18/03/2023
It was with sadness that we learn that our friend Pat Pugh died earlier this
week. We fondly remember Pat as a regular Abingdon ringer until she had to
give up through ill-health. However, we would still spot her in the choir
on a Sunday morning in St Nicolas'. The attached photo was taken when we
celebrated Pat's ninetieth birthday in September 2019. (Sitting on Pat's
right was Angela Smith, whose ninetieth was a month earlier.)
At the time. Pat was prompted to write of her life in ringing. Her
"Notebook" was published in the December 2019 issue of the ONB Branch
Newsletter. It's timely to revisit this account and I append it below.
Brian
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Pat Pugh's Ringing Reminiscences
I began ringing shortly after I went up to Oxford, in 1948, with the Oxford
University Change Ringing Society. During the war, of course, all bells had
been silenced, but on VE Day there was a peal of bells across the country.
The towers were all cleaned and refurbished as soon as the money could be
raised to do it. The University Society was building up at the time, as
many undergraduates returning from war service resumed their previous
hobbies. There was a wide range of ages amongst the ringers at the time,
and we youngsters all benefitted from the experience of the older ringers.
We rang regularly on Sundays at many towers, including New College, Magdalen
College, Christchurch College, St Cross Church, St Ebbs, St Giles and the
University Church. Once a year we had a trip further afield, and rang at
Wi******er, Lincoln and Durham Cathedrals. Let's also not forget the many
village towers in the counties of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and
Buckinghamshire, in fact, anywhere within a cycle ride from Oxford. The
tower snatching was great fun! Some of the keenest ringers notched up about
a peal a week during term time.
Meanwhile in the church at Gulval, a village outside my home town, Penzance
in Cornwall, word had reached the bell-tower that they had a new ringer in
their midst, and I was soon roped in for Sunday duties during the holidays.
There I benefited from the experience of Harry Myles and Marion Lidgey, who
were renowned figures in Westcountry ringing. My husband, Stanley, and I,
were married in Gulval Church in 1952, with my two dogs, Sandy and Doogles,
and presiding Canon Buckley's dog, Mac, in attendance. Despite the Gulval
ringers ringing Oxford and Cambridge (the two methods in alternation, not
spliced, as they could not prepare that in the time), I was not able to
persuade my husband to take up the craft. Mac used to accompany the Canon
everywhere, including regularly to church. I saw Mac's grave for the
first-time last month, on holiday with my son Vyvyan and his family.
After Oxford, I rang at Toot Baldon village Church, where I used to arrive
on the back of the tower master's motorbike each week. In 1953 we moved to
Abingdon, where I rang at St Helen's Church for two years, and then after my
son Vyvyan was born, I rang regularly at St Nicolas Church. Later, my
family and I had duties in the choir as well. This often entailed me
scuttling up the aisle at the last minute to reach the vestry after ringing,
then hurriedly donning robes just in time for the procession. At one time
there were 4 Pughs, 3 Bishops, and one Monk in the Choir.
Over the years I had the pleasure of ringing at Coventry Cathedral, soon
after its inauguration, at Glasgow Cathedral, and at a commemoration for
ringers in St Martin in the Fields in Trafalgar Square. Unfortunately,
Parkinson's Disease forced me to give up ringing, but I was able to ring in
the Millennium at St Helen's, and that was the last time I rang. But
although it's been some time since that day, I still get a friendly wave
from the bell-tower at St Nic's often when I attend services.
Patricia Pugh
September 2019
