A brilliantly conceived and executed social evening revealed the astonishing musical talents of N&E District ringers. Proceedings were opened by Alec Gray on solo trumpet (move over, Satchmo) and the varied program that followed maintained the high standard. Our considerable thanks to Michael Royalton-Kisch and Janet Betham for organisation and their performances. And the icing on the cake was the wonderful amount of £758 raised for the BRF. … [Read more...]

The Association's 6-bell Striking Competition was held on Saturday 15 October, at Hanwell, St Mary. Six teams rang two 120s separated by a few whole pulls of rounds. The judges, Ben Kipling assisted by John Manley, aggregated their marks for each 120, as set out below. The results were given by Ben at the Autumn General Meeting at Ealing: 1. Staines - Grandsire Doubles - 39 faults + 22 faults = 61 2. Aldgate- Grandsire Doubles -  64 faults + 34 faults = 99 3. Ealing - Grandsire Doubles - 54 … [Read more...]

The Association's Autumn General Meeting was held at Ealing on the afternoon of Saturday 15 October, in the hall of the United Reform Church on Ealing Green. This followed ringing before a service at Ealing Christ Church, and an excellent tea provided by the Ealing ringers. The attendance was a little down on previous years, perhaps not helped by the wet weather in west London. However, 36 people signed the record of attendance, representing 19 towers, and with two members present who are … [Read more...]

To all N&E Tower Captains, Thank you very much for your input to the training needs assessment in April/May. We had responses from 27 towers, giving a good perspective on the needs of bands across the district. We also had 18 offers of help, to either lead or support training sessions. A document is attached summarising the key findings. Based on these we have built an outline District training programme for the next 18 months, which is also attached. In delivering this programme we will … [Read more...]

The St Mellitus Medal has been awarded to Dennis Brock in recognition of his long service to St Mary’s Sunbury-on-Thames, the Diocese of London and to the world of bell ringing in London and the Home Counties. See the full story from the Diocese of London here: http://www.london.anglican.org/articles/st-mellitus-medal-awarded-for-great-contribution-to-parish-life/ … [Read more...]

On 18th June 10 learners and 17 helpers visited Monken Hadley, Ridge, South Mimms and North Mymms towers for the annual Learners' Outing, stopping for lunch at Ridge and finishing with a delicious tea provided at North Mymms by the Monken Hadley ringers. Many thanks to the drivers and helpers - we raised about £64 for the BRF after tower donations were given. … [Read more...]

On 11th June over £360 was raised for the Bell Restoration Fund at the Highgate Fair in the Square. Very many thanks to those who contributed items to sell, helped on the stall and came to demonstrate handbells. … [Read more...]

Linda Foddering writes: The S&W district 6 bell striking competition was held on Sunday 5 June at Cranford, with 4 teams entering. The judge, Paul Flavell, Tower Captain at Kingston-upon-Thames, said every team rang Grandsire Doubles with very few method mistakes. The results were as follows: Ealing 86% Staines 79.8% Hillingdon 77.3% Chiswick 74.7% Ealing, Staines and Hillingdon will compete against the top three teams from the N&E 6 bell district for “The … [Read more...]

If you wish to make a donation in memory of Philip Vracas you may wish to know that he was one of four trustees who recently formed a charity 'Bells4StGeorgeYpres' which was created to facilitate the installation of a ring of English bells in the tower of St George's Memorial Church in the Belgium town of Ypres. More details can be found on this leaflet: Philip Vracas Ypres 20.05.16 which was made available at Philip's funeral. Remember to send a completed form to Alan Regin if you wish … [Read more...]

A very successful Quiz Night was held at Harefield on Saturday 14 May which raised an amazing £970 towards renovating the Harefield bells. In Mike Palmer's words: "I want to thank you all very much for all the work you did towards last evening, and taking part. But especially to Rowena for not only organising everything, selling tickets, helping with the food, taking the money, sorting out tables plans, all the background jobs but then being Question-Master as well. This is an … [Read more...]