Peal Secretary’s Report
Where have all the peals gone? A total of 80 peals were rung in 2001, compared to the amazing efforts in the millennium of 181 and in 1999 - 106. However we can not hope to increase numbers every year, but we must look to what we have achieved and congratulate those who have rung peals, especially the various ‘firsts’.
Bill Davis was the only Association member to ring his first peal, congratulations, and we look forward to seeing your next achievement. We had Chris Willis ring her first on ten bells, John Booth, Mike Banks & Darren Leverton ring their first Caters, Steve Rowley ring his first of Major and Philip Tanner, his first Doubles.
There were a total of twenty-six firsts in method and there were two people having circled the tower, one of these three times.
During the year, Dennis Smedley achieved his 325th peal, along with his 100th for the Association. Pat Halls rang her 1500th peal for the DDA and both Gordon & Pat Halls have now rung peals on all the rings of five or more in Derbyshire, after ringing at Heath. Well done.
Three ( 1 | 2 | 3 ) peals were rung in respect of the tragic events of September 11th; no doubt there were many towers in the Association who rang to mark this sad day as well. This is the type of occasion when the public want to hear the bells being rung and we must be aware of that. Two months later we had more half muffled ringing for Remembrance Sunday. Although everyone cannot relate to this event, as those who are left grow old, we can do our part in helping the community to remember them.
Sadly one resident peal-ringing member, Clive Longden, passed away in December. Clive had been ill for quite some time thus preventing him from ringing peals recently. During his time as a member of the DDA he had rung 157 peals, of which 8 were handbell peals. His first peal was rung on 13th June 1960 at Tibshelf, for the DDA, his last for the Association was at Ashover on 3rd May 1999. During his ringing career for the DDA, he rung in the 10,050 Stedman Caters at Duffield for the 50th Anniversary and in 1979 he rang in the first handbell peal on twelve.
Compared to 2000, Bob Smith was again the leading handbell conductor, whilst on tower bells Jack Chadwick & Pat Halls changed places to see Jack as leading conductor. Leading Peal ringers saw Pat stay to lead the field with Ian Duff coming from 9th place in 2000 to finish 2nd, by ringing only two more peals.
We knew it would be very difficult to beat the record of the year 2000 but 2002 brings many special occasions to celebrate with peals; - the Queen’s Golden Jubilee, the Anniversary of the Diocese and the Cathedral and I am sure you can think of lots more. So do your best to celebrate with a peal and use these occasions to get a ringer in your tower to ring a "first".
I would like to thank everyone for their help and support during this past year, especially to the conductors who forward their peal details to me promptly, and to the incumbents for the use of their bells. I look forward to seeing people’s achievements during 2002.
Total number of peals rung - 80 (124 ringers / 15 conductors)
Tower Bell Peals
| Total | 71 | (117/15) | Leading conductors: JV Chadwick (24), PAM Halls (15), JE Heaton (12) |
| Doubles | 1 | (5/1) | Conductor JA Cater (2 methods/40 variations) |
| Minor | 4 | (19/3) | Leading
conductor: JV Chadwick (2).
3 (7 methods), (5m) |
| Triples | 7 | (36/4) | Leading
conductor: JE Heaton (4).
3 Grandsire, 2 Stedman, Single Oxford Bob, Union |
| Major | 40 | (53/8) | Leading
conductors JV Chadwick (22), PAM Halls (11).
3 Spliced S (4m), 3 Spliced S (5m), 3 Bristol S, 3 Cornwall S, 3 Rutland S, 2 Cambridge S, 2 Superlative S, 2 Yorkshire S, Spliced S (3m), Spliced S (6m), Spliced S (8m), Spliced S (23m), Belfast S, Double Norwich CB, Erith S, Feering S, Filton S, Frankley S, Hanbury S, Haselbech S, Hinton S, Lincolnshire S, London S, Plain B, Pudsey S, Scandium S, Winchester S. |
| Caters | 6 | (39/4) | Leading
conductors JE Heaton (2), CM Peckham (2).
4 Stedman, 2 Grandsire. |
| Royal | 9 | (55/6) | Leading
conductor: JE Heaton (4)
7 Yorkshire S, Spliced S (3m), Cambridge S. |
| Cinques | 2 | (14/2) | Conductors:
PAM Halls, RB Smith.
2 Stedman |
| Maximus | 2 | (17/2) | Leading
conductor: RB Smith (2).
