(This section contains archived news posts in chronological order with the latest addition at the top)
2025 Half Year Meeting
Posted: October 1, 2025 by webmaster
The Banbury Branch Half Year Meeting (HYM) was held at Adderbury on Saturday, 18 October with ringing from 3:00 pm, followed, at 4:00 pm, with tea and cake prior to the meeting.
A copy of the minutes may be downloaded from one of the links below:
Branch Outing – Saturday, 2 August 2025
Posted: August 4, 2025 by webmaster
More than 20 ringers joined the Branch Outing on 2 August 2025
The towers were as follows:
13.30 – 14.15 Blockley GL56 9DN S Peter & S Paul 10 17-0-6 F
14.45 – 15.30 Longborough GL56 0RF S James 6 11-0-2 F sharp Toilet
16.00 – 16.45 Broadwell GL56 0YD S Paul 6 6-0-4 B flat
17.15 – 18.00 Kingham OX7 6YS S Andrew 8 12-0-4 F sharp GF
Afterwards an evening meal at the Joiners Arms, Bloxham, was thoroughly enjoyed.
Thanks are due to Brenda Day and her colleagues on the branch social committee for another successful outing.
Robert A Reeves – Bob
Posted: August 1, 2025 by Graham Clifton
It was with great sadness we heard of the passing of Bob Reeves on Friday 25th July 2025 at the age of 86 years. Although Bob had not enjoyed good health for a while it still comes as a shock to us all.
We all know Bob through our bellringing. Bob joined the Oxford Diocesan Guild in 1954 after being taught to ring at Adderbury by H L Roper. Bob was an extremely good bell handler and was happy ringing any bell, my own memories are of Bob ringing any of the tenors in the branch with great ease.
In 1964 Bob married Diana whom he had met at Mollington when he was part of a small band of ringers who helped develop a local band there on the 5 bells. After their marriage they lived at Adderbury where Bob was tower captain. In the 1970s they moved to Mollington where Bob took over as tower captain.
They both enjoyed ringing holidays with The Raving Ringers.
In 1982 Mollington bells were rehung and augmented to 6. Bob did a lot of the work himself to reduce the costs, this included making the frame.
Bob and Diana had three children, Graham, Stuart and Maxine. Bob taught them all to ring.
On April 24th 2004 Bob assembled a band of friends to ring a quarter peal at Banbury to mark his 50 years membership of the Guild. Later that day at the branch AGM as Guild Master I had the privilege of presenting him with his 50-year membership certificate. He was also made an honorary member of the Guild.
Bob very much enjoyed good ringing and if it was not up to standard he would soon say so. He was a keen peal ringer and rang a total of 213. Several of his peal were with the late Alan Pink from Oxford, most of these would have started at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon so they could still work half day Saturday morning. His first peal was in April 1956 at Sandford S Martin (Plain Bob Minor). He conducted 3 peals, his first Bob Major at Adderbury. He then went on to conduct peals at Rousham and Somerton. He rang peals on all numbers from Doubles to Cambridge Maximus. He went on to circle Banbury, Adderbury, Deddington and Mollington to peals. He rang 120 peals with Barry Davis.
Maxine told me the first thing he would do when the Ringing World was delivered was to look in it to see if I appeared, he would call it Clifton’s weekly. It was also a family joke that his name, Barry’s and mine appeared on all the peal boards in the branch! When anyone had been away he would ask where they had been and when you told him the answer would always be “I’ve rung there”.
I can only thank Bob for all the help and encouragement he gave me in my early years ringing, he was a great inspiration. May he rest in peace.
Branch – Striking Competition, 21 June 2025
Posted: July 12, 2025 by webmaster
Our annual striking competition was held at Tadmarton on 21 June 2025 and the results are set out below.
| Called changes | Methods |
| 1 Bloxham 2 Steeple Aston 3 Youngsters 4 Adderbury 5 Cropredy | 1 Steeple Aston 2 Bloxham 3 Cropredy |
Centenary Peal
Posted: July 11, 2025 by webmaster
A peal of 5022 Grandsire Caters was successfully completed at Banbury, St Mary, to celebrate the Centenary of the branch on Saturday, 21 June 2025.
