WESTBOURNE
A village history in West Sussex
Home | Personal | Church | Scouts | Schools | Ambrose | Sketchbook | Workhouse | Census | Memories | Yesteryear | Publications | Village Website
"Bell ringing may be said to be not so much a branch of music, as mathematics athletically applied to the making of a merry noise."
During the war years the bells of Westbourne hung silently in their steel frames waiting to release their peals for peace and call to worship. If they had rung during the war, it would have been the signal that the country had been invaded. As the war drew to a close, the preparation for the peals of peace are taken from the memories of Rita King (nee Johnson):
"…we wanted to be able to ring them for victory, so Peter Edgell formed a small group of ladies, Barbara Brownlow (later his wife), Ida Robinson, May Carver, Daisy Whiting and myself, to practise ringing with the clappers tied off. When the war was eventually over and VE Day 8 May 1945 was celebrated, we were happy to be in the church belfry ringing out the joyful peals of victory."
In later years the band of bell ringers had dwindled so a call went out for volunteers, particularly from the youth of the village. The call was heard and a band was soon formed under the tutelage of Ernie Treagus as Captain of Ringers. His new band alphabetically were the teenagers David Braden, Terry Danes, Brian Haines, Brian Harris, Leonard Hart, Keith Hart, Gloria Older, Betty Peake, Stanley Peake, Stella Stent and Pamela Sullivan. The older members were Mr S Selsby, the organist and choirmaster, and Walter Hart. In later years I became the Captain of the bell ringers. Members practised on a Monday night and rang call changes for the Sunday services morning and evening.
On the east wall of the ringing room was a wooden keyboard with eight vertical ropes leading to hammers that could strike the outside of each bell. This allowed one person to chime all the bells in any variation. Thus at 10 o'clock each Sunday morning I played popular hymn tunes to sound out across the village homes. This was followed half an hour later by the bell ringers ringing the call changes to welcome the congregation into church. There were special events in the ringers' calendar. At the Christmas carol service the ringers took up a position in front of the wooden chancel screen. We then entertained the congregation with popular carols played on twelve hand bells. The other event was New Year's eve when a peal was rung and at midnight, as captain of the bell ringers, it was my honour to strike the tenor bell 12 times.
Throughout the year there were the occasional peals from visiting ringers, the knell bell of a funeral and a muffled peal in honour of a departed church member, such as Mr J E Saunders who was the Parish Verger for 14 years who died aged 66 in 1955. At one time a gentlemen from Portsmouth, whose name cannot be remembered, came to enlighten us on the mysteries of method ringing such as Grandsire Doubles. On another occasion we visited Chichester Cathedral bell tower to ring call changes. Their heavier tenor bell was easier to ring than had been thought and the event was thoroughly enjoyed by all.