William Butler 1930 - 2021
BILL Butler was a long-term resident of Thatcham and was well known in the area as a church bellringer, a churchwarden at St Mary’s Church for 12 years, an authority on the history of that church and on all things bell related.
He died on October 21, 2021, and his funeral was on November 11 at St Mary’s. In 1961 he started working at AWRE in Aldermaston and with his family he moved to Thatcham, where he lived for the rest of his life.
He became the tower captain of the bellringers that year, a position which he held for the next 41 years.
By 1965 the family had moved to Barfield Road in Thatcham and that year he started a tune ringing handbell group and he remained the conductor of the Barfield Handbell Ringers until 2016. He attended handbell rallies and symposiums across the world and the Barfield Handbell Ringers continue to perform in the Newbury area and beyond under their current conductor.
As a tower bell ringer, he also gained an international reputation, holding a number of positions on the Central Council of
Church Bellringers and ringing at many towers in the Americas, Africa and Australasia.
He ran bellringing courses at Fittleworth and for several years he taught a residential handbell course at Denman College, then the HQ of the Women’s Institute.
He was the first Master of the Cockcroft Society of Bellringers, with a membership working mainly at AWRE Aldermaston and AERE at Harwell.
Bill was a prolific writer. Of local interest were his Thatcham Then and Now (1983, written in collaboration with his wife Jennifer Butler), Thatcham Churchwardens (2005), Fascinating Facts about St Mary’s, Thatcham (2011),
A Chronology of St Mary’s, Thatcham (2015), Thatcham Clergy over the Centuries (2016), The Barfield Handbell Ringers – The First 50 years (2016) and finally, Music at St Mary’s (2019).
He also wrote a number of books on bellringing subjects including, in 1981, his 100 Years of the Oxford Diocesan Guild of Church Bellringers. But probably the book for which he will be best known internationally was his Musical Handbells, published in 2000, the research and writing of which took 40 years to complete.
In 2012, Bill was awarded the Civic Award for contributions to the community of Thatcham.
Bill was married twice, meeting both of his future wives in the bell tower. He married Audrey in 1953, but she died in 1969.
In 1971, he married Jennifer, a Thatcham ringer, who died in 2000. His and Jennifer’s dear friend Rosemary was his close companion in his final decades.
He is survived by his and Audrey’s three children, eight grandchildren and five great grandchildren.
Considering his breadth of interests, his skills and his energetic enthusiasm over so many decades, his contribution to the area, and also to bellringing, was exceptional.
He will be missed by many.