Tower Captain Report 2009
'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.
In September five members went on the Branch outing to Abergavenny, ringing in various towers and an enjoyable day was had by all.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
1 To ring Plain Hunt on 7 bells
2 To recruit more members to our art of bellringing
3 To attend 8 bells practices both here and at other towers
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.
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.
Margaret
Bath and Wells Association Library
Dedication of the
Bellringers Library and Book Launch.
'5th
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'
The above quote is from
the book Church Bells in Somerset by the late George Massey launched
in St Mary's on November 5th.
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.
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.
The event was rounded off
with some open ringing by the many visiting ringers and a celebratory
toast of bucks fizz.
Margaret Lee
Tower Captain
Tower Captain Report 2005
It is not quite a year since I did my last report and in comparison this has been a quiet year.
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.
The ringers opened up the tower for Sommerfest, Carnival and the Autumn Fair.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
I look forward to other year of enjoyable ringing.
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.
The ringers opened up the tower for Sommerfest, Carnival and the Autumn Fair.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
I look forward to other year of enjoyable ringing.
Tower Captains Report 2004
When you look back over a year you always think ‘What have we achieved, not very much you might say’ I disagree.
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
We ring method for Sunday services
Entered a team in the striking competition
Organized and provide approx 100 teas for the Bath and Wells Diocesan Association of Change Ringers at the AGM held in Bridgwater
Entered a team in the Church Quiz Evening
Held a Recruitment Day which although there was some interest no new ringers came to join us, it was a fun day
Rang for 15 Weddings
Had a Summer Garden Party at the home of Pat and Keith Lane
Opened the tower for Summerfeast and Carnival Weekends
Some of the member went on the Branch Outing
Rang a quarter Peal in the Branch Quarter Peal Fortnight – all St Mary’s ringers on the front six bells
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
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
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.
An enjoyable Christmas Meal at the Old Vicarage
Ringing all eight bells to ring the old year out and the New Year in.
I think you will agree with me we did achieve a lot.
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.
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
Newcomer – Vivienne
Latecomer – Peter
Mastering ringing the tenor – Hasu
My worth assistant – Keith P
Visiting local hostelry in the name of research – Keith L
New methods – Bill
Quick Wit – Richard
Thank you all very much and I look forward to another ringing year.
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
We ring method for Sunday services
Entered a team in the striking competition
Organized and provide approx 100 teas for the Bath and Wells Diocesan Association of Change Ringers at the AGM held in Bridgwater
Entered a team in the Church Quiz Evening
Held a Recruitment Day which although there was some interest no new ringers came to join us, it was a fun day
Rang for 15 Weddings
Had a Summer Garden Party at the home of Pat and Keith Lane
Opened the tower for Summerfeast and Carnival Weekends
Some of the member went on the Branch Outing
Rang a quarter Peal in the Branch Quarter Peal Fortnight – all St Mary’s ringers on the front six bells
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
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
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.
An enjoyable Christmas Meal at the Old Vicarage
Ringing all eight bells to ring the old year out and the New Year in.
I think you will agree with me we did achieve a lot.
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.
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
Newcomer – Vivienne
Latecomer – Peter
Mastering ringing the tenor – Hasu
My worth assistant – Keith P
Visiting local hostelry in the name of research – Keith L
New methods – Bill
Quick Wit – Richard
Thank you all very much and I look forward to another ringing year.