A CENTURY on from his death, the memory of a Wylam villager was honoured as muffled bells rang out over the roof tops.

A special quarter peal was rang on Sunday, September 18 to mark the death of fellow bell ringer Private Joseph Foster Appleby, who was killed in the Battle of the Somme.

And the family of Pte Appleby travelled to St Oswin’s Church in Wylam to join the special event.

The eldest of three sons, Joseph is shown in the 1911 census as living at his grandparent’s house on Ingham Terrace and working as an apprentice compositor in the printing trade.

A report of his memorial service in the November 11, 1916, edition of the Hexham Courant states that he was known in Wylam as Joe May because he was brought up by his maternal grandmother, Mrs May.

Joseph went on to marry Elizabeth Mary Jackson in 1915 and, before his death,
was employed at printers Mssrs Ward & Son in Newcastle.

His parents, George Foster Appleby and Annie Appleby, were married at St Oswin’s Church.

And Joseph was a member of the church choir and the Church Lads’ Brigade as well as a bell ringer.

Serving as a private with the fourth battalion Northumberland Fusiliers, he died of his wounds at Hook trench, near Mametz Wood, on September 18, 1916.

His younger brother, George Oswin, also served with the Northumberland Fusiliers and died at home on February 12, 1917.

To commemorate the centenary of Joseph’s death, and his enduring links with St Oswin’s, the church bells were rang half- muffled for 50 minutes last Sunday.

Joseph’s nephew, Peter Babe, niece, Eileen Hawkshaw, and great-nephew, Simon Babe, attended the church service before going to listen to the bells.

Simon even took a step in his great-uncle’s footsteps to have a go at bell ringing for the first time.