Merton Park, Surrey (St Mary
the Virgin) 13 May, 1260 Grandsire Doubles:
Peter Smith 1, Niki Tompkinson 2, Deborah Bishop 3, Tony Bishop 4,
Bill Day (C) 5, Robert Lawrence 6. First attempt = 6. Rung prior to Morning
Service with the Bishop of Kingston and for the Surrey Association Quarter
Peal Week.
Bellringers still work on the
“old” counties, so we are in Surrey, and are members of the Surrey
Association of Church Bell Ringers.
Later in the month we were (selfishly) sad to learn that Bill Day’s move to
Dorset was finally going to take place. He retired from Merton College just
before Christmas, and is fulfilling a long planned emigration from London.
Bill has been leading us in the Bell Tower for many years, after succeeding
Alan Bagworth. So in our normal fashion, we rang another quarter peal in his
honour:
Merton Park, Surrey (St Mary
the Virgin) 3 Jun, 1260 Plain Bob Doubles:
Jonathan Gray 1, Jane Marsters 2, Andrew Robinson 3, Niki Tompkinson 4,
Bill Day (C) 5, Peter Smith 6. 1 = First on treble. Prior to Evensong.
A farewell Quarter for Bill Day who is retiring to Wareham, Dorset after
almost 25 years at Merton
and Tower Captain for the last 10 years. Bob Lawrence was our official
photographer.
| After our ringing,
we all met up (with non-ringing other-halves) at Niki’s house to wish Bill
and his wife Margaret well, and present them with a gift (an inscribed
bell!) and our appreciation. On 16th June we welcomed some visiting bellringers from King’s Langley in
Hertfordshire. Since the tram line opened, we have probably had two bands of
visiting ringers each year who do a “tram outing”. This involves ringing at
Merton Park, Mitcham, Croydon, Addington and Beckenham – all churches with
bells conveniently linked by the network! |
 |
In the afternoon, we had a local band ringing for a wedding at 2pm. At
Merton, we ring both before and after each wedding, which is slightly
unusual these days (each wedding takes up 2 hours of our time), but it does
seem to add something to the setting and makes the special day even more
memorable!
Incidentally, we also ring before the 9:30am Sunday service (or 10am, which
keeps catching us out!) and the 6:30pm service – we’re one of the few towers
in the county that still rings on a Sunday evening.
On 17th June, Tom Leary’s final Sunday at St Mary’s, we rang a quarter peal
immediately before the morning service:
Merton Park, Surrey (St Mary
the Virgin) 17 Jun, 1260 Grandsire Doubles:
Peter Smith 1, Chris Stanley 2, Jessica Milligan 3, Andrew Robinson 4,
Niki Tompkinson (C) 5, Jonathan Gray 6. Prior to All Age Eucharist & to mark
the retirement of Tom Leary,
vicar of Merton for 15 years, and after 40 years of ministry.
So in a matter of
two weeks, we lost our Tower Captain AND the Vicar.
I’m reminded of what Lady Bracknell said in “The Importance of being
Ernest”…!
Since them, we’ve regrouped, and now have the following responsibilities:
Tower Captain Niki Tompkinson
Tower Correspondent Andrew Robinson
Steeple-Keeper Peter Smith
We are still relatively small in number, but are lucky to have a number of
stalwarts, and good relations with local towers at Wimbledon, Colliers Wood
and Tooting. Our youngest new recruit is Liam Carroll, who is progressing
rapidly in leaps and bounds. We know of a number of parishioners have rung
in the past – you’re always welcome to come back – it’s just like riding a
bike!
Andrew Robinson
Top of page |
