A year or so ago the one 10-bell tower in our ringing district lost its tower captain by resignation. As president of the local ringing district I knew that losing access to this tower would be problematic in the longer term. One of the Walsoken Hub’s ringing students (Martin Slough) was keen to increase his involvement in the wider ringing world and the 10-bell tower was in need of new stewardship so I made the introductions between the church and Martin. A few months later Martin was installed as Tower Captain. A month or so ago local Wisbech ringers were asked to ring for a visiting dignitary although, at the time,only a few people knew who was actually visiting. The priest in charge of the 10-bell tower said to his team “It would be nice to get the visitor to present something”. Hearing this, Martin was spurred on to get his ‘Learning the Ropes’ Level 3 certificate. Martin had completed the practical parts of the syllabus and all that remained was the theory. With this successfully done, Martin completed his Level 3 at Walsoken Hub. We had been fortunate in the timing and opportunity for HRH Prince Charles to present the certificate. The pictures taken show the success of the day. The only unfortunate part was that I had to be in the USA on business on the week of the Royal visit.
I’m unashamedly proud that six of these eleven ringers in the band that rang for HRH Prince Charles have Walsoken Hub as their home tower or started to learn to ring there. The Hub, Martin Slough, and my wife Jeanette Cox, made a most significant contribution in highlighting bell ringing nationwide and have promoted ART by confidently stepping up when the opportunity presented itself.
Martin Slough presented with his LtR L3 certificate by HRH Prince Charles
Congratulations! Martin Slough also sent us his account of the day: We were able to get a bird’s eye view of the arrival of The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and of the cheering crowds from the tower window! In between, we rang Grandsire Triples and Rounds and Called Changes on 10. Down in the church, we lined up to be presented to HRH, who took the time to shake everyone’s’ hand and had a smile and a joke with all of us! I was thrilled to be presented with the LtR Level 3 certificate by him and he appeared quite knowledgeable on the subject of bell ringing, although he declined my invitation to give him some lessons! A lovely day in a relaxed and happy environment, producing lasting memories. I never dreamed bell ringing would give me that when I started in May 2017!
This article is from Tower Talk edition 10. To make sure you don’t miss the next edition of Tower Talk (the free, quarterly e-magazine from the Association of Ringing Teachers), please subscribe here