Tom Charlton Appeal

You all know that life doesn't always go as planned. Often those unplanned things cannot be rectified. During the course of last year something came to my attention that didn't go quite to plan, but I hope that with your help it isn't too late to put this one right.

This is the story of Thomas (Tom) Henry Charlton that I have so far....

He was born in September 1911 and was a Moultonian through and through. He was a farmer in the village and although he passed away in 2006 the farm continues through his sons.

Tom came to ringing on a bit of a whim. He'd been to visit his mother in Nottingham hospital and on the journey home he heard the sound of bells coming across the fields. In an interview with The Spalding Guardian he described it as a beautiful sound and from those humble beginnings grew a lifelong association with ringing. He learned to ring in Moulton, where he was a valued member of the band, whose expertise grew over time. Eventually he would go on to be tower captain and to teach many new ringers, continuing to invest his time in their progress. He taught many youngsters in the village with practice nights attended by fifteen or more. If they couldn't make it to practice themselves he would collect them beforehand and drop them off afterwards. Amongst those learners were his son and grandson so that at one stage there were three generations of the Charlton family ringing together.

He became a member of the LDGCB in 1929 and remained such for the rest of his life. He was given an honorary life membership in 2000 for his services to the Elloe Branch of the guild. He was a peal ringer, although not a prolific one, ringing just under fifty peals, most of them plain minor methods in the local area. This doesn't mean he wasn't capable of more complex ringing, participating in some major peals and some surprise ringing too. One of the peals he rang was at Walesby in 1950 and is believed to be the first peal rung by a band of farmers.

Moulton bells were refurbished in 1951 and Tom, along with fellow Moulton ringer Freda Oldershaw, was instrumental in raising the funds needed for the work and was commended for that effort at the rededication of the bells.

The LDGCB used to hold an event known as The Ringing Festival which would rotate around the various branches. This involved towers within a branch being open for ringing for the day and usually happened in June. Eventually all ringers would congregate at one particular tower for tea (a good old ringing tradition!) In Elloe this would always be at Moulton, where Tom would happily provide strawberries for a dessert. These strawberry teas became synonymous with Elloe and with Tom!

As he grew older Tom became less able to ring, but that didn't stop him from being in the tower. He would still supervise ringing for weddings, sometimes climbing the tower steps on his hands and knees to try and ensure ringing was up to standard.

Like many of his generation, Tom wore a cap. He would wear it to church and then take it off and leave it on a table at the bottom of the tower. This became such a ritual that everyone would know if Tom was there by the presence of the cap - a bit like the Royal Standard flying at Buckingham Palace!

When he passed away in January 2006 Moulton church was going through some major building works, with scaffold everywhere. It was difficult at the time to get permission to ring for his funeral service. As things returned to normal at Moulton a peal to commemorate Tom's life was organised. This happened in September 2006 in the week Tom would have celebrated his 95th birthday. Sadly a peal board never materialised and there is no permanent memorial to Tom in Moulton tower.

And, although it is now almost fifteen years later, that is what this letter is all about. Obviously to get a peal board needs funds. I launched an appeal for funds at the Elloe Deanaries AGM and also via the peal band. I am really happy to say that pledges now exceed £300, however I have now got a costing for the peal board and (with transport) it is £425, so I need to spread the appeal just a little wider to the Guild as a whole.

At the moment I am not looking for a donation, but a simple pledge to give towards this peal board and an indication of how much. This will allow me to assess when, or indeed if, this project is viable. If you knew Tom Charlton and would like to help get a more permanent memorial to the man then please send an email to with any anecdotes about Tom, and an indication of how much you would be willing to give. Please feel free to pass this on to any others, maybe past members who are no longer ringing, who might also have known Tom.

As someone who came to ringing later in life I never got to meet Tom, but as a ringer in Elloe I know that he is still mentioned to this day and always with fondness. With this in mind I can only hope that there is enough of a response to get a peal board in Moulton tower in his memory.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Paul Doades