Belfry Gossip
Congratulations to our Belfry Quiz Team who completed 2001 on another winning streak by coming first at the Branch Quiz Evening held at Great Doddington in December. They
easily saw off the many teams representing other towers in the area.
We didn’t realise we had another "Whizz-kid" among our ringers until she actually won one of Ann Robinson’s "Weakest Link" programmes. Clarissa lives just over the county boundary in Bedfordshire, but usually rings with us on Friday evening practice nights.
Being a great supporter of the Rushden Historical Transport Society, she decided to donate her winnings to their fund for extending the railway
line further towards Higham Ferrers. She joined us for a celebratory quarter
peal to commemorate her well-deserved win – and she was competing against
millionaires!
We didn’t make 50. Sadly we only notched up 49 quarter peals during 2001. However we are again delighted to report that 47 of them were specifically rung for Sunday Services. This surely is what ringing is all about. Very often these Sunday evening
quarter peals are also dedicated to other events such as birthdays, special
anniversaries etc. and so we are always pleased to accept any requests
– do please let us know.
Recently we rang especially to celebrate the Golden Wedding of Sheila and Derek Tansley and for the 101st birthday of Leslie Sanders.
Regular Gossip readers will recall that we rang a quarter peal in memory of an American gentleman, Haydn Dewey Crowe who had married Edna, a Rushden girl, way back at the end of the Second World War. Just before Christmas we were thrilled to meet Edna while she was visiting her relatives in the town. She had her photograph taken with the ringers and also made a most generous donation to the belfry fund as a token of her appreciation for our ringing and sending her a tape of the quarter peal. She said, "I can now play the tape over and over again and visualise you pulling the ropes – it brings tears to my eyes".
Our Christmas and New Year ringing was successfully accomplished. Unfortunately we were not able
to ring our customary quarter peal after the service Carols by Candlelight
but the early Christmas morning ringing saw seven of us pulling the ropes.
Our A.G.M., usually held in January, has been put back until February 1st. When you have an airline pilot in the tower, dates often have to be juggled
around to fit in with non-flying times. It will now be March before Tintinnabulum
can report on the meeting.
Much has recently been circulated about the Queen’s Golden Jubilee celebrations in June; concerts and firework displays in the Palace grounds, special church services, bell ringing throughout the land and plenty more. These events will undoubtedly all take place, but strictly speaking at the wrong time of the year. The actual date of the Queen’s Accession, way back in 1952, was February 6th, which in 2002 falls on a Wednesday. The ringers have therefore decided to commemorate the event with a full 3-hour peal on the afternoon of February 6th. Wednesday afternoon shoppers will love to hear the bells.
We recently welcomed a new but experienced ringer to the belfry. He has already joined in our quarter peals on Sunday evenings. Having moved from Tadcaster, in North Yorkshire, he now resides in Raunds and worships at the Parish Church.