The ringers (from left to right) were: Daniel Austin, Graham Clifton, Katie Lane, Colin Lee, Simon Lee (rear), Jack Knowles (front), David
Ockwell, Rosemary Hemmings, Stuart Gibson and Roman Sadowski.
Banbury Practice Sessions
Posted: July 11, 2025 by webmaster
After a brief hiatus, Banbury Tower practice sessions resumed as usual at 7.30pm from Wednesday, 23 July 2025, and Branch Practices on the first Wednesday of each month resumed from Wednesday, 6 August 2025.
Centenary Dinner 2025
Posted: July 11, 2025 by webmaster
The photographs below were taken at the Centenary Dinner of the Banbury Branch which was held at the Whately Hall Hotel on the evening of Friday, 20 June 2025.
Branch Annual General Meeting – April 2025
The Banbury Branch Annual General Meeting took place on 12 April 2025 at Steeple Aston Village Hall. A copy of the minutes can be downloaded below.
Branch Quiz – Saturday, 15 March 2025
Posted: March 22, 2025 by webmaster
Results
The annual branch quiz and supper took place in Bodicote on 15 March. Six teams competed in the quiz, with the ‘Inspired’ team from Steeple Aston the clear winners and ‘Cropredy Clangers’ a few points behind in second place. Over 40 attendees from the branch enjoyed a delicious fish and chip supper and a great selection of puddings. Thanks to the Bodicote team who arranged the venue and the fish and chips, the Horley quiz masters for coming up with the questions, and all the teams for bringing puddings and taking part in the quiz (with very little heckling!)
Jean Davis 1945 – 2024
Posted: January 19, 2025 by webmaster
Jean was born at Rothwell Northamptonshire on the 2nd August 1945, the eldest child of Bernard and Margaret Marlow. Jean attended the local primary school before moving on to Kettering Girls school where she gained a love for sports, hockey in particular. In 1963 Jean took up Teacher Training at Bedford and at the end of training she was offered a teaching post at Neithrop Infant School in Banbury. In Banbury she soon made friends with local ringers and in 1967, on a Banbury Branch meeting day at Mollington, Jean met Barry Davis. A week later they met again on a teachers course and in 1969 they were married at Rothwell. She continued as a full time teacher until Richard and then Julia were born. After the children had grown up she kept her hand in by doing supply teaching. Eventually Jean got a job working with children who had English as a second language. This was a job that she really enjoyed.
Jean loved literature and often wrote poems for the branch newsletter and the Ringing World. She had often said if she hadn’t gone into teaching then she would have liked to have been a librarian. An opportunity arose for voluntary work and then part time work in Banbury library which she did until she retired.
In 1966 soon after her arrival in Banbury Jean was persuaded by one of the Banbury ringers to join one of the local cub scout groups who were looking for volunteers to help run cub groups. Jean became involved with weekly meetings, weekend camps and the town carnival. The Banbury cubs even stood outside Rothwell church as a guard of honour for Jean and Barry’s wedding. Jean eventually retired from working with the cubs after 25 years.
Jean had three constants in her life. They were her family, who came first, followed by local history research and bellringing. Countless hours were spent looking for information on her ancestors including one who jumped off a viaduct and survived. Apparently he was known from
then on as ‘bent axle’. Jean had a love of Local History and enjoyed being a member of the Adderbury History Society. She particularly enjoyed being involved in research relating to Adderbury’s history and she was in her element when it came to making displays.
Although not a lover of computers, Jean still liked to spend hours chasing information by looking at computer programs such as ‘Find my Past’ and was often asked by friends for help in finding out about their relatives. Jean, in later years, also accompanied Barry to Postcard Fairs such as the annual three-day fair at York Race course.
Bellringing played a large part in Jean’s life. She learnt to ring at Rothwell in the 1960s and kept up ringing until April 2024. Rothwell was a very active tower in the 1960s and it allowed Barry and Jean the opportunity to enjoy ringing with Oxfordshire as well as Northamptonshire ringers at a variety of towers across the country. In North Oxfordshire Jean involved herself in things such as becoming Banbury Branch treasurer and news letter editor.
