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Recent news 

DateEvent
31 August 2008A band from Reading (including two former All Saints ringers) rang a peal of 8 spliced Surprise Major. In the afternoon, they went on to ring a peal at St Paul's, thus repeating the feat of local ringers on 10 May (see below). The method they rang at St Paul's was Wokingham Surprise Major, first rung at All Saints for the 800th Anniversary of the church in 1990
13 July 2008A quarter peal of 1250 changes of Yorkshire Surprise Major was rung for evensong during the visit of Bishop Henry Parsley from Alabama.
22 June 2008A quarter peal of 1260 changes of Grandsire Triples rung to celebrate the wedding of Rebecca Fox and Chris Eamen on 14th June
10 May 2008A joint All Saints & St Paul's band rang two peals of Yorkshire Major, one at All Saints in the morning and at St Paul's in the afternoon, the first time this has been done since 1912, and the first time ever by local ringers. See picture and articles.
19 April 2008An All Saints band was placed 3rd in the Sonning Deanery 6-bell striking competition held at Warfield
23 March 2008A quarter peal of 1320 changes of  spliced Surprise Minor was rung for evening service on Easter Day.
16 March 2008A quarter peal of 1260 changes of Grandsire Triples rung for evening service on Palm Sunday. Congratulations to Mary Spence, ringing her first quarter peal of Triples inside. 
2 March 2008A quarter peal of 1280 changes of Plain Bob Major rung for evening service on Mothering Sunday. Congratulations to Mhairi Miller, ringing her first quarter peal inside.
16 February 2008A quarter peal of 1260 changes of Plain Bob Minor as a birthday compliment to Nigel Mellor. Congratilations to Emily Mellor ringing her first quarter peal inside. 
26th January 200827 members and guests attended the annual tower dinner. The enteretainment included a performance of change ringing on handbells.
21 January 2008At the tower AGM, Simon Farrar was elected to the newly created post of Ringing Master. Richard Woodward stood down as Secretary, to be replaced by Mary Spence. Jon Tutcher will serve as Deputy Foreman, in addition to being Treasurer. The post of Steeple Keeper remains vacant, with the Foreman doing the job until a new appointment is made.
19 January 2008Many current and former ringers at All Saints attended the memorial service in Fladbury, Worcestershire, so Stewart Gibson, a former Tower Forema, who rang at All Saints for 22 years. See tribute.
13 January 2008 A quarter peal of 1260 changes of Grandsire Triples was rung to celebrate the life of Stewart Gibson, who rang at this tower for 22 years from 1978 to 1999, and who died on 3rd January.
12 January 2008A quarter peal of 1260 changes of Grandsire Doubles was rung half muffled before the funeral service of Rex Baldry
1 January 2008A Date Touch of 2008 changes of spliced Plain and Little Bob Major was rung to welcome the New Year
11 November 2007A quarter peal of 1260 changes of Grandsire Triples was rung half muffled before the evening service on Remembrance Sunday 
9 October 2007A quarter peal of 1287 changes of Grandsire Triples was rung half muffled before the memorial service of Michael John Nightingale, in tribute to his dedication to both the church and the community.
22 September 2007All Saints ringers met members of the PCC for a friendly skittles match and meal. After an early lead, the PCC gradually caught up, and at one stage the scores were within a couple of points. The ringers finally won by 390 to 380 points, and thus retained the 'wooden spoon' trophy.
15 September 2007 A joint Wokingham band with four ringers each from All Saints and St Paul's competed in the Sonning Deanery 8-bell Striking competition, and won by a clear margin. Congratulations to Mhairi Miller, who rang the Tenor, on taking part in her first striking competition. (See the trophy)
7 July 2007A peal of 5056 changes of Yorkshire Surprise Major was rung as a Ruby Wedding compliment to John & Anne Harrison. (John rang in the peal, and is Tower Foreman at All Saints.)
10 May 2007All Saints ringers were awarded a Gold Certificate in the Tower Maintenance Award scheme run by the Oxford Diocesan Guild of Church Bellringers.
5 May 2007Friends of Julie Goodchild joined with her to ring a quarter peal of 1250 changes of Yorkshire Surprise Major on her 40th birthday.
29 April 2007Mhairi Miller, one of the band's youngest ringers reached a personal landmark by ringing the Treble to her first quarter peal: 1280 changes of Grandsire Doubles. Congratulations.
21 April 2007An All Saints team came second in the Sonning Deanery Branch striking competition at Finchampstead.
24 FebruaryEmily Mellor, one of the band's youngest ringers reached a personal landmark by ringing the Treble to her first quarter peal: 1260 changes of Plain Bob Minor, rung in 42 minutes. Congratulations.
10 February 2007Two All Saints ringers took part in a peal at Twyford to mark the contribution to local ringing by Mike Dane, who is moving away after being tower captain at Twyford for nearly 35 years.
28 January 2007A quarter peal of 1260 changes of Grandsire Triples was rung before evening service, to mark the birth of Joshua Thomas Smith, first nephew of the conductor, Andrew Smith.
27 January 200730 members and guests attended the annual tower dinner. This year, for the first time, those present were enteretained by a performance of change ringing on handbells. Not to be out-done, the three teenagers present then rang Rounds on the handbells.
