Represented the Cambridge University Guild from 1954 – 1984, Honorary Member 1984 – 1990, represented the Hereford Diocesan Guild 1996 to 2002, and the Gloucester & Bristol Diocesan Association 2002 – 2008. Attended 43 meetings.
Served on the Admin Committee from 1969 – 1980, the Towers & Belfries Committee from 1960 – 1986 (chairman 1980 – 1986) and the Biographies Committee 1978 – 1984 & 1996 – 2008 (chairman 1999 – 2005)
We were sent an email from a previous Kingston tower captain, Martin Lazell (1980) with a link to a fabulous old photo album of Kingston on the Kingston Heritage Service Flickr account: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kingstonmuseum/with/32102653026/
There are some fab photos on there, but two caught our eye, and we’ve been able to identify the ringers too. Read on!
Here’s our detective work, thanks to Inspector Paul Flavell (our current tower captain), Inspector Alan Bagworth and Inspector Michael Uphill!
The photo was taken in 1953 and according to the captain’s board (see below), the tower captain was Frank Hawthorne.
Pictured: Brian Threlfall, Bill Morris and Frank Hawthorne.
This is the old anticlockwise 10 so the boxes for 9 and 10 are the other way round!
The old tenor was 27cwt – that’s a huge box Bill Morris is standing on!
Curious to see all the existing pealboards but quite clearly in different places to where they are now. I shall take a copy of this picture and try to identify all the pealboards in the photo. Not sure which wall we’re looking at but we think it must be the (west) wall behind our current bells 3,4,5,6. The ladder goes up into the same place as the existing trap door.
I wonder what happened to the clock?
The tank tops and waistcoats are typical of ringers of that period! I think we should reinstate them as our uniform – much smarter than our polo shirt, although I doubt they are very comfortable to ring in 😂
Pictured: Brian Threlfall and Frank Hawthorne muffling the tenor.
Putting muffles on whilst the bells are up – this is very dangerous and we stopped doing it several years ago we hasten to add! Obviously health and safety standards have changed quite a lot over the years.
The wires in the background were probably how the carillon was originally connected to the hammers.
This was the original oak bell frame.
There is strong ‘chicken wire’ netting over the louvres to stop birds coming in.
There is a low ceiling over the bells which isn’t there now.
If you spot any pictures of All Saints Church or Kingston bell ringers on your travels and internet searches, do send them on to us as we’d love to see them. And I’ve just gone down a rabbit hole searching the named ringers in the photos. More to come! And if you have any stories about these particular ringers or you’re related to them, do get in touch. We’d love to hear your stories.
Quarter peal dates for Evensong (so no open ringing for service) – all subject to change. Please contact the tower for more info.
9 January
13 February
13 March
10 April
8 May
12 June
10 July
14 August
11 September
9 October
13 November
11 December
Other key dates
18-20 February – The Surrey Association Peal weekend is traditionally held in the middle of February each year to mark the anniversary of the first peal for the Association on 18th February 1881.
2 March – Ash Wednesday – No practice
2-6 June – Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Weekend. The 70th anniversary of the Queen’s accession to the throne falls on February 6, 2022 but the celebrations are to be held in June.
Ringing arrangements as normal except as shown here: Wednesday 8 December no practice (Carol service in church) Sunday 12 December quarter peal in the evening Tuesday 14 December practice night changed to Tuesday from Wednesday – normal times and arrangements Wednesday 15 December no practice (Carol service in church) Friday 17 December finish decorating Christmas trees for festival Sunday 19 December evening ringing from 15:30–16:30 for Community Carol service Friday 24 December ringing from 22:15–23:00 for 23:00 service for midnight mass Saturday 25 December ringing from 8:30–9:30 (coffee & cake afterwards!) Sunday 26 December normal morning ringing. No evening ringing – no evensong Wednesday 29 December no practice Friday 31 December Ringing: be at the church by 23:30. Ringing from midnight. Sunday 2 January back to normal.
Read our bellringing article in the latest edition of Saints Alive, the magazine for All Saints Kingston and St John’s Kingston (Sep/Oct/Nov 2021) https://www.allsaintskingston.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Saints-Alive-Sept-Oct-Nov-2021-for-WEB.pdf
A very special guest came to Wednesday practice night. Our Rector, Jonathan Wilkes is leaving All Saints Church, Kingston on 17 October 2021 so we wanted to give him a little bellringing send-off. Jonathan and his wife Linda had a go on the bells, listened to some ringing, there were speeches, gift-giving and bubbles too 🥂
Thank you Jonathan for all your support to our band over the past 15 years and to serving the community of Kingston. You will be missed!
Here’s Rector Jonathan Wilkes having a go on a bell. Having sat next to Jonathan at the first bellringers’ dinner I was surprised to hear that he hadn’t ever tried the bells in his 15 years. I said that he needed to give it a go and we said we would arrange it. It never happened so his send-off party seemed the perfect time for him to try, He insisted on ringing the biggest bell! It shows what a great teacher our tower captain is to be able to teach a learner on the tenor! Definitely not for the faint of heart!
There is a video on our Instagram page: scroll through to the end.
Here’s a close-up of the leaving gift we gave Jonathan – an engraved table bell from Whitechapel Bell Foundry.
Following the disappointment of cancelling all our ringing, including a planned trip to the Wirral, during the Covid lockdowns, the Kingston ringers were determined to have a little outing this autumn. It was good to see so many of our ringers on the outing as well as welcoming Caroline and Michael from Sevenoaks and their dog Bella.
After admiring the magnificent Cedar of Lebanon tree in the church yard, we rang the tuneful Gillett eight at Cranleigh to rounds and call changes, Stedman Triples and Cambridge Surprise Major. Their tenor is 17cwt but the bells felt heavier and slower than our own back 19cwt eight.
Lunch was taken in the White Horse pub in the pretty village of Hascombe. Hascombe bells (3cwt tenor – lighter than our treble!) and the tiny ringing chamber proved to be quite a contrast to Cranleigh but our ringers did well in both towers. After rounds and call changes and Grandsire Doubles, we finished with a 120 of Stedman Doubles and a lower.
We rewarded ourselves with a cream tea at Winkworth Arboretum.
Many thanks to the ringers of Cranleigh and Hascombe for their kind hospitality and to Paul for organising the outing.
Unfortunately, due to Covid and social distancing, we’re not able to hold our normal bell ringing practices at Kingston for the foreseeable future. Normally we’re very pleased to see visitors and encourage them to learn to ring.
The only ringing we can do now is to ring four socially distanced bells for 15 minutes on a Sunday morning – we can’t accommodate visitors then either. Do listen out for us on Sunday morning after 9am.
Many ringers have turned to online ringing on Ringing Room. There is a very nice explanation of bell ringing and what ringers are doing in during shutdown here: https://ringingroom.com/about
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