Janet Garnett had been an exceptional District Secretary for many years and desplite relinquishing that role at the ADM in 2022 still worked for the District and the Association in several capacities, Janet has now left the area and we are very grateful for her many years of diverse service to the District and the Association.

After the aDM in 2022 when Janet stepped down from the Secretary role we distributed many of the jobs among committee. members, but even so, at the 2023 ADM we were unable to appoint a secretary. The Association insisted that we have this named office so I agreed to take on the role in name only.

During 2023 we realised that the division of duties could be optimised by combining some together and at the 2024 ADM I felt able to take on more of the secretary's roles.

Ringing meetings througout 2023 included the District Outing in April to the Suffolk/Essex border (arranged by Philip Bailey) were generally very well attended by ringers with a wide range of experience. The Ringing Master (and deputies, when required) made sure that everyone got a chance to ring their aspirations, with support as required, as well as exercising good crowd control. 

The nationwide Ring for the King initiative came to fruition on 6 May as we rang for the Coronation of King Charles III, many towers ringing with those new recruits, especially for this occasion. We capitalised on this newly generated enthusiasm for ringing with Ring for the King Plus which aims to retain and futher develop the ringing of all the new ringers.

At the same time we did not want to lose sight of our more established ringers, so we have also been developing their capabilities through the inception of 7/8 bell practices which have covered a range of principles and methods up to Bristol Surprise Major.

Roderick Johnstone

District Secretary's reports for other years are available in the Archive: 

2020, 2019,  2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008