South Yorkshire Times, January 7, 1950

Ringing two of the eight bells that welcomed the New Year in Wath Parish Church on Saturday night were Edith Nicholls, of Hollowgate Avenue, Wath and Mary Wilkinson (18), William Street, Wath.

They are the only female ringers ever to serve in a Wath Parish Church team.

Enid qualified for the Yorkshire Association of Bell Ringers in 1946, and is therefore a “fully fledged” ringer. Mary, who has not been ringing for as long as Enid, is still a “learner.”

In the words of Mr. W. Green, present conductor of the Wath team, who has been a member of the Yorkshire Association of Bell Ringers since 1918, “The girls are every bit as good as the men, but it is practice that makes perfect in bell ringing. Bell ringing seems to be a habit in the Nicholls family for Mr. T. Nicholls, Enid’s father, qualified for the Y.A.B.R. In 1935, and brother, Fred qualified in 1938.

Wath Parish Church holds what is probably a Yorkshire record, and at one time was an all-England record, for a peal of 15,120 changes on six bells’. The changes were rung on Shrove Tuesday, February 27th; 1816, and to quote the original hand painted records which are affixed to the belfry walls, “were brought round in a Grand and Masterly style, in eight hours, twenty-seven minutes, without a man quitting his rope while the whole was performed.”

The names of the six ringers were Christopher Taylor, Joseph Blackburn, Joseph Myers, Edward Myers, Mathew Blackburn, and William Blackburn the whole were conducted by W. Blackburn.