Guild Report Secretary – Neil Bragg
My home Tower is Holy Trinity, Coalbrookdale, where I have rung since moving to the area in 1982. I never appreciated how lucky we were to have 10 bells, but travelling around the Guild and the Country in general, you really appreciate how lucky we are. Having said that like so many towers we have ups and downs in ringing numbers, with some Sundays in the early 2000’s being 4 only- bob minimus comes into its own!
I’m extremely lucky to have John Maclean (90 this July) as a tower captain and with his skills as a Ex-chief marine engineer there are so many jobs we can and have tackled.
Since Covid, we have recruited a whole new group of ringers, mainly in the 40-70 age group, but by introducing a Saturday morning practice this has really encouraged the band. On Weds nights we now often have up to 15 ringers- saves on heating!
I took over the Annual Report from Heather Kippin in 2019- but now realise she made it look easy. The collation of all the reports and the final tweaks is a nightmare and I’m grateful to support from all the District Secretaries and especially Mark Pugh as (former) guild secretary and Chris Kippin as the retiring treasurer. Also Neil Bennett does a brilliant job on the BRF and Peal reports.
Neil Bragg, June 2024.