Bell Ringing at All Saints Church Staplehurst

Monthly Reports for 2012

Ringing Report - May 2012

On Easter Monday the Kent County Association of Change Ringers (to which Staplehurst and most other churches with bells are affiliated) held their Annual General Meeting at neighbouring Headcorn. At the Meeting Staplehurst ringer Daniel Brady was elected County Training Officer, after being narrowly defeated for the post of Chairman. Daniel is already active in training at local and District level and will be an asset to the Association in this role.

On Saturday 5th May our ringers will be going on their annual outing. This year the venue is south-east Essex where we will be ringing at six churches and enjoying a pub lunch at Burnham-on-Crouch. A report of the outing will appear in next month's issue.

Looking ahead, our ringers will of course be celebrating the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in June.

We will be ringing for a 1.00pm wedding on Saturday 26th May. That apart we will be ringing on our normal Tuesday practice evening and for the regular Sunday Services during May.

Tower Secretary

Roy Barclay

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Ringing Report - April 2012

On Mothering Sunday the Staplehurst ringers were pleased to welcome a group of visiting ringers from Bristol University who were on a ringing tour of the area that weekend. They rang with us for the service and some of them stayed to help out with the ringing during the traditional “clipping” of the church. It is no coincidence that the Master of the Bristol University ringers is none other than Staplehurst ringer Richard Barclay, who is in the final year of his degree course in Bristol! We look forward to welcoming him back in the summer.

As usual we will not be ringing during Holy Week but, that apart, we will be ringing on our normal Tuesday practice evening and for the regular Sunday Services during April. The wedding season is already under way and on Saturday 28th April we will be ringing for a wedding at 2.00pm.

Tower Secretary

Roy Barclay

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Ringing Report - March 2012

The past month has been rather quiet on the bellringing front with little happening other than our normal service ringing. However, at the end of January we were pleased to welcome Silke, our new Rector, to our practice. She enjoyed the evening and joined us in The Bell for refreshments afterwards.

Although spring is still some weeks away it seems that the wedding season has already started, as we will be ringing for one on Saturday 10th March. That apart we will be ringing on our normal Tuesday practice evening and for the regular Sunday Services during March.

Tower Secretary

Roy Barclay

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Ringing Report - February 2012

We start this report with the sad news that Betty Tomlin passed away during December, less than a year after her sister Freda. Betty had been a loyal and active ringer at Staplehurst for many years, until her health prevented her from climbing the stairs to the tower a few years ago. We were honoured to ring for her funeral service on Tuesday 10th January. May she rest in peace.

All in all January was a rather quiet month for the Staplehurst ringers, following the busy lead up to Christmas, although we did ring for the Epiphany High Mass on 6th January.

We also had an interesting practice night at the beginning of January when we welcomed a couple of young people who have been learning to ring at neighbouring Frittenden. Along with our own three youngsters - Jack, Roddy and Seb - there were five pre-teen ringers at the practice and they all got on well together. This is indeed a promising sign for the future.

We will be ringing for the Candlemas service on Thursday 2nd February and we are also hosting a training day for the Maidstone District on Saturday 11th February when the bells will be ringing for about an hour or so in the early afternoon, finishing by 3.00pm. That apart we will be ringing on our normal Tuesday practice evening and for the regular Sunday Services.

Tower Secretary

Roy Barclay

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Ringing Report - January 2012

The Staplehurst Bellringers hope you all had an enjoyable Christmas and wish you all the best for the New Year.

In last month's issue I mentioned that we had entered a band in the Maidstone District Call Change Striking Contest at Hunton. I am pleased to say that for the second successive year we finished as winners. Congratulations to the six ringers who took part, in particular young Jack Phur who was participating in his first ringing competition.

The last six weeks have been a busy time for our ringers. On Thursday 24th November we rang at the installation of our new Rector, Revd Silke Tetzlaff and on the following Saturday we successfully rang a peal to welcome her to the Parish. On Tuesday 6th December, instead of our usual practice, most of our ringers, together with partners and friends, enjoyed a Christmas meal together at the Hawkenbury Inn. Then on Saturday 10th December some of our ringers joined those from other churches in the area for a special Bellringers' Carol Service at Ditton, followed by mince pies and mulled wine. In addition to the normal Sunday Services we also rang for the Christingle Service on Christmas Eve and on Christmas Morning. By the time you read this, we will also have enjoyed our traditional New Year's Party and will have “rung in” 2012.

During January we will be ringing on our normal Tuesday practice evening, for the regular Sunday Services and for the Epiphany High Mass on Friday 6th January. At present we have no visiting bands coming to ring on our bells in the early part of 2012, but that may well change as we move towards Spring.

Tower Secretary

Roy Barclay

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