Sharnbrook is described by Estate Agents as a "much sought after village in north Bedfordshire". This is true, as we have thatched stone cottages, the farmland is undulating, very wooded and your postcode gets your child into our upper school! We are in the Ouse Valley, at the northern extremity of the County, tucked between the borders of Northants and Bucks, and close to Hunts/ Cambridgeshire. Our cluster of villages with ringable bells makes this a popular area for Ringing Outings.
FULL CIRCLE
Sharnbrook is skirted by the wide meandering River Ouse, beside which there is a converted old flour water-mill, which brings us to the link with Edward Duffield (Tower Captain 1915-21), and the reason for our title "FULL CIRCLE".
Edward (Ted) 1898 - 1995, was a top man nationally in both bellringing and association croquet. He was Master of the College Youths twice (1934 and 1935) and President of the Croquet Association for seven years from 1975. The Duffields were a well-known flour milling family, originally from Tasburgh, Norfolk, and Ted's father and his five brothers were also top class ringers. In 1915, Edward came (aged 17) to Hipwell's Stoke Mills in Sharnbrook, to work as an "improver" and widen his knowledge of the family trade.
I quote from Chris Pickford's personal communications. "In his brief stay in Bedfordshire, Ted played a leading role in establishing a progressive local band at Shambrook. He also did much to encourage the post-war revival of change-ringing in the County. A peal in 1919, rung to welcome the new Vicar and as a Thanksgiving for Peace, was the first peal on the bells by an entirely local band. The peal of Cambridge Surprise Minor in the tower was the first of surprise in the county by ringers residing in one parish. In 1921 Ted's departure from the village deprived the local ringers of the able leadership which had inspired the peal ringing achievements of 1919 - 20."
Edward married a local girl in St. Peter's, a wedding photograph (published in the 14th April 1995 edition of The Ringing World) shows his brothers, ringers and friends, one of whom is Miss Evelyn Steel who rang in a nearby village. (See Tower Captains) She was famous as a peal ringer, one of the founder members of the Ladies Guild, and she rang in the Ladies Guild's first peal in 1912. Evelyn and her sister Miss "D. D". Steel, were also nationally famous croquet players. Bellringing and association croquet (which has been likened to a cross between chess and snooker on grass) are two "activities" which have incredibly similar requirements - not brute force, but delicacy of touch, timing and considerable mental concentration.
Happily Ted was in contact with Sharnbrook ringers (Tom and Judy Anderson) - almost until the end of his life. By an amazing coincidence during a croquet match in Colchester in the 1970's, a chance remark made them both realise that the Edward Duffield on most of the peal boards in our ringing room was in fact this Edward Duffield, our opponent. We kept in touch. He came across to Sharnbrook to ring a quarter peal with the local band at St. Peter's in 1982 when he was 84 years old. Subsequently quarter peals were rung by the local band and also by bell ringing croquet players to honour his 90th birthday and also, later on, in his memory. We attended his funeral in Colchester in 1995.
Recasting and new frame in 1923/4
We are greatly indebted to Chris Pickford for The History of Sharnbrook Bells and Ringers which can be seen in full on our church website (See History Page).
It is probable that Sharnbrook had a ring of 5 by 1683. Writings in 1783 described the Tenor as "in very fine tone" - it still is today. At the beginning of the 20th century there were six bells in a wooden frame with the tenor dated 1699. In 1923, with the skilled local band, it was decided to recast the front five, but retain the original tenor, the work being entrusted to Gillett & Johnston. A new metal frame was installed with pits for two more bells, no doubt on the recommendation of ex-Tower Captain Ted Duffield. It is interesting that the inscriptions on the re-cast bells showed them to be numbered from 3 to 8.
Recent augmentation in July 2006
At the end of 2005 two new treble bells were donated by current Sharnbrook ringers.
Simon Sweeney is a recent recruit to our ringing band. He and wife Mel immediately discovered the joys and friendships of ringing. Last winter Simon and Mel expressed the desire to donate a bell in memory of their good friend Samantha Hillyard who had sadly died very young. We were delighted to accept, and it gave us the opportunity to augment to an eight. By coincidence Samantha's mother is a ringer from Cople near Bedford and was able to join us ringing at the Installation and at the dedication service.
As a result of this, past Tower Captain Tom Anderson and Judy Anderson, were delighted to take this opportunity to donate the new treble in memory of their parents from Glasgow and Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. They had enjoyed happy times together during holidays in the Village.
Pat Albon, our current Tower Captain, spent much time obtaining estimates - discussing the `pros and cons' of each quotation from the bell hangers and obtaining a faculty from the St Albans diocese. The local PCC was extremely supportive. We were very happy to appoint White's of Appleton as our main contractor with the bells being cast by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry Ltd., using Gillett & Johnston profiles.
The new trebles having been donated, we needed more money to pay for the fittings and hanging! We were careful not to impinge on fund-raising for the church's urgently needed roof repairs. The remainder of the money came from our tower funds and ringers' donations, plus a generous sum from the Bedfordshire Association of Church Bell Ringers.
Diary of casting and installation
On
the 9th December 2005 five of our ringers enjoyed visiting Whitechapel to watch
the bells being cast. The foundry was able to include our two bells in the same
casting session as some of those for the new ring of ten for Abingdon. There
were funny looks from fellow rail travellers on the way home and we were
conscious of smelling somewhat of foundry dust!
