Shropshire Association of Church Bellringers

Because of changes at our website hosting company the forwarding of emails addressed to committeeofficer@sacbr.org.uk is not possible at this time. The webmaster is working on finding a solution. Until then please address enquiries to our secretary, Sue Dancey [ ].

The next Surprise practice will be held on Friday 21 February 2025, from 7:30pm to 9:00pm, at Wem.

Ringing will include Cambridge and Yorkshire as standard learning for beginners, and for those wishing to progress – 5 spliced, Bristol, Lessness and Pudsey.

Please let Tony Freemont [ ] or Gareth Jones [ ] know if you plan to attend so that they can make sure that there are enough ringers for a viable practice.

All new (and newish) members of the Association were invited to get together at Lilleshall to meet other new members and the Association committee. The practice was directed by Gill Glover, with a lot of help from other experienced ringers. The towers represented at the practice included Calverhall, Forton, Newport, Oswestry, Shawbury, Meole Brace, Dawley, and Tibberton. Most of the ringing was rounds, call changes, and plain hunt. Those who needed a bit of extra assistance were helped by experienced ringers.

Members who had been elected at the 2025 AGM were able to collect their New Member packs. Tea, coffee and delicious baked goods were available throughout the morning. The Association’s box of Books for Ringers, and items of Association clothing were available for perusal.

Thanks go to all those who helped make this event so enjoyable

The February 2025 Newsletter, which has details of some upcoming Association events, and a list of officers of the Association, can be read and downloaded here.

The January Newsletter can be read and downloaded here. This issue includes a further report of the Central Council AGM, particularly referencing the risk to bells and ringing of possible church closures.

The new Association Rules, approved at the recent AGM, are now to be found by clicking the link on the left.

The Shropshire Association’s 2025 AGM was held at Ellesmere. Prior to the meetings there was ringing, led by Nik Galton, followed by a service of thanksgiving. The service was led by Revd Pat Hawkins, and the organist was Julian Cattley. The reading was read by Peter Leigh, from the Ellesmere band. About fifty ringers attended the meetings which were led by Sue Dancey.

The following were elected as new members of the Association: Doug Slater, Catherine Slater (both Calverhall), Danielle Ashfield (Ellesmere), Kevin Ottaway (Forton), Louise Hughes (High Ercall), Lisa West (Lilleshall), Julie Platzer (Market Drayton), Diane Davis, Duncan Davis, Eva Roberts, Martin Roberts, Fae Stokes (all Newport), Jenna Gray, Pippa Tucker (both Oswestry), Chris Basson, Julie Basson (both Shawbury), Alfie Boulton, Kai Boulton, Bev Jones, Penny McDowell, Max Symons (all Dawley), Judy Bailey (Tibberton), Ian Wiltshire (Overton).

The changes to the Association Rules were approved.

David Beckwith gave the Treasurer’s report. The balance in the General Fund was £4,855.26, and the balance in the Bell Restoration Fund (BRF) was £55,363.45. Grants from the BRF had been made to Lilleshall, Norton-in-Hales, Albrighton, Ryton, and Moreton Corbet. Expenses from the General Fund had included Report/Handbook printing, attendance at the Central Council AGM, website subscription, Association badges, and insurance. The external examination of the accounts was still to be carried out. David thanked Biff Patterson for her work in handling the membership subscriptions.

There had been no elected training officer in 2024 but Gill Glover and Tony Freemont had carried out training sessions covering Beyond Plain Bob, which had a few students, and Plain Bob, which was well-attended. A Surprise Major practice was regularly held at Wem, and there had been several Wednesday morning practices at Lilleshall. Gill gave a brief description of the items held in the Association library and archive, inviting anyone who knew of items of interest to the Association to get in touch with her. Vicki Sivess reported that the social events in 2025 would be an outing and a quiz night. Biff Patterson reported that the Lichfield Mobile Diocesan Belfry was on a more stable financial footing than it had been. Andrew Gordon gave the Bell Adviser’s report mentioning that work was to be done at Bicton, Stoke on Tern, Lilleshall, and Sheriffhales. Andrew also reminded the meeting of the availability of ash for stays from Neil Bragg. Tony mentioned that it was the expectation that tower captains would take all three levels of the Diocesan safeguarding training.

