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Latest News
The Branch Advent Carol Service on Saturday December 3rd. at Bodicote was well attended . The evening consisted of carols and bible readings as well as solo sung by Margaret Stear, a poem read by Martin Warner, an organ voluntary played by Michael Tinsley and carols rung on the handbells by Steeple Aston and Great Tew Handbell Ringers. Bodicote bells rang out for about 45 minutes before the service. to finish the evening those attending were invited back to the home of Martin and Veronica Warner for mulled wine and mincepies. Thanks go to Bodicote ringers for hosting the event and to Martin and Veronica for making the arrangements.
Branch
Chairman celebrates Silver Wedding
Anniversary
Abbott and Margaret Conway celebrated their silver wedding anniversary recently and this was marked with a quarter peal at Great Tew organised by their daughter Sarah. Details of the quarter on the Peal and Quarter page. The Branch sends them its congratulations.
Quarter Peal in memory of Mrs. Bennett
At
the end of July Bob Reeves succeeded
in getting together a band of mainly
ex Adderbury ringers to ring a quarter
to celebrate the life of Mrs. Bennett.
Details are on the Peal and Quarter
page. The band is shown here.
On
Saturday July 16th the Branch car
outing took us to Loughborough. 
The
first stop was the Bell Foundry where
the 35 adults and Timothy were taken
on a conducted tour of the foundry and
workshop. This was followed by ringing
on the foundry campanile. After lunch
there was ringing at Loughborough parish church,
Barrow on Soar, 
Quorn
and Shepshed before most of the party
made their way to the Windmill at
Badby for an evening meal.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable day, with good bells, weather, and food all ably organised by Joan our branch secretary.
60th Anniversary of the end of World War 11
Along
with churches throughout the country,
towers in the Banbury Branch rang out
at 5.00pm on Sunday July 10th to
commemorate the 60th Anniversary of
the end of World War 11. The 10 bells
at Banbury rang out across the town.
The local band were assisted by
Bloxham ringers whose bells were out
of action due to work on the spire. At
Adderbury a quarter peal was rung for
this and to
mark the 80th Anniversary of the
Branch.
The Great Tew ringers and friends rang
a quarter at Sandford St. Martin at
5.00pm and then moved on to Great Tew
where another quarter was successfully
rung. These quarters were also
dedicated to the victims of the London
bombings.
At Steeple Aston there was general
ringing between 5 and 6pm. This gave
the Lane family, the Canadian's who
took up ringing last year, a chance to
join in. Their Grandfather had served
in the war and they wanted to be part
of the celebrations.
There were good turn outs at Cropredy, Bodicote,
Deddington, Mollington and Somerton
with the bells ringing out at 5.00pm. Duns Tew was unable to ring until
6.30pm as the
ringers were involved in the church
fete during the afternoon
.
Tadmarton rang in the morning, helped
by Bodicote ringers. In the evening
the Tadmarton ringers returned the
favour.
On Monday July11th Banbury bells and
ringers could be seen and heard on BBC
South Today as part of a series of
features during the week about peoples
memories of the end of the war.
The Branch Celebrates its 80th Anniversary
On
June 20th 1925 the Banbury Branch of
the Oxford Diocesan Guild of Church
Bellringers was formed. To celebrate
the 80th Anniversary a decision was
made to ring a quarter peal in each
tower in the Branch. There was also to
be a peal at Banbury
as near to June 20th
as possible and this was successfully
achieved on June 18th. 
The occasion will be recorded with a
peal board. The band who rang in the peal can be
seen here standing on the steps outside
St. Mary's Church, Banbury.
All through
June quarters have been rung and it is
hoped that they will be completed by
mid July.
Full details of the peal and quarters
can be seen on the Peals and Quarters
page and these will continue to be
added to over the next two or three
weeks.
To find out more about the History of
the Branch click on the link below.
The Branch Striking Competition
Five
teams took part in the Striking
Competition these were Bodicote,
Mollington, Steeple Aston, Tadmarton
and a made up team consisting of two
ringers from Banbury, Bloxham and Duns
Tew. The ringing was judged by James
Hazeldine and Mark Walker, both
recruited from Whites of Appleton.
After the competition ringing about 50 ringers and
friends adjourned to Doug Woodward's
garden for a barbeque.
The
cup went to Steeple Aston as the
winning team was not a full tower
team. Graham Clifton tower captain of
Steeple Aston can be seen collecting
the cup from the judges.
Much of the organising was done by
Lindsey Smith who was unwell on the
day. We wish her a speedy recovery.
Branches oldest ringer dies
Mrs. Bennett mother of Charlotte and mother in law of Chris Holmes died on Friday evening June 3rd. Mrs. Bennett who was 96 was for many years a ringer at Adderbury. The funeral will be held on Friday June 10th at midday in Adderbury church. A fuller tribute will follow at a later date.
