Outing to Hereford

Having lived in Hereford for about 14 months, I organised the Bedwardine Guild outing there which took place on 24th October. It was nice to see everyone again, as they began congregating at the first tower - Stoke Edith. Some good ringing was had on these heavy-going bells, and we drove the few miles to our next tower - Lugwardine. It was interesting for the Bedwardine Guild to be ringing at another "-wardine," though I believe the locals pronounce it "Lugwardeen," in contrast to our Bedwardine. Either way, this was lost on Nigel who misnamed it "Lugworth!" Unfortunately we could only ring on seven bells, as there was some kind of mechanical problem with one of them.

​

We then made our way to Hereford town. The intention was to eat our packed lunches in my dining room, but someone had double-locked the front door and my secondary key didn't work. The scorn of Nigel and Paul soon evaporated when they also failed to unlock the door! We ate in the Cathedral garden instead, which was fine.

​

We then walked to St. Nicholas, the final tower of the day, and had some nice 8-bell ringing here. The outing ended with some hot drinks in the famous All Saints Church cafe (I had tried to book the bells here for the outing, but the tower captain was concerned that this would irritate locals, in view of some earlier ringing there.) Unfortunately I had to leave the party early, due to a peal that evening in the Forest of Dean.

​

There were one or two physical photographs of the day, but these are difficult to find and not so easy to upload online.

​

2010

                                                                  Festival Weekend

2010 was an odd year, as Dave Maynard didn't join us, but it was still a hugely enjoyable weekend. It was the epitome of why the St. John the Baptist patronal festival is such a perfect time of year to have such a weekend. As Nigel, the Guild Master, would often remark, you get those few days near the end of June when the weather is perfect; so still and sunny.

And so it was on a glorious, sunny Friday evening that we congregated once more for the opening quarter peal, which was rung on the first class six at Earls Croome (surely one of the best sixes of their weight.) The ringing was excellent, as corroborated by a recording that I had made of the entire quarter peal (sadly there was only space to keep a small excerpt of this.) The locals had kindly provided us with some water, which we drank in the churchyard afterwards.

Paul, Nigel, and myself then nipped over to Powick to raise the flag at St. Peter's church (who share their patronal festival with John the Baptist.) As it was such a glorious, still evening we spent a long time on the tower roof, drinking in the sight of the wonderful countryside below. Many country towers offer good views, but Powick really does take some beating. I seem to remember that we saw the sun set, and the moon come out. It was a wonderful part of the weekend.

The following morning we rang an excellent peal at Powick. This turned out to be the last peal rung by John Clements, who was a veteran of West Worcestershire peal ringing, in addition to being a great supporter of the regular Surprise practices, quarters, and peals at St. John's. I have always found it a pity that John's last peal was not the one rung shortly before this at Hanley Castle, which was the 1000th peal of his son Mike, and included an entirely family band. It was also nice to ring a peal with Alex Reeves of Upper Cam, Gloucestershire, who's parents were great supporters of St. John's church, where I believe Alex had learnt to ring.

We then went on to ring a quarter peal at St. Swithun's. It was either on this occasion, or the following year, that we climbed on to the roof of the tower. It was very interesting to see the views of the city from this angle, though frustrating that a building obscures the view of St. John's tower, making it impossible to fully see it, no matter where you stand!

Once again, the upstairs room in the Brunswick Arms was the dinner venue, and I believe that this was the first year in which two tables were used to accommodate everyone. This was because we were joined by a number of Powick ringers, in addition to Revd Sue Irwin, the vicar of Powick. When St. John's bells had first become suspended for ringing in November 2007, our practices rotated around St. Swithun's, Hallow, and All Saints. St. Swithun's soon became replaced with Powick, and by the 2010 dinner all of the practices were held at Powick. It was with gratitude, then, that we invited the Powick ringers to join us at our dinner. It was probably at this dinner when the Master mentioned in his speech the valuable friendship between St. John's and Powick over the years, but also the importance of maintaining individual identities, though still supporting each other mutually. As was often the case at Bedwardine Guild dinners, some people weren't warned in advance that they were going to be speaking, including the vicar of Powick who had a word with the Master about this afterwards!

