Secretary's Report for 2015

2015 has been a mixed year. Sadly we lost two of our ringers. Peter Taylor died suddenly in August, and Brian Cooper died in November. Peter lived all his life in Darley Dale, he had been a member of the Association since 1954, becoming an honorary life member in 2010. His knowledge and expertise, not just in bellringing, will be sadly missed. Brian came to ringing late in life, it was something he really enjoyed. He was enthusiastic and, and always a loyal member of Stanton in Peak, despite becoming more frail latterly. The year started with a snowy ADM at Hayfield in January. 28 members attended the meeting, and we had a delicious hot meal provided by the Hayfield ringers.

Our District meetings have been, on the whole, well attended, with a blip in the Autumn. Numbers ranged from twenty four at Hartington in March, to nine at Youlgreave in November. We also organised some practices at Hathersage, to concentrate on Cambridge Minor and Stedman Doubles. These proved to be very useful, and could repeated elsewhere.

The district striking competion was held at Great Longstone. Nine teams took part, with Darley Dale going on to ring for the Horsley Cup, and Bakewell and Eyam ringing for the Arthur Ashby Cup. Thank you to our judge, Phil Gay, for his very helpful and constructive comments.

We had our 'out of district' meeting at Holmfirth (at Peter Taylor's suggestion) in July, at which eighteen attended, and one new member was elected.

The annual outing was in May and was in the Northamptonshire / Buckinghamshire area. Many thanks to the Taylor family, who organised another very enjoyable day, and to Robert Dakin, who drove the coach. Quarter Peal Day was held in October. We had a successful day, ringing fifteen out of nineteen quarter peals. Fifty-three ringers took part and several people achieved 'firsts'. We were glad to welcome back some past Peak District members, and the addition of a couple of friends (who we met in the pub the night before) enabled us to ring Stedman Cinques instead of Stedman Caters.

A notable milestone was Horace Bailey's 90th Birthday, on 4th November. Horace rang in a quarter peal to celebrate the occasion. The band was made up of local ringers and Richard Taylor, who conducted it.

Our Carol service was very well attended, and was a lovely service organised by Sarah Lacey. There were plenty of people ringing beforehand. This was followed by an excellent pea and pie supper, at Bank Top Farm, Hartington.

During the year, we have welcomed 10 new members, Mary MacDonald, John Slater, Janet Rogers, Debbie Race,Peter Pitkin, Peter Steele, Jillian Wright, Laura Joynes, Jane Wells, Glen Fiddy.

I hope 2016 brings many more new members, and lots of people to the District meetings!

Finally I would like to thank all the incumbents and tower captains for the use of their bells. Thank you also to the committee, for their help throughout 2015.