It was a surprisingly sunny Saturday for our Tower Open Day around North Herefordshire, with a couple of last minute changes due to the deluge a couple of days earlier, we kicked off the day at Tarrington. Twenty-two towers were open throughout the day, with thanks to Anne at All Saints, offering the bells last minute to replace Marden and Bodenham, both
which had been flooded the previous day.
The route took ringers through some of our county’s pretty black & white villages, towers varied, with ground floor ringing rooms, detached towers, an anti-clockwise ring, the recently rehung and those still on plain bearings, from the three bell tower of Brinsop to the 10 at Leominster. Refreshments were available at several churches, with a selection of
cake and some fabulous soup provided by the ringers at Burghill.
Visitors included those who were new to ringing, experiencing their first new towers outside of their district, to those who had ventured across the country. We had ringers that travelled from Essex, Suffolk, North Wales and further afield with one making the trip down from Dunblane in Scotland. Five ringers managed to ring at all 22 open towers during the day, a small prize awaited them at the final tower, Leominster.
We are delighted to say that over £1100 was raised for the Bell Restoration Fund. We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who came along, whether as a visitor, a steward or to help out with refreshments, your support is greatly appreciated.
