John Brain 1928–2010

Chorister, Bellringer and benefactor

John Brain

It is now five years since John sadly passed away, yet he is still remembered with great affection within Backwell and surrounding areas. The bell-ringers of St Andrew's, Backwell, with the support of the rector and PCC, feel it is appropriate that his contribution to life in Backwell should be marked by a permanent memorial and are proposing to dedicate one of their two new bells to his memory. A peal was recently rung at Backwell to mark the 5th anniversary of his death and appropriately was of JB Delight Major, a method first rung in 2008 to mark John's 80th birthday.

John touched the lives of many during his lifetime and beyond: a true Backwell character, a man of Somerset and an Englishman through and through, who loved his church, and served it in many roles: for instance chorister, bellringer, PCC member, verger, Parish magazine editor and churchyard archivist. On his death be became a major benefactor of the church and his legacy will ensure the church and its bells remain in good condition for many years to come.

He was an only child, who never married and lived all his life in the family home. His father and uncle were local bakers and in his early days John was expected to help out on the bread round. When he left Bristol Cathedral School, at the age of 16, his life-long interest in railways led him to start work in the Station Master's Office at Bristol Temple Meads. In later life he worked for the Port of Bristol Authority, latterly as chief cashier at Avonmouth.

John sang in the choir of St Andrew's from Whit Sunday 1935 until 2010 when declining health prevented him from regular attendance. This was a truly remarkable record of 75 years' continuous service. He had a beautifully clear, cultured baritone voice which enabled him to sing either the tenor or the bass lines in choral works and he often sang baritone solos. In addition to being helpfully versatile in his singing, John played a full part in the administration of the choir as Secretary, Treasurer and custodian of the choir records.

Outside the village, John also enjoyed singing with the Bristol Cathedral Concert Choir, the Chew Valley Choral Society and the Nailsea Merry Beggars carol party.

John learnt to ring bells in 1954 and became a highly skilled ringer. He faithfully accepted the discipline of regular Sunday Service ringing and served as Ringing Master, Secretary and Treasurer of the St Andrew's band. He also rang for services at St Mary Redcliffe when there was no ringing at St Andrew's. He also played a full part in the wider ringing community. He was a staunch supporter of the Chew Branch of the Bath & Wells Diocesan Association of Change Ringers and served as its Chairman and Secretary. He was elected an Honorary Life Member of the Association in 2009 for his contribution to ringing in the area. He enjoyed the social side of ringing and also understood the need to ring longer pieces of ringing such as peals and quarter peals to obtain the highest standards. In all he rang over two thousand quarter peals and over 100 peals. He was meticulous in his record keeping and marked each long piece of ringing with scores rating his own performance, that of the others and the overall standard. His peal and quarter peal books are now kept in the room of the tower and provide an interesting picture of change-ringing in North Somerset over more than fifty years.

John's life centred around St Andrew's, in addition to his activities for the bellringers and choir, he served on the Parochial Church Council and acted as Verger. One of his lasting contributions was the detailing of, and care and maintenance of the churchyard. He made meticulous records of the inscriptions on each of the graves and prepared a highly accurate plan of the churchyard, details of which were published by the Nailsea Local History Society of which he was a member.

He was editor of the Parish Magazine for 21 years, a post he held with distinction and authority. Again his attention to detail was paramount and he would check every date and wield his red pen at too lengthy an article. He always ensured there was a good balance of church and village news.

John never married and had no close relatives, but on his death St Andrew's was packed with his friends from all the communities he served for so many years. In his will he left a large sum of money for the upkeep and maintenance of the church and bells at St Andrew's. St Andrew's has a fine ring of eight bells at present; they were put in as a ring of six in 1901 and augmented to eight in 1938. Refurbishment work is now urgently required if the bells are to continue ringing and John's legacy will help to provide the money for this. In addition to the refurbishment of the existing bells we are planning to add two more bells to the tower; the purpose of this is to provide a light ring of six bells to be used for training young ringers and for one of these bells to be dedicated to John's memory. The costs of the extra bells cannot be met from John's legacy and we are therefore inviting all who knew and loved John and appreciated his lasting contribution to Backwell and St Andrew's, in particular, to make a contribution, gift-aided if possible, to one of the addresses given on the gift-aid form. The total cost of providing and installing the two extra bells is about £30000.

Material from John Brain's obituaries in Backwell Parish Magazine by Cyril Routley and The Ringing World by Michael Horseman


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