About the Trust

The Mobile Belfries Trust, formerly The Charmborough Trust, is a registered charity with the aim of promoting the historic art or church bell ringing through the use of mobile belfries. The Trust owns and operates both The Charmborough Ring and The Touring Tower and promotes The Lichfield Diocesan Mobile Belfry (which remains a charitable trust in its own right).

The Trustees

The Trust currently has 8 trustees:

Roger Booth

Founder

A founder trustee of the Charmborough Trust, Roger now lives in New Alresford in Hampshire. He is also a member of Management Committee of the Association of Ringing Teachers and a former member of the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers. Roger originally became involved with mobile belfries having masterminded the restoration of the bells in five unringable towers in London. He was then anxious to recruit and train new ringers to ring on them, which led to the purchase of the Charmborough Ring and the establishment of the Charmborough Trust which has now become The Mobile Belfries Trust.

Ian Kerwin

Chairman

Based in Willingale, Essex Ian has been a Trustee of the Charmbrough Ring for some time and has taken the ring out to many events in the surronding counties. Ian is also Master of the North West District of the Essex Association of Change Ringers.

Doug Davis

Secretary & Webmaster

Living in Gillingham, Kent Doug is the most recent Trustee to join us. He’s involved in various local and national ringing organisations,as well as being Tower Captain at Boxley where he has recently trained a new band from scratch. Doug is passionate about securing the future of ringing and has a keen interest in mobile belfries and the part they have to play in recruitment and retention.

Peter Joyce

Treasurer

Current Treasurer for the Kent County Association of Change Ringers, Peter lives in Southfleet in Kent and was welcomed as a Trustee in May 2024.

Alison Everett

Publicity

A former member of the Executive of the Central Council of Church Bellringers. Originally from Lincolnshire Alison lives in Sussex and learned to ring at Bosham. As Communications and Events Team Leader for the Sussex County Association of Change Ringers she was responsible for social media, publicity and promotion. Invited by the Chichester Diocese to join their Sanctuary area at the South of England Show with a mobile belfry to demonstrate that ringing and ringers are part of the community Alison organised teams of volunteers across the 3-day event over a number of years.

Simon Linford

Trustee

Immediate Past President of the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers, Simon spearheaded the move to develop the Touring Tower whilst President, seeing a need for another truly mobile ring that could be taken into schools and festivals in particular. As well as being a prominent peal ringer, Simon is very involved in ringing training, both with the Birmingham School of Bell Ringing, at his home tower of Moseley and with the Brumdingers youth team.

Phil Gay

Trustee

Phil has been ringing since 1956, initially in Somerset and since 1963 in Staffordshire, where he is tower captain at Keele. He is very experienced with hanging and ringing light bells – Keele (Woodlands) which he hung in 1992 and the Lichfield Diocesan Mobile Belfry which he invented and hung the bells for in 1998. He has rung 460 peals on light bells, mostly at Woodlands. When on the Central Council he was a member of its Education and Ringing Centres Committees, and for twenty years he ran the Keele University Bellringing Summer School.

Mike Slowe

Trustee

Based in Harlow, Essex Mike has been a Trustee of The Charmborough Trust for some four years and accompanied it to various events. He has also had the pleasure of demonstrating it to new ringers. He has been ringing for 33 years had a three year tenure as Master of the North West District of the Essex Association.