Category: News

There will be no practice as it is Ash Wednesday

Kingston ringers have collected a cup and a bottle of champagne for winning the Docklands Striking Challenge Competition that ran during most of 2015.  See further details and photos here from Surrey Association website:

As per the Kingston Ringers’ tradition members of the band and guests rang in the start of the New Year.  The evening began with a meal and party at the Tower Captain’s and Secretary’s house and we then adjourned to the tower to ring in the New Year and toast it with a glass of champagne.

Sunday 20 December normal morning ringing. Evening ringing is ONLY 3.45-4.30 for a special community carol service.

Wednesday 23 December normal practice

Thursday 24 December ringing 10.15-11 pm for midnight service

Friday 25 December ringing from 8.30-9.30 am only

Sunday 27 December normal morning and evening ringing

Wednesday 30 December normal practice

Thursday 31 December Party then assembling for ringing at 11.45.  Please get in touch if you want to come

There will be no ringing practice at Kingston on Wednesday 16 December as there is to be a carol service in church.

On 17 October Kingston entered a six bell and an eight bell team in the Surrey Association striking competitions.  We produced consistent performances, if not up to our usual high standard, coming fifth out of six in the six bell and third out of four in the eight bell competitions.

There will normal ringing at 5pm.

The Kingston ringers kept up their tradition of visiting islands by including the Isle of Thanet in their Annual outing on 11 July 2015.

We started at the rather heavy going six at the impressive church of St Nicholas at Wade, so called because in medieval times it was necessary to wade through the marshes to get to the village!   We didn’t have to wade through marshes to get to the Waterloo Tower in Quex Park, but it was necessary to drive across a field to get there.

The Waterloo Tower was built in 1819 by John Powell Powell to celebrate the victory at the Battle of Waterloo, The original twelve bells were cast in 1818/1819 by Thomas Mears of Whitechapel and four subsequently recast in 1951. The metal spire, not unlike the Eiffel Tower, was added by John Clark of Ramsgate in 1820. The tower and spire can be seen for miles around and several of our party took the opportunity to enjoy the views of the Thames and Kent from the top of the tower. The sound of the bells is rather mushy in the ringing chamber, making them tricky to ring to methods, but we managed to ring a bob course of Grandsire Cinques with the help of a couple of local ringers.

Lunch was taken in Minster where we had hoped to ring, but unfortunately the church was booked for an all-day conference of monks!

Following on from the light eight at Birchington with its vertical ladder, and slightly more difficult ten at St Lawrence in Thanet, we rang on the nice little six at Westgate. The last tower was Margate, a rather laborious 23cwt eight which sounded good but were hard work to ring. We felt we had acquitted ourselves fairly well during the day, especially our learners Matt and Isabelle, and were very satisfied with the outing. We celebrated with a drink and a snack in the Bell Inn in St Nicholas at Wade.

There will be a quarter peal attempt of Grandsire Triples on the evening of Sunday 12 July as a farewell to Simon Toyne, leaving Kingston after many years as Director of Music.

There will be no ringing practice at Kingston on Wednesday 8 July as there is a concert in church that evening.  Next ringing is normal time Sunday morning.