerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971538401415469620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9196200466038035401.post-87023747944415550762005-12-15T21:22:00.000+00:002014-05-29T18:20:23.774+01:00Tower Captain Report 2005It is not quite a year since I did my last report and in comparison this has been a quiet year.<br />
<br />
During the year we rang for 13 weddings, and recorded the best hat count – ever, 60 in total. In addition to ringing on Sunday mornings, we rang for the anniversary of World War Two; Light up a Life service, the Town Carol Service and New Year’s Eve.<br />
<br />
The ringers opened up the tower for Sommerfest, Carnival and the Autumn Fair.<br />
<br />
In October, we rang a quarter peal to mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar. This was an achievement on three counts, firstly for Viv; it was her first quarter for many years and secondly for Richard and Keith being that they both jointly conducted a long with myself.<br />
<br />
On the recruiting side this is looking at lot brighter with Dawn making good progress and she now is ringing for Sunday service and it will not be long before Rachel joins her. We have also two other learners, Ken and Andrea, who joined us just before Christmas but are now away on holiday and I hope that it is not be many more weeks before they also are able to ring on Sunday mornings.<br />
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On the social side, we had a very enjoyable Christmas meal at the Tudor and I would like to thank Richard for organizing it and for Hasu for the table extra’s.<br />
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The bell frame has now been painted and this year we hope to complete some of the outstanding works, which was highlighted in Andrew Nicholson report.<br />
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Over the past few months a lot of work has been done on getting the web site ready to be launched, which if everything goes to plan it will be on Easter Monday<br />
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So has you can see we are still going forward and I would like to thank Charles and you all for your support but Keith Lane needs a mention because even though he has been unable to join us in the tower his support has been much appreciated.<br />
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I look forward to other year of enjoyable ringing.Bazzerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09099542338109645931noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9196200466038035401.post-67231753044563928522005-01-01T21:20:00.000+00:002014-05-29T18:20:49.322+01:00Tower Captains Report 2004When you look back over a year you always think ‘What have we achieved, not very much you might say’ I disagree.<br />
This year we have achieved many things, admittedly the numbers are down but we have practised every Monday night and have welcomed many visitors. Vivienne returned to ringing after many years also Bill after ill health<br />
We ring method for Sunday services<br />
Entered a team in the striking competition <br />
Organized and provide approx 100 teas for the Bath and Wells Diocesan Association of Change Ringers at the AGM held in Bridgwater<br />
Entered a team in the Church Quiz Evening<br />
Held a Recruitment Day which although there was some interest no new ringers came to join us, it was a fun day<br />
Rang for 15 Weddings<br />
Had a Summer Garden Party at the home of Pat and Keith Lane<br />
Opened the tower for Summerfeast and Carnival Weekends<br />
Some of the member went on the Branch Outing<br />
Rang a quarter Peal in the Branch Quarter Peal Fortnight – all St Mary’s ringers on the front six bells<br />
Gave support to the youngest member of the team by going on mass to see Peter, as Maurice, in a play at the Arts Centre<br />
Andrew Nicholson came and inspected the bells and we had the 4th Bell corrected and we hope to have the bell frame painted in the near future<br />
We had a very enjoyable day out ringing around the Mendips that included some usual towers, mastering a new method, a quiz and a delicious Cream Tea.<br />
An enjoyable Christmas Meal at the Old Vicarage<br />
Ringing all eight bells to ring the old year out and the New Year in.<br />
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I think you will agree with me we did achieve a lot.<br />
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Our main focus for the next twelve months must be to encourage more people to join us and for us as a team to enjoy what we do and to progress our ringing together.<br />
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As my first year as Tower Captain I would like to thank Charles and you all for your support and as at any end of year occasions I would like to award the following<br />
<br />
Newcomer – Vivienne<br />
Latecomer – Peter<br />
Mastering ringing the tenor – Hasu<br />
My worth assistant – Keith P<br />
Visiting local hostelry in the name of research – Keith L<br />
New methods – Bill<br />
Quick Wit – Richard<br />
<br />
Thank you all very much and I look forward to another ringing year.Bazzerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09099542338109645931noreply@blogger.com