Belfry Gossip
Jubilee Weekend:
What a marvellous weekend at the beginning of June to celebrate our Golden Jubilee. The peal on the Saturday afternoon, after all the preliminary photos were completed, took 2 hours 57 minutes and eight very sweaty bodies descended the tower to be met with equally humid air. However, a good peal and a splendid effort.A fortnight previous, the front cover and inside page of our weekly national newspaper, the Ringing World, was all about St. Mary’s. The article highlighted the weekend’s planned activities together with ringing at St. Mary’s over the last 50 years.
Our captain was interviewed live on BBC Radio Northampton’s Sunday Morning programme, informing listeners what to expect during the celebratory weekend.
The Service:
How lovely it was to welcome Michael and Vivienne Wilson back to St. Mary’s – they didn’t need any persuading! The ringers and everyone were delighted to see a packed church for the service of Holy Communion and to hear the congregation sing with such gusto – including the traditional ringers’ hymn. Our choir and organist, as usual, gave a splendid lead and the special anthem had carefully been chosen, being sung to a different setting at the original service in 1953.During the service and to the complete surprise of our captain, he received his 50-year membership certificate of the Peterborough Diocesan Guild of Ringers from the Guild President, Derek Jones.
The Rest of the Day:
After the superb lunch, ably organised by Brenda, together with the ringers, there were two toasts followed by a photo shoot. General ringing proceeded for the rest of the afternoon. The highlight of this was the Mayor of Rushden, Cllr. Robin Underwood, taking a rope and having a pull. Not having rung a bell for over 40 years, he put in a commendable performance.The quarter peal for the evening service, was successfully attempted with some good ringing by a representative band drawn from Rushden ringers over the past 50 years.
The Queen’s Golden Jubilee:
For the Queen’s Golden Jubilee on Monday June 2nd, our quarter peal attempt, after some excellent ringing, came to grief with only a few minutes to go – that’s ringing. However, we attempted the following Sunday and was still unsuccessful. Her Majesty will have to wait a bit. After this quarter we bade a sad farewell to John and Chris, who had travelled from Victoria in Canada to be with us for our celebrations. They are now safely back home.Web Site:
We keep a check on the number of hits on our web site and it was interesting to note that between the St. Mary’s article appearing in the Ringing World and during our Jubilee Weekend, there was a sudden surge of people entering the site. The power of modern communication is tremendous.Ivy Hodgkins:
We were delighted to ring for Ivy after her memorial service held at St. Mary’s. We were equally pleased that a total of £320 + 40 dollars were donated to the belfry fund in her memory – thank you to everyone who contributed.Heavy Expenses:
We are presently incurring some quite heavy bills. Since moving upstairs, several of our ropes have started to wear very badly, necessitating in the purchase of some new ones costing about £140 each. The trouble developed with the painting of the inside of the metal guide holes through which the ropes pass. This has now been rectified by taking down the guides, sand papering them and repainting with gloss paint.Trips up the Tower:
On the three mornings when the Ladies’ Fellowship are organising their strawberry and cream "teas" on the mornings of Saturday July 5th 12th and 19th, between 10am. and mid day, there will be further opportunities for anyone to climb the tower to see the bells and the new ringing chamber.Weddings:
The season is well and truly upon us. Last year most of the wedding couples were very disappointed at not having the bells because of all the restoration work. This year we can now ring as the couple move down the aisle and out through the west door.