The excellent weather continued for the next day, and we rang a very good quarter peal of London Minor at Leigh. It was appropriate to have local ringer Chris Phillips ringing, as he had apparently been to some of the very first Bedwardine Guild dinners. The rest of the Kinnersley family had been listening outside, and we all played a game of football afterwards in the churchyard! A lovely finish to a wonderful weekend.

                                                          Western Branch Striking Competition

Some more lovely weather was enjoyed at the branch striking competition at Kempsey, on Saturday 10th July. Nigel and I wandered over to the River Severn, which runs very close to the church, and enjoyed the resplendent views of the Malvern Hills (which look ever so slightly more distant from this spot.) You can also see the tower of Powick church from here, a mile or so across the river. The beautiful bells of Kempsey (still a ring of six at that point) rolled elegantly across this tranquil area.

I rang for the St. John's team and we had an excellent test piece, though the practice had been even better! The fall & rise section was poor, and we came last for this. However, we won the main competition, of which the results were:

St. John's, Worcester:- 30 faults, 1st place

Great Malvern:- 48 faults, 2nd place

Shrawley:- 50 faults, 3rd place

Powick:- 70 faults, 4th place

Having won the competition while St. John's bells were out of action would have been a great boost for morale. Apparently it was the first time for 76 years that our tower had won the competition, though this was mainly because much of that time period had involved many years of non-attendances.

2011

                                                                        Festival Weekend

Though we didn't know it at the time, this was sadly the last ever Bedwardine Guild Festival Weekend (but not the last dinner - that was held in October 2012.) On the Friday 24th June my hoasts and I went into St. John's church to look at the bells, which were on the floor of the muniment room at the foot of the tower. The restoration work on the tower and bellframe was taking place, after nearly four years of silence. I have two photos of the bells, but technical difficulties make it a bit difficult to upload these at the moment. It was certainly very strange seeing them there, having rung on them and loved them so much. I was looking forward to ringing them again. While at the church, I met the late Arthur "Bill" Berry for the first time. He was a really nice, gentle soul.

The glorious weather that had been so evident on the Friday evening the previous year was not repeated on this Friday, and we made our way for the opening quarter peal at Kempsey in the lashing rain. Myself and three other Bedwardine Guild members had been friends of the Kempsey band and regular visitors to their practice night for a few years, so it was nice to have some ringing there for our festival weekend. The bells were augmented to eight the following year. When Nigel went to drop the tower key back at the nearby cottage of Phillip and Noreen Barker-Brown, Phil invited us in for a drink. I don't recall that Noreen was there, but we had a lovely chat with Phil. Interestingly, I first came across Phil in 2006 before I knew he was a ringer - being a retired teacher, he would sometimes cover lessons at my school in St. John's, and he covered one of my English classes before I had known him to be a ringer! On the same day he had covered registration for my older brother, and suddenly started reminiscing about when he had been tower captain of the Cathedral ("You'll have to speak up, I'm a bit deaf, as I used to be tower captain at the Cathedral, and we used to go up to the bells and watch them swinging round.") My brother listened to this in amazement, and was frustrated that I wasn't there to hear this - he even looked out of the window towards the science block, where my tutor group was, wishing that I knew about ths amazing revelation!

Back to 2011, we awoke bright and early on dinner day, and rang a good peal - the last ever Bedwardine Guild Festival Weekend peal. On a technical note, this was quite possibly the first 20-part peal composition of Grandsire Triples ever rung, and more information about the composition can be found here. Luckily the weather was nicer that day, and - most unusually for the festival weekend - we made our way for some wedding ringing, taking place at Upton Snodsbury (in the churchyard at Dodderhill we fancied we could hear bells, which could be explained by a possible wedding taking place at St. Peter's, Droitwich.) Rebecca joined us at Upton Snodsbury, with some other Bedwardine Guild members. The local at Upton Snodsbury warned us that the stay was cracked on the treble, but due caution wasn't enough to prevent the bell from overturning! I can't remember whether Paul went upstairs during the service to do a temporary repair or whether we simply rang it without a stay, but at any rate we started ringing the back five after the service, while Paul rang up the treble at the same time, to avoid the cacophony of raising the treble on its own.

