Stanley Hugh Ashton

December 21, 2020 12:44 pm | by admin | Posted in Tributes

Stanley Hugh Ashton  ( 2/03/1934 – 9/04/2020 )

Stan was a ringer for seventy years. He will be remembered for being a loyal service ringer, a dedicated teacher of ringing and an enthusiastic promoter of the social fellowship of ringing. He was a kind and modest gentleman and he will be greatly missed by his family and many friends.

Stan was born at Pirton in Hertfordshire on 2nd March 1934. He was the third and youngest son of Frank and Edith Ashton who ran a family baking business which dated back to 1878. The bakery was inside the family home so Stan grew up surrounded by the constant aroma of warm bread. From the age of twelve, he would help his father at the weekends and in school holidays by getting up at 2am to bake, and then delivering the bread to the neighbouring villages of Shillington and Pegsdon by horse and cart. All for half a crown a week.

He spent the years of World War Two at the village school in Pirton. A bright pupil, Stan passed the scholarship to Hitchin Boys Grammar School and matriculated at sixteen with the Oxford School Certificate. On leaving school he joined the Post Office Engineering Department for a two year apprenticeship.

At eighteen, Stan was conscripted into the Royal Signals for National Service. These two years were spent at Catterick Camp, and it would be safe to say that they were not enjoyed. However, here he trained as a teleprinter and cypher mechanic which became useful for his future career in telecommunications. Re-joining the Post Office Stan spent his working life maintaining telephone exchanges, or as he put it, ‘up poles and down holes’. For over thirty years he was one of a small team of engineers who maintained the exchange at high security RAF/USAF Chicksands. The exchange was housed in the ancient priory building where Stan reckoned he shared night shifts with the ghost of a nun.

In 1959 Stan married June. They lived in Hitchin at first, but when their daughter, Rosalind, was born in 1963, they moved to a new home with a large garden in Shefford. It was here where a lifetime passion for gardening began, especially for growing vegetables. For many years he grew pumpkins and entered the competitive (or some may say obsessive and secretive) world of giant pumpkin growing. Pirton had a locally famous Pumpkin Club where the ‘King Pumpkin’ crown was highly coveted. The annual weigh-in would even make the local TV news. The Pirton Pumpkin Champion would be wheeled around a packed village hall in the first prize wheelbarrow to raucous cheering and applause. In 1998, after twenty five years of trying, and often finishing in the top three, Stan won with a monster that weighed in at 243 pounds.

Stan discovered bells at the age of 16. One evening he was wandering through Pirton with his friend, Roy Head, when they heard the bells ringing and decided they would venture up the tower. In Stan’s words they were ‘first collared and then hooked’. He joined the Hertford County Association and through the 1950s rang mostly around north Hertfordshire, ringing many quarters at Great Wymondley and St Ippolyts with Frank Croft and George Cherry, among others. On moving to Shefford, Stan began teaching a new band from scratch on the then ‘interesting’ ring of five at nearby Campton. This was the start of several decades of introducing many people of all ages to bellringing. Among his pupils over the years was a blind recruit, who became a proficient service ringer, and in 1973, he taught his daughter, Ros to ring. His calm and encouraging manner made him an excellent teacher and his power of persuasion to entice passing strangers to ‘come and have a look’, and lapsed ringers to ‘come back and have another go’ was almost legendary!

Stan joined the Bedfordshire Association in 1965 and became a member of the band at Clifton in 1972. He would remain a loyal member there for nearly fifty years before his knees prevented him from managing the stairs. As well as serving as Tower Captain from 1990 to 2017, Stan wound the church clock and carillon for twelve years. Anyone who has seen Clifton carillon will know that this is not a job for the weak and feeble. During these years as Tower Captain he was involved in a number of initiatives to improve the bells, including the installation of sound control in 2007 and a complete refurbishment and re-hanging of the back three bells in 2010. Although not a prolific peal ringer, ringing just sixteen and conducting one, Stan enjoyed quarters (ringing 271) and was an enthusiastic tower grabber, organising many outings and ringing holidays over the years. In 1972, he arranged a ringing
holiday to Devon for twelve Bedfordshire ringing friends. This became an annual event with Stan arranging a further eighteen for the group (which grew over the years) and enjoying seventeen more, organised firstly by Colin and Mary Mann, then Richard and Eileen Castledine. According to his meticulous records he rang at 2108 different towers. He served as Chairman of the Biggleswade District several times in the 1970s and was instrumental in introducing more social events, including organising the first Annual Dinner in 1970.

In 1982 Stan married Sheila. They were a strong and devoted couple. She was also an enthusiastic ringer and they had many happy years enjoying their shared interests together. Sheila was Tower Secretary and Treasurer at Clifton from 1987 to 2017, and when the local band decided to have a peal board made to mark Stan and Sheila’s long service to the tower they were both touched and proud.

When Stan retired in 1992 he was bemused to be offered a retirement course by BT.  He had no concerns about how he would fill his days! The garden received even more enthusiastic attention and he was able to do more ringing. He and Sheila joined the WAGS and the BT Guild and they loved nothing more than a day out or a week away with their many ringing friends. They had a house built in Clifton and moved in 2000. Although the smaller garden hailed the end of pumpkin growing, they loved being in Clifton and the village life that came with it. Retirement also meant lot more holidays.

In 1973 Stan and Sheila had a holiday on the Isles of Scilly. This was this first of thirty seven holidays on the islands. They adored the walks, birdlife, boat trips, scenery and tranquillity the Scillies offered. It was a highlight in every year and they made many friends along the way. Other holiday favourites that they returned to several times were Southern Ireland and Swanage. They also enjoyed two Norwegian cruises and a trip to Alderney.

Over the last ten years Stan had battled a number of serious health issues including a quadruple heart bypass, two small strokes and cancer. Each time he bounced back to the belfry. It is sad that after showing so much resilience he died from Covid-19 following an admission to hospital for an unrelated operation.

Stan enjoyed a long and contented life. He was a courteous and gentle man, with a great sense of humour. He valued the fellowship of ringing that had brought him so many friends and was immensely proud of his daughter and his grandchildren, Alex and Tom. He will be greatly missed by them and his beloved wife Sheila.

Ros Keech

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