CHRISTMAS DAY, 1952, When the Bells of Timberscombe Rang Throughout the World
Title
CHRISTMAS DAY, 1952, When the Bells of Timberscombe Rang Throughout the World
Subject
Description
The top photograph depicts a choir boy singing in the nave of St. Petrock's Church at Timberscombe. He is 10-year-old Derek Poole, a member of the St. Petrock's choir. While Derek may truly have been singing, more than likely a newspaper photographer had placed the boy just so as to achieve a proper photograph for an historic event that was about to occur.
It worked. While it may look grainy now (the image has likely been enlarged and copied over time), the resulting photograph was printed on the front page of a Somerset newspaper, the Evening World, published Wednesday, December 24 1952. Headlined (in bold Gothic lettering), "O Come All Ye Faithful", the following article told of the upcoming Christmas Day service at the "little West country village whose choir and congregation have the honour of bringing the message of Christmas to millions of radio listeners in Bristol and throughout the country".
Actually it was throughout the world. Indeed the Christmas Morning Service of 25 December 1952 at St. Petrock's Church in Timberscombe, conducted by the Rev. Canon S.E. Swann, was heard on the radio promptly at 9:30 AM, after the ringing of the church's eight bells. Christmas Morning Services have likely been held at St Petrock's from the earliest days of the church on this site since the 1100's (1). Yet the 1952 service was unlike any other. It was broadcast globally by the British Home Service, the radio station that in September 1967 was renamed BBC Radio 4 (2).
Below the photograph of Derek Poole is the suitably Dickensian cover of the 19 December 1952 edition of "RADIO TIMES", the weekly listing of radio broadcasts. The third photograph depicts page 3 of this issue, featuring a photograph of Her Majesty the Queen, Elizabeth II, who at 3:00 PM on Christmas Day would be delivering her Christmas Message to the nation. It would be the first of her 69 messages. While Elizabeth was Queen for 70 years, in 1969 no Christmas Message was given because a repeat of a documentary about the Royal Family had already been scheduled (3). At the bottom of the page, in the box headlined "SOME OF THE WEEK'S PROGRAMMES", the Timberscombe Church service is the fourth item listed under "CHRISTMAS SERVICES". Also printed here, is a reminder that the broadcast would begin at 9:20 AM with the Call to Service being rung by the Timberscombe Bell Ringers.
What was heard at 9:20 AM instead was a montage of Christmas Bells rung at seven locations across the United Kingdom. Beginning with peals from St. Comgall's Church in Bangor, Ireland, St. Petrock's bells were the fourth set heard, with the seventh being St. Chad's Cathedral in Birmingham. The ten minutes of ringing concluded with a recording of bells rung at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem (4).
However at 9:30 AM the only bells heard were indeed the eight bells of St. Petrock's. The Bell Captain that morning was Fred Andrews Bond (5), who also served as Post Master, along with his wife, Constance (nee Lyddon) Bond, at the Timberscombe Post Office then located at Little Farthings Cottage on the northeastern edge of the village. Unfortunately the identities of the other ringers were not recorded. In November 2020, Elisabeth Powls, the current Bell Captain of St. Petrock's, asked longtime ringer, Reg Holcombe of Church View Farm, if he might know. Having moved to Timberscombe in the mid-1960's, he did not, but thought Ivor Loveridge, Dougie Sharpe and Ken Grabham would be good bets to have been there. Other likely candidates could have been Bertie Stevens and Uncle (as he was called) Fred Norman (6).
And if a final truth be told, the actual Christmas Morning Service, led by Rev. Swann and accompanied by the choir and church organist, did not even occur at 9:30 AM on Christmas Day. It took place at 6:30 PM on Christmas Eve, so as to enable listeners throughout the world to be able to hear it on their own Christmas mornings. What was heard was much the same as what was heard at St. Petrock's, with about 10 minutes edited out. When the actual service and editing was completed, the broadcast was sent out three times over the next 24 hours to be played at appropriate times overseas. Indeed Rev. Swann received a cable from Pakistan sent by one of the sons of the late Mrs. Carne of Timberscombe. It read "Bravo Timberscombe. Reception Excellent" (7).
