On Promotion Sunday, young bell ringer Hayden Musham received an award for ringing his first quarter peal during the past year.
Hayden learnt to ring at the start of 2017, rang his first quarter peal in 2018 and has now rung a total of 5 quarter peals; 4 at St Andrew’s and one at North Ockendon. A quarter peal involves about 45 minutes of continuous ringing.
The prize received was a ringing record book and a book containing diagrams of the whole range of bell ringing patterns or methods.
The photograph shows Hayden receiving his prize from Ken Wylie together with Clive Stephenson.
On Saturday July 6th 2019, 24 teams of young bell ringers from all over the country descended on Liverpool to test their bell ringing skills in the annual National Youth Striking Contest.
Local young ringers from Hornchurch and North Ockendon were part of an Essex team of 8 ringers that were drawn to ring at St Francis Xavier, a Roman Catholic church in Everton, Liverpool. The church has 8 bells with a tenor of 16cwt or ¾ ton. (See picture below)
The Essex team consisted of 2 girls and 6 boys with William Beech (North Ockendon) ringing the 4th bell, Ethan Musham (Hornchurch) ringing the 6th and Sam Beech (North Ockendon) ringing the 7th and conducting the changes.
Each team had 15 minutes in the tower; 6 minutes were used to practise (and make adjustments) and then the competition piece of 160 changes followed.
Sam called the bells to swap places with each other (Call Changes) so that the musical combinations of Queens and Whittingtons were achieved, with the bells starting and finishing in rounds. This took about 7-8 minutes.
The accuracy and evenness of the ringing was judged from outside the tower and each team was awarded a score.
The Essex team rang extremely well finishing in an amazing 3rd place out of the 17 teams in the Call Change Category.
Many congratulations to everyone who took part!
Following the competition, each team had the opportunity to ring at churches in and around Liverpool including Penny Lane (8 bells), Pier Head (12 bells; tenor 41cwt or 2 ton) and Liverpool Cathedral (12 bells; tenor 82cwt or 4 ton). The tenor at Liverpool Cathedral is so heavy that 2 people are needed to ring the bell at any one time!
The photo shows Sam and Ethan ringing the 5th and 7th respectively at Liverpool Cathedral.
On Tuesday 25th June 2019, the bells at St Andrew’s, Hornchurch were rung in memory of Thomas Wilson to raise money for his charity which supports raising awareness of Organ Donation.
Tom Wilson died, aged 22, from an accident whilst hockey training in 2016. Following the accident, Tom’s internal organs and tissues were transplanted for the benefit of others.
A local lad who attended Coopers’ Company and Coborn School, Tom was the son of Lisa, a new bell ringer recruited for the Ringing Remembers campaign.
Fellow bell ringers decided to dedicate the ringing on 25th June to Tom on what would have been his 26th birthday.
The bells were rung continuously for 2 hours with as many people taking part as possible. The bell ropes were swapped from person to person in the form of a relay so that the bells were kept ringing for the whole time.
Everyone who took part made a contribution to the Tom Wilson Memorial Charity raising a total of £588.52 for the fund.
This is a very impressive amount and our thanks go to everyone who took part, supported and gave money. A special thanks to Jeanette and Doreen for organising the refreshments.
Just after 7.30am on Saturday 27th April, a coach full of 57 bell ringers and friends left St Andrew’s for Suffolk.
Our first stop was the market town of Halesworth with it’s antique shops and old-fashioned coffee shops. The bells here were heavy and quite challenging but a nice piece of Superlative Major was rung.
The next stop was Bungay, a redundant church in the middle of town with a magnificent tower that can be seen from miles around. Some successful ringing of Grandsire Triples and Lincolnshire Major was achieved.
Our buffet lunch was well received before our stop at Beccles with it’s detached tower and splendid views over the Waveney Valley. The 10 bells here were the heaviest and most musical of the day. We rang well with Hayden and Jane successfully ringing Plain Hunt on 9.
Our final stop at Lowestoft were an easy-going set of 8 bells rung from the ground floor. Eileen, Angela and Val all rang well with Val ringing the 6th of the 8 to rounds and Hayden ringing the tenor well to Plain Bob Triples.
The day concluded with a well-earned dinner in the local pub and back to Hornchurch, tired but happy after our very enjoyable day out.
The bell ringers’ Autumn coach outing, organised by Adam, Gavin and Leonie, took us to some relatively easy-going bells in the Reading area.
