The Essex Association of Change Ringers   President: The Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Chelmsford

The 67th Annual Dinner of the Essex Association of Change Ringers – the “gooeyfied jam” edition

The 67th Annual Dinner of the Essex Association of Change Ringers took place on Saturday 8th October at Benton Hall Gold & Country Club. Our guests included the Rt Revd Roger Morris, Bishop of Colchester and Andrew Aspland, former President of the Yorkshire Association of Change Ringers.

I had the pleasure of sitting with the Essex Young Eagles, still glowing after their success both at SEECON and the RYNYC this year and proudly displaying their trophy. It made for interesting conversations ranging from ringing at difficult towers to the Kardashians and back to belfry maintenance, and why do we have a fork for dessert which turned out to be a “gooeyfied jam thing”, otherwise described as strawberry and clotted cream tart. If this is the future of ringing, we are in safe hands, inquisitive, intelligent young people who can hold their own in a room full of adults.

After the meal, before speeches ensued, the Master, Andrew Kelso, with two former Masters of the Association, Paul Cammiade and David Sparling, treated us to spliced Surprise Minor on handbells, having snuck in a practice before the meal had started in the venue’s changing rooms.

The Master proposed the loyal toast to the King, then proceeded to describe a theoretical peal band which included a planner, and engineer who likes maintenance projects, a peace keeper who says just the right thing, a treble ringers perfectionist who could ring inside but doesn’t want to spoil it for others, the one who had many jobs and a short attention span who always goes wrong. Sound familiar. In describing bellringing as a niche activity to non-ringers we could be forgiven for the blank expressions, the polite nods and so on. It’s a curious thing that we enjoy for a variety of reasons that brings all our experiences into Narnia (our ringing rooms). We bring a whole set of skills and knowledge together.

Anyway, back to the peal band. After a while the ringing started to deteriorate, but could have been salvaged, however got worse and the fictitious peal stood up. The ringers all head to the pub and very soon signed up for the next attempt. All was ok and everyone was excused their temporary melt down. Life carried on.

The Master went on to describe what he thought were the seven signs of ageing as a ringer:

1. You don’t know who anyone is anymore;
2. You think you are modern because you use social media;
3. When you go the pub you don’t want to sit on the pavement anymore. You want the nice comfy seat by the fire;
4. You can remember other things from the past, like who rang in a peal decades ago and what the ringing was like;
5. You find yourself leafing through those free catalogues and buying that cosy Gillet because it’s nippy in the ringing room;
6. All your friend who refused to do anything new and were happy with the familiar now want to go out tower grabbing;
7. You are comfortable in your own skin. You say you’re going to learn that method, but then stick to what you know.

After the Master had introduced Bishop Roger with a short biography, the Bishop wondered what he would write about himself if asked to provide a biography again. He recalled a quote from someone he’d met who described him as “not a very Bishopy Bishop”. He rather liked that. Bishop Roger thanked the ringers for everything we do for and on behalf of the Church. He said the service we give was extraordinary, especially given all the events of the last few years, getting everyone back in the tower. He noted the existence of Associations like ours arose because the relationship between Church and ringers was not good. Churches started to form Associations. From that bells have rung to celebrate coronations, commemorate the departed, ring for victory, for celebrating weddings and the mournful tolling of death. The sound of full circle ringing IS the sound of England. And the loudest noise you can make in a public space and get away with it.

Andrew Aspland (as seen on TV) had been rummaging around our website to find out about the Association. The young ringers page was a good resource to explore, and he was encouraged that our young ringers group included those up to the age of 25, describing it as much stronger than a young people’s club. He had been looking around our history and researched our founding member, Revd JB Seaman, born in 1820, the same year Antarctica was discovered by a fishing boat called The Essex which had been attacked by a whale, and became the story behind Moby Dick. After forming the Association at Writtle in 1879 Revd Seaman went off to Canada and was presented with a set of handbells. In 1886, he returned and attended the Association Dinner. Revd Seaman was not much of a ringer, the only reference found was at Halstead, but he knew how to get things started even if he didn’t stick around to see it flourish. Andrew was pleased to see our Association has a steady stream of restoration projects, our promotion of education and young ringers at the forefront. He finished in proposing the Association by recognising that with a long history comes a long future.

In wrapping up proceedings the Master formally thanked our guests and also presented Jane Walters with her 50-year membership Life Member certificate. Our raffle raised £338 for bell restoration.

Another successful dinner with good food and good friends. Our thanks especially to Sharon Lacey for organising the event.

Vicki Chapman
Communications Officer
(Wednesday 12 October 2022)