Canterbury District
				120 Club results
				Programme for 2009/2010
				District officers
				District towers
				District Newsletter

July District Newsletter now online

The July edition of the District Newsletter is now available and you can read it online or download it to read in comfort at home or in the pub. All you have to do is click on the appropriate link at the top of this page.

Newnham update II

The Kent BRF gang were busy at Newnham on a cold and frosty morning in January 2009 when they dismantled the bells prior to them being rehung and augmented to six. By the end of May the six bells were hung and rung for the first time on the 29th (for details and photos click here).

On 7 June the parish laid on a splendid lunch at the George for those involved in the restoration / rehanging work, and the Revd Richard Birch, himself a ringer, organised a rather less than serious striking competition. There were two sets of judges and four teams. Two of the judges were ringers from just down the road (Clare and Phil Larter). The other two were non-ringers, Charlie and Edna Clark, who've lived in the village all their lives and remember the old four when they were being rung regularly over 40 years ago. Charlie retired as churchwarden recently after many years in post, while Edna has been sacristan for a long time.

After the judging the two pairs of judges compared notes and found that they agreed completely — who says non-ringers can't tell good from bad ringing! Clare and Phil had produced scores in the time-honoured manner and declared the results as:

Richard noted that in days gone by ringing contests were often rewarded with hats or gloves, so he had decided that this tradition might well be revived, and the winning Ladies were all presented with pairs of gardening gloves (which is what they're holding in the photo below).

Our sincere thanks go to Richard and the PCC of Newnham for their wonderful hospitality and welcome. The occasion also coincided with the village Open Gardens day, so there were many great gardens to visit as well as bells to ring, and there was a constant stream of interested folk in and out of the church all afternoon.

The winning Ladies' team	Newnham church	The less than victorious Heavy Gang

Striking competition

The 2009 competition was held at Westgate-on-Sea on 9 May. Judges Brian Butcher and Nigel Spencer from Hythe gave their comments on the ringing and announced the results as follows: ['fraid we don't have the scores yet]

posn	tower	rang
1st	Canterbury, St Dunstan	5th
2nd	Ospringe	4th
3rd	Birchington, All Saints	1st
4th	Dover	6th
5th	Lyminge	3rd
6th	St Peter-in-Thanet	2nd

The winning St Dunstan's band (Cathryn Hills, Susan Hills, Andrew Hills, Len Huckstep, Philip Hills, Andy Brett)	Susan and Andrew with judges Nigel (left) and Brian

January 2009 quarterly meeting

At a temperature of 3 degrees in the tower at Eastry, 40+ members assembled to ring the newly augmented bells. The ringing ranged from call changes to Cambridge Major with varying degrees of success. The final ring before tea was Stedman Triples.

The service was taken by the Revd Peter Handbrook and the organist Mrs Maureen Norman played the bellringers' hymn for the very first time, and now plans to use it for weddings.

After the service and grace said by Mike Little we all sat down to a fabulous tea which was the handiwork of Eastry band. The meeting then followed, chaired by the new chairman Len Huckstep wearing a new shirt.

A minute's silence was held to remember Arthur Brandrick from St Laurence-in-Thanet.

The minutes were taken as read, while the financial report was handed around and discussed. All of the coming dates were then discussed including Saturday 14 February for a ringing school to help ringers with Bob Doubles, Cambridge Surprise Minor and handbells. Members' achievements were then mentioned and applauded.

Brain (aka Brian)'s 120 Club numbers were called and were successful for four lucky winners. Just before the end of the meeting a warm welcome was given to five new ringers from Eastry, and ringing continued after the meeting.

Many thanks once again to Eastry tower for their hospitality.

Paul Curtis
assistant press officer

County 10-bell challenge

Congratulations to the Canterbury District on winning the County 10-bell challenge at Greenwich on 29 November. For more details and photos just click here.