Our first stop was Caversham, a busy town on the outskirts of Reading where the bells allowed a good variety of ringing including Plain Bob, Stedman and Double Norwich. It was good to see Margaret (Waller) back ringing so well after her knee and hip replacements.
A long walk from the coach to St Giles in Reading was followed by a welcome lunch break and then on to the 6 bells of South Stoke where we rang a nice course of Cambridge Minor, with John (Church) keeping us right on the treble.
We then went back to Reading for the biggest challenge of the day on the 12 bells of St Laurance. The bells have a tenor of 23cwt but were easy to ring and most of the ringers managed rounds on 12, many for the first time. We finished with Plain Hunt on 11 with 18 year old Alex Blissett keeping a good steady beat on the tenor.
At Shiplake, our last stop, the bells were the best of the day with everyone enjoying the ringing and, of course, dinner together in the local pub afterwards. Congratulations to our organisers, especially Adam (Carpenter) who worked hard to put the day together.
A full peal of Kent Royal lasting exactly 3 hours was rung at St Andrew’s for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on Saturday 19th May.
The peal was arranged so that the bells were actually ringing during the service at St George’s Chapel in Windsor.
Full details of the peal are:
Hornchurch, Essex
St Andrew
Saturday, 19 May 2018 in 3 hrs
5000 Kent Treble Bob Royal
Composed by Donald F Morrison
1. John A Hall
2. Matthew E Rayner
3. Jillian Laken
4. Jon Waters
5. David E Rothera
6. Anthony J Bloomfield
7. Timothy G M Jones
8. Stephen C Wood
9. Roderic K Bickerton
10. Clive J Stephenson (C)
Rung for and during the wedding of HRH Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex
On Saturday 14th April, a full coach of 56 ringers and friends set off for the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire.
After a cold week in Essex, the sun came out and a two and a half hour drive brought us to our first stop in Chipping Norton. A welcome cup of coffee and some good ringing saw us on our way to our lunch stop in Moreton-in-Marsh.
Young Ringers at Moreton
The afternoon took us to the picturesque Bourton-on-the-Water in the middle of the Cotswolds with its many gift shops and tea shops along the River Windrush in the centre of town.
Ringers at Bourton-on-the-Water
Our final stop at Stow-on-the-Wold presented us with a heavy ring of 8 bells. At 27cwt, the tenor weighs one and a half times as much as Hornchurch but we managed well and enjoyed some of the best ringing of the day topped only by an excellent evening meal before our long drive home.
Joan Peacock learnt to ring at Tring in Hertfordshire. Following the war, her long career in the Personnel Department of May & Baker brought her to Essex where she joined the Hornchurch band in 1946 and made rapid progress under the guidance of then master, Frank Gant.
Her cheerful personality earned her many friends including the Salisbury brothers, Dulcie Wright, Lionel Woods, Chris Pain and John Stephenson who remember her with affection. She was helpful to the learners and rang 9 peals at Hornchurch including a notable performance for The Queen’s Coronation in 1953:
The Essex Association
Hornchurch, St Andrew
On 2nd June 1953 in 3hrs 3mins
5056 Plain Bob Major
Comp: D.W.Beard
1. Mrs Dorothy Wright
2. Joan Peacock
3. Jimmy Carrott
4. Donald Salisbury
5. Colin Wright
6. Sid Penfold
7. Andy Salisbury
8. Frank Gant (c)
Rung for The Queen’s Coronation
100th peal – 8
She remained an active member of the Hornchurch band for more than 50 years and was a life member of The Essex Association. Following her retirement from ringing in the late 1990’s, she remained an active rambler into her mid 80’s and could always be found pouring over the pages of The Ringing World for news of her old friends and colleagues.
She passed away on 18th March 2018, just short of her 92nd birthday. The photograph shows Joan at her 90th birthday party. A quarter peal was rung in thanksgiving for her life at Hornchurch on 8th April and is printed below.
She will be greatly missed.
Hornchurch, Essex St Andrew
Sunday, 8 April 2018
1280Spliced Surprise Major (8m)
(Standard 8)
1. Colin Friend
2. John W Stephenson
3. Louise Booth
4. Peter J Joyce
5. Christopher C M Pain
6. Clive J Stephenson
7. Andrew P Barham
8. Matthew E Rayner (C)
For Evensong and in thanksgiving for the life of Joan Peacock, a regular ringer at this tower for at least 50 years.
