Storylines

New bell ropes needed

In July 2004, just as the bell ringers were coming to the end of a long peal, the treble rope snapped. It was very frustrating. Neil checked all the ropes and discovered that most of them needed replacing.

Luckily they were able to borrow a set from Hollerton in the interim, but it was going to cost about £1000 to replace the St. Stephen's set. Neil and George discussed fundraising and decided on a family beetle drive and a tug of war - pub vs the church.

The beetle drive went well, raising about £300. But the tug of war was the big event. Eddie volunteered himself to organize the pub's team and Neil the church's. As she worked in The Bull, Clarrie wanted to join the pub but Eddie didn't want any women so Neil was quick to step in and offer a place with his team - he didn't say anything but he knew that hefty Clarrie could be quite useful.

At that stage the teams consisted of - the pub: Sid, Eddie, David, Mike, Roy, and the church: Alan, Alistair, Adam, Neil, Christopher, Clarrie and Ronnie the farrier.

Once Clarrie had her place, other women wanted to join in and Eddie was overruled, so Debbie, Kirsty and Fallon all offered to join the pub's team.

But Eddie wanted to find someone to counterbalance Ronnie. Eventually he got Fat Paul to agree to join in and sacked Kirsty.

On the day of the tug, Alan discovered that Kenton was running a book and made him contribute all his taking to the fund. Fat Paul turned out to be feeble and the church won.

The tug raised about £600 and the PCC donated the rest.