Roger was born in Southmead, Bristol in 1943. The family moved to the village of Warmley; he joined the choir for a while, but when his voice broke he learned to ring the bells and rang regularly until he was fifteen. His sister Gloria (now Wilshire) was also a member of the Warmley band and continues to ring there.

Ringing lapsed when Roger joined the RAF, though during his time at St Mawgan in Cornwall he would join the Warmley ringers on their Cornish tower grabs. He left the RAF at the age of 20 to pursue his vocation as a church pastor, which eventually took him to Birkenhead, where he was in charge of Emmanuel Independent Church from 1977 until 1990. Family life was also busy: he married Norma in 1969 and they had three sons.

Roger started to worship at St Oswald’s, Bidston in about 1995. He became involved in the life of the church as a regular preacher and as PCC Secretary from 2000. He began to talk about taking up ringing again, and in 2005, after a 47-year break from regular ringing, he joined the band at Bidston.

Almost immediately, however, cancer was diagnosed and he had to take a break of a few months for treatment. He then took early retirement and ringing became a passion. As well as Bidston, he attended practices at various times at Wallasey, Port Sunlight, Thurstaston and Burton, where his engaging, generous nature and boyish enthusiasm quickly won him friends. One of the Wallasey ringers later described the glow of happiness that Roger brought to the ringing there. He would also ring at Oxton on Sunday mornings before coming to Bidston. Most of his travelling to practices was by motorbike, which was another passion.

Roger’s first quarter-peal was in October 2005, timed to coincide with a visit from Gloria so that she could also ring. He rang two more and was particularly pleased to ring one of Grandsire Doubles. In March 2006 he was invited to become Tower Captain at Bidston, which he accepted with great relish. He was also involved in teaching new recruits at neighbouring Woodchurch. To crown an increasingly active retirement, Roger was accepted for Ordination into the Church of England.

At the end of 2007 he was told that cancer had returned and that this time it was terminal. Yet there was still so much more to come. The Ordination was due to take place in the summer but was brought forward to Easter Sunday at Bidston at a service charged with emotion. Among the congregation in a packed church were numerous ringers from across Wirral, indicating the esteem in which Roger was held. He immediately became Non-Stipendiary Curate, and as he walked up to celebrate Holy Communion for the first time the following Sunday, the congregation broke out into spontaneous applause.

Knowing that the time remaining was limited, Roger turned his attention to building a band of ringers at Bidston who would be able to carry on after he had gone. A number of recruits came forward, Roger’s popularity amongst ringers from other local towers ensured regular support, and in no time the bells were being rung to a good standard. He also rang at Warmley one last time in summer 2008. Jenny and I cherish the memory of his saying the prayers at our wedding in October, and he celebrated Communion at the blessing at Bidston a few weeks later. Roger continued to ring until January 2009; he came to the Branch Meeting at Burton but was unable to ascend the tower steps at Bidston the following morning and did not ring again.

Calm, accepting and confident of what was to happen, Roger was inspirational in his final illness. He died on 30th March, a year to the day since his first celebration of Communion. A congregation of some 270 squeezed into St Oswald’s for the funeral, at which the Bidston ringers, all of whom he had taught to ring and of whom he was rightly proud, rang with a skill and maturity which belied their inexperience. The bells were rung open at Roger’s request. The night before, six of his friends rang a peal in celebration of the life of a man whom it was a privilege to have known.

Peter Hughes