After this we rang a quarter peal at St. Swithun's, and three of us then had a hot drink at the nearby Marks & Spencers cafe, involving many anedotes and much laughter!

As was the case in 2010, we had two tables in the upstairs room of the Brunswick Arms to accommodate for our Powick friends who had allowed kind use of their bells while St. John's had been out of action. Apart from this, I don't remember much about the 2011 dinner. Little did we know that in a few months the Bedwardine Guild would soon become full-time Powick ringers, and would resign from St. John's very soon before the completion of the tower restoration.

The weather was much improved the following morning, and after service ringing at Powick, we had a lovely trip out to Croome D'Abitot for the the concluding quarter peal. This church is situated in Croome Park and was purpose built for Croome Court, a major National Trust sight. Croome Park covers a huge area, containing all sorts of buildings, streams, etc. The church overlooks one of the best scenes of the Malvern Hills, showing a full and unbroken view of the entire range. I think that we went up to the top of the tower on this occasion where, of course, the view is even better! Ringing had only been reinstated to Croome a month earlier thanks to the hard DIY work done by two Bedwardine Guild members and a non-ringing relative who is a master carpenter. Sunday afternoon Quarters are rung there weekly, for the "entertainment of the visitors to Croome Park."

(Though I hardly remember this, there was also a quarter peal at Spetchley, which was probably rung before we went to Croome.)

We then went our separate ways after a very successful weekend.

2012

Ringing returned to St. John-in-Bedwardine in November 2011, four years to the month since the last practice night there, but sadly most of the Bedwardine Guild had resigned from the tower not long before this and had adopted Powick as their new home tower.

​

I remember at the end of May 2012 there was a Bedwardine Guild gathering at Croome D'Abitot one a Sunday afternoon for general ringing. Unfortunately I couldn't be there due to revision for my A-level finals, but I heard that the event was in some ways quite melancholy, with memories of years gone by at their old home.

​

                                                                                     Dinner

This was the last Bedwardine Guild dinner ever held, and is always remembered in my mind as quite a sad occasion. For one thing there was no Festival Weekend with lots of ringing - just the dinner itself. Instead of being held in June on the nearest Saturday to the patronal festival, the 2012 dinner was in October (I'm fairly certain it was Saturday 20th October.) There weather was what could be expected for the time of year. From a personal perspective, there was an added sadness for me that I had finished my two enjoyable A-level years, and didn't know what I wanted to do next. As had been the case for many years, the dinner was held in the upstairs room of the Brunswick Arms, Malvern Road.

​

                                                                                 Post 2012

Apart from the regular ringing at Powick, there have been occasional meet-ups of the old gang. Some traditions carried on, such as the September churches cycle ride, the annual bonfire party at Nigel's house on Guy Fawkes Night, and taking part in the Western Branch ringing at St. Swithun's for the Christmas Fayre (more on some of these below.) In August 2014 I organised a day of ringing in Worcester to celebrate my ten years of ringing. In 2015 there was a get-together at Croome D'Abitot for John who was soon going to leave for university, and this included general ringing followed by a picnic in Croome Park.

                                                                                 Omissions

There are some traditions, one-off events, and anecdotes which I haven't mentioned above. Having only learnt to ring in 2004, there are plenty of things that happened before my time, so it is inevitable that I am not able to write about these here.

One important event in 2008 that I forgot to mention was Rebecca Utting's wedding in Mathern, Monmouthshire. Rebecca was one of the original two members of the "Young St. John's Society," and a large party of Bedwardine Guild members went to enjoy the day. A quarter peal at Dodderhill was rung on the Friday night, and a quarter peal at Mathern on the day of the wedding. The following weekend we had another get-together, with more ringing. A peal of Cambridge Major on Saturday 23rd February 2008 was lost after 2 hours, 22 minutes. After the pub we rang at quarter peal at Powick, followed by a quarter on the rough old four at Spetchley. This building is looked after by the Churches Conservation Trust, and there is ringing there for the occasional services. We then went to Paul's house for a curry and a chat - a very enjoyable part of the weekend. After that we attended at Western Branch Stedman Triples practice at Claines.

