R for E wishes bell ringers throughout the country a Most Happy Christmas and an exciting New Year.  Here is the church of St. Mary the Virgin of Great Bickhill in Milton Keynes with its seasonal coating.  It will be looking forward to the New Year when it will have two new bells added to the refurbished 6 which hopefully will all be ready for their first ring at Easter.

Rob Palmer, the Steward of the Guild and Tower Captain of Lilbourne gave the great news that the GUILSBOROUGH Branch of the Peterborough Diocesan Guild will be attempting the ‘Rolling Ring’ competition in 2016 to celebrate St. George’s Day. Guilsborough is not only a village, not only a Parish but also a Hundred in the county of Northamptonshire – in the heart of England.

How to get more ringers and perhaps engage with suppliers of their chief sustenance after ringing their hearts out – beer.  These were the reasons why Richard Harvey, the SE representative for SIBA, a consultant brewer of much experience, who also happens to be a bell ringer, kindly agreed to meet Libby Alexander of RforE in Salisbury recently.   It was an excellent meeting celebrated with a photo of St. Thomas’ within the city in the background where Richard can be found most Thursdays ringing out on its 8 bells.

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Great News – TAUNTON a branch of The Bath and Wells Diocesan Association, have decided to try their hand at creating a record with this challenge.  The Ringing Master for the branch, Jill Hansford, has told RforE that they wish to take part and are now busy organising their ringers and towers.  Taunton is the county town of Somerset and its largest church is St. Mary Magdalene, a Grade 1 listed building with 12 bells.  We wish them all Good Luck.

The ‘Rolling Ring’ challenge was sent out to all ringers in the country which was to ring out from as many towers as possible on April 23rd – St. George’s Day for next year.

The first branch to join in and start the ‘Rolling Ring’ are the great and good of the North Bucks Branch of the Oxford Guild. They are planning their towers and have even created a special logo to promote what will be their herculean effort. Many meetings have taken place and Libby Alexander was invited to be part of the early stages and is seen here with Linda Maycroft and Gary Reading of the Branch.

As you may well know next year 2016 is a Leap Year so St. George’s Day, April 23rd, is on a Saturday. This should help many more ringers to take to their bells to help celebrate the day.  RforE proposed the idea of a ‘Rolling Ring’ several years ago and the challenge has been taken up by one of the Guild’s Branches. In the past several cities have organised just such a type of ring but just within their cities, such as Bristol, Colchester, and Newcastle.  This Challenge would encourage the involvement of an entire Branch – Would your Branch be up for it?

The small village of Bletsoe in Bedfordshire, of just some two hundred souls, raised sufficient funds and gained a grant from the National Lottery to restore these special bells.  Cast in 1786 they are the first bells cast by Robert Taylor, the first Taylor whose family went on to create the present dynasty of John Taylor of Loughborough, Leics.

Libby Alexander was delighted to have been invited by the Tower Captain, Paul Vine to visit the tower and hear the story of the bells.  The Dedication Service took place on 6th September of this year and followed the ancient rites of a bell rope being passed from Simon Adams of the John Taylor Co, and it being handed to Edward Bean the Churchwarden.  He in turned handed the bell rope to the Bishop of Bedford, The Rt. Reverend Richard Atkinson who handed it to the Rector of St. Mary, The Reverend Martin Bailey.  He in turn handed the bell rope to the Tower Captain, Paul Vine and with each hand over blessings were said.

The church of St. Mary sits in the heart of the village and was mentioned in the Domesday Book in 1086. Its restored  6 bells now have a wonderfully rich and pure sound which Paul and his band are justifiably proud of. Any visiting band who wishes to ring out on these special bells would be most welcome and all they have to do is to contact Paul on : trishvine@btinternet.com

At the the kind invitation of Hamish McNaughton (third from the left) of Chichester Cathedral band I was invited to join them (second from the right) in the tower as they practised their 8 bell ring.  Several visitors from other towers also took part making the evening a happy experience . There are exciting plans afoot to create a teaching area to encourage new ringers of all ages from across West Sussex.

Here is a heartwarming story of how Reverend Becky Roberts organised the 900 year celebration of her ST. GEORGE’s church in a village just north of Salisbury, named HARNHAM on ST. GEORGE’S Day.  The village’s C of E Primary School children gathered together to watch Year 6 ring out a celebration for the church and for England’s Patron Saint on handbells so that in all, the children rang 900 times to the delight of everyone.  WELL DONE YEAR 6.

This happy band of ringers from St. Andrews in CONGRESBURY in Northern Somerset all rang out on ST.GEORGE’s Day.  And they are from left to right: John L Dunster, Lesley Chandler, Angela Slotte, Martin fey, Rachel Hawkins, Mark Chichester, Chris Hawkins, Wayne Faunt, and Ron Ballam.