BELL RINGING
The initial peal of six new bells was installed at St. Giles during 2012.
Two further bells were added during April 2021. The pre-existing fourth bell was removed and retuned. Read More
If anyone is interested in finding out more about bell ringing and/or would like to have a go they should contact Nick Wilkins on 01689 830844 nickwilkins36@gmail.com
Recent Peals and notable Quarter Peals rung at St. Giles
Peal Rung at St Giles, Monday, 29 July 2024 in 2h 38
(3–1–18 in D) 5040 Stedman Triples Composed by F. H. Dexter No 2 variation of Thurstans'
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1 Nicholas Wilkins 2 David Holdridge 3 Jadd Virji 4 Isaac W Johnson 5 Fraser A Storie 6 Alan Regin 7 Peter I Harrison (Conductor) 8 Steve Newlands In memory of Christine M Webb, died 25/6/2024, member of the Society of Royal Cumberland Youths and stalwart of the Lewisham District of KCACR for many years. RIP. |
Peal Rung at St. Giles, Tuesday 23rd July 2024 in 2hrs 38 mins
(Tenor 3–1–18 in D) 5120 Orpington Surprise Major Composed by D F Morrison
| 1 Jadd Virji 2 C Mark G Ockleton 3 Shirley E McGill 4 Nicholas Wilkins 5 Paul J Flavell (Conductor) 6 I saac W Johnson 7 Stephen A Coaker 8 Fraser A Storie Rung immediately after the service of celebration and thanksgiving for the life of Ken Southern (7 June 1942 - 9 June 2024). |
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Peal Rung at St Giles, Tuesday 18 June 2024 in 2hrs 29mins
5024 Pudsey Surprise Major Composed by R. LeMarechal
(3–1–18 in D)
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1 Roy LeMarechal (Conductor) 2 Peter W Emery 3 Mary-Kate Wells 4 Janet L Morris 5 Peter J Blight 6 John A Dodd 7 Nicholas Wilkins 8 Alan Regin In celebration of the Parish Confirmation Service on 16th June conducted by Bishop Jonathan. |
Two Quarter Peals - 28th May 2024
In half term week with four local ringers including two of the younger members of our band and four ‘outsiders’ we successfully completed two quarter peals as below. By way of explanation, ‘Triples’ means that seven of the bells were interchanging while the tenor (number 8) rang last and maintained a steady beat. ‘Plain Bob’ and ‘Grandsire’ were the methods - tunes to the layman!
| St Giles Tuesday, 28 May 2024 in
42mins (Tenor 3–1–18 in D) 1260 Plain Bob Triples 1 Lesley Barclay 2 Jane L Kostelnyk 3 Steve Newlands 4 Oscar Brooks-Wilkins 5 Fraser A Storie 6 Nicholas Wilkins (Conductor) 7 Ann M Saunders 8 Olivia Stanton First Triples inside - 4 |
St Giles Tuesday, 28 May 2024 in 42mins (Tenor 3–1–18 in
D) 1260 Grandsire Triples 1 Nicholas Wilkins (Conductor) 2 Lesley Barclay 3 Ann M Saunders 4 Steve Newlands 5 Jane L Kostelnyk 6 Oscar Brooks-Wilkins 7 Fraser A Storie 8 Olivia Stanton First Grandsire Triples - 6 |
Peal Rung for Freehold Society on Tuesday, 2 April 2024 in 2hrs 42mins
5184
Cornwall Surprise Major Composed by R D S Brown (Tenor
3cwts-1qtr-18lbs in D)| The curious might wonder what the
‘Freehold Society’ is. For those that do not know, it is a
society you can ring peals for if your ring of bells is a
full peal of Taylor (Loughborough) bells harmonically tuned.
So that is on complete rings of Taylor bells cast since Norton, Sheffield in 1896. |
1 Ian H Oram 2 Adrian P Sweeting 3 Peter J Joyce 4 C Mark G Ockelton 5 Nicholas Wilkins 6 Stanley Jenner 7 Isaac W Johnson 8 Andrew B Mills (Conductor) |
St Giles, Farnborough qualifies for this and is a new tower to the Freehold Society list. Six bells at St Giles were installed in 2012 with two more in 2021 - all cast and harmonically tuned by Taylor’s. Andrew Mills, the conductor, is a Director of Taylor’s bell foundry. By way of further explanation, the Taylor’s bell foundry in Loughborough is located in Freehold Street and hence the name. Taylor’s are now the last large scale bell founders in the U.K. following the closure of the Whitechapel bell foundry a few years ago.
