Obituary for Bo Hollinghurst, 2022

Bo Hollingshurst and her husband Grahame moved to Herefordshire in 1998 when they both took early retirement, Bo from teaching history and Grahame as a GP.  Bo soon joined the local band of ringers at Lyonshall, but unfortunately Grahame was a steadfast non-ringer! Bo had learnt to ring in Kent several years earlier, although she had been forced to take a break of a year or two as the result of a knee operation. Even so, Bo was way ahead of the local band as she was ringing methods whilst they were still struggling with call changes and Plain Hunt. Under Bo’s influence the band began to progress and regular weekly practices became more diverse, to the extent that Lyonshall even won the District Striking Competition several times over the next few years.

Bo took on various roles over the years, including tower captain at Lyonshall, assistant and then District Ringing Master, BRF Co-ordinator and editor of the Hereford Guild newsletter “Open Lead” for many years. She attended monthly district practices as well as regular weekly practices at several local towers and helped train ringers of all ages.

When it was decided to set up The Marches District of the Ladies Guild, Bo was one of the founder members and served as joint secretary for the first year. She supported local meetings, organising some of them, and helping with training days and other local events.

It was a great loss to both The Marches District and Clifford & Kington District of HDGB when Bo and her husband made the move to Bedfordshire in 2015 to live closer to family. However, Bo soon became involved with ringing at her new local towers, helping with training new ringers as well as service ringing, etc. She remained a member of The Ladies Guild, transferring to the South Midlands District, attending their meetings, making new friends and enjoying the fellowship of The Ladies Guild.

Regretfully the Covid restrictions meant that get-togethers were a thing of the past, although emails were very useful for keeping in touch. Sadly, Bo’s health gradually declined over the last two years and she died peacefully at home on 19th May 2021. We send our condolences to Grahame and her family and are grateful for having had her as a friend .

Pat Key