I was taught to ring by my father in 1967 at Chippenham St.Paul's in Wiltshire. My first peal was in 1972 on the 7 cwt six at Bathampton, Somerset, Charles G Jones the conductor. As of May 2009 I have rung 698 peals conducting 76 of these. The majority of these peals have been in the company of friends from the Swindon area and my leading conductor, Anthony R Peake, has conducted in excess of 180 of my total peals rung to date.
I met Sarah in the late 1970's and we were married at Shipton Moyne, Gloucestershire in 1981. Sarah was taught to ring at this tower in the early 1970's by the Rev. Geoff Stickland who was priest in charge at the time. Sarah has rung 168 peals to date.
Ben arrived on the scene in 1988 and learnt to ring at Titchfield, Hampshire in February 1999. He is now a very keen ringer and on the 29th October 2000 achieved his first peal of 7 Surprise Minor at Avebury in Wiltshire. His first peal of major was rung on the 3rd March 2001 when he rang the treble to Wickenhurst Surprise Major at East Ilsley. On the 5th May 2001 he scored his first peal of Surprise Major inside ringing the 2nd at East Ilsley to Uxbridge. As of November 2004 he has rung a total of 106 quarter peals. Ben is very enthuastic about his ringing and built his own mini ring in my garage. The mini ring was initially hung using flower pots for the bells and old hose reels for the wheels and each bell (flower pot) was dedicated after local pets including Dudley, our first Golden Retriever.
In 2002 with the help of Steve Hough, the 'Midways Campanile' was founded and the flower pots and hose reels replaced with proper bells and bicycle wheels kindly donated by Steve from his original ring at the 'Jack and Jill House' campanile in Gosport. The bells are hung in the garage roof and the tenor weighs in at just over 8oz's. Both Sarah & I are now able to ring with Ben on practice nights at 'The Midways' Stubbington, Hampshire where we now live.
In June 2000 I purchased a set of 8 Whitechapel handbells from monies left to me by my late grandmother who had always taken a very active interest in all of our ringing activities. We now hold regular practices and have mastered Plain Bob, Little Bob and St Clements Minor in the short time that we have had the bells.
