Eric George Henry Godfrey (15 Dec 1934- 18 Dec 2022)

Eric was a regular visitor to Leicestershire before moving to Loughborough in 2013, with his wife Margaret, to live near his daughters Judith and Alison. Leicestershire ringers who met him might be interested to know more about his ringing in Surrey and his links with the Central Council. What follows is adapted from his Ringing World obituary.

Eric learned to ring at Addington, Surrey in the early 1960s to follow his wife, Margaret, who was already a ringer. He made rapid progress, becoming tower captain in 1965, a position he held with distinction for over forty years. Addington subsequently became one of the best six bell Sunday service bands for miles around; the band were capable of ringing multi-spliced Minor methods to a high standard. It was the usual practice to ring a quarter of a Surprise or Delight method for evensong, usually conducted by Eric who was an extremely competent 6 bell conductor. Eric rang his first peal (Plain Bob Minor) at Addington on 8 September 1963. His peal total of 38 was modest but he rang over 1,200 quarter peals, the vast majority at Addington. Several good ringers developed their ringing skills at Addington and Eric taught many people to ring.

Eric was a Surrey Association stalwart, having held the positions of Northern District Secretary (1965-1970) Master (1978-1980), Secretary (1987-1993), and President (1996-2014). He was a Chartered Accountant by profession, later teaching accountancy and becoming Head of Business Studies at a further education college.

Eric was a Central Council representative for the Surrey Association from 1978 – 1992, Honorary member from 1993, and Additional member 2010 – 2011, attending 32 meetings in total. He held the posts of Auditor (1979-1997), Treasurer and member of the Administrative Committee (1997- 2005), member of the Ringing Centres Committee 1999 – 2000, and he was a Director of the Millennium Grants Company which arranged lottery-funded grants for towers ahead of the Millennium.

Outside of work, family and ringing, Eric’s interests included watching cricket and rugby, and walking. After moving to Loughborough, he rang regularly at Oaks in Charnwood and Coleorton and enjoyed regular outings to further increase his tower total (reaching 2989 different towers). He finally stopped ringing four years ago and, in late 2021, moved into a dementia specialist care home.

Eric’s funeral will take place on 16^th January at Oaks in Charnwood.  For enquiries and details, please contact Judith via email judith@godfrey4.org.uk. 

Judith Godfrey