Ann Williams spoke about the plans to celebrate the centenary of the Association in 2026. Ann said that the emphasis will be on the history of the Association and on looking forward. Ann also reminded those present that £10,000 is ring-fenced in the BRF for the installation of a new bell in an Association tower.

Ann was awarded the St Alkmund’s cannons for her work in planning the centenary celebrations. She was overwhelmed by the award and thanked everyone present.

Elections for the Committee were held. Tony Freemont was elected as Ringing Master; Julie Bowen stood down as one of the co-opted Secretaries and Sue Dancey was elected as General Secretary; Biff Patterson was elected as Membership Secretary and as Committee Member with responsibility for Membership (this is because the change in Association Rules didn’t take effect until the end of the AGM); Gill Glover was elected as Training Officer, and as Newsletter Editor. There were no other changes to the membership of the committee.

Michael Carding asked for photographers interested in recording the centenary events to get in touch with him. Andrew Gordon mentioned that he had Association badges for sale, at £10 each. Paul Smart reported that he had about 200m of rope available for repairing ropes. A small charge to cover the cost of the rope is made.

The raffle, with prizes of wine, chocolate, and a book, raised £104 for the BRF.

The final draw of the 2024 100+ Club was held and the winners are Biff Patterson (£50), Jad Bienek (£50), Dawn Offen (£20), and Ann Williams (£15). Gill announced that she would not be running the 100+ Club in 2025.

The next quarterly meeting will be held on Saturday 12th April 2024, at Oswestry, and the next AGM will be held at Meole Brace on 10th January 2026.

Some of the items from the Central Council that were avaialble on this page have now moved to the Links page. The items that have been moved are Index of YouTube Videos, "Calling It Round", Tower Access Guidance Notes, and Belfry Upkeep

The first Association peal of 2025 has been rung at Haughton in Staffordshire.

Shropshire Association

Haughton, Staffordshire, at the Church of St Giles

on Saturday, 18 January 2025 in 2 hours and 37 minutes

A Peal of 5040 Cambridge Surprise Minor

Composed by A N Tyler (Variable Hunt)

Tenor 5-3-21 in B

The Church of England has been working on an updated framework for Safeguarding training within the church. Dave Bassford (CCCBR Safeguarding Officer) and The Ringing World have given the Shropshire Association permission to include on this website an article written by Dave and appearing in the 21 January 2022 issue of The Ringing World.

In this article Dave explains that all ringers must take the Basic Awareness training (formerly C0). This is free, done online, takes about an hour to complete, and must be renewed every three years.

The Lichfield Diocese requires Tower Captains and those ringers in a role which involves work with children, young people or adults at risk, to also take the Foundation training (formerly C1), but not the Leadership training.

The trainings can be accessed by going to https://safeguardingtraining.cofeportal.org/.

The Central Council of Church Bell Ringers has issued three documents about its work, volunteering with the Central Council, and what it means to be a Central Council Representative.

Those documents can be read and downloaded here:
What's the point of the Central Council.pdf,
Volunteering with the Central Council.pdf,
What does being a Central Council Rep mean?

We can now offer members a range of items embroidered with the SACBR logo. These are embroidered to order: contact Biff Patterson [ ] for details or to place an order.

COLOUR
The background colour for ‘corporate’ events is burgundy (as shown) but feel free to choose a different background for personal use. Check availability but navy or black are obvious options.

PRICES
Short sleeve polo shirt £15.
Long sleeve polo shirt £20.
Sweat shirt £20.
Full zip-front fleece £25.

SIZING – READ CAREFULLY PLEASE
The polo shirts are pure cotton, wash very well, BUT are skimpy. Biff suggests going up one or even two sizes on what you would normally select. Available in standard rectangular shape, quite long in the body. Choose from M, L, XL, XXL, XXXL.

Are you looking for some practical, written help for yourself or your tower but don’t know what is out there? If so, Books for Bellringers may be what you need. It is a small collection of books aimed mostly at beginners but with some material for those learning methods. Towers can borrow the collection for a period of up to two months so that everyone has a chance to see what they might find useful. Individuals or towers can order copies of the books using the details in the catalogue supplied.

If you would like to borrow the collection please contact Gill Glover [] .

The next Association committee meeting will be held on Sunday, 9 March 2025.