Hertford County Association

Hertford County Association

An attempt was made in 1876 by Henry Lewis and E P Debenham at St Albans to form a change ringing society. This led to the creation of the St Albans Association with a paid instructor (J R Haworth) from London, but this lapsed after 5 years. Several letters appeared in the Bell News at the time and proposals at ringers' gatherings held at Hertford and Sawbridgeworth to form an association were agreed. An attempt was made to get the recently formed Essex Association to transform itself into a diocesan association so at to subsume Hertfordshire - at the time the county of Essex was part of the St Albans Diocese. This proposal did not appeal to the Essex members so Hertfordshire were left to make their own arrangements.
The St Albans Cathedral Society was formed on 1st January 1884 and in the following September at a special meeting the desirability of forming a County Association was discussed. A meeting of representatives from various change Hertfordshire change ringing groups was held on 29th October 1884 at the Rectory in St Albans at which it was agreed to establish 'The Hertford County Association of Change Ringers'. Further background can be found in Ringing World (18th May 1984, pages 421, 422 and 429). [Research and observations associated with the Council Library Certificates Collection by Chris Ridley.]

founded 1884 [Research and observations associated with the Council Library Badge Collection by Chris Ridley.]

1884