Banky Pemberton of Bidston, Birkenhead, who died on 1^st June, will be sadly missed by all who knew him. A member of the Bidston band for 55 years and tower captain for over forty of them, Banky was an example to us all in his selflessness and willingness to put the needs of other ringers ahead of his own ambitions. Countless learners benefited from his skill and patience, and his kindness and ready smile will be remembered with affection and gratitude.

Charles Bancroft Pemberton was born on 14^th June 1930 and grew up in School Lane, Bidston. He was known as Banky from an early age – he once said he did not mind what people called him "as long as it’s not Bancroft!". His grandmother, in whose house the family lived, was a member of the congregation at St Oswald’s Church which was at the top of the road, and Banky remembered the church as it was in the 1930s and how the posh folk would come to the morning service and servant-girls in the evening. Banky attended Bidston C. of E. and then Park High School, but left at 15 to work for his father, whose market garden was at the rear of the house. Market gardening was to remain his occupation for the rest of his working life – he later took over the business and ran it until he retired; he had a special interest in flowers, probably the result of the florist’s shop in Conway Street which was run by his mother.

Soon after the War ended, Banky was confirmed, and some of the confirmands were encouraged to try their hand at bellringing. He learned quickly and before long was ringing five nights a week in the heady post-war days when ringing in Wirral flourished as perhaps never before or since – St Mary’s, Birkenhead, on Mondays, Bebington on Tuesdays, Bidston on Wednesdays, St Nicholas, Wallasey, on Thursdays and Bromborough on Fridays. When, in 1947, a new Tower Captain was needed at Bidston, it was Banky to whom they turned. He said with typical modesty in later years that they asked him only because he was exempt from National Service, being in a "reserved" occupation. Under his leadership, the band immediately began to blossom, continuing the tradition of high-class six-bell ringing which had prevailed throughout William Wilcox’s time. (Banky and William rang together once, shortly before the latter, who had been Tower Captain from 1889 to 1931, died in 1947.) By the early 1950s, Bidston ringing was very strong indeed and the local band rang a peal of 14-spliced Surprise in May 1951. A feature of the band around that time was the number of brothers – Banky’s brothers Max and Fred were members of the band, as were Ken and Roy Humphreys and the Sutton brothers Stan, Trevor and Norman.

Banky’s first peal had been on February 5, 1948, when Minor in seven methods was rung at St Mary’s, Birkenhead. This was also Alfie Cusick’s first peal – Alfie and Banky rang many subsequent peals together in the following years – and Alex Martin’s first as conductor. Also in the band was Joan Webster from Wallasey, who was to play a major part in Banky’s life. Having had his first taste of peal-ringing, he rang a further fourteen for the Chester Guild in 1948. His first as conductor came in September, in a band whose ages ranged from 15 to 21! A glance at the Wirral Branch’s peal records for the late forties and early fifties, when frontiers were being pushed back, shows his name in many of them, including the firsts of Superlative, Pudsey and Spliced Surprise Major for the Branch, and also the first handbell peal in Wirral – Plain Bob Doubles in Banky’s back garden in August 1949 in which he, Alex and Alfie each rang their first handbell peal.

His courtship with Joan was a long one and eventually they were married at Wallasey in October 1956, after which they settled in Leasowe. Peal-ringing had slowed to a few a year by then, and his main priority in ringing was to keep the Bidston band strong and to help out elsewhere. He was still to be seen at Alex Martin’s learners’ practice at St Mary’s, from which he himself had benefited in his early ringing days. Ringers from the early post-war era still have fond memories of the regular June Meeting at Bidston, when the monotony of food-rationing was brightened by roast pork salad followed by strawberries and cream! He was Assistant Branch Ringing Master to the legendary Tommy Rogers from 1951 to 1961, and the pair held the post jointly until Tommy’s death in 1966. Banky remained Master until 1969.

Banky’s leadership of the Bidston band was part of a wider rôle in the church. His first of four stints as Churchwarden came in the 1960s, when the church was still thriving. Leaner times were to come, when the congregation shrank within a very short period in the mid-seventies, a time when the nature of the parish changed dramatically with the building of the Ford and Ballantyne Estates to rehouse inhabitants of the North End of Birkenhead when a large number of houses were demolished. Those who were members of the church at the time still talk of Banky and Joan as part of a small core of the remaining congregation who ensured the church’s survival in order that the ministry of St Oswald’s could be extended throughout the new community. The ringing suffered at that time as well, of course, with the loss of several members of the Sunday Service band which rang a peal in 1972, and for a while the Pemberton family – for by that time their children John and Sue had learnt to ring – kept the bells ringing with little help.

