Membership for the year was slightly down - 118 plus 1 life member. Several of the members entitled to Life Membership under Rule G(6), but continue to pay subscriptions. Nine meetings were held and the average attendance was 35.
Very good attendance at the A.G.M. and May Meeting. The Bidston meeting attendance was swelled by many parishioners attending the re-dedication of the bells now once again easily ringable due to the effort of Tommy Morgan and Banky Pemberton.
The addition of a Christmas Dinner at the local hostelry swelled the attendance at the December Meeting at Port Sunlight once again.
A presentation was made at the May Meeting to Alec Martin to mark his completion of 50 years in the office of Branch Secretary. It was at the Upton Meeting in May 1946 he took office as Temporary Secretary and was confirmed in the job at the next A.G.M.. Needless to say the West Kirby Meeting in the July took place in the usual very favourable weather, and in the evening a rounders match and barbecue attracted a very good attendance.
All the usual programme:
These were all successfully completed and a similar programme is planned for 1997.
The standard of ringing at meetings has been fairly good - spliced Surprise Major being a regular feature, and it would be true to say that there are more Surprise Major ringers in the Branch than ever before. During the year, a Branch rang a peal of 10 Spliced Surprise Major Methods. However, the large number of young ringers attending meetings is also very gratifying and heartening when looking to the future.
In spite of this, it is regretted that within the Branch there is less Sunday ringing than ever before.
Assuming that there are two main services each Sunday in churches with bells, on average the bells would only be rung for 50% of them. As the bells are the only voice of the church to be heard in the Parish to remind customers that the church is alive and functioning, it obligates us all to ensure that they are heard as often as possible each Sunday. They are expensive instruments to maintain and will drop very low on the list of Parish's priorities if they are not fulfilling their function.
It is a difficult task in the present circumstances with declining congregations and when church families only attend once each Sunday, leaving the rest of the day free for leisure activities.
Needless to say our prime task is to concentrate on improving our Sunday ringing in quality and quality during the current years.
To end on a happy note, it is pleasing to report that our monthly stint at the Cathedral has been maintained with a mixture of general ringing and 1/4 peals.
Alex Martin - Wirral Branch Secretary