In celebration of the people of North Oxfordshire and the surrounding area managing to retain Children’s and Maternity Service at the Horton General Hospital and keeping the Horton General, on Wednesday 30th June 2010, the ten bell ringers of St. Mary’s Church rang a Peal of 5003 Grandsire Caters.

The Peal rang out from the church tower for some three hours and thirteen minutes to celebrate and give thanks for the success of the campaign to keep Children’s and Maternity services at the Horton General Hospital.

The photo shows the ten bell ringers in the Bell Tower, together with the Mayor of Banbury, Councillor Colin Clark, North Oxfordshire MP Tony Baldry, whose initiative this was, together with a number of Banbury Town Councillors, including Leader of the Council, Councillor Kieron Mallon, former Town Mayor Tina Wren, and Councillors Azmat Khan and Tony Ilott, and a number of “Keep the Horton General” campaigners lead by Chairman of Cherwell District Council Councillor George Parish.

A Peal Board to celebrate the event will be hung in the Bell Tower, along with Peal Boards to mark similar Peals in the past from Relief and Victory in the Crimea, to sadder events such as the muffled Peal for the funeral of Winston Churchill.