It has been another busy year in the Guild with many events and meetings taking place. For those of you new to ringing, there is now a welcome leaflet which can be downloaded from the website.
The Annual General Meeting in 2008 was held in Hursley with ringing organised at various towers including the Inter-District Striking Competition at North Stoneham. Life membership was conferred on Ann Biddlecombe of Alton St Laurence, John Rolph of Wickham and Prisca Tremeer of St John Jersey for attaining 50 years membership of the Guild. Life membership was also bestowed on Mark Esbester for his outstanding services to the Guild including over 30 years as a BRF trustee and many periods of office in the Portsmouth District. Sadly a number of members have died including Jessie Kippin who rang her first peal in 1927 and was still ringing until the beginning of the 21st Century when she was well over 90 - a ringing record which is truly impressive by today’s standards.
Our thanks must go to Derek Jackson for the research which he has undertaken concerning the formation of the Guild 130 years ago and many of you will no doubt have seen his article in The Ringing World. For those who didn’t it seems that the inaugural meeting of the Winchester Diocesan Guild took place on Friday 20th June 1879 in the Basingstoke area and not 26th June 1879 as was thought to be the case. At this time the Diocese of Winchester was huge stretching from parts of the Greater London area in the east to Bournemouth in the west including the Isle of Wight and Channel Islands.
There are many challenges which are now facing the ringing community not least of which will be the impact of the new child protection regulations which come into force in October 2009. However, although we are fortunate in having many dedicated ringers in our area, we still need more people to come forward to help with these issues and support the Guild in this and other areas. If you feel you can help please do not hesitate to ask for more information.
Pam Thompson