Unfortunately no actual recording of the Christmas Morning Service is known to have survived. Printed on page 32 of the 19 December 1952 RADIO TIMES, below an illustration of Mary with the Baby Jesus, along with a few Shepherds and a festive lettering of "CHRISTMAS" (seen above), was the scheduled programme for the upcoming service. The West Somerset Free Press published, on the 3rd of January 1953, an account of the actual service, headlined "TIMBERSCOMBE ON AIR". A copy of the article was saved by Bernadette Brunker of School House in Timberscombe, which she shared with the St. Petrock's History Group in 2020. Between the two, the details of the service can be pieced together.
After the bells, in his introduction Rev. Swann described the service as a gift from Timberscombe to God and the listeners. Then "O, Come All Ye Faithful" was sung. After a Recollection and the Lord's Prayer, the First Lesson (Isaiah 9, vv. 1-7) were read by "a farmer"(8). It is believed he was James Henderson, a longserving Churchwarden who was farming Allercott in 1952 (9).
Following the Magnificat, a Second Lesson (St. Luke, vv. 1-20) was read by "a boy"(10). Once again, this was Derek Poole. Derek was the son of Frederick William and Edith (nee Seward) Poole, who lived at Devonia Cottage in Cowbridge (11). On Boxing Day 1964, Derek married Gwyneth (Gwynie) O. Palfrey at St. Petrock's. He continued as a member of the choir and was a bell ringer (both in the tower and for handbells) at Timberscombe (joined by Gwynie in 2009) for the rest of his life (12).
After Derek Poole's reading, "Unto Us a Child Was Born" was sung, followed by the Creed and Prayers. The next hymn was "While Shepherds Watched Their Sheep By Night", after which Rev. Swann gave his Address, where he likened the shepherds, those who were the first to greet the Baby Jesus when led to the manger by angels, to the shepherds of Exmoor, both being "simple honest folk" (13). The sermon was interspersed with renditions of Behold the Great Creator Makes Himself House of Clay" and "Once in Royal David's City", followed by a Prayer, a Reading (St. John, vv. 1-14) and the Blessing (14).
The Choir Mistress, Mrs. Kathleen Willis and Church Organist, Miss Barbara Bond were duly acknowledged by the British Home Service. Mrs. Willis was also Head Mistress of Timberscombe School from 1935 to 1967. Not mentioned was that Miss Bond had been a student of Mrs. Willis at Timberscombe School from 1941 to 1947, before she graduated to the Minehead Grammar School (15). Barbara Bond was sixteen-years-old when she played for the Christmas Service--live for a global audience-- not only with her former Head Mistress on hand but her father was Fred Bond, the attendant Bell Captain. Likely it did not faze her. She had been playing the organ for St. Petrock's from the age of fourteen (16).
The organ Barbara Bond was playing had been brought to Timberscombe in 1919 by Lady Margaret Ryder, Lady Constance Ryder and their sister Lady Audrey Anson, when they moved into the local manor house, Knowle House, coming from High Ashurst in Dorking, Surrey, after the death of their mother, Lady Susan Juliana (nee Dent) Ryder (17). Before the move, Lady Constance had played the organ at a Sunday School taught by Lady Audrey for local children (18). The organ was later transferred from Knowle House to St. Petrock's by the sisters in honour of their younger brother, Major the Honourable Robert Dudley Ryder who died serving in World War I (19). It remains the church organ at St. Petrock's in modern times.
Attending Lady Audrey's Sunday School in Dorking was a young Gladys Collins (1911-1991), the daughter of servants at High Ashurst. Later in life, Gladys Collins wrote her personal memoirs, "Gladdy's Story" where she wrote of listening to the 1952 Christmas broadcast and marvelled at hearing the sounds of the organ she had known as a child (20).
The bells were mentioned again in "The Village of Timberscombe and its Church", written and published in 1955 by the aforementioned James Henderson and his brother, Edward Henderson, Bishop of Bath and Wells from 1960 to 1975. Their book concluded with "We heard the peal of eight bells on the morning of Christmas Day, 1952, ring out their message to all parts of the world. They were not named, these bells. Neither blessings nor curses are engraved around them, but they ring a melodious chime as though to be the bells of the church in Timberscombe" (21).
If the Henderson brothers had waited a year, there would have been another worldwide broadcast by the BBC from St. Petrock's Church to write about, not only on Christmas Day but also on every Sunday throughout December in 1956. These are less remembered and are featured at SP-221.