The
Branch AGM was hosted
by Deddington tower this year.
Afternoon ringing was followed by a
service, tea and meeting in the
church. There were about forty members
present. Most officers were re-elected
but there were some changes. Bob
Reeves took over as Ringing Master
with Graham Clifton as Deputy Ringing
Master. Thanks must go to Christine
Cox who earns a well deserved rest
from organising the Branch Ringing
meetings etc. over the last few years.
Martin Saunders and Sue Burchell stood
down from the social committee and
were replaced by Ian Rodrick and
Heather Hughes. Graham Clifton joins
Alan Griffin as our second Branch
representative on the Guild Committee.
For a full list of Officers see the
Officers page.
It
was decided to celebrate the 80th
Anniversary of the Branch in June with
either quarter peals or peals at all
the Branch towers. Other notable dates
up to September were as follows:
Striking
Competition - Tadmarton June 25th
Outing to Loughborough Bell Foundry
edtc. - July 16th
Ringing to celebrate 60th anniversary
of the end of WW11 - July 10th
Ringing World Roadshow at Newbury
racecourse - Sept. 10th
The Diary section will give a full list of all ringing dates by mid May
Sadly
I have to report the death of Freda
Ivings who died on Thursday April 7th.
Freda was a well known ringer to many
Branch members.
She
was born in Northampton in 1923 the
youngest of five
children.
In 1943 she met her future husband
Bill who was serving in the army and
based at
Bill learned to ring in the 1930s but
Freda did not take up ringing until
1970 she provided much support to the
Deddington ringers before this time -
preparing their annual dinner, helping
to raise tower funds etc. Freda was
taught tower bell ringing by Bill and
joined the Guild in 1973 ringing
regularly at Deddington for more than
25 years until both Bill and Freda
retired from the tower in 1998.
Although Freda kept no ringing records
she rang the treble to a peal of
Grandsire Triples in 1978 to
commemorate the retirement of Canon
George Palmer a former vicar of
Deddington. In addition she rang in
around 50 quarter peals mainly of
Plain Bob or Grandsire Doubles and
Triples.
Home was also the venue for the
handbell ringers to practice before
the Christmas Party fundraising season
and Freda was an accomplished handbell
ringer.
A quarter was rung in memory of Freda on April 25th at Banbury (see the peals and quarter page.)
(see
the May newsletter for a fuller
report)
Banbury
Branch ‘Firsts and Favourites’
The
Banbury Branch held its third annual
Firsts Event on Saturday 5 February.
This year it extended to Firsts
and Favourites. There were first
quarters ranging from Bob Doubles to
Erin Caters with achievements by
ringers aged 14 to 65 plus. Other
firsts included a ‘first away from
home’ for
There were first quarters for Alex Berry, Philip Paling, Veronica and Martin Warner; first inside for Michael Sands and Catherine Cooper; this quarter also included firsts for Camilla Durnin and Sarah Conway. Sarah also rang her first of treble bob and Alison Saunders her first of RCP. Martin Saunders achieved his first of Stedman Triples and Joan Warren and Michael Tinsley their first of 5 spliced.
John Lindsay’s Irish background came to the surface when he requested a quarter of Erin Caters as a favourite and the Banbury practice night band were happy to humour him! This raised 6 firsts.
One of the reasons why this event is so popular is that the day finishes with everyone crowding in to the Lampet Arms at Tadmarton for a substantial supper and liquid refreshment which is followed by the presentation of certificates.
The Erin Caters and Steeple Aston bands
For details of the quarter peal bands see the Peals and Quarters page.
I
am sad to report the death of Jack
Bishop of Banbury who died on 
Saturday
January 8th. Jack learned to ring on
the four bells at Horley in 1932 with
his brother Harry. He continued to
ring there until joining the RAF
during World War II. In 1948 he and
Harry joined the Banbury band but
still supported Horley by maintaining
the bells and ringing for weddings up
to the 1980s.
In 1950 Jack became Vice Captain at
Banbury a position he held until 1958
except for 1951 when he was elected
Tower Captain for that year. In 1950
Jack also became Steeple Keeper. He
held this post until 1994. Although
not a prolific method ringer -
Grandsire and Plain Bob being his
favourites- Jack was a regular ringer
for services and practices. He enjoyed
ringing in quarter peals for local occasions
but was not interested in peals
although he did ring four peals - two
in 1951 and two at Banbury in 1959 and
1965. Although unable to ring for
the last two or three years because of
the difficulty of getting up Banbury's
steps, Jack continued to take an
interest in what was happening in the
tower and will be sadly missed.
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