The 2010 Edgmond outing was organised in Herefordshire by Mark Adams. Four ringers had escaped by the time John Williamson produced his camera at St James' church, Cradley.

Having set off on June 30th, Edric Broom completed his 300 mile charity bike ride from London to Paris on 3rd July. This effort has so far raised about £2250 (excluding Gift Aid) for Kidney Research UK. He is grateful to all his sponsors and reminds all members that late donations are still possible. I suspect he will be at the Association practice at Moreton Corbet on July 10th and would gladly receive donations, together with suggestions for his next ride - Everest Base Camp?  Australia coast to coast?

As well as the generous donation from the Bicton ringers noted below, we have received a donation of £50 from the PCC of St Mary's church, Kinnerley. This is in appreciation of the work the Association has done, mainly through Peter Woollam, our Bell Adviser, in checking the safety of their three bells, advising against 'clocking', and carrying out minor repairs and maintenance.

The BRF has made two grants this year: St Chad's church, Norton in Hales, applied for help funding the repainting of their bell frame. They received £1136.81, which also covered work to pulleys; All Saints' church, Wellington, have had a thorough overhaul of their bell fittings carried out by John Taylor & Co., of Loughborough. They have received the largest grant yet given by our fund - £2727.17, with a further £618.07 to be claimed when work to one of the wheels is satisfactorily concluded. The total grant of £3345.20 represented 10% of the balance in the fund when the grant was made, and is the maximum which could be awarded.

With grants of nearly £4500.00 made, this is the first year in which grants have exceeded income. This is in line with the changes to the rules made a couple of years ago at the instigation of the late Keith Buckingham and planned largely by Peter Woollam. It was hoped that the fund would become more active and not continue to grow automatically. The result, however, is that we need to maintain our fundraising efforts in order that we can continue to make worthwhile grants in future years. So please pay your subscriptions with a joyful heart (£4 currently goes to the BRF), don't ignore Peter's raffles or Brian Kear's 100 club, and think about including something for the Association in your will! 

Some time last year the Association Training Officer, Edric Broom, was asked if he could provide help with training the new band at Bicton. As a result, four or five committee members have appeared at Bicton about once a month on a Saturday morning. Two hours of intensive practice have led to an improvement in all the novices, some of whom are now visiting other local practices to increase their rate of progress. At the end of the last Bicton morning, after the traditional giant biscuits provided by Paul Roberts, Edward Swain presented the treasurer with a cheque for £144.00 on behalf of the band. Although all training and help is always offered on a voluntary basis, it was very pleasing to receive this generous donation to the work of the Association.

Congratulations to Paul Roberts, tower captain at Bicton, who rang his first quarter peal on June 4th. Paul has been instrumental over the last year in training a new band of ringers at Bicton. How long will it be before one of his trainees also rings his or her first quarter peal?

Among the 204 members attending the annual meeting of the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers at Derby on Bank Holiday Monday were the two Shropshire Association delegates, Nick Green and Alan Glover. Nothing was discussed or decided which will affect us in Shropshire in the short term, but thought was given to ways of addressing some of the problems which are just as prevalent in the rest of the country as they are in our area: the advancing average age of ringers; recruitment and retention of new ringers; efficient teaching of new ringers; and the effect on ringing of the perceived decline in the Church of England, whose buildings house most of the bells we use.

The proceedings will be reported in full in The Ringing World, but if any members have queries please contact either of your representatives.

On Saturday, 15th May, John Williamson of Newport extended the celebrations of his 70th birthday by ringing his first peal at Moreton Corbet. Congratulations to John, and it is to be hoped he does not wait another seventy years for his next attempt.

On May 13th, disquiet was expressed to the writer by two members regarding the inclusion over the last three years of their names and pictures on this web site without their explicit permission. Over 100 such mentions were removed within twelve hours. If any other members have similar concerns over their privacy or security, please contact the webmaster.

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John Williamson's 70th birthday

Following on from our successful quarter peal on John's big night, May 6th, just like the rest of the electorate we couldn't make up our minds (which pub to go to). On balance, the Vic was a good choice, not just for its position opposite the tower, but also for the free bottle of bubbly that was lavished on the birthday boy. Saturday saw another birthday party for John, this time in Cheswardine, when John's family and friends, young and old gathered for a slap up meal and excellent entertainment courtesy of the Gnosall hand bell ringers. It may be that John, Edric and Peter had rung hand bells before, or the drink that made them volunteer spontaneously to ring! But it sounded good.   Picture and report from John Stokes (Newport)

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New peal board at Hodnet

On September 1st, 2007, a peal was rung at Hodnet in memory of Keith Buckingham, who had made such a mark on the Association in his brief time with us.

On April 10th, 2010, seven of the ringers in the peal and Sue Buckingham's many children and their partners were joined by Kathryn Greaves, Gill Glover and Madeline Harris for an hour's ringing to mark the placing of a peal board in Hodnet ringing room. Sue's offspring demonstrated a wide range of ringing ability. After the photographs, all present were entertained by Sue to lunch at the Bear.

