On Christmas Eve 1927, five young ringers cycled from Birkenhead to Thurstaston to ring a peal of Bob Doubles. One peal had already been rung at Thurstaston in 1923, but this was the first on the bells by the Chester Guild. The average age of the band, three of whom were from Bidston and two from Woodchurch, was sixteen.

Ralph Edwards, then thirteen, is the only known survivor. He remembers Thurstaston as a very pleasant ring of five but thinks that the peal may have been the last time he rang there. His brother Ron was six years older; he worked for a while at the Loughborough Bell Foundry but died in the 1960s.

Billy Jones, also thirteen, later joined up with the Canadian Navy in the Second World War and skippered a destroyer. Sadly, he was lost during the War. Nothing is known at present of what became of John Lee, who was then nineteen. This was his first and only peal. He appears in Guild Reports until 1931 but is then thought to have emigrated to Australia.

Jim Smith, seventeen in 1927, was a Woodchurch ringer at the time but later took over the tower captaincy at Bidston. After the War, he did not return to ringing until middle age, when he rejoined the band at Woodchurch for a while before moving to St Nicholas, Wallasey until his death in 1985. The encouragement he gave to the young band at Woodchurch in the 1970s is fondly remembered.

On Christmas Eve 2002, a peal was rung at Thurstaston to mark the 75th Anniversary. Thurstaston became a ring of six in June 2002 with the addition of a treble to mark the Golden Jubilee, and so Bob Minor was rung on this occasion. The band for the Anniversary peal was somewhat older, the youngest member being nine years older than the two oldest were in 1927. Happily, three of the band were able to repeat history by cycling to the church. Ralph remembers the weather in 1927 as damp and drizzly in the few days leading up to Christmas Eve but fine on the day itself. In 2002, the ringers who cycled received a good soaking both before and after the peal.

CHESTER D.G.

THURSTASTON, Cheshire, St Bartholomew

Sat Dec 24 1927 2h52 (7)

5760 Plain Bob Doubles

1 John Lee 2 William J Jones 3 James F Smith 4 Ralph G Edwards 5 G Ronald Edwards

First peal: 1. Jointly conducted by 2,3,4,5 (1,440 changes each).

CHESTER D.G.

THURSTASTON, Merseyside, St Bartholomew

Tue Dec 24 2002 2h31 (7)

5040 Plain Bob Minor

1 Susan D Sparling 2 Peter D Hughes (C) 3 Mark A Humphreys 4 Peter W Robson 5 Ruth Blackwell 6 John Hyden

First Plain Bob Minor on tower bells: 5. To mark the 75th anniversary of the first peal rung by the Guild on the bells, in which the average age of the band was 16.

Peter Hughes. 21 January 2003