It worked. While it may look grainy now (the image has likely been enlarged and copied over time), the resulting photograph was printed on the front page of a Somerset newspaper, the Evening World, published Wednesday, December 24 1952. Headlined (in bold Gothic lettering), "O Come All Ye Faithful", the following article told of the upcoming Christmas Day service at the "little West country village whose choir and congregation have the honour of bringing the message of Christmas to millions of radio listeners in Bristol and throughout the country".
Actually it was throughout the world. Indeed the Christmas Morning Service of 25 December 1952 at St. Petrock's Church in Timberscombe, conducted by the Rev. Canon S.E. Swann, was heard on the radio promptly at 9:30 AM, after the ringing of the church's eight bells. Christmas Morning Services have likely been held at St Petrock's from the earliest days of the church on this site since the 1100's (1). Yet the 1952 service was unlike any other. It was broadcast globally by the British Home Service, the radio station that in September 1967 was renamed BBC Radio 4 (2).
Below the photograph of Derek Poole is the suitably Dickensian cover of the 19 December 1952 edition of "RADIO TIMES", the weekly listing of radio broadcasts. The third photograph depicts page 3 of this issue, featuring a photograph of Her Majesty the Queen, Elizabeth II, who at 3:00 PM on Christmas Day would be delivering her Christmas Message to the nation. It would be the first of her 69 messages. While Elizabeth was Queen for 70 years, in 1969 no Christmas Message was given because a repeat of a documentary about the Royal Family had already been scheduled (3). At the bottom of the page, in the box headlined "SOME OF THE WEEK'S PROGRAMMES", the Timberscombe Church service is the fourth item listed under "CHRISTMAS SERVICES". Also printed here, is a reminder that the broadcast would begin at 9:20 AM with the Call to Service being rung by the Timberscombe Bell Ringers.
What was heard at 9:20 AM instead was a montage of Christmas Bells rung at seven locations across the United Kingdom. Beginning with peals from St. Comgall's Church in Bangor, Ireland, St. Petrock's bells were the fourth set heard, with the seventh being St. Chad's Cathedral in Birmingham. The ten minutes of ringing concluded with a recording of bells rung at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem (4).
However at 9:30 AM the only bells heard were indeed the eight bells of St. Petrock's. The Bell Captain that morning was Fred Andrews Bond (5), who also served as Post Master, along with his wife, Constance (nee Lyddon) Bond, at the Timberscombe Post Office then located at Little Farthings Cottage on the northeastern edge of the village. Unfortunately the identities of the other ringers were not recorded. In November 2020, Elisabeth Powls, the current Bell Captain of St. Petrock's, asked longtime ringer, Reg Holcombe of Church View Farm, if he might know. Having moved to Timberscombe in the mid-1960's, he did not, but thought Ivor Loveridge, Dougie Sharpe and Ken Grabham would be good bets to have been there. Other likely candidates could have been Bertie Stevens and Uncle (as he was called) Fred Norman (6).
And if a final truth be told, the actual Christmas Morning Service, led by Rev. Swann and accompanied by the choir and church organist, did not even occur at 9:30 AM on Christmas Day. It took place at 6:30 PM on Christmas Eve, so as to enable listeners throughout the world to be able to hear it on their own Christmas mornings. What was heard was much the same as what was heard at St. Petrock's, with about 10 minutes edited out. When the actual service and editing was completed, the broadcast was sent out three times over the next 24 hours to be played at appropriate times overseas. Indeed Rev. Swann received a cable from Pakistan sent by one of the sons of the late Mrs. Carne of Timberscombe. It read "Bravo Timberscombe. Reception Excellent" (7).
Unfortunately no actual recording of the Christmas Morning Service is known to have survived. Printed on page 32 of the 19 December 1952 RADIO TIMES, below an illustration of Mary with the Baby Jesus, along with a few Shepherds and a festive lettering of "CHRISTMAS" (seen above), was the scheduled programme for the upcoming service. The West Somerset Free Press published, on the 3rd of January 1953, an account of the actual service, headlined "TIMBERSCOMBE ON AIR". A copy of the article was saved by Bernadette Brunker of School House in Timberscombe, which she shared with the St. Petrock's History Group in 2020. Between the two, the details of the service can be pieced together.
