|
Dr Scholes. Oxford Companion to Music.
"Bellringing 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 bellringers 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 bellringers. 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 bellringers 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 bellringers, 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. |