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I am the Guest Editor
for this particular Newsletter, because Steve Cadd's computer decided to blow up
prior to him settling down to do it.
If you are of a certain age, you will remember when computers were essentially toys and their foibles were a way of life.
A blow-up was accepted on the basis that the technology was new and unreliability was expected.
Above all, computers rarely held sufficient data to be really
useful, so if disaster struck, it was only a fairly minor inconvenience
– but repairs were much more expensive relatively than a new computer
today. Now, of course, the computer is an essential part of life, like
the telly, radio or car, so when it goes wrong, it's a disaster –
particularly if essential data disappears into the ether, which may
have happened in Steve's case.
Being the Guild's centenary year, your Committee organised some extra
activity this summer. The first of these was the Centenary Party at
Todenham on 4th July.
The report published here was the one that appeared in The Ringing World
.
I remember this event as a really excellent one, helped
on by some lovely, genuinely-barbecue weather.
I remember, too, that the attendance at the tower tours leading to Todenham were low to start with, but they gradually eased upwards throughout the afternoon to produce some good attendances.
Read all about the Centenary Party, along with Peter Quinn’s evocative photos.
The second of these was the Guild's stand at the Moreton-in-Marsh Show.
This was the brainchild of Andrew Gunn (Hon Sec), who conceived the
idea some two years ago and put feelers out then. Being just two months
after the Todenham bash
, the organisation of this event lagged badly,
to the point where some of the Committee wondered whether we should
decline the stand. However, some true-grit showed through in pushing it
forward, mainly from Peter Kenealy, and, with a bit of luck thrown in,
it all came good on the day. In fact, it was more than good; it was a
fantastically outstanding day. The star of the stand was the Willoughby
Campanile, a ring of bells in miniature (tenor 63lbs in C), which was
most generously loaned to the Guild. Read the report on page 9 and see
the photos.
Talking of photos, I hope you've noticed – possibly for the first time – photos in colour! This may just be a one-off, so treasure this edition. Thanks to Sophia for organising the printing this time.
Another event took place in June. This was the ringing of a quarter peal for
that Grand Old Man of Ringing
. I refer of course to Rob Harvey of
Whichford. It was a quarter peal for his 91st
birthday – and happily it was successful. As ever, Rob rang in it. The
report here was the one written for The Ringing World
. You will
notice from this report that this coming November marks Rob's 80 years
as a ringer; and an active one, too. This is a very significant
achievement. I'm sure you'll happily join me in wishing Rob the very
best for the years ahead. Incidentally, Rob came along to the
Moreton-in-Marsh Show and rang on the miniature bells.
Although
there were only
two extra events, their organisation was substantial,
and it required many more meetings than normal to get things sorted
out. It is interesting to speculate on what might happen next year.
Will the committee build on the momentum of this year and arrange
further extra events, or just relax back to normal
? If you have any
feelings on whether next year should include extra events, let the
committee know.
While not about ringing as such, the article on the Four Shire Stone, to which the Guild must be linked, highlights the lack of history about it and how the four Shires met there. Hopefully the question as to how Worcestershire reached it has been answered now, but when the Stone was built and by whom or what body remains a mystery
Lastly, Ken Wakefield and Freda Cleaver have both indicated they wish to retire from the Committee from the AGM. I understand they are both long-termers, who have served the Guild well. Freda was, of course, Ringing Master for some time. I'm sure everyone will join with me in thanking them for all the work they have done for the Guild.
Chris Povey (Guest Editor just this once)
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