July Country Meeting 2015

Wimborne Minster

I was very pleased that the Society had received an invitation from Ben and Rosemary Duke to come to the Wimborne area, we had been once before with the meeting at Canford School and I remember us all having a great time on that occasion also.

Lots of planning went into the arrangements which encompassed the pre meeting peals, all day on Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning along with some quarter peals on the Friday and 3 open towers on the Saturday morning followed by ringing on the fine 12 at Wimborne Minster immediately before the meeting.

That is a lot of towers and careful thought went into the locations, a mix of 8 bell and 10 bell towers for the peal attempts. 13 peals were successful along with 5 quarter peals.

Holiday traffic and the resurfacing of the Dorchester bypass added to the interest and made a few peals rather later starts than anticipated, but, thanks to sterling efforts by the participants, some very enjoyable ringing was had.

The open towers were a good mix, the very nice anti-clockwise 6 at Gussage St Michael got things started, followed by the grand 8 at Cranborne in that fine village. Another nice 6 at Witchampton followed and then, after a lunch break, ringing at the Minster as mentioned. All the bells were enjoyed by a good crowd in fine weather. About 65 people rang at the Minster including a number from the morning peal bands.

We all then met in Church House, tea, coffee and biscuits were available and the business meeting started on time and was well attended.

Members spoke to the memory of Canon Geoffrey Brown, a past Vicar of St Martin in the Fields and an Honorary member of the Society along with Jo Moreton of Wakefield, a stalwart ringer and supporter of ringing over many years. May they rest in peace.

Two new members were elected, Claire O'Mahony and Andrew M Bull and they were both welcomed to the Society.

Mention was made of the upcoming triennial dinner in Norwich on Saturday 19th September and the AGM on Saturday 03rd October along with the London 12 bell competition on Saturday 24th October and peal weekend around the weekend of 21st / 22nd of November.

The meeting also discussed a request for a grant towards the work being proposed at St Peter Mancroft in Norwich and the officers recommendation was accepted by the meeting.

There were many congratulations to be mentioned:

Derek Sibson, Jane Sibson, Ian Smith, Rebecca Cox, Alan Regin, Ian Campbell and Raymond Clist were all present and were congratulated by those present.

At close of business it was announced that beer and wine were available downstairs and while that was all going on the meeting room was reconfigured for the meal, a great selection of beef, chicken or vegetarian with rice or noodles followed up by some great puddings. Two quizzes had been devised by Rosemary Duke and were enjoyed by all.

After everything the rooms were put in good order for the Church to use the next day.

Wonderful organisation had been undertaken by Ben and Rosemary Duke very ably assisted by David, Flick and Lucy Warwick, Trish and Eric Hitchens and Sue Smith among others. They were all warmly thanked for their efforts.

Alan Regin

View photos from this event in our gallery.

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No peals have been rung for the Society July Country Meeting.