When C. Kenneth Lewis passed away after a short illness in November 2002 at the age of 89, the Guild lost one of the most distinguished members and officers in its history.

Ken Lewis was born near Marple Bridge in August 1913. The eldest of three boys, he was not a robust child and suffered from considerable illness, but was both bright and determined. He started work at the age of 15 in Manchester, in the office of the vice-consul for Uruguay. He also took evening classes, becoming proficient in commercial studies, accounting and Spanish. Ken was in his late teens when his family moved into Marple village, and he was taught to ring on the old six there by Arthur Whiting in 1932. Always eager to improve himself, he was soon attracted to the advanced change-ringing band and the new eight at Hazel Grove. He was then able to introduce change-ringing to the call-change band back at Marple. Ken became a branch officer very early on in his ringing career - he was appointed assistant branch secretary to the old Bowdon and Stockport branch in 1934, and secretary in 1937. Still working in Manchester, he also added the Wednesday evening Town Hall practices to his busy schedule!

Ken was called up for service in the forces in 1940. Initially based in Preston, he became an avid handbell ringer, becoming great friends with the late Cyril Crossthwaite. From 1942 - 45, Ken served in India, the forces making use of his administrative skills, rather than his physical prowess, in the Royal Army Pay Corps.

On demobilisation, Ken took advantage of the Government's Emergency Training Scheme for Teachers with a year's intensive training course in Warrington. He took up post initially at St. Mary's Church of England Primary School in Stockport, married Mary Elkins, a noted ringer from a ringing family, and set up home in Altrincham in 1948. He became head of St. Margaret's School in Altrincham, and later skilfully took on the headship of the new school formed by the difficult amalgamation of the three church primary schools in Altrincham, retiring in 1978. Not one to rest, as well as his continuing service to St. Margaret's Church and activity in ringing, he then took on the role of room steward at Dunham Massey Hall and worked with the National Trust to introduce children's educational visits and tours.

Ken's devotion to St. Margaret's, Dunham Massey is well known in the Guild. Ken first rang there in 1952, the bells having been made ringable again at the end of the War after many years of silence. He became tower captain in 1958, and proceeded to teach many youngsters to ring on what were notoriously difficult bells. He was elected churchwarden and treasurer in 1962, and in 1974 he was primarily responsible for the bells being rehung, resulting in the still challenging, but nonetheless rewarding 10 we have today. Ken's attendance at ringing and church was always exemplary - he only ever missed Sunday ringing during the Central Council meeting weekend, and only missed practice if he was at a Guild committee or Central Council meeting. He taught countless numbers to ring over the years, and would always welcome learners from nearby towers to practice. He would happily put himself out to help a learner, and took particular pleasure from taking part in ringing at any level in order to allow a learner to achieve a goal. He was still ringing regularly until just a month or so before his death, and his last two quarter-peals were both at Dunham in September, one of which was of Erin Triples rung for his 89th birthday! Ken was still tower secretary and church treasurer at the time of his death.

Ken's service to the Chester Guild is equally noteworthy, starting soon after he learned to ring. After the War, he carried on as secretary of the Bowdon and Stockport branch until the reformation of the branches in 1970. He continued as secretary of the newly formed East Cheshire branch until 1975, and then chairman of the branch until 1977. He was Guild report secretary from 1950 - 70, master of the Guild from 1970 - 71, vice-president of the branch from 1976 and vice-president of the Guild from 1974 until his death. He was elected Central Council representative in 1948, subsequently becoming an honorary member of the Council and convenor of the methods committee, with which he remained in touch until his final illness. He was awarded honorary life membership of the Central Council in 1993 in recognition of his service over the year. Ken had attended all 55 consecutive annual Council meetings between 1948 and 2002.

The award of the MBE in 1997 for services to the community and church bellringing represented the ultimate acknowledgement of Ken's life of work and service.

It is worth noting some of Ken's outstanding contributions to ringing. Never a heavy bell ringer, he didn't care for the front end either - he liked a little weight and usually rang in the middle, his favourite being the 5th. He was a master of method construction theory and composition, maintaining that he could always "see" changes on a grid in front of him in his mind's eye. This made him a very gifted composer and conductor, long before the age of computers in ringing - the back of an envelope was often all that was needed! There was never any excuse for not hearing the bobs either - his loud calls were legendary. Always ready to help, he loved to advise on methods and composition. He relished any request for a composition or any composing challenge and would come up with a suitable solution within a day or two, carefully hand written on a scrap of paper. His composing and conducting of extents and peals of spliced treble-bob minor were once famous in the Guild. His conducting of various record lengths of the time, such as the 21,600 of Bristol Major rung at Over in 1950, and various firsts in peals of surprise maximus, such as Londinium, were remarkable in their day. His composition of the extent of 40,320 Plain Bob Major rung at Loughborough in 1963 ensured that his name would appear in the Guinness Book of Records. He was the first resident member of the Guild to reach 2000 peals. He leaves a lasting legacy in the form of his peal compositions, many of which are classics and are still rung regularly. His 5040 of London Royal is printed in the Ringers Diary as a standard composition and his 5056 of Plain Bob Major, a superb composition for handbells, still appears regularly in the handbell peal columns.

Ken was proud of the fact that he had rung at least one peal per year throughout his ringing life, other than during his War service abroad, and he was keen to maintain that record in his later years. When tower bell peals became too much for him, we would arrange at least one handbell peal a year for him, which gave him immense pleasure. It was fitting that handbells should be rung at his funeral, to his favourite method in hand - Oxford Treble Bob.

When conducting, Ken's loud bark was unmistakeable, yet he was the quietest and most unassuming of individuals otherwise - truly a gentle giant of the Exercise.

Ken's widow, Mary, has herself just completed 60 years of resident membership of the Guild. Our thoughts and prayers go out to her at this time.

Comprehensive accounts of Ken's life and contribution to ringing may be found in the Ringing World of January 3rd 2003 and also on the Guild Web-site (see below).

K.G. Lee
Dunham Massey

Address delivered at his funeral by Revd Brian Harris; Tributes by Ken Lee, Peter Dyson and Bill Dowse