District carol service and social 2008

The District's annual carol service and social was held on 13 December at Bekesbourne. Jackie Christian writes: Unfortunatly I couldn't get there for the ringing but my inside sources tell me there was some very good and lovely ringing. The church was full and the singing of carols, the first carols for me this year, makes it feel like Christmas not the rushing around buying presents and food but getting together with friends and family as it should be . . . The weather was dreadful but having negotiated the large puddles to get to the Village Hall the Bekesbourne ringers had made a very nice shepherd's pie and an assortment of puddings — one of which had alcohol free on the label. In true ringing tradition that was the last to go! Dancing was to Meadow Folk and as the photographs will testify a good time was had by everyone

St Clement's, Sandwich

Ian Young sends this update on 25 November 2008. The first stage of tower repairs has been completed and the scaffolding removed. However the replacement louvres have not yet arrived and as a temporary measure wire netting and plastic sheeting has been fixed to the openings to exclude pigeons and the worst of the weather. The parish was keen for the bells to be rung for the Patronal Festival so a team of willing volunteers braved the bitter cold on Saturday [22 November] to clean the ringing chamber and stairs and to replace the ropes and repaired clapper. The bell chamber contained a lot of dirt and debris; the worst of this was removed and the builders have been asked to give a proper clean when they do replace the louvres.

We rang for the morning service on Sunday, St Clement's Day, and will continue as usual for service ringing. However practice nights remain suspended until the louvres are fitted. We are told this will be another 2/3 weeks and I will update the website accordingly.

Ian Young writes (8 July 2008): There will be no ringing at St Clement's as the first stage of major repairs to the stonework on the tower is commencing. This involves scaffolding in the bell chamber and ringing will be impossible. Work will begin next week and is anticipated to last several months. We have to do some minor tasks in the tower beforehand and so ringing has now stopped. I do not know when we will be able to recommence — the original estimate was six months but that was when the work should have begun in April. I am sure the Rector will be keen to have the bells rung for Christmas. I will let you know when we have some news.

Quarter peal week

Eighteen quarter peals were successfully completed during the recent Canterbury District quarter peal week which ended on 5 October, as listed below:

The leading conductors were Mike Little (5) and Cathryn Hills (3).

District ADM 2008

The Annual District Meeting at St Dunstan's on 11 October was, as always, well attended. Mike Little took the service, disappointing the congregation en masse by missing out the sermon completely. So quick did he rattle through the service that when we arrived in the hall for tea, the kettles hadn't even boiled!

Officers for the forthcoming year were elected as follows:

• Chairman: Len Huckstep
• Secretary: Tony Martin
• Assistant secretary: Jean Easley
• Treasurer: Cathryn Hills
• Ringing master 1: Donald Niblett
• Ringing masters 2: The Records
• District rep on County committee: Jo Horton and Brian Law
• Press rep: Jackie Christian
• Newsletter editor: Clare Larter
• 120 Club promoter: Brian Reynolds
• Committee members: Paul Barton and Sarat White

Having looked after the bell bucket for many years keeping its shiny red plastic coat clean and in tip top condition it was with great reluctance (and I think I saw a tear in his eye) that Ian Young handed the bucket over to Brian Reynolds. Unfortunately within the space of 5 minutes Brian had lost said bucket and then, to add insult to injury when he found it again, kicked it and very nearly spilt its contents all over the floor. We expect greater things in the future and hope that the bucket will be kept in the same tip top condition as it has been in the past Brian!

A raffle was held. The "Chilhamites" Janet and Chris had to leave early to go to the theatre and left their raffle tickets under the guardianship of Paul Curtis. In true ringing tradition Janet and Chris had written on their tickets alcohol only and wine please. As it happened they didn't win anything anyway.

The meeting ended without any controversy and ringing continued at St Stephen's.

Jackie Christian

A new feature was added for the first time in 2007. You'll notice that all venues appear in blue and are underlined. This means that if you click on the place name you'll be taken directly to a largish scale map. At the top of the map, just under KCACR, there is a scale indicator, and you can click on this to make the map smaller or larger as you wish. Have fun!

Heritage Open Days comes to Dover

There was discussion of Heritage Open Days at the recent county general committee meeting. In the Canterbury District Dover joined in in 2008. Check for details here.

Eastry now an eight

After some delays Eastry now has a very good eight. Check for details here. A report from Peter Dale on the dedication of the three new bells and the rededication of the original five appears below.

The five bells have been completely restored and hung in the original timber frame, with three new bells being hung in a new steel frame. The work was carried out by Matthew Higby & Co Ltd, with the KCACR bell restoration team providing much of the labour and local people giving a great deal of support in kind.