There is little doubt that, had he wanted to, Banky could have rung Royal and Maximus long before he did. His belief, seldom if ever overtly expressed but nevertheless firmly evident, was that his rôle was to use his ability to bring others along. His tower captaincy was gentle and always humorous, though he could be firm when he needed to be, which was not often. His conducting was expert, though again he would rather give others a chance, and in fact his last peal as conductor is thought to have been in 1974, when he was in his mid-forties. Even those who rang with him only towards the end of his life could see glimpses of how good he must have been, picking up a trip almost before it happened and correcting it quickly and clearly, followed by the inevitable smile. And often when he was not conducting, perhaps even on ten and twelve, he would guide an uncertain ringer through, never saying a word but by way of nods and gestures. Someone else may have had "Conductor" after their name, but you knew who had helped you the most. When, in his late fifties, he rang Surprise Maximus for the first time at Chester, he was immaculate, though characteristically protesting that he wasn’t really "seeing" it.

When Joan became ill, he nursed her at home with little fuss. He missed her badly when she died in December 1988, though outwardly he never showed it. His faith must have helped him; for, although he rarely talked about it, he had a strong Christian belief, which was evident in the way he lived his life. Banky had the knack of genuinely seeing the best in everyone without being effusive in his praise, and he never criticised, except when he heard unnecessary carping from others, when he might offer a mild admonishment, still with a smile. He was not a man to give advice unless asked to, but if you did ask, you could guarantee that the answer would be sincere. Much of the work he did in church was unspectacular and the sort which could be taken for granted by many – mowing the grass, collecting hymn-books at the end of service, banking the week’s collection. We all attract criticism at regular intervals throughout our lives, but none of us can remember a single word ever said against Banky. During the address at his funeral, Rev Steve Mansfield said that, when he looked at Banky, he knew that Banky was pointing him towards the Lord.

The gradual process of transferring the ringing-chamber from the ground-floor to its present location (in the interim it was in a "halfway" room which made ringing very difficult) led to the bells falling largely silent for over three years from 1991. When a new band started up again in 1995, he felt that he had been tower captain for long enough and was happy to support whoever was willing to take the reins.

His health faded for some years, gradually at first so that only those who saw him occasionally noticed the difference each time. An operation in 1996 did not really solve the problems, and he began to find ringing for any length of time a trial. He was determined that he would ring a peal to mark the fiftieth anniversary of his first, and this was duly achieved in February 1998, with Alex Martin also in the band and a celebratory lunch to follow. A private man, he very rarely talked about himself but was persuaded to do so shortly beforehand in an evening at his home, the memory of which will always be treasured.

Though the decline in his health became more apparent over the last two years, he never once complained. He would still stack chairs at the back of church after the Sunday morning service and brushed off any expressions of concern with a laugh. Eventually, morning ringing became too much and he opted out, saying it was only for a while. He still rang on Friday evenings and came to the services on Sundays. His last ringing was for a wedding at Oxton on Saturday 27^th May, and he was at the service at Bidston the following day. Those who talked to him that morning said that, unusually for him, he seemed to want to linger for a while after the service, as if perhaps he knew. Four days later, on Ascension Day, he slipped quietly away at home, which was how he would have wished it.

When the news broke the following day, the sadness was widespread. A minute’s silence was held at the Branch Striking Competition on the Saturday and again during morning service at Bidston on Sunday, the latter being preceded by whole pull and stand with the bells half-muffled. The congregation for the funeral numbered some 180 – family, parishioners, ringers, Freemasons and those who knew him through his work. The reading from Philippians 4 can never have been more appropriate. As the coffin was lowered into the grave in which Joan had been laid to rest twelve years before, a single dove was seen to fly directly overhead. Perhaps the most touching gesture was the floral arrangement in the form of a bell which was placed on his grave by one of the young Bidston ringers. A peal, to go with the eight quarter-peals elsewhere, was rung at Bidston on the Saturday after the funeral.

Our sympathy goes to John and Sue, his brothers Max and Fred, his sister Ethel and all their families. All who had the privilege to know Banky will have their memories; those who rang with him will remember the easy perfection of the handling style, the expert placing of a light bell, the speed and mastery of the conducting, but above all the kind word for a learner of any age and the sense of pleasure and enjoyment which he brought to ringing.