The 2024 Annual General Meeting of the Guild of Medical Ringers was held on Saturday 23rd November in the City of London. It had once again been very difficult to arrange towers for this meeting and we are very grateful to Geraldine Forster for her sterling efforts and for her impressive contacts. There were multiple ringing commitments in London on this date, not least concerning the Guild of Railway Ringers who we followed after.
There was a successful quarter peal attempt in the morning at St John, Waterloo Road. This had needed to be a very early start because of other commitments at the church. This was a very special quarter peal as it was a composition of Grandsire Triples by the late Andrew Johnson and his mother Elizabeth Johnson rang the third.
There was therefore time for a very leisurely lunch. It was, however, a very dull, damp and blustery day but we faired well compared with many other parts of the country where storm Bert reaped havoc.
Ringing in the afternoon followed at St Magnus-the-Martyr. There was a risk of a delay as we were following on a peal of spliced Maximus by the Society of College Youths, but fortunately, they finished successfully on time.
Our next stop was the eight of St James Garlickhythe, which had formed the formed the centrepiece of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. A short walk then took us to St Lawrence, Jewry as our final tower for the day.
The AGM and dinner were at The Olde Watling, 29 Watling Street, London EC4M 9BR at 18.00 ready to sit at 18.30. We were just twenty in number so this time we did not have all the upper floor to ourselves and joined others dining. This meant we had to have a rapid AGM in public view, but with explanation other guests were very accommodating. However, the food and service were very good and it was an enjoyable meal.