22 Janury 2007At the tower AGM, Simon Farrar was elected to serve as Deputy Foreman. Simon is an experienced ringer who joined the band a year ago. He takes over from Steve Smith, a longstanding member who served as Deputy for four years. Arthur Moss stood down as Steeple Keeper, after doing the job for ten years.
14 January 2007A quarter peal of 1250 changes of Pudsey Surprise Major was rung before evening service, to mark ten years ministry at All Saints by the Rector, Revd. David Hodgson.
17 December 2006 A quarter peal of 1260 changes of Grandsire Triples was rung before evening service.
3 December 2006A quarter peal of 1344 changes of Rutland Surprise Major was rung before the Advent carol service.
12 November 2006 A half muffled quarter peal of 1260 changes of Grandsire Triples was rung for Evensong on Remembrance Sunday. The composition used was designed for half muffled ringing. (Rung during Sonning Deanery Branch quarter peal week.)
12 November 2006A group of All Saints ringers rang a quarter peal of 1260 changes of Plain Bob Minor on handbells. (Rung during Sonning Deanery Branch quarter peal week.)
8 November 2006An All Saints band rang a quarter peal of six spliced Surprise Major at St Nicholas church Hurst. Congratulations to Jonathan Goodchild who rang his first quarter of spliced Surprise Major. (Rung during Sonning Deanery Branch quarter peal week.)
29 October 2006A quarter peal of Plain Bob Triples was rung for Evensong to mark All Saints tide. Congratulations to Mary Spence, on her first quarter peal ringing the method on an inside bell.  
1 October 2006A quarter peal was rung for Evensong on the first day that Emma Antoine (see below) was the celebrant at the morning communion service.
24 September 2006 A joint band of ringers from All Saints, St Paul's, and Shinfield parishes rang a quarter peal of Cambridge Surprise Major at St Mary, Reading, prior to the ordination service, at which Emma Antoine (All Saints) Jo Harrison (St Paul's) and Chris Leslie (Benefice of Loddon Reach)
were ordained.
16 September 2006 All Saints band won the Sonning Deanery Branch 8-bell striking competition at Easthampstead by a clear margin, competing against teams from Sonning and Easthampstead. See picture of one of the trophies.
16 September 2006A party of visitors toured the tower as part of the Parish 'Go Green Fun Day', held in the Cornerstone.
10 September 2006 The tower was open to the public as part of National Heritage Day. 130 members of the public, some coming from as far away as Australia and America, enjoyed conducted tours of the historic tower including demonstration of ringing, the bells, the clock mechanism and the magnificent views from the roof over Wokingham and the surrounding countryside.
24 June 2006All Saints tower outing to Wiltshire. An enjoyable day for all concerned, ringing at six towers in the Marlborough area. See pictures.
29 April 2006All Saints Tower Foreman is presented with a civic award for services to the community by the Mayor of Wokingham. See pictures.
22 April 2006All Saints team competed in Sonning Deanery Branch 6-bell striking competition at White Waltham and came an extremely close 2nd to Sonning, who will represent the Deanery in the Oxford Diocesan Guild competition on 7th October. Picture of the band
21 April 2006All Saints ringers joined with St Paul's ringers to ring at both churches on the evening of the Queen's 80th birthday
20 February 2006All Saints ringers joined the ringers and congregation of St Paunch Wokingham for the rededication of their tower and bells, which were restored after being struck by lightning in January 2004
17 January 2006A date touch of 1881 changes to mark the 125th anniversary of the founding of the Oxford Diocesan Guild on this day in 1881.  Picture of the band 
6 December 2005The bells rang on Tuesday evening for the licensing service for Rev Michael Johnson, our new curate 
13 November 2005A quarter peal of 1260 changes of Grandsire Triples, rung half muffled for evensong on Remembrance Sunday
5 November 2005The first peal was rung on the restored bells to mark All Saints tide (not Bonfire Night). 5058 changes of Yorkshire Surprise Major were rung in 2 hours 46 minutes.
 8 October 2005 An All Saints team competed in the quiz at St Paunch, Wokingham, organised by Sonning Ringers. We didn't win :-(
 1 October 2005An All Saints team representing Sonning Deanery in the Oxford Diocesan Guild 6 bell competition was placed 3rd in the heat at Charlton on Otmoor, and went through to ring in the final at Kirtlington.
An unfortunate slip in the final meant that we were not placed. Picture of the band 
 17 September 2005An All Saints band competed in the Sonning Deanery 8 bell striking competition, hosted at All Saints, and was placed first. All Saints tower now holds both the 8-bell and 6-bell trophies .
 9 August 2005This day was exactly 100 years after FE Robinson, buried at All Saints, became the first person ever to ring 1000 peals. The event was marked by ringing a quarter peal of Stedman Triples (his favourite method). Picture of the band that rang 
 10 July 2005The date touch of 1945 changes of Grandsire Triples was successfully completed in 1 hour and 7 minutes. The performance started at 5pm, synchronised with ringing in thousands of other towers around the country to mark
60 years since the end of World War II.
23 January 2005Re-dedication of the restored ring of bells by Rt Rev Stephen Cotterell, Bishop of Reading.

Updated 31 August 2008


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