ELIZABETH ANNE COKE (NÉE GLASOW) 17 April 1954 – 8 March 2025

On 29 December 1975, I stood with a gaggle of other men outside the tower at St Stephen’s, Bristol, listening to a peal attempt of Cambridge Maximus. The band in the tower was unusual for its time, in that it consisted of twelve women. Some of the rowdy contingent outside were very dubious about it all – could women actually do this sort of thing without male guidance? – but most were keen to spur the band on to success.

And successful they were, ringing the first peal of Maximus by twelve women. The youngest and least experienced of the twelve was Liz Glasow. Indeed, it was her first peal of Maximus, underlining the fact that it was not entirely easy to assemble twelve women with the competence and confidence to tackle a project like this in 1975.

Almost fifty years later, in November 2024, Liz took part in another peal of Surprise Maximus. This too was rung by twelve women, but on this occasion, all twelve were called Elizabeth. This time, nobody doubted that the band could complete their task, and though they probably drew upon most of the qualified Elizabeths, there was now a very large pool of female twelve-bell ringers. Liz was of the generation that did much to promote the skills of women in ringing, including their leadership abilities.

Liz learned to ring in Bristol at the age of eighteen. Then as now, Bristol was a great centre of ringing, with a large number of active towers and a plentiful supply of capable ringers. Liz’s first peal was Grandsire Triples on the treble at Bristol Cathedral, an obvious first step. Her second, a few weeks later, was Stedman Cinques – much less obvious, but she was exceptionally talented.

She quickly became an established member of the Bristol city band, generally ringing at three or more towers each Sunday morning before an extended coffee session. Peal ringing became an important part of her life. She rang 340 peals between 1975 and 1984, including complex methods, long lengths, and several ladies’ peals.

David and Liz Coke

She joined the Sussex County Association in 1980. At that time, she may well have never set foot in the county. There being no 12-bell tower in Sussex at the time, we arranged for seven Brighton ringers to go to Bristol for a peal of Lincolnshire Maximus, where we were joined by five Bristol ringers, including Liz. The Bristol

ringers were kind and helpful, though one of them did accuse a former editor of Soundbow of +trying to do a five-pull dodge in 5/6 down by trying each one with a different bell!

Engagement and marriage to David Coke followed in 1984, and the first couple of years of their married life were in Sheffield, where David was a senior banking executive. To our great good fortune, the bank then decided to post David to Brighton, which brought Liz to us for the next decade.

We very quickly elected Liz tower captain, a role in which she excelled. Her extensive ringing experience gave the rest of the band a lift, and she injected freshness into our practices. She was also a patient and sympathetic teacher. One of her ‘pupils’ was Marion Huang, who was taught to handle a bell by Liz at the age of sixty, and went on to have a successful ringing career over the next thirty years, only retiring at ninety

Kathy Howard and Liz Coke

Naturally, Liz took part in much of the more advanced ringing which was taking place in Sussex, sometimes with the Association, and often with the Society of Royal Cumberland Youths.

David’s bank then sent him off to Kent for a while, with Liz and daughter Alex accompanying him. Ringing at Maidstone, Canterbury and Benenden was interspersed with short visits to Sussex and excursions to London. After a short overseas posting, the family settled in Cheltenham, bringing Liz back to the Gloucester and Bristol Association. As in Brighton, the Cheltenham ringers lost little time in appointing Liz as tower captain, and she offered sterling service to St Mary’s Cheltenham (Cheltenham Minster) over the next two decades.

The twelve bells at Cheltenham were not reckoned to be of the finest tone, and there had been mutterings about replacing them for some time. It was largely down to Liz’s enthusiasm and inspiration that this project was brought to life, steered through or round obstacles over several years, and duly completed in 2017. (The full story was set out on the front page of The Ringing World, 4 May 2018).

She took part in the first two peals on the new bells. Her other peals on the new bells included one by twelve ringing masters or towers captains from towers with twelve or more bells, and the peal with twelve Elizabeths mentioned earlier.

There is, of course, more to ringing than peals. Service ringing on the new bells frequently involved quarter peals, with the band strengthened by the arrival of Jeremy and Sandra Alford in 2022. And for the last three years, Cheltenham has entered the National Twelve Bell Striking Contest.

This year, they were drawn to ring at Liverpool, ringing Stedman Cinques under the watchful eye of Jeremy, the band also including Paul Wells, another Sussex refugee. Liz’s sudden death on 8 March, just two weeks before the contest, was a shock. Her colleagues in the band held their nerve, completed their test piece, and dedicated it to Liz, the most poignant of the many ringing tributes to her memory.

Personally, I look back with warmth on fifty years of friendship with Liz. We shared much good ringing with her, as well as outings, quizzes and idle gossip. Our last meeting was in August, when we met to celebrate the life of our mutual friend, Chris Kippin. She was in fine form that day. It is very hard to think that we shall not see her again.

Liz Coke (far right) at her daughter’s (Alex) wedding to Charlie

DAVID HOUSE

L to R: Linda Etherington, John Hawes, Andrew Brown, Liz Coke, Gavin Bennett, Phil Nancarrow, Kathy Howard, David Kirkcaldy, in June 1994. Brighton were the winners of the 8-bell striking contest held at Fairwarp

Back: David Kirkcaldy, Hugh Pettifer, Robin Green, Ronnie Stillwell, David House. Front: Anne Anthony, Liz Coke, Ann Smith, Caroline House, Andrew Brown. The band who rang a peal of London Surprise Royal at St Peter’s, Brighton on 3 July 1993

Liz sadly passed away at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital on the 8 March 2025 aged 70 Years from acute sepsis. A service to celebrate her life took place at Cheltenham Minster, St Mary’s on Wednesday 26 March 2025.

Her favourite colour was red, so people were asked to wear something red in remembrance of her.