Annual report from the Kingston upon Thames Bellringers for the Church’s Annual Report 2025
Our team has around 20 ringers so we usually ring all 12 bells on Sundays mornings and evenings. We ring methods as well as rounds and call changes which is extremely satisfying and developing our abilities.
It’s a really fun group and we enjoy our social get togethers after ringing as well. The ringers have had barbeques and curries together and our Annual Dinner was held at the Black Horse in Kingston in February.
We welcome Matthew Davies to our team and Catherine and Charlotte are progressing really well. Max (16) has recently rung his first full peal and is in the Surrey squad for the National Young Ringers Competition in July. We’re very proud of him!
Congratulations to Mary who is now an accredited ART bell handling teacher. Kate and I are grateful Mary has taken some of the load of teaching from us.
We very much enjoy the support of our regular local visitors and other visitors from towers have included Hereford Cathedral, Trinity New York, Manchester Cathedral, Washington DC and Dublin.
On 8 May we rang for the 80th anniversary of VE Day and in July for the King Athelstan celebrations with a group from Dorset. We also rang for the launch of Kingston 2025 to celebrate the 1100th anniversary of Athelstan’s coronation, including the unveiling of the Seven Saxon Kings Embroidery project.
Our outing included Ditcheat, Shepton Mallet, Cheddar, Chilcompton and Midsomer Norton. On the Sunday morning we were applauded by the congregation at Radstock after ringing for service! The 2026 outing will be a day outing to Southampton and Romsey.
We had a spring clean in June and again in November to keep the ringing chamber spick and span. Thanks to all who helped with this.
The flag has been put up for the usual church festivals including All Saints Day.
The bells have undergone a major renovation in 2026 which included the following items:
- Rebushing, refacing and repainting the clappers
- Cleaning out and regreasing the bearings
- Replacing gudgeons (pivots) on the 11 th bell
- Cleaning down, undercoating and repainting the bell frame.
We’re grateful to all our sponsors who contributed to the project, including a very generous bequest from Shirley Bolton in memory of Andrew and a grant from the local Surrey Bellringers.
Further details can be found here: We are home! – Kingston Bell Ringers
Finally, can I thank all the ringers for their continued support, Kate Flavell for her work as Secretary, Kate Corney as our Social Secretary, Chris Ridley for being our Treasurer, Paul Corney for steeple keeping and finally So-Shan for her excellent social media posts which show us to be such a vibrant and active tower.
Paul Flavell, Tower Captain