Click - Parish of Greater Whitbourne

Page 8The Parish MagazineNews from Whitbourne belfryIn spite of the bells, which aresometimes difficult, we hadsome good ringing overChristmas. We rang for the weddingand again at the midnightservice on Christmas Eve. Thentwo weeks later we rang for thenormal Sunday service, and had apractice on the next day. Therewere ten people at the practice –three of them from Bromyard –and we all had a good time.I believe the law is still in forcewhich obliges every place of worshipto have a bell to call peopleto services. We have seven: theSanctus bell, which is chimed onits own, and the six tower bells.These can be rung ‘full circle’ orchimed, using the chiming mechanismin the photo. Full circleringing (where each bell turnsthrough 360° and back again) ismore difficult, needs practice toget it right, and can take overones life! The bells can be controlled,so as well as ringing inorder – 123456 – they can berung in different orders – e.g.Shane chimes the bells135246. There are hundreds ofdifferent ways of doing this; thechallenge is to achieve them allwithout repeating any. There arevarious methods which achievethe purpose, and learning eachone takes a long time. Chiming,on the other hand, involvespulling on a rope which in turnpulls a hammer which hits thebell - much easier mentally butquite hard work physically; fiveminutes at a time is quite enoughfor the normal person.Remembering MatthewThe bells do still need a lot ofrefurbishment work (they werelast overhauled in 1908), and weare thinking of putting in a ringinggallery to make ringing easier.However, it will cost a lot;there is a possibility of getting agrant (or hopefully several) butwe cannot do this until the nextlot of general church restorationwork, for which negotiations fora grant are in progress, is finished.At the moment we arewaiting for the English HeritageBell Advisor to come and tell uswhat we can and cannot do.In the meantime we are ringingfor the service on secondSundays and practising on thesecond Monday of each month,at 7.30 pm until 9 pm. As well asringing, our aim is to chime onthe second and third Sundays -adults on the second and childrenon the third. If you wouldlike to join in, please get intouch.Brenda AllanAlmost 27 years on from thestart of the Falklands conflict,George Bevan has been rememberingMatthew Stuart (right),who worked for him before joiningthe Navy - he was reportedmissing, presumed killed.“Matthew came and asked meone day if I could find him a jobon the farm. He had just leftschool and was waiting to jointhe Navy.“One day in the middle of harvest,we were short-handed,there was rain forecast and wehad a field of oat straw whichneeded baling before it got wet.Taking a chance, I thought Iwould give Matthew the job - Isaid to Matt: “I know you havenever done more than 10 hourstractor-driving, but the straw hasto be baled.”“It was 14 acres and after a coupleof rounds, I left him to it,with instructions to come to findme if anything went wrong. Atabout 7.30pm that evening, hecame back and said: “All done,Mr Bevan - 1,780 bales. About 20broke and I’ve redone them.”How many lads of 16 would havehad the patience to do that?Mr Kinahan, the next doorfarmer, had been watching himand was flabbergasted at thepatience he had shown.It was not long after that he wasoff to join the Navy - when hewas home on leave he came tosee my wife and me and thankedme for giving him the work - “ itreally toughened me up for theNavy!” That was the last time wesaw Matthew - he was off to theFalklands with the Task Force.When we heard he was missing,feared killed, we could not speakabout it for days after.Just two years later, my wife diedof cancer and one of the lastthings she said to me was : “ Ishall be off to join Matthewnow.”God bless them both.