The 2002 Annual General Meeting of the Guild was held on Saturday 16th November in central London. The towers were very kindly organised by Sebastian Lucas although he and Susan were in fact in the USA for a friends wedding on that day.
A band met at the newly rehung 8 of St. Mary and St. Paul, Rotherhithe at 11am for a quarter peal attempt. It was hoped to gain the Guild’s first quarter of Kent but it soon became clear that this was not going to be realised but a quarter peal of 1280 Plain bob Major was successfully completed.
It was dull and grey but not actually raining when we gathered at the 10 of St. Dunstan, Stepney. These bells sound lovely but are quite difficult to ring due to the flexibility of the frame. However, we did our best with several touches of Stedman, the method of the day. We were quite low in numbers this year for a variety of reasons and although there was a more relaxed atmosphere than usual we did in fact all have to work hard.
Our next stop was the 12 of St. Giles, Cripplegate where Ruth Simon let us in. This church is very scenically situated in the centre of the Barbican but we did not have to worry about disturbing the locals as the bells are muffled. We were told that the 7th was loose on its headstock which was quite apparent. We were assured that it was safe to ring but we became anxious about it at one stage and then confined ourselves to ringing Stedman on the front 5.
The last tower of the day was the 10 of St. Clement Dane. Parking here was as difficult and expensive as ever and we had to wait for a wedding to finish before we could enter. However, it was only a short walk from there to the dinner venue at ‘Ye Olde Cock Tavern’ This was once again under new management but they did their best to make us very welcome. Twenty five of us sat down to dinner around one long table. After the meal the business meeting was held. The business meeting was closed at 21.30 in the traditional manner with hand bell ringing.
