James R Taylor
August 5, 2018 7:36 pm | by admin | Posted in Tributes
James Russell Taylor ( 10/09/1938 – 03/03/2018 ), originally from Bedford, one of the finest ringers ever produced by the county and certainly one of the leading ringers of his generation, died on 3rd March 2018 after suffering from dementia during the last few years.
Jim learnt to ring at St Paul’s Bedford under Sid Foskett and encouraged by Eddie Jeffries and others. He went to Bedford School and his first peal was at Old Warden in 1954 – the band comprised Jim, David Houghton, Peter Shipton, John Long, Stephen Ivin and Bryan Pattison, all of whom were at either Bedford School or Bedford Modern School at the time – the band’s average age was seventeen and a half.
National service followed and he went up to St Catharine’s College, Cambridge in 1958 to read Mechanical Engineering and achieved first-class honours. He joined the Cambridge University Guild, progressed on tower and handbells and rang his first peal as conductor. His peal total by the time he left Cambridge was around 75. Jim and Jennie (Jennifer M Davies, from Bedford, herself a ringer of the highest quality) married in 1963 and moved to Whitchurch, and later to Backwell, near Bristol, where they lived and brought up their family,
Jim spending his working life with Strachan and Henshaw a major Bristol-based engineering company. Early on he worked abroad in Africa as a commissioning engineer, later back in Bristol he became head of R&D and the company became an early user of CAD. Jim was an early pioneer of computers in ringing.
I first met Jim on the 1972 East Meets West peal tour in Essex and remember it as a rather daunting experience. He was an imposing figure, tall, thin, black hair, and his ringing was like him, upright, neat and tidy, very serious and usually faultless – he would go most of the week without a method mistake. He was excellent striker who was comfortable anywhere in the circle, people wanted him in their band.
He rang 1334 peals, including over 300 on 12. During the 1970’s he was part on an ASCY band that rang peals of Spliced Surprise Maximus all over the country on a regular basis. He was expert in the field of multi-method Spliced and rang 100-Spliced on all numbers from 6 to 12 (which includes Triples, Caters and Cinques peals that are fiendishly difficult to learn!), and all-the-work Spliced peals on 8, 10 and 12, including 10,080 45-all-the-work Spliced Surprise Major and the first ever peal of Chandler’s 23. Quite a record!
Their decades-long connection with the Bristol City Sunday morning ringing circuit started in the 1960’s. It was Jim who provided the impetus to get the bells at All Saints’ Bristol ringing again. In the 1980’s they reduced their ringing somewhat, but retained their focus on Backwell tower. Jim and Jennie had a shared love of music, Jim played the clarinet (and learnt the bassoon, there was a shortage of bassoonists!), Jennie the piano (which she still teaches) and they wanted to pass this on to their five children. A wise decision, as one of their daughters became a professional musician!
As a member of the Central Council for over 40 years, representing at different times the Gloucester & Bristol and Bath & Wells associations, Jim contributed immensely to ringing, serving, often as chair, on the Council’s Computer Co-ordination Committee, Publications Committee, Towers & Belfries Committee, and Administrative Committee. His engineering skills meant he was in demand as a bells advisor, for both the G&B and Bath & Wells associations over many years.
We remember a talented man, a committed contributor in all he did, and a ringer of the highest quality. RIP.
John Loveless
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