The rearrangements of planned ringing generally entailed 'half-muffling' the bells for Sunday Service ringing, albeit on Easter Day, and for Quarter Peals which had already been planned as part of the ringing programme. This included a Quarter Peal day organised by a Liverpool based ringer to which several Wirral Branch members had already been invited.

The issue of whether to ring 'open' or 'half-muffled' for Easter was a contentious one but common-sense prevailed and the varying wishes of incumbents at the many towers involved were accepted by the ringers concerned.

A Peal was subsequently arranged to take place at Holy Cross, Woodchurch (see below) and additional Quarter Peals were arranged, especially at towers where none had previously been planned.

In all, some 23 Quarter Peals were attempted of which 20 were successful. Details of all the successful Quarter Peals together with those for ringing performances involving Wirral ringers at other towers outside the Branch) can be found on the Campanophile Website.

The Quarter Peals successfully rung are summarised in the table below.

Other tributes: Ringing was half-muffled for Sunday Services on one or both of Easter Day and Low Sunday at Capenhurst, Bebington, Heswall, Thurstaston and West Kirby, where practices on 2nd and 9th April were also half-muffled. Whole pull and stand was rung for 5 minutes at Wallasey St Nicholas at the end of practice on the eve of the funeral, with the muffles still on, and also at Bebington, at the end of normal service ringing on the Sunday morning (tenor ringing a whole pull at every stand). Tenor bells were tolled at Bebington just prior to Sunday Service and, immediately preceding the funeral, at Port Sunlight (Six Tailors plus 101 blows).

The band, shown in the picture below, comprised six Wirral ringers plus one from Liverpool (Bryan McCahey) and one from Lymm (Gordon Birks.)

But Wirral ringers were very much involved in commemorative peals elsewhere.

Peter Hughes conducted a half-muffled Peal of Bristol Surprise Major at Eccleston (Cheshire) on 6 April, the band including Wirral Branch members Christina Fleckney, John Hyden and Eric Jones.

On the day of the funeral, Geoff Sparling (Wallasey St Nicholas) conducted a peal of Grandsire Cinques at his 'other St Nicholas', Liverpool Parish Church at Pier Head, where he is Ringing Master. The band included two other Wirral ringers, his wife Sue Sparling and John Hyden. And Mark Humphreys (Port Sunlight) rang in a peal at St Mary le Bow, London. Both these peals were rung on the day of the funeral. The previous day, Mark had rung in a Quarter Peal at Birmingham Cathedral. Each of these four ringers are to be seen in the picture of the Woodchurch Peal band below.

Peter Humphreys. April 2002