The 60th Sir Arthur Heywood Annual Memorial Dinner

This year the Sir Arthur Heywood memorial dinner was hosted by the Southern District of the Derby Diocesan Association at the Stuart Hotel in Derby on Saturday February 23rd. It proved to be a very enjoyable evening. There was time before the meal to circulate and meet friends and enjoy a drink.

At the appointed hour, everyone congregated the dining room for the dinner. The President of the Association, Rev. Clive Thrower, said Grace. We had all chosen our meals in advance and the staff were very good at locating each person and presenting them with their desired choice. When the last coffee had been served and the last mint savoured, MC Rod Pearson, Chairman of the Southern District, proposed the Loyal Toast and then spoke a little about Sir Arthur Heywood and why he is remembered at our Annual Dinner [the speech is below in full]. Sir Arthur had been an enthusiastic ringer, whose other hobby was railway engines. He had been a founder member of the Central Council and was its first President. Rod then introduced the speaker for the evening, Canon David Perkins of Derby Cathedral. Anyone who had thought they were in for a sermon could not have been more mistaken!

Dave gave us a very entertaining account of his life history, which he called ‘From Gasman to God’s man’. He recounted how he had hated school and left without a single qualification to his name; he continued by telling us he had always wanted to be a train driver, but his father, who was an academic, cancelled Dave’s interview with the train company and insisted he took an apprenticeship. Dave told us of his adventures on the shop floor and how he made no progress whatsoever. Eventually he got a job in a gas showroom and after that he never looked back, rising to manager of the shop and then eventually to area manager. When he decided he wanted to go into the church, he had to compete against men who had been to various top rate universities, but his personality brought him through, even without a single O level. He had always been interested in music (which is how he came to be precentor at the Cathedral). When he was younger he had played a guitar with several well-known groups and he finished his speech by playing his guitar and singing two songs to the assembled company. He was one of the most entertaining speakers we have ever been privileged to listen to.

For the rest of the evening ringers chatted and exchanged ringing experiences and a good time was had by all.

In spite of much hard work by Jane Boden in trying to sell dinner tickets to Association members, only 52 attended the dinner. When this dinner started, 60 years ago, tickets were quite often sold out – and we had room for nearly 200 in some of the venues. In those days eating out was something which people did rarely so the dinner was a treat. Nowadays when a pub lunch is a frequent occurrence for many people, an annual dinner is less attractive. We are wondering about changing the format for the annual dinner – what do other Associations find is the best way to get more ringers involved? Everyone who did attend the dinner this year thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks are due to Jane and Rod for their organisation and to Dave Perkins for his amusing speech.

Pat Halls


Reply on behalf of the Association.

The Derby Diocesan Association of Church Bell Ringers was founded in January 1946, on the dissolution of the Midland Counties Association at the end of 1945. The Association was originally named the Derby & District Association, renamed to the Derbyshire Association in 1947 and then took its present title in 1963.

The First Dinner of this Association was held in Derby on 21 st February 1953 and thereafter became an annual event. The first 12 dinners were held in Derby, but the next year was hosted in Chesterfield, since when the venue has moved around the districts in the Association.

I am indebted to Pat Halls for some information about the early dinners, such as the various forms of entertainment which were created. For instance, Denis Carlisle and Gordon Halls wrote a song each year which detailed some of the adventures (misadventures?) which had happened during the previous twelve months. There was also the presentation of a medal, known as “Capita Magnissimus”, to some unsuspecting member of the Association, an award for some dreadful misdemeanour like calling a touch wrong, or breaking a stay. Pat received her medal for ‘catching’ Gordon.

At the AGM in 1956 it was decided to hold it in memory of Sir Arthur Heywood. The anniversaries were back-counted to 1953, hence this is the 60th Memorial Dinner.

Arthur Percival Heywood was born on Christmas Day 1849, into a family that had made its money in banking – with homes at Doveleys, near Uttoxeter and another in Lancashire. He married in 1872 and set up home at Duffield Bank.

Well-known as a railway enthusiast, his interests included engineering and architecture. In 1874 he started on the construction of a 15 inch gauge railway to facilitate the management of the Duffield Bank estate. He  designed the whole thing himself. He built his first two locomotives himself in his own workshops.

The line eventually reached a length of a little over a mile, including sidings, and was designed to test thoroughly the potential of the 15 inch gauge. Features of the line included three tunnels, two bridges, a timber trestle viaduct 19ft. long and 20ft. high, and six stations. The line was equipped with interlocking points and signals which were worked from two signal boxes linked by telephone. Guests could be carried in trains which included both dining cars and sleeping cars.

Heywood’s other major interest was bellringing.

He had joined the local band at Duffield, and conducted the first peal on the Duffield bells after their augmentation at his expense to 8 bells in 1884. Two further bells were added by him in time for Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1887.

Heywood developed an interest in composition and the theory of change ringing, publishing several articles on these topics in the late 1880s; these included investigations into Stedman Triples and a publication on his own work called ‘A Treatise on “Duffield”, a Musical Method for eight, ten and twelve bells’, published in 1888.

The title page of this recorded that he was (since 1886) President of the Midland Counties Association of Change-Ringers, and a member several other ringers’ Guilds and Societies.  About this time there was an upsurge in bell ringing and the emergence of several local Associations throughout the country, but it was also clear that there were problems with such matters as bell ringing terminology and the construction and recording of peals. During the 1880s there was an attempt to create a national coordinating body, but this failed to materialise. It fell to the energetic Heywood to revive this idea and in 1890 he was instrumental in creating a provisional body which would become the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers in 1891. Heywood was elected as first President for a term of three years, and he continued as the Midland Counties representative until his death in 1916.

Such was Heywood’s drive for perfection in performance, it is said that when he arranged a peal at Duffield, he would put nine sovereigns on the shelf. If the peal was successful he gave one to each of the ringers. If it was not, he put the sovereigns back in his pocket.

Research into the value of a sovereign (the old name for a pound) in 1912 compared with today is as follows:

Using the Retail Price Index, £1 in 1912 is now the equivalent of £77.00

Gold sovereign today retails for £270

Using an index of average earnings it is equivalent to £326.00.

How about that, tower captains? There’s an incentive.

Rod Pearson
Chairman,
DDA Southern District.
23rd February 2013.