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2024 has been a year of centenary celebrations for the Peterborough Diocesan Guild of Church Bellringers and Saturday 28 December saw the last of the Guild’s Centenary events (and the final birthday cake!) A carol service was held at St Lawrence’s, Towcester, part of the Towcester deanery, with ringing before and refreshments afterwards. Secretary of the Guild, Helen Allton shares more about the event.
“The ringing element saw a large number of people making their way up the stairs to ring on the excellent ring of twelve bells. For some it was their first time ringing on 12 and there were lots of rounds and call changes to give them the opportunity with a solid band around them. In between, the more experienced rang Little Bob, Grandsire and Cambridge methods, giving some the chance to blow away a few cobwebs and stretch themselves. A service touch of Stedman showed the bells off well.
The service, with a congregation of 60, was taken by the Venerable David Painter. As a retired Archdeacon of Oakham and now resident in Towcester, he is familiar with the Diocese and has had plenty of experience of ringers within it - seemingly most of it good!
Of the hymns selected, three had direct references to bells and, you could even say the angels were ringing rather than singing in It Came Upon a Midnight Clear for a full set.
After a rousing rendition of Unchanging God, Michael Tinsley gave the organ a thorough workout by playing Carillon De Westminster by Louis Vierne and using almost all of the stops at his disposal. This was also the Organ Voluntary at the Cathedral Evensong in January, making a nice link back to the beginning of our celebratory year.
The refreshments were served in the church, with a fine array of cakes and yummy goodies to accompany the tea and coffee. One final birthday cake was duly cut by David Painter and the retiring collection raised over £200 to be divided between the church & the Guild’s Bell Restoration Fund.
Thank you to all those who came, to the readers and organist for taking part, to the churchwarden and David for taking the service, to the cake bakers and tea makers for an excellent spread, and to all those involved.”
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