Now He's Sixty-four

In the early sixties, Grappenhall Tower Captain and Chester Guild Treasurer Mike Thomson saw the "Fab Four" (alias The Beatles, for those too young to remember) perform in the Northwich Memorial Hall, and it was appropriate that their song relating to a particular birthday should, in some way, be used so that Mike would not let his 64th birthday slip by unnoticed.

All the local ringers had been primed that the date (24th November) was approaching, and so it was that during morning ringing the following day, Grappenhall tower echoed for a short while, not to the eight bells, but to a slightly re-written chorus of "When I'm Sixty-four", reflecting his interests in Ringing (especially Quarter Peals), "ticking" new beers and breweries (he is the person behind Grappenhall tower's display of ringing and church related pump clips), and transport (especially using his free bus pass!):

Mike is also a regular at the Monday practice at Stretton, and the local ringers were also ready for the occasion, and as Mike entered the ringing room, the Stretton ringers (ably accompanied by Verity Taylor on the flute) also burst into song (this time with the original words!).

A Quarter Peal was rung the following weekend to rub it in, appropriately being a 1264 of Bob Major: