Ringing World 5168 (14 May 2010)
Front Cover: Fabian Stedman or, Little by Little by John C. Eisel
I make no apology for paraphrasing the title of Farrar’s classic book telling the story of Eric and his gradual decline into moral turpitude! Not that I am suggesting that Fabian Stedman declined in such a way, only that his story is emerging little by little, over a very long period, and the various bits and pieces of information are coming from a very wide range of sources. This article is an attempt to bring together the bibliographic information that is now available and was sparked off by George Williams’ recent article in The Clapper (January 2010, Vol. 37 No.1, pp.3 & 23.)
Stories of Bromley’s lost memorials are now on the Internet
Paul Tritton, Hon. Press Officer, Kent Archaeological Society
Records of thousands of people who lived in Bromley and district over a period of many centuries are now featured on the Kent Archaeological Society’s website, www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/research.
The records, in the form of memorial inscriptions (‘MIs’) on gravestones, tombs and monuments at the parish church of St Peter and St Paul, Bromley, were noted by an anonymous antiquarian who visited the church in 1829 and by Richard Holworthy, a former Kent County Council archivist, who transcribed the inscriptions about 90 years ago.
Letters
Multi-method peal reports - Simon Linford
Who tolls? - Chris Hutchinson
Essex exclusion - Helen Harpole
The Cheshire & Yorkshire ringers Somerset tour 1948 - George Pipe
Stephen Ivin’s lifelong love of London Surprise Major
With a composer’s insight, the review by Rod Pipe of ‘Compositions of London Surprise Major’ by Stephen Ivin, makes most interesting reading indeed. Whilst there may have been some competition in Bedfordshire in the 1950’s to inherit the conducting mantle from the late C Edward Jeffries who, because of his business commitments, was unable to be free to ring and conduct Saturday peals, I think that Stephens’s love of London Surprise stemmed from a more historic quarter.
Obituaries
George W. Massey, Stephen Ivin
W&DCRA Northern Branch Training Weekend, March 2010
by Paul Marshall, Branch Training Officer, with additional words by Stephen Bedford, East Anglian Import
Having taken on responsibility for organising training for the Northern Branch of the Worcestershire Association, I organised several one-day training events. However, I quickly came to realise that one day was never going to be enough, even if students read the training notes beforehand. I decided, therefore, to be ambitious and announced at the Branch Annual Meeting last September that I would be organising a “mini Hereford” in the new year. The method would be Grandsire Doubles, with the option of trying Grandsire Triples. Yes, everyone said, it is ambitious, but give it a go.
Thought for the week
“Let us now praise famous men …”, so begins chapter 44 of the Book Ecclesiasticus. We honour them for their great achievements. “they won fame in their generation”. Such a one was Stephen Ivin. He and I were contemporaries at Bedford School and my early halting efforts at plain hunting were improved at St. Peter’s, Bedford where he initiated a school ringing practice.
Bells ring for the Heroes
Every year, bell ringers of the North West District of the Suffolk Guild of Ringers get together to try and consolidate what they have learnt at their practices with a Quarter Peal Week. The aim is to ring a quarter peal at as many of our towers as possible. This includes all the towers in the Stowmarket, Thingoe, Ixworth, Mildenhall and Hartismere Deaneries. This year, the Quarter Peal Week took place between 11th and 18th April and we invited all parishes to sponsor a quarter peal at their towers for the charity Help For Heroes.
