Tag: Grandsire Caters

James Sexton was a long-standing and loyal supporter of the ringing band, and wider Minster community, for well over fifty years.He was one of the ten ‘named’ Minster Ringers and regularly rang the sixth (Jim’s bell) to Grandsire Caters on a Sunday morning. During his ringing career he was for a time Tower Secretary and forever encouraging and helpful to younger members of the band. Although well into his eighties when the bells were augmented, he enthusiastically committed to twelve-bell ringing and was proud of his ability to master Grandsire Cinques. After the age of ninety, he came to the conclusion that the descent of 72 steps down from the ringing chamber was becoming unduly perilous, and he stopped ringing, but did not lose his social connection with the band. He chimed ‘his bell’ with the Rector (from ground level, see picture) at his last communion at the Minster before leaving Wimborne to join his wife Beryl (also a bellringer) for a Care Home in Bournemouth. Many ringers attended his funeral at the Minster, and a quarter peal was rung half muffled immediately following the service.