BellBoard

The ringers listed include all those who took part, Beer being a 5 bell tower. Changes were called from outside the circle by Bell Captain Bruce Roberts.

Remembering Private 10458 James Simmonds, 1st Battalion Royal Munster Fusiliers. Born 1893 in Oakley Green, near Windsor, Berkshire. James was a bellringer at Braywood in Berkshire. His stepfather, Richard Collins, was a waggoner on a local farm and James himself became a farm labourer.

James joined the army during the 1st World War and served in France. He was killed in action near the village of Proyart on 27th March 1918 aged 24, during the last major German offensive of the war. James has no known grave and is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial on the Somme which commemorates over 14,000 British troops who died on the Somme and have no known graves.

James never lived in Devon, but in 1963 the bells from Braywood were transferred to the parish church in Beer and so the bells which he once rang were rung in his memory exactly 100 years after his death.

Several members of the Royal British Legion, including their standard bearer Yvonne Hawker attended and stood at the war memorial in memory of Private James Simmonds as the ringing took place.

The tribute was covered by local newspapers and BBC Radio Devon who interviewed Gayle Chapple live on air the following day.