Barry and Jean belonged to a variety of ringing groups such as the ‘Raving Ringers’ and the ‘North Oxon Group’. Both particularly enjoyed the annual Autumn ringing weekend in Devon which led to them looking after Ron and Anne Thorne’s sheep and other animals on many occasions. Although not a prolific ringer by today’s standards, Jean was a good ringer and enjoyed ringing quarter peals. She rang 296. Her other ambition was to ring 50 peals and in fact she rang 54 in total.
Her first peal was in 1962 at Waddenhoe Northants. She rang in a peal at Rothwell in 1994 for her and Barry’s silver wedding anniversary. One of Jean’s ambitions was to ring a peal of Stedman. This was achieved at Adderbury in 2009 and was for their ruby wedding anniversary. Her last peal was in 2016 at Cropredy and was the first peal on the eight bells in that tower.
Jean was a ringer who put more into ringing than she took out, she was always ready to stand in and help others.
Jean stopped ringing in April 2024 when she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Ringers in the Banbury area were devastated to hear the news she was unwell, Jean was so reliable and always there for others.
Sadly she died on 8th December 2024 in Katharine House Hospice, Adderbury, with her family with her.
Although Saint Mary’s Banbury is a large church, it was full for a service of Love and Thanksgiving for the Life of Jean. The vicar. Revd Serena Tajima, in her Homily summed up Jean’s involvement with the church and said it was a pleasure having her as part of the congregation. Dina Bentley read the poem, Leisure by William Henry Davis, and Graham Clifton gave the Eulogy. Three joyful hymns were sung at Jean’s request and there were large numbers of people from all aspects of Jean’s life. Banbury bells were rung before and after the service and five quarter peals were rung in the Banbury area as a tribute to Jean’s life.
Jean was one in a million and we will greatly miss her.
May she rest in peace.
Written by Graham Clifton with thanks to Barry Davis.
ODG MEMBERMOJO
Posted: November 27, 2024 by webmaster
All members of the Oxford Diocesan Guild should have received an email or a reminder to check/update their membership data online.
Please follow the instructions contained in the email attachment.
If you have not received these, it may be that we do not have a valid email address linked to you membership and you are invited to contact the membership secretary by email: membership@odg.org.uk.
Branch Carol Service – 7th December 2024
Posted: November 26, 2024 by webmaster
Our annual Carol Service was held at Horley with ringing from 5:00 pm
Branch Half Yearly Meeting – November 2024
Posted: November 11, 2024 by webmaster
The half yearly meeting was held on 19 October 2024 at Wardington.
A copy of the minutes can be downloaded below.
Banbury Branch Outing – Friday, 16th August 2024
Posted: August 17, 2024 by webmaster
The photograph below shows participants of our 2024 outing which was very well organised by Brenda and her team. Participants enjoyed some very nice ringing in pleasant weather. Brenda is now soliciting ideas for next year’s outing so please feel free to get in touch if there are any ideas or special requests.
Ringing for Fairport’s Cropredy Convention
Posted: August 12, 2024 by webmaster
On Sunday 11th August Cropredy was delighted to welcome ringers who had come to “Fairport” – to the uninitiated Fairport’s Cropredy Convention is a music festival held in the village every year on the second weekend of August.
We always ring to open the Festival on Thursday afternoon
from 3pm to 4pm and again for the Fairport Service on the Sunday
morning. The photo shows some of those who rang for the service.
Sue’s Bell
Posted: October 20, 2023 by webmaster
Reverend Sue Burchell was our Branch Chairperson for over 15 years. Sue sadly died in August 2021. She was an experienced ringer and long serving member of the Banbury branch who was very supportive of the ringing activities.
At Sue’s funeral, a collection fund was made. Consideration of options was taken, as to how to use this fund in her memory. With some further donations and branch funds it was finally agreed to purchase a model bell as a training and demonstration aid for use of our branch members.
In April 2023, the model was collected and presented at the Branch AGM where it was renamed as “Sue’s Bell” and bears an added dedication plaque.
Thanks are given to everyone who contributed to the fund; to Rev Robin Noble for the model and to Keith Thomas for the plaque.
Enquiries for the use and loan of the bell to:
Heather Bletchly – email bletchlyh@gmail.com
As a result of disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic that spread throughout the world in 2020, the branch website suffered a ‘news hiatus’ during 2021 and 2022.
News from earlier years may be found in the links below:
2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015