Friday 19th April 2024

Rolie Whiting & Charlie Ablitt

THE BELLS

Though the bells are now silent, our thoughts still remain,
And echo the rounds of our days;
Remembering our friends we once joined on the floor
No longer to slip through the tower's old door
And pull to the peal of life's fickle ways.
The puzzle we inherit is never resolved,
We come and we go as tides on the shore;
Like trebles we start and like tenors we go
As night follows day, and its knell sounds no more.
We've lost two good men, as age took its toll,
Humble and cheerful, always to hand,
Quiet, reserved, the ones you relied on,
Welcome wherever they joined in the band.
May god give them grace in infinity's span
And a seat in the window of time.
Keep hold of the rope, till we'll meet by and by,
And strike with a will, as we did in our prime.

Ray Banks

(Obituaries in the 2018 Guild Report, pp 7 & 8.)