2 Yorkshire S. |
Hand Bell Peals
| Total | 9 | (10/1) | Leading conductor: RB Smith (9) |
| Major | 6 | (10/1) | Leading
conductor: RB Smith (6)
2 Oxford TB, Cambridge S, Kent TB, Plain B, Superlative S. |
| Royal | 3 | (6/1) | Leading
conductor: RB Smith (3)
3 Kent TB |
| Peal Ringing Centres | Peals Rung | Location | Peals rung | |
| Greasley | 9 | Towers with 3 | 1 | |
| Melbourne, 45 Blanch Croft | 9 | Towers with 2 | 5 | |
| Duffield | 8 | Towers with 1 | 20 | |
| West Hallam | 8 | |||
| Melbourne,
SS Michael & Mary |
7 | |||
| Heanor | 6 |
Leading Peal Ringers with
10 or more peals.
| Patricia A M Halls | 40 | Philip Tanner | 26 | F Gordon Faulks | 15 | |||||
| Ian Duff | 36 | Robert J Marchbank | 25 | Pamela J Timms | 15 | |||||
| John V Chadwick | 28 | Robert B Smith | 19 | Philip Mehew | 14 | |||||
| Gordan A Halls | 26 | John E Heaton | 19 | Raymond H Daw | 12 | |||||
| Philip JH Hudson | 26 | Alec A Hetherington | 19 | Christian M Peckham | 11 | |||||
| W Arnold Morley | 26 | Ruth H Smith | 15 |
|
||||||
| Ringers by District | Number of ringers |
|
Leading Tower | Number of Ringers |
|
|||||
| Chesterfield | 5 | 13 | Creswell | 1 | 8 | |||||
| Derby | 34 | 300 | Derby Cathedral | 11 | 135 | |||||
| Ilkeston | 8 | 84 | Heanor | 2 | 40 | |||||
| Peak | 13 | 87 | Darley Dale | 3 | 40 | |||||
| Total residents | 60 | 484 | ||||||||
| Non-residents | 64 | 158 | ||||||||
| Total ringers | 124 | 642 | ||||||||
Non-resident life members
who rang peals during 2001
| Richard I Allton | 1 | David W Friend | 1 | Ian N Robinson | 5 |
| Michael Angrave | 1 | Catherine J Gardner | 1 | Christopher H Rogers | 1 |
| Elizabeth A Betts | 4 | Philip W Gay | 4 | Rosemary R A Ross | 1 |
| Gordon R Birks | 1 | Adam S Greenley | 1 | Victoria Samson | 1 |
| Richard C L Brown | 5 | Trevor W Groom | 1 | Canon David H Sansum | 5 |
| Brian L Burrows | 1 | Paul N Harden | 1 | Peter J Shipton | 1 |
| Clive R Calton | 1 | Rev. Brian Harris | 1 | Clive M Smith | 7 |
| Barry R Care | 3 | Michael J de C Henshaw | 1 | Alistair J E Smith | 2 |
| J Richard Castledine | 1 | Ian M Holland | 1 | Lucy Smith | 5 |
| Michael Chester | 1 | Christine M Horritt | 1 | Emma St. John-Smith | 1 |
| Rupert A Clarke | 1 | Philip J H Hudson | 26 | Nicholas D Soanes | 1 |
| Roland H Cook | 1 | Elizabeth Hutchieson | 1 | Tina R Stoecklin | 1 |
| Anne P Cook | 6 | Stuart C W Hutchieson | 2 | Derek J Thomas | 1 |
| W Eric Critchley | 2 | Kristopher L P King | 1 | Gail J Wade | 1 |
| Michael WCrowder | 1 | Rev. David C Lester | 2 | Stephanie J Warboys | 1 |
| Raymond H Daw | 12 | Colin Lord | 1 | John S Warboys | 1 |
| Jack S Dear | 1 | Paul M Mason | 4 | Roy V Webb | 1 |
| Adrian Dempster | 6 | George McKenzie | 1 | Peter J Williamson | 1 |
| Rachael L Eagle | 1 | John F Mulvey | 1 | Vernon C Wright | 1 |
| Maurice F Edwards | 5 | Ivor R Nichols | 1 | Timothy Wylie | 8 |
| John R Fisher | 1 | Andrew C Ogden | 1 | ||
| Francis P G Flack | 1 | Christine Richardson | 1 |
Peal fees are currently charged at 50p per rope (25p per person in handbell peals). They should be sent to the Peal Secretary, with details of the date, place and method rung. Please forward this as soon as possible after the peal has been rung, and this is particularly important if the peal was rung at the end of the year. Thank you.
Non Resident Life Membership
is currently £2. Details (name, address) should be sent with the
payment to the Honorary Treasurer, the Peal Secretary or a District Secretary.