The service of dedication on Saturday 2 August was conducted the Rt Revd Richard Llewellin, former Bishop of Dover, and attended by officers of the KCACR and Matthew Higby's representative. The local ringers marked the symbolic handing over the tolling rope by the bishop to the churchwardens with some rounds.

After taking part in the general ringing after the service, members of the Association joined the locals for a sumptuous tea in the village hall. Eastry tower captain Mick Johnson performed the cake cutting ceremony, after which the festivities continued well into the late afternoon with the Association's new display banners attracting much interest.

The general consensus is that the old and new bells have blended into a fine octave and the event was most fitting conclusion to a very worthwhile project.

The celebratory cake	Two of the six KCACR panels on display

Don and Ruth hit the big 5-0

On Saturday 26 July 2008 Donald and Ruth Niblett of Canterbury celebrated their Golden Wedding anniversary with a wonderful ringers' tea party in their garden near St Stephen's church. Entertainment had been laid on — the Trafford Ring and a magician clown — both occupied and entertained young and old alike. Donald and Ruth were married at St Mary's Rye and came to live in Canterbury in the 1960s, since when they have been stalwarts of ringing in the City, throughout the Canterbury District and the county — indeed Donald is currently a District ringing master. At the District meeting at St Laurence-in-Thanet earlier in the month the District presented our "Golden Couple" with a celebration cake and it was duly cut and much enjoyed last Saturday. Hazel Basford

Unusual quarter at Quex

Those ringers who have been to the Waterloo Tower at Quex Park will appreciate that it is a most unusual place. Privatly-owned full-sized rings of 12 are pretty rare. Unless the visitor has had the opportunity to ascend the tower, they will have missed a further curiosity in that above the ground floor ringing room is another more beautiful light and airy empty room through which the ropes descend and are guided. This room is decorated to a high specification with larger windows, wood panelling and ornate plaster frieze and ceiling typical of the early 19th century when it was built. Many of us have wondered if this was the original ringing room designate, but judging by the rope bosses in the ceiling which indicate that the ropes would have fallen very close to the walls, it is concluded that it cannot have been used for ringing.

The Quex Society members have talked for some years of pulling up the ropes and ringing from the upper room and thanks to the efforts of the Society Master, Mike Little, this notion became reality. During the week Mike refitted the ropes on the back eight to a hight suitable for ringing from the upper room, and at the weekend society meeting, we spent the Saturday afternoon ringing from the mystery room. We could not ring all 12 because it would have meant dismantling rope chutes on the 2nd and 3rd of the ring of 12.

Five quarters were attempted on 3 May 2008, of which four were sucessful (see reports). After a barbecue supper more open ringing ensued. We concluded the day very atmospherically ringing by storm lantern (there is no electricity in the tower) when we rang a touch of Major then rounds fairly sucessfully on the 12 with the front four ringers ringing from ground level in a different room from the back eight ringers, the master bellowing the instructions to both rooms.

The picture below is of the band who rang the first quarter from the upper room and are L-R Paul Barton, Philip Hills, Andrew Hills, Rebecca Davey, Mike Little (C), Cathryn Hills, Mark Chittenden-Pile and David Sheekey.

Paul Barton

District ringing school

The 2008 District ringing school was held on Saturday 9 February at Sturry. This year we did something slightly different — a training day for change ringing on handbells.

The morning session was a "refresher" course for people who had done handbell ringing before. We ran three groups, where ringing ranged from plain hunt through to Little Bob Major. Lunch was enjoyed at a local hostelry before returning to the church for the afternoon session. Five groups were run for 14 people who were completely new to change ringing on handbells, with all the morning people acting as helpers. Everyone mastered plain hunt and some groups experimented with Plain Bob.

Some of the groups in action at Sturry

We had a total of 28 people ringing through the day and at least six sets of handbells in use. Everyone did really well and it was wonderful to see such an interest in change ringing on handbells: this is definitely an emerging skill in the Canterbury District. We plan informal follow-up sessions at most District meetings. Anyone wanting more information about handbell ringing should contact Clare or Philip Larter.

Clare Larter