On 27th April 2006, amid much excitement, ringers and a good number of parishioners/ congregation met Whites' Lorry at the church.
Bell hangers Graham Clifton and James Haseldine commented on the numbers of parishioners welcoming them. A local farmer, Mr. Hurley, had volunteered to bring his tractor and fork-lift attachment to unload the bells.
The bells were blessed by the Rector, Robert Evens, before being raised aloft.
The installation went very well and we had close-up views of
the bells and dismantled wheels going
up through the recently refurbished ceiling and trap doors.
The hangers returned a couple of weeks later to complete the fitting of sliders and pulleys, etc. Once again, farmer Hurley came to the rescue doing some "instant" welding - phew, it is great to have local expertise!
Bell hangers Graham and James and the Rector rang with us to check that all was well - it was so exciting to hear the new sound, faster and more joyous.
The Service of Dedication
This took place on Sunday, 30th July as part of the 10.15am Parish Communion Service. The service was a wonderful event and memorable for those particularly concerned, Sharnbrook Ringers (past and present), the donors, representatives from the Bedfordshire Association and the bell-hangers, Brian and Diana White.
The Rector and our organist, Colin Scott, had chosen hymns and readings most suitable for a ringing celebration including "Let bells peal forth" and "Belfry Praise", and the congregation sang enthusiastically. The Rector had researched the history of bell-ringing and caused much amusement with facts such as - 60 men being required to ring just 8 bells - that was before the invention of wheels and ropes! Imagine recruitment problems nowadays!
Since the bells had already been blessed when they were delivered, Tower Captain Patrick Albon chimed the new treble to herald the actual dedication of the two new bells. Young people played a significant part in the service with Christopher Bishop reading a poem most eloquently, and our newest recruit
Sebastian Stenton ringing for the first time on a Sunday (with Captain Pat's assistance), and he shouted the signal up the tower to start ringing at the end of the service. All agreed that "The peal of eight sounds great".
After the Service, the plan for the day was coffee for all with the congregation, general ringing morning and afternoon.
A total of 40 had pre-booked the cold buffet lunch and ringing tea, so as always the Tower Captain's wife Jacquie came up trumps with a sumptuous buffet helped by ringers/nonringing wives and the men doing some of the washing up!
The rest of the day was taken up with ringing, chatting and reminiscing with everyone - particularly old friends from the past, some of whom rang in Sharnbrook as long ago as 1953.
At least 60 people attended some part of the day including more than 40 eager ringers. There was a display of "memorabilia" and we were all amused by demo boards, old photos, photograph albums, and visitors' books. The 1923 Gillett & Johnston Belfry Instructions Notice had acquired some very informative "graffiti" over the years!
We have received many messages of thanks for a memorable reunion day.
The FULL CIRCLE is complete
When relaxing at the end of the memorable day, Pat (the Tower Captain) said to me "without the inspiration of Ted Duffield leading to the inclusion of two spare pits, this probably would not have happened". We smiled and were content.
Acknowledgements:
Personal Info: Chris Pickford. (History of Sharnbrook bells and bell-ringers) Photographs: Dan Evans, Patrick Albon, Colin Scott and Tom Anderson.
INSCRIPTIONS and weights of the eight bells after augmentation:
| No. | Note | Diameter |
Inscription |
Weight Cwt. Qtr. lb. |
| 1 | F# | 243/4" | IN MEMORY OF TOM & MARY ANDERSON AND GEOFF AND MARY ALLARD GIVEN BY THEIR CHILDREN TOM AND JUDY ANDERSON WHITES OF APPLETON CHURCH BELLHANGERS 2005 WHITECHAPEL |
3 2 0 |
| 2 | F | 251/2" | SAMANTHA HILLYARD 1973-2004 WHITES OF APPLETON CHURCH BELLHANGERS 2005 WHITECHAPEL |
3 2 23 |
| 3 | D# | 27" | RECAST BY GILLET & JOHNSTON CROYDON 1923 QUEEN VICTORIA JUBILEE 1887 CAST BY JOHN WARNER & SONS, LONDON 1887 |
3 3 26 |
| 4 | C# | 291/8" | RECAST BY GILLET &
JOHNSTON CROYDON 1923 HENRY BAGLEY MADE MEE 1683 |
4 3 17 |
| 5 | B | 311/2" | RECAST BY GILLET &
JOHNSTON CROYDON 1923 EX DONO THOME MONTAGU DE BURTON COMITAT NORTHAMPTON RECTORIS 1683 |
5 3 5 |
| 6 | A# | 337/8" | RECAST BY GILLET &
JOHNSTON CROYDON 1924 JOHN SHARP & JOHN MERRILL + WARDENS MATHEW BAGLEY MADE MEE 1683 |
6 3 4 |
| 7 | G# | 361/2" | RECAST BY GILLET &
JOHNSTON CROYDON 1923 NEWCOMBE OF LEICESTER Ao 161 |
8 3 12 |
| 8 | F# | 39" | WILLIAM CORBEY & JOHN ROGERS C.W. HENRICUS BAGLEY ME FECIT 1699 |
9 3 5 |
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