Welcome
to
the
Banbury
Branch News
Page
for 2007
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| Happy Christmas | Queens Diamond Wedding | Sue Burchell ordained | Abbott Conway - Branch Chairman |
| Joan leaves | |||
| Striking Competition | AGM | Cropredy Bells | |
| Silver Bells | Outing | Quiz Night | |
| The New Year |
North Oxfordshire Ringers Clothing available
Latest News
The
newsletter editors wish all ringers a
Happy Christmas. Given that it is such
a busy time it is amazing that some of
Steeple Aston's ringers have had time
to be Santa's little helpers.
To view click on the link www.elfyourself.com/?id=1685146373
Towers in the Branch celebrated the Queen and Prince Philip's Diamond Wedding with quarter peals at Banbury, Bodicote, Mollington and Steeple Aston. The bells were also rung at Shenington, Wroxton and Wardington.
Congratulations go to Sue Burchell of Great Tew who was ordained as a Deacon at Oxford Cathedral on Sunday September 30th. She will be attached to St.Leonard's parish in Banbury
Abbott Conway - Branch Chairman
It
is with great sadness that I have to
report the death of our Branch
Chairman Abbott Conway who died
suddenly on August 26th. During
the last 30 years Ab has been a part
of the ringing scene in the Banbury
Branch and for many years he would
appear from and then disappear back
to Canada his native country. In the
1990s Abbott with his family moved
to his adopted home Great Tew where
he became vicar. This occurred at a
time when the Banbury Branch was
looking for a new Chairman. The
obvious appointment was Abbott as
not only would the Branch continue to have a
member of the clergy in the position
but also the first ringing Chairman for a very long time. He
brought to the Branch a rich sense
of humour and wisdom and he will be
sadly missed. Our deepest sympathy
goes out to Margaret his wife and
his daughters Alison, Catherine and
Sarah. A quarter peals were rung at
Steeple Aston, Great Tew and by the Wednesday
Crinklies group. A peal was rung at
Great Tew on October 21st. Details can be
seen on the peals page.
At the memorial service Graham Clifton gave his tribute to Abbott. This can be read by clicking here
Abbott's memorial service can be heard at the following link http://www.tewcentre.org.uk/conway/
St. John's Roman Catholic Church, Banbury
Recently I was asked how the three bells at St. John's Banbury were hung. I had thought they were hung for chiming only but after some debate about this I decided to have a look. After gaining permissionto look at the bells, which have a very restricted access due to Health and Safety concerns, I met Richard the clock winder and he took me up. There are in fact four bells. One is hung for chiming whilst the other three are hung in a line. Originally they had wheels but no stays or sliders. Today two bells retain their wheels whilst the other has about half of its original wheel left. Looking at the size of the bells they would have been difficult to ring without going over the balance and I suspect were hung with wheels so they could be swung half way up. When the clock was put in they were given hammers so they could be used as clock bells. The ropes have long sincegone and now there are pipes and the clock mechanism where they might once have been rung. These bells have been unringable for a very long time.
On
Saturday July 28th about 20 ringers
plus 
husbands
and wives visited towers on the
Wiltshire and Berkshire border. After
all the heavy rain of the previous
week this turned out to be a day of
warm sunshine. Ringing started on the
heavy six at Great Bedwyn and from
here the group moved on to Crofton.
Two hours were spent looking at the
beam engine which was in steam,
admiring the view and having lunch. In
the afternoon Wootton Rivers (6) and
Shalbourne (6) were visited and the
after a short tea break the band
enjoyed the eights at Kintbury and
Hungerford. At Hungerford the Branch
photographer was snapped ready for
action. The day was rounded off with
an excellent meal
at the Plough in West Hanney. Thanks
once again go to Roger Stranks for
organising an excellent day.
On
July 11th the bells of Cropredy rang
out over the village 
as the newly
augmented ring of eight was tried out
for the very first time. A prayer was
said by the vicar before ringing
commenced. There was a large gathering
of village people and Cro
predy ringers
as well as Banbury Branch ringers and
employees of Whites of Appleton. After
ringing the bells everyone agreed that
an excellent job had been done. The
trebles blended in well with the
original ring of six and the bells
handled well. Bob Reeves had yet again
made his mark with a set of ropes
guides that he had made and put in
place.
Farewells
were said to Joan Warren recently as
she left the area for Cumbria. For the
last few 
years
Joan has been Branch Secretary until
she retired from the post in April.
During her period in office she has
been instrumental in taking the branch
forward in many ways and we shall miss
her commitment and enthusiasm. She has
left the Branch to live in the Lake
District where, with her sister, she
will be running their holiday cottage
business.
We wish her happiness in the future and hope
that once in a while she might visit
her friends here in North Oxfordshire.
A farewell quarter peal was rung at
Great Tew on July 15th.(see peal page
for details). The photo shows the
quarter peal band.
At the risk of embarrassing our secretary Heather Hughes. Can I congratulate her on behalf of the branch for completing her 'Race for Life' event' at Heythrop on Sunday June 24th. She managed to run and walk the course. If you're interested in seeing how her day went and how the fund raising is going look at her webpage at www.raceforlifesponsorme.org. Below is a letter from Heather to the Branch.
This
years Striking Competition was held at
Steeple Aston on Friday 
June
15th. The six teams from the Branch
that took part were judged by the Rev.
Anthony Ellis, Rector of Kidlington.
The winning team was Steeple Aston
with 13 faults, followed closely by
Great Tew on 17 faults. Third was
Tadmarton, fourth Cropredy, fifth
Mollington and sixth Bodicote. Around
about seventy people gathered after
the competition in the village hall
for food and the results. The raffle
raised just over a £100 which was
donated to Heather's 'Race for Life',
This bought the current total she has
raised to £3450.
