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BELL RINGERS’ REPORT
We have rung the bells for
Service every Sunday during the year with one exception.
This was during the extreme wintry weather when those of
us who live outside the parish were snowed in. Brian
Kempton, the only bellringer living in the parish, made
a noble effort and presumably was able to chime one bell
for the Service. We rang for every Wednesday practice
bar two. We have also rung for several
weddings/blessings.
At our Annual Meeting held in
the Seward Room in February all the Officers were
re-elected to serve for another year.
The meeting was gratified to
hear that the plaster repairs to the walls of the
ringing chamber and the subsequent decoration needed for
so long have now been tendered for by three different
firms. We had originally offered to do the decorating
ourselves after the repairs had been done, but being
that much older now we had since had second thoughts. We
now look forward to the completion of the work.
Last year we referred the PCC
to the old clock from the ringing room to consider what
should be done with it as it was church property. We
have not heard what became of it. We have since been
given a replacement.
I gave a report in my
capacity as Tower Captain and Steeplekeeper. In the
latter respect I found all to be well ‘upstairs’. The
loose clapper I referred to last year and a noisy pulley
have both been effectively dealt with and two ropes have
been switched around to spread their wear. I have
vacuumed the greater part of the bell chamber in recent
weeks and removed a large number of flies and other
detritus.
Activities during the year
included another enjoyable dinner with some of our
regular ringing visitors at the Master Robert. We also
held two successful ringing outings, the usual
arrangement being to ring the bells at two towers before
a pub lunch and another tower in the afternoon. In June
we visited Yapton, Findon and Washington in Sussex; in
October we visited Cheriton, Tichborne and Owslebury in
our own county.
I usually end this report
with an appeal for new recruits. During the year three
more of us have turned 70. We now have nobody under the
age of 50. Anybody from the age of 10 upwards can be a
bellringer. We held a Tower Open Day in conjunction with
the Buriton Village Event when we showed a video of the
bells being rung and of our band ringing the bells. We
also erected a portable campanile for people to see and
try their hand at ringing a bell. Although several
people expressed an interest, it seems nobody was
inspired to join us. We have however gained one new
recruit, but from another source, and he lives in
Southsea! What we are particularly concerned about is
that our team has only one member living in the village
- most of us live in Clanfield. We desperately need
recruits and particularly from the village!
David Hughes, Tower Captain (023 9257
0620) |