​

In Worcester there is (or was) a lovely tradition of ringing at St. Swithun's for the Victorian Christmas Fayre. The opening ceremony of the Fayre would be on the Thursday night in the last week of November, and there would be ringing to mark this, with a special touch when the parade would walk from the Guildhall right past the church. There would also be ringing on the following Saturday morning. The ringing would be by members of the WDCRA Western Branch - most notably from Droitwich and Malvern, and a strong contingent from the Bedwardine Guild. Afterwards many of us would go round the fair, both on the Thursday night and the Saturday morning. This was always a highly enjoyable way of beginning the festive season. I well remember the first time I rang for this, in 2005 at the age of eleven. At the time, St. Swithun's was only the third tower I had ever rung at, and the magic of ringing for the fair on the Thursday night in that dark, old-fashioned, atmospheric ringing chamber, with the wintery views of the high street out of the window, has never left me. And then the double measure of ringing there again the following Saturday morning - atmospheric in a contrasting way.

​

A tradition that began, I think, after ringing had been suspended at St. John's was a bonfire at Nigel's house on Guy Fawkes Night. This was always great fun, with much humour - inevitable ingredients at a Bedwardine Guild event. On one occasion the fire escalated to the extent that neighbours complained, causing Nigel to comically attempt to calm the fire with a hosepipe! It was always a real treat of an evening, and the little house was always packed with Bedwardine Guild members, friends, and family.

                                                            In conclusion fun was the winner

After the 2006 Festival Weekend, the vicar of St. John's told me that the Bedwardine Guild was a spoof. The Master was surprised when I reported this to him, and replied: "But he's the patron of it!" I went back to the vicar, who said: "I don't mind being patron of a spoof!"

I found this rather upsetting, as the recent festival weekend had made me feel part of something really special - a real guild of ringers enjoying their annual dinner day, like the guilds that we hear about from previous centuries as well as those active in the present day. Indeed, I remember conversing at the 2006 dinner about how we were a real guild.

But perhaps it would appear that we were not a real guild at all. After all, we had no committee, no meetings, no constitution. Apparently one ringer had said that we weren't a real guild, because we didn't have any rules or codified constitution. Actually, we did have some rules written down on paper which were presented at one of the dinners, but these were only tongue-in-cheek, and meant purely for fun.

Does it make a difference that this constitution - of sorts - was not meant entirely seriously, but was more of a joke? Perhaps it could be argued that the entire tongue-in-cheek nature of the Bedwardine Guild dinners, the speeches, the write-ups afterwards, etc, adds weight to the claim that we were indeed just a spoof, and not a real guild at all.

But then again, perhaps it does not. For having now written about our festival weekends, and other events, I am more confident than ever that we definitely were a real guild. In addition to the weekly service ringing and practices at St. John's, we had the regular Friday evening quarter peals there, and the occasional peal attempts (referred to, jokingly, by Nigel as "The Progressive Peal Band." Sadly his ambition to ring a peal of 8-Spliced never happened - we lost two peals of 4 and 5-Spliced in 2008, but had achieved single method peals in five of the Standard Eight over the years.) There were the festival weekends, including a great deal of ringing, and other weekends of busy ringing. As can be seen above, these weekends of ringing would take us all over West Worcestershire. There were outings, and ringing for the New Year. And, importantly, there were get-togethers involving no ringing at all, purely to enjoy each others' company. I fondly remember one evening in about Winter 2007 when four of us met up in Pitchcroft to go to a fair.

On reflection, then, I think that the Bedwardine Guild of Change Ringers was a perfect example of an active and enthusiastic group of ringers; a real guild through and through, who I hope will be remembered in future years, and maybe even future centuries, as just that.