The North Bucks Branch of the Oxford Diocesan Guild of Church Bell Ringers was formed in 1904. All towers with bells which are in the Milton Keynes, Newport Pagnell and Buckingham deaneries are part of the branch, as well as two towers from the Mursley deanery. In all, the North Bucks Branch covers 59 towers with 3 to 10 bells in an area that stretches from Westbury in the west to Lavendon and Great Brickhill in the east; 16 of these towers have bells that are presently unringable.
The branch currently has 230 members. It works to both encourage and improve bell ringing through learning and facilitating a sense of community. Specifically it:
- Holds regular branch events for ringers of all levels
- Promotes good striking by entering and organising striking competitions
- Builds a sense of local community and sharing by organising regular social events
- Develops ringers via training courses both within and outside the branch
- Promotes the wider ringing community by advertising the various activities going on outside the branch
The branch archive holds a vast amount of local historical information about the branch, its churches and its bells.
Every bell in the branch has an individual record of its weight, diameter, note and casting information, whilst the tower records contain information and images of the church, its bells and its bellringers – including sound recordings, full peal and quarter peal listings and ringer statistics.
The branch records include branch minutes, accounts and copies of the Annual Reports including membership information (all from 1904 to the present day.) Electonic copies of In Touch, the branch newsletter, are held going back to 1982. All of these records are incomplete so if anyone has copies of any missing reports then the archivist would be delighted to hear from you.
Individual and band ringing achievements are documented in lists of Peals and Quarter Peals going back to the 1780s and 1860s respectively.
If you are have any information that you think should be included in the archive then please contact the archivist.