After the bells, in his introduction Rev. Swann described the service as a gift from Timberscombe to God and the listeners. Then "O, Come All Ye Faithful" was sung. After a Recollection and the Lord's Prayer, the First Lesson (Isaiah 9, vv. 1-7) were read by "a farmer"(8). It is believed he was James Henderson, a longserving Churchwarden who was farming Allercott in 1952 (9).
Following the Magnificat, a Second Lesson (St. Luke, vv. 1-20) was read by "a boy"(10). Once again, this was Derek Poole. Derek was the son of Frederick William and Edith (nee Seward) Poole, who lived at Devonia Cottage in Cowbridge (11). On Boxing Day 1964, Derek married Gwyneth (Gwynie) O. Palfrey at St. Petrock's. He continued as a member of the choir and was a bell ringer (both in the tower and for handbells) at Timberscombe (joined by Gwynie in 2009) for the rest of his life (12).
After Derek Poole's reading, "Unto Us a Child Was Born" was sung, followed by the Creed and Prayers. The next hymn was "While Shepherds Watched Their Sheep By Night", after which Rev. Swann gave his Address, where he likened the shepherds, those who were the first to greet the Baby Jesus when led to the manger by angels, to the shepherds of Exmoor, both being "simple honest folk" (13). The sermon was interspersed with renditions of Behold the Great Creator Makes Himself House of Clay" and "Once in Royal David's City", followed by a Prayer, a Reading (St. John, vv. 1-14) and the Blessing (14).
The Choir Mistress, Mrs. Kathleen Willis and Church Organist, Miss Barbara Bond were duly acknowledged by the British Home Service. Mrs. Willis was also Head Mistress of Timberscombe School from 1935 to 1967. Not mentioned was that Miss Bond had been a student of Mrs. Willis at Timberscombe School from 1941 to 1947, before she graduated to the Minehead Grammar School (15). Barbara Bond was sixteen-years-old when she played for the Christmas Service--live for a global audience-- not only with her former Head Mistress on hand but her father was Fred Bond, the attendant Bell Captain. Likely it did not faze her. She had been playing the organ for St. Petrock's from the age of fourteen (16).
The organ Barbara Bond was playing had been brought to Timberscombe in 1919 by Lady Margaret Ryder, Lady Constance Ryder and their sister Lady Audrey Anson, when they moved into the local manor house, Knowle House, coming from High Ashurst in Dorking, Surrey, after the death of their mother, Lady Susan Juliana (nee Dent) Ryder (17). Before the move, Lady Constance had played the organ at a Sunday School taught by Lady Audrey for local children (18). The organ was later transferred from Knowle House to St. Petrock's by the sisters in honour of their younger brother, Major the Honourable Robert Dudley Ryder who died serving in World War I (19). It remains the church organ at St. Petrock's in modern times.
Attending Lady Audrey's Sunday School in Dorking was a young Gladys Collins (1911-1991), the daughter of servants at High Ashurst. Later in life, Gladys Collins wrote her personal memoirs, "Gladdy's Story" where she wrote of listening to the 1952 Christmas broadcast and marvelled at hearing the sounds of the organ she had known as a child (20).
The bells were mentioned again in "The Village of Timberscombe and its Church", written and published in 1955 by the aforementioned James Henderson and his brother, Edward Henderson, Bishop of Bath and Wells from 1960 to 1975. Their book concluded with "We heard the peal of eight bells on the morning of Christmas Day, 1952, ring out their message to all parts of the world. They were not named, these bells. Neither blessings nor curses are engraved around them, but they ring a melodious chime as though to be the bells of the church in Timberscombe" (21).
If the Henderson brothers had waited a year, there would have been another worldwide broadcast by the BBC from St. Petrock's Church to write about, not only on Christmas Day but also on every Sunday throughout December in 1956. These are less remembered and are featured at SP-221.