St Giles Tuesday, 30 January 2024 in 70m
2024 changes of Spliced Major (2m) 2016 changes of Cambridge Surprise and 8 changes of Little Bob (2 com) Composed by Paul M Atkins (3–1–18 in D)1 Jacqueline M Barlow 2 Lesley Barclay 3 Jane L Kostelnyk 4 J Richard Anthony 5 Anne M Anthony 6 Kath White 7 Janice Byrne 8 Nicholas Wilkins (C) |
We rang a ‘date touch’ where the number of changes in
the composition is carefully calculated to equal the year,
namely 2024 changes. This was longer than a normal quarter
peal and took 70 minutes. Celebrating the birth on 8th January of Finlay Edward Peter Wilkins, a son for James & Charlotte and grandson for Nick & Jenny Wilkins. |
Peal rung on Tuesday, 9 January 2024 in 2h 45
(3–1–18 in D) 5056 Rutland Surprise Major Composed by Stephen J Ivin| Celebrating the life of parishioner
Geoffrey A H Parson (1922-2023) on what would have been his
102nd birthday, and whose funeral was 10th January. Also Anne Taylor, loyal local ringer since installation of the bells at Farnborough, whose funeral was on 11th January. Click images to enlarge |
1 Stephanie J Pattenden 2 Nicholas Wilkins 3 Anne M Anthony 4 David R Finch 5 Peter J Joyce 6 Peter W Emery 7 James W Belshaw (C) 8 Stephen R T Pocock |
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CONTACTS
About St. Giles Ringers
The band of St. Giles ringers, all novices when we started in October 2011, practised under the guidance of experienced local ringers.The Tower Community at St. Giles includes the following:
Tower Captain: Nick Wilkins
Deputy Tower Captain::Lesley Barclay Secretary: Nick Wilkins
Treasurer: Liz Brown
Steeple Keeper: Lesley Barclay
Ringers: Lesley Barclay, Oscar Brooks-Wilkins, Liz Brown, Julie Cox, Sam Cox, Emily Cunnane, Carol Fryer, Joadie Lovrencic. Alex Moore, Jacqui Moore, Megan Smith, Olivia Stanton, Helen Stockman, Nick Wilkins
Sunday service ringing 9.20-10.00am, practice alternate Mondays by arrangement and QPs/peals Tuesdays 11.00am by arrangement.
If anyone is interested in finding out more about bell ringing and/or would like to have a go they should contact Nick Wilkins on 01689 830844 nickwilkins36@gmail.com
See also Installing the St. Giles Bells.
Quarter Peal rung Tuesday 1st June 2021 in memory of Revd. Graham Shaw
This was the first quarter peal in the tower since augmentation to an octave, the new tenor being rung to a QP for the first time. However only six of the bells could be used, due to COVID restrictions governing the number of people allowed in a confine space.
This was rung in memory of Revd. Graham Shaw, 21.2.1944 - 21.4.2021, former Rector (1987-1995) and in the presence of Graham’s partner, Jorge Toro
(3–1–18 in D) 1260
Plain Bob Minor
1 Caroline A Stockmann
2 Jacqueline M Barlow
3 Michael J T Stuttard
4 Terence V Barnard
5 E Lesley Barclay
6 Nicholas Wilkins (C)
By way of explanation, the 1260 refers to the number of changes (different combinations rung on the bells) and Plain Bob Minor was the method (tune to the layman!). 3-1-18 is the weight of the new tenor bell in hundredweights, quarters and pounds and the new tenor note is D.
Caroline Stockmann of Sevenoaks, who rang bell number 1, kindly and generously contributed to the augmentation and her name, as well as her mother’s, is on the new tenor bell along with the names of other former parishioners. Caroline’s husband, Michael, who rang bell number 3 helped with the physical . augmentation works as did Lesley Barclay.
In fact, a number of current Parishioners listened to the ringing of the quarter peal and it was also the first quarter peal rung on the bells since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic.
We looked forward to the relaxation of restrictions so that eight people could mix indoors and we could then ring the newly augmented full octave.