The April quarterly meeting was held at Ruyton XI Towns on Saturday 10th, with most of the usual suspects in attendance, plus glimpses of less commonplace visitors from Oswestry and Baschurch. Nick Green, Ringing Master, kept the bells going in a wide variety of methods. The business meeting took far less time than the two draws. Three new members were elected: Cynthia Hedley of Clive; Ann Greenwood of Albrighton; and Alison Caton as a non resident life member. Mention was made of the training morning on April 24th and the summer social event - a barbecue at High Ercall on June 12th. For the latter, Kathryn Greaves would be pleased to be approached by those able to offer help with desserts or salads. Tickets will be on sale at £5.00 from the usual outlets (Kathryn and Jacqui Barden).

The Association bell adviser informed the meeting that he had approved the work of cleaning and repainting the frame at Norton in Hales and authorised the payment of £1054.56 from the Bell Restoration Fund towards the cost. He has also carried out some remedial and repositioning work on the pulleys. The work to the clappers, bearings and pulleys at Wellington has been started. This project will also be grant aided from the BRF. Brian Kear informed the meeting that a ringing gallery was to be installed at Ruyton XI Towns, and the opportunity would be taken to improve the rope drops at the same time. Andrew Gordon announced that a faculty covering the augmentation of Beckbury from 3 to 6 had been applied for.

The raffle raised £30 to replenish the BRF. The winners were Nick Green, Andy Gordon and Ernie Martin.

The 100 club now has 93 members, and Brian Kear is keen to find at least seven more. The first draw of the current season was held and the winners were: Ringers A and B (Baschurch) £40; Chris Fraser (Shawbury) £20; Paul Roberts (Bicton) £15; Edric Broom (Edgmond) £10; Amanda Craig (Shrewsbury) £10; Andy Harris (Oswestry) £10.

The next practice meeting is on May 8th at Leaton and Bicton.

A quarter peal of Grandsire Doubles was rung at Atcham on Wednesday 25th March to mark the arrival of two promising recruits for the local band. They are pictured below with the quarter peal ringers.

On Saturday, 24th April, the latest Association training morning was held on the simulator at Edgmond Ringing Centre. It was pleasing to see some different faces among the students, although some of the helpers were all too familiar. Most of the students came from Bicton, indeed from the same family in Bicton, with Graham, Sonia and Edward Swain being joined by Trevor Stevenson to work on call changes. Neil Micklewright from Market Drayton made progress with plain hunting, while Geoff Harding of Baschurch worked on Grandsire Triples. Edric Broom, Association Training Officer, ensured all ran smoothly, and the helpers were Jacqui Barden, Sue Buckingham, Jad Bienek, Kathryn Greaves, Gill and Alan Glover, Nick Green, Adrian Roberts and, most importantly, Madeline Harris, who provided the cakes.

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By conducting an enjoyable quarter peal of Grandsire Caters on March 14th, Brian Kear reached the personal milestone of one thousand quarters. In addition to the demanding posts of Association Librarian and 100 Club czar, Brian has been organising quarters regularly for a number of years. These have not only allowed him to chip away at his target, but have given opportunities for useful practice to many members of the Association.

Norman started to learn to ring in the first week of January, 1960, together with his brother Robert and Norman (Biddy) Thomas.  The ringers at that time were Tom Hinks (captain) Albert Foster, Gill Morgan, Eddie Speed, Sid Furber, Jack Dakin, Tom Forrester and Ron Pace.

During his 50 years of ringing, he has rung for 90 plus weddings and missed only two New Year’s Eve Peals, because there were insufficient ringers.

Over the years he has taught and helped to teach over thirty people, including today's current team of ringers  however, some have moved out of the area, given up or unfortunately died.

Norman said, “It is a hobby I have enjoyed and I am always pleased when people comment on how nice it is to hear the bells. I hope that the church bells will be rung for many years to come and more members of Church will want to learn to ring.  We used to ring for morning services and evensong until the evening services ceased.  I am willing to teach anyone of any age, over 11 years”.

After ringing on Sunday, Norman together with the current ringers -  Rachel Carter, Doreen Hopwood, Steve Clarke, John Patrick and Roger West raised a celebratory glass of champagne to the next 50 years!

Last Saturday saw another flurry of ringing activity in Newport when a 'FATHER AND SON' team pulled out all the stops (or should it be ropes) to ring a quarter peal of Grandsire Doubles to commemorate Graham Talbot's 60 years of bellringing at St. Nicholas tower and Richard Talbot's 25 years of doing likewise. The local people were very pleased to hear the melodic sound of the bells drown out the awful racket of the road drillers nearby! I don't think many towers have a 'Father & Son' team that are actively ringing a quarter peal for one of the Dads celebrating his 60 years of ringing at the same tower!

Graham Talbot was also celebrating 30 years of winding the clock and 48 years as sidesperson at St. Nicholas.