Some of those who took part can be seen gathered in Steeple Aston village hall.
The AGM was held on Saturday April 21st at Duns Tew. There was a good attendance with around about 40 members and visitors for tea. A number of new members were elected to the Guild. On reaching 50 years Guild membership. Diana Reeves of Mollington was presented with a certificate to mark the occasion. She was also given a copy of the minutes for the meeting at which she was elected a member. In the Branch Representatives report it was mentioned that the Guild were considering changing Honorary Membership in the future to only those who had been members for the required number of years and were aged 70. The main change in Officers was the retirement of Joan Warren as secretary. Heather Hughes of Duns Tew has taken over this role. The Branch Chairman thanked Joan for all that she had done in the last five years. There was further ringing in the evening at Steeple Aston
At long last all the waiting is over. Cropredy bells have been lowered from the tower ready to be refurbished, tuned and augmented. The work is being undertaken by Whites of Appleton with Cropredy ringers assisting on site. Below is a picture of the tenor bell after it has been lowered to the ground.
On Saturday March 10th approximately forty members and guests sat down to a meal at the Joiners Arms in Bloxham. This was a new venue for the ringers dinner and was an excellent choice. Everyone enjoyed the meal which was very efficiently served by the staff. After the meal instead of the usual ringing related speaker we were entertained by Brian Weston -'A country yokel'. His rural humour brought tears to the eyes of many of those present. A big thank you goes to Lindsey Smith for organising another wonderful evening and to Heather for her assisting her.
On
Saturday 3rd March, Mollington
celebrated 25 years since their bells 
were augmented and rehung. Margaret
Stear introduced the evening and Bob
Reeves then gave us a very interesting
slide show, with pictures of the old
bells being taken out, the casting of
the new bells at Whitechapel, and the
reinstalling of the bells.
The person who featured most
prominently in the pictures of the
work in the Church, and who obviously
did most of it, was Graham Reeves
(then aged about 11!) Whites of
Appleton rehung the bells.
Next were the Silver Bells handbell
team. Bob Reeves conducted, by
pointing with a pencil to the
appropriate point in the the music as
they rang. The 
team concentrated ever
so hard, as you can see in the photo
and the resulting sound was very
musical.
We were then treated to some songs,
sung by soprano Michelle Taylor,
accompanied by Margaret Stear on the
piano, and again the Church was filled
with beautiful music.
During the interval we were served
with "wine and nibbles".
This description does not do it
justice, as it was extremely varied
and very appetising.
In the second half, Bob and Graham
Reeves did a double act. They had lots
of old (black-and-white) photographs
of the village, with modern colour
photos of the same views. Graham had
put them all on his laptop, and
provided some modern wizardry which
enabled him to show the photos
separately and then to display them
side-by-side on the screen whilst Bob
gave a running commentary about all
the views
At the end, the Vicar, the Rev. Pat
Freeth, thanked all the people who had
worked so hard to make the evening a
success. It was a most enjoyable
entertainment, and we all intend to
come to Mollington's "Golden
Bells". A profit of £367 was
made towards a new set of
ropes.
Alan Griffin
Outing to Northampton on February 10th
On
a cold and slightly wet Saturday
approximately 20 members of the branch
and friends enjoyed an outing in the
Northampton Area. This began on the
twelve at Towcester where we were
broken in gently with Grandsire
Cinques. This was soon adjusted to
something slightly easier, rounds and
call changes on twelve. We eventually
built up to Little Bob Maximus.
We then moved on to the 
people who rang the tenor would
need holding down on the box. We then
split for lunch, before meeting back
at Holy Sepulchre (8). As well as
enjoying the ringing here we also
enjoyed looking at the set up of the
church and its five altars. The final
tower in
The last tower of the day was the six
at Blisworth, where nobody turned up
to meet us. Eventually the tower
captain was rung and distracted from
the rugby to let us in. From here
about fifteen of the party headed for
an enjoyable and filling meal at the
Sun Inn at Whitfield. Thanks go to
Roger for once again organising an
excellent outing.
Catherine Stanworth
The
Quiz Night this year was held at
Bodicote with about forty five members
and friends attending. There were a
number of question rounds and three
ongoing rounds that taxed the brain.
Identifying trees from their seeds,
the faces of the famous and birds from
cryptic clues proved to be popular and
challenging. Lindsey and Rolf Smith
acted as question masters with Heather
Hughes setting the questions. An
excellent meal prepared by 
Vicki
Clifton was taken half way through the
quiz. Steeple Aston (1) ran out
winners closely followed by Tadmarton.
The treasure hunt winner was Stephen
Day from Cropredy. Thanks go to the
social committee for yet another
excellent and entertaining evening.
The photo to the right shows Stephen receiving his prize of 'gold' for winning the treasure hunt.
A Happy New Year to everyone in the Branch from the Newsletter Editors. As usual the New Year was rung in across the Branch. This included the bells pealing out at midnight in Adderbury, Banbury, Bloxham, Bodicote, Cropredy, Deddington, Great Tew and Steeple Aston. On New Year's Day there was a very good turn out at Banbury for the annual New Years Day ringing.
Tadmarton did not ring New Years Eve but rang for the New Years Day Clypping service. This started as a millennium celebration based on an old tradition performed at Painswick church in Gloucestershire. 'Clypping' means embracing the church and the faith it stands for. Local people join hands round the church to form an unbroken chain and then sing the 'Clypping Hymn' as part of an open air service. This custom dates back to 1321 and formed part of the village fair celebrations at Painswick.