Horfield Ringers

Don had rung at Horfield since the mid-1960s when the bells were restored, and took over as tower captain immediately following the restoration. He was also a churchwarden at Horfield in the period 1972-1973. As well as ringing at other towers (including St. Mary, Redcliffe), he rang regularly at Horfield - right up until a few weeks before he died, on 3rd March 2008, aged 88.	Don Helliwell	During World War II, the ringing of church bells was prohibited, as this was reserved for the purpose of signalling that an invasion was taking place. Notwithstanding the latter, special dispensation was given to celebrate the Allied victory at El Alamain, and Don was one of the ringers who took part in that victory ringing, when stationed in Kent on military service.

	1919 - 2008

Don’s funeral took place on Friday, 14th March. The church was full to capacity, and the bells were half-muffled for the occasion. Twenty ringers attended, and most took part in the ringing. Apart from Horfield, the other Bristol towers represented were: St. Mary (Redcliffe), St. Mary the Virgin (Henbury), Holy Trinity (Westbury-on-Trym) and Holy Nativity (Knowle). Ringers included the current Horfield tower captain (Philip Naylor) and two former Horfield tower captains (Roy Tallis and Andrew Smith).

The bells were rung six times in Don’s honour: Rounds, Plain Hunt, Bob Doubles and call changes were rung immediately before the service - followed of course by the tolling of the tenor. Rounds and Bob Doubles were rung just after the service.

Don will be sadly missed by all – including of course his fellow ringers at the Horfield tower. Here are some personal tributes from them:

Don was a remarkable man; he had a lovely nature with easy humour and witty stories. I was always very impressed with his ringing ability, he had a truly amazing memory and concentration span which was clearly better then many ringers his junior. He was kind and tentative to Alice, my daughter our youngest ringer, with several decades in age difference between them; it was rather potent to see their special relationship. He was the epitome of a perfect gentleman.

- Katy Murdoch-Davis

Whenever I walked up the steps into Horfield bell tower, if Don was there you could guarantee you would be met with a cheery smile and greeting, he was patient teacher and someone I can't imagine anyone saying a bad word against. I also remember his good humour, often telling jokes on a practice night. He will be dearly missed.

- David Dowding

My "tribute to Don" will never do justice to the big-hearted man who took me under his wing as I fell under the spell of "the bells". He taught me how to ring, and was so patient with my poor handling - always encouraging me to carry on. He had a knowledge of many aspects of life which we shared: a man of the earth, turning his has to many tasks. Repairing bell-stays was only one of them. I also shared the fruits of his many hours of labour from his allotment and garden. Betty and Don always made me feel at home when visiting, and I will always be grateful for their support over many years.

- Jeanne Fairman

On March 8th a small group from Horfield tower ventured up the M5 to Tewkesbury for the annual training day. The group included Philip, David, Alice and myself; we were all were going to spend the entire day ringing nothing but plain hunt doubles. Alice was a student and the rest of us were helpers, in fact I was asked to lead the basic plain hunt doubles course. Which after an element of terror, I accepted.

My group consisted of five students, including Alice and seven helpers which included David and myself. Our first tower was Ashchurch, and after a brief nervous start and instructions we started a series of several courses of plain hunt. We rang all morning with the students taking turns to ring, with the help, support and advice from their designated helpers.

We had a well earned lunch and rest in a local pub, which was a good chance to get to know each other better. After lunch our afternoon tower was Deerhurst, which is unusual as the ringing chamber is contained with two adjoining rooms. Again we rang many rounds of plain hunt, with a few surprise changes to make life more interesting and terrifying for the students.

All the students and helpers had a really fun but tiring day with loads of chatting and laughter, and also most importantly plenty of good ringing! Everyone had a really good successful day and had achieved many personal goals.

After tea and cakes, the highlight of day was the opportunity to ring at the truly inspiring and impressive Tewksbury Abbey. I was incredibly proud of our group as we all took the opportunity and had a ring. It was a very long, tiring but enjoyable day.

Katy Murdoch-Davis

David Dowding	Horfield	Video of ringing practice at Horfield.
David Dowding	Horfield	List of methods rung at Horfield.
Jeanne Fairman	Horfield	Photographs taken on tower tours.
Anthony Franklin	Horfield/Henbury	Sound clips of the Horfield bells.
Anthony Franklin	Horfield/Henbury	Article - Learning to Ring with a Band of Ringers.
Grant Glanville	(Non-ringer)	Song - "The Egloshayle Ringers".
Don Helliwell (deceased)	Horfield	Ten Commandments for the Bellringer.
Bernie Maddalena	Horfield	Photographs taken on tower tours.
Alice Murdoch-Davis	Horfield	Video of ringing at Tewkesbury Abbey
Katy Murdoch-Davis	Horfield	AGM Minutes.
Katy Murdoch-Davis	Horfield	Report on Tewkesbury Training Day 2008.
Philip Naylor	Horfield	Photographs of the Horfield bells.
Philip Naylor	Horfield	Photograph of tower window.
John Shaw & Olga Shotton	(Non-ringers)	Song - "The Ringers of Chew"

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