A history of the Irish Association The birth of an association

'Sir, - it is proposed to form an 'Irish Association of Change Ringers", which shall have for its object the unity of all ringers for the promotion and study of Scientific Change Ringing.

With a view to this all interested are cordially invited to attend a meeting to be held in St Patrick's Schools, St Patrick's Close, Dublin, on Saturday 22nd inst., at 8.00 pm for the purpose of founding, if possible, such a society.

Bands of ringers who reside at too great a distance from Dublin to attend or send a delegate, are earnestly requested to communicate to the Secretary the number in their company who are desirous of joining.

Members will be requested to pay a small annual subscription (about 1 shilling) to defray working expenses.

RICHARD R CHERRY, President

St Patrick's Cathedral Society

DIGBY SCOTT, Clerk, President

Christ Church, Bray Society

G LINDOFF, Sec., Pro Tem., and

Conductor of St Patrick's Cathedral Society,

2 Mount Brown, Dublin."

So ran a letter of invitation which effectively set into motion the formation of the Irish Association of Change Ringers. Up until 1898 there was little in the way of inter-tower contact in Ireland. Indeed, the only tower to have belonged to an organised ringing body was Waterford Cathedral, where the local members had rung a peal of Grandsire Triples for the Ancient Society of College Youths in 1873. One of the members of this team was Richard R Cherry, who, as we can see, was a driving force in the formation of our Association.

Cherry was already an active member of the Society at St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, when the generosity and foresight of the great patron of the Cathedral, the Earl of Iveagh, radically changed not only the face of ringing in Dublin, but the whole of Ireland. In 1897 the Earl presented the Cathedral with a new ring of ten bells to replace the Seventeenth Century ring of eight, and at the same time employed Gabriel Lindoff from Leiston in Suffolk as the Cathedral Ringing Master. Lindoff's tuition resulted in the Cathedral Society making rapid progress in change ringing, and this is evidenced by a perusal of both Society's weekly records and the Irish Association Peal Book. Bray Society also benefited from Lindoff s instruction, and so this relationship must have given Lindoff, Cherry and Digby Scott, the Rector of Bray, the impetus to form a ringing association.

The initial meeting at St Patrick's Cathedral Choir School attracted twenty-five ringers from the two Dublin Cathedrals, (St Patrick's and Christ Church), Ss Augustine and John, Dublin, St George's, Dublin and Bray. Under the Chairmanship of Rev C W O'Hara-Mease, Richard Cherry was appointed as President of the newly-formed Irish Association of Change Ringers. The Association was fortunate to have someone of Cherry's stature at its helm, as he held high office in the Irish legal profession, eventually rising to become the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. The Treasurer was one William McCullagh, whilst Gabriel Lindoff was appointed as Secretary. This too proved to be a sound choice, as he was to serve the Association faithfully for forty-three years in this capacity.

At the meeting in 1900, new members were welcomed from Arklow, Drogheda, Kilkenny, Belfast and Holywood. Ringing at Arklow Parish Church at this time had many parallels with the situation in Dublin. St Saviour's Church had been built at the expense of William, fifth Earl of Carysfort, who had presented the fine ring of eight Taylor bells and employed James Washbrook as Sexton and Instructor to the ringers. Under his guidance a local team had been trained and was soon capable of ringing peals of Stedman Triples. It was, of course, at Arklow that Washbrook first demonstrated his skill in ringing double-handed peals. Indeed, as regards peal ringing, the early years of the century were something of a halcyon period for the Association. Change-ringing in the north of the country was confined to St Thomas', Belfast, under the guidance of J H B Hesse. On his return to England he participated in the first Association peal outside Ireland, which was one of Plain Bob Major at St Stephen's, Coleman Street, London.