I regret to inform you of the death of Harry Earle in May, at his home in Ladysmith, South Africa, at the age of 88. Harry was born on a small island off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada; he joined the navy in World War II and met his future wife in England during his period of service and returned to marry her after the war. They moved to Rhodesia in 1960, where he was part of the project team building the Kariba Dam, later moving on to the small steel town of Que Que, now Kwekwe. Harry was a churchwarden at St. Luke’s parish church there when a parishioner left a sum of money to be used to provide a ring of bells. The full story of how Harry managed to obtain and install a ring of six despite the trade sanctions then in force has been told elsewhere; suffice it to say that he learned to ring himself, so that he could teach others and ensure that the bells were rung every Sunday.

Harry was ordained as a priest in the Anglican church in 1979, moving to South Africa when he retired from his job in 1981. He ministered to a parish in Ladysmith, Natal and continued to live in the town when he retired from his full-time duties. While Ladysmith is central between Johannesburg and Durban, it is around 300 km from each of those cities, so he was not able to ring very often. However, on his visits to see his daughter, Pauline, in Johannesburg, he always came along to ring with us for Sunday morning service at Parktown, and he also attended occasional ringing meetings in Durban. We will miss his friendly greeting and quiet presence.

Richard Roberts
Ringing Master
Transvaal Society