A HISTORY OF THE ASSOCIATION : 1893 - 2006
This is the on-line History of the Association. It is intended to be a collaborative "living document", i.e. updated from time to time to keep it current, under the stewardship of Bob Hardy. Given the importance of the document, editing permissions needs to be set on an individual basis. Please contact the Webmaster if you wish assist.
EDITOR'S NOTE : There are numerous places marked in red with asterisks, queries or other wording to indicate missing or incomplete information. This does not mean to say the rest of it is completed, free from error, in the right place within the document or definitively worded! If anyone has material to add, comments to make or indeed any other kind of input please e-mail me (Bob Hardy), whether or not you make an edit to this on-line document.
This history is the work of many people. It started life as a front page article in the Ringing World for 8th June 1962, written by M Jack Pryor and was intended as an introduction to the L&M for members of the Central Council, which met in Cardiff that year. Jack subsequently revised and extended the text for the L&M 90th anniversary in1983 and it was further revised and extended for Centenary by Peter Bennett. That version appeared in the Annual Report for 1993.
In 2005 it was decided by the Management Committee that the L&M website would be a good place to make various Association documents publicly available. An obvious candidate for inclusion was this history and it was agreed that it should be again updated. Peter Bennett and Bob Hardy have both had a hand in this, assisted by material from the more recent Annual Reports. In addition, many have shared their personal knowledge to allow the filling of various gaps which could not be filled from other sources.
The original and first revisions were both single bodies of text, but in making this latest revision it became clear that the material had now outgrown this format. It is now arranged into separate chapters, each relating to a specific aspect. While this has led to some duplication between Chapters, it has allowed a more coherent and, it is hoped, more readable presentation.
This history is not intended to be complete or definitive. The various minute books, Annual Reports and collections of newsletters are the places to go for fine detail The Association peal records are also a rich source of information. However it is hoped that what has been selected for inclusion provides a fair record of what has been achieved over the last 110 years or so.
Chapters:
Chapter 1 - Formation and Organisation
Chapter 2 - Officers, Library, Peals, Peal Ringers
Chapter 3 - Other People and Activities
Chapter 4 - Publicity, Social and Training
Chapter 5 - The Association's Bells
Chapter 6 - Fund Raising and Restoration
Chapter 7 - CC Visits and The Centenary
