Harry White

We were saddened at the beginning of November to hear of the death of Harry White.

Harry had been a member of the Vale Church since the 1940s. He lived in the Parish all his life, apart from the Occupation  years when he was evacuated; in his early years at Pond House and latterly in the Northlands estate. He was a faithful member of the choir and a bellringer, singing and ringing at evensong, He never wanted to become involved with ringing working bells, but was content to ring the tenor, which he did with great skill, rhythm, and good humour. He rang 406 quarter peals at the Vale, his first in 1974 and his last in 2014, and one or two elsewhere. He particularly enjoyed the two or three ringing outings we had to Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. As far as we can trace he only rang one full peal.

The evening before his funeral we rang a quarter peal of Grandsire Doubles as a thanksgiving for his life, Grandsire was a method he had particularly enjoyed, and we rang Grandsire again as his coffin was carried out of church and the people left.

John David,

    for Vale ringers

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