Creator
the Evening World newspaper (the photographer is not credited) /
RADIO TIMES /
RADIO TIMES /
RADIO TIMES
RADIO TIMES /
RADIO TIMES /
RADIO TIMES
Publisher
the Evening World newspaper
BBC Home Service
BBC Home Service
BBC Home Service
BBC Home Service
BBC Home Service
BBC Home Service
Date
24 December 1952
19 December 1952
19 December 1952
19 December 1952
19 December 1952
19 December 1952
19 December 1952
Contributor
Language
English
Identifier
a photograph of choir boy, Derek Poole, at St. Petrock's Church prior to the 1952 Christmas Morning Service / Timberscombe / village centre. / the cover, page 3 and page 32 of 19 December RADIO TIMES
Acquisition Date
2019
December 2020
December 2020
December 2020
December 2020
December 2020
December 2020
Acquisition Method
Gift
BBC Home Service
BBC Home Service
BBC Home Service
BBC Home Service
BBC Home Service
BBC Home Service
Category
PLACES: Churches and Chapels / Timberscombe
PEOPLE: Named / Timberscombe
PEOPLE: Named / Timberscombe
Condition
Fair
Good
Good
Good
Good
Good
Good
Condition Notes
entered by Tom Sperling
Condition Date
2023
Dimension Type
W X L
Dimension Units
cm
Dimension Value
13.5 X 9.5 (PHOTOGRAPHS)
14 X 10 (extra, PHOTOGRAPHS)
20 X 11.5 (ST. PETROCK'S)
18.5 X 14 (PHOTOGRAPHS)
17.5 X 13 (ARTWORK)
23.5 X 17.5 (PHOTOGRAPHS)
27 X 20.5 (ST. PETROCK'S)
6.5 X 19.5 (PHOTOGRAPHS)
5.5 X 17 (ARTWORK)
14 X 10 (extra, PHOTOGRAPHS)
20 X 11.5 (ST. PETROCK'S)
18.5 X 14 (PHOTOGRAPHS)
17.5 X 13 (ARTWORK)
23.5 X 17.5 (PHOTOGRAPHS)
27 X 20.5 (ST. PETROCK'S)
6.5 X 19.5 (PHOTOGRAPHS)
5.5 X 17 (ARTWORK)
Institution Name
St. Petrock's History Group
Notes
(1) Historic England,co.uk and "St. Petrock's Church Timberscombe", church pamphlet, written by Marion Jeffrey, 2017 (2) genre.ch.bbc.co.uk (3) metro.co.uk (4) as listed on page 32, The Home Service, 19 December RADIO TIMES (5) "TIMBERSCOMBE ON THE AIR", West Somerset Free Press, 3 January 1953 (6) as recalled in 2022 by Jennifer (nee Bond) Hansford of Dorchester, the daughter of Fred And Constance Bond and the sister of Barbara Bond (7) "TIMBERSCOMBE ON THE AIR" (8) page 32, The Home Service, 19 December 1952 RADIO TIMES and "TIMERSCOMBE ON THE AIR" (9) as recalled in 2022 by Jennifer Hansford (10) page 32, the Home Service, 19 December RADIO TIMES 1952 and "TIMBERSCOMBE ON THE AIR" (11) Timberscombe School, ADMISSION REGISTER, 1944-2012, No. 766 (12) as recalled in 2021 by Gwynie Poole and in 2023 by Elisabeth Powls (13) page 32, The Home Service, 19 December 1952 RADIO TIMES and "TIMBERSCOMBE ON THE AIR" (14) page 33, The Home Service, 19 December 1952 RADIO TIMES (15) Timberscombe School ADMISSION REGISTER, 1944-2012, No. 642 (16) "Join in While They Sing', THE FARMER'S WEEKLY, CHRISTMAS FEATURES FOR FARM AND FAMILY', December 21, 1956 (17) Timberscombe School MINUTES , 3 April 1930-4 June 1974 and the peerage.com (18) "Gladdy's Story", memoir by Gladys Collins, boxhillcommunity.com (19) "THE VILLAGE OF TIMBERSCOMBE AND ITS CHURCH", by B.L.K. Henderson and G.O.E. Henderson, printed by E. Goodman & Son, Ltd., The Phoenix Press, Taunton, 1955
Storage Location
St. Petrock's History Group Archive
Storage Date
2023
Storage Notes
St. Petrock's History Group, PHOTOGRAPHS
St. Petrock's History Group, ST. PETROCK'S
St. Petrock's History Group, ARTWORK
St. Petrock's History Group, ST. PETROCK'S
St. Petrock's History Group, ARTWORK
Item Reference
SP-220
Technique
Copies
Citation
the Evening World newspaper (the photographer is not credited) /
RADIO TIMES /
RADIO TIMES /
RADIO TIMES, “CHRISTMAS DAY, 1952, When the Bells of Timberscombe Rang Throughout the World,” St. Petrock's History Group, accessed May 6, 2024, https://stpetrockshistorygroup.omeka.net/items/show/3492.
Comments