A SPECIAL peal is going to be rung at St Peter and Paul’s Church, Pickering, on Saturday to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of Sapper Richard Duck.

Sapper Duck was a bellringer at Fylingdales, but the bells there are currently out of action, so ringers are meeting at Pickering instead.

Sapper Duck served in 76th Field Company, Royal Engineers. He was the son of Richard and Mary Duck of Fyling Hall, and was married to Mary Crosby Duck (nee Wellburn), of Robin Hood’s Bay. He had four children and worked as a joiner and wheelwright before enlisting.

He was 33 when he died and is buried in Mendinghem Military Cemetery, Belgium.

The peal will start at 5.30pm and, if successful, will take about three hours to complete.

Anne Deebank, the area’s bellringing co-ordinator, said: “Ringing a full peal takes stamina and concentration and locally we tend only to ring them for very special occasions. Peals have been rung across the country from 2014 every time there is a 100th anniversary of a bellringer’s death and we wanted to mark Sapper Duck’s in the same way.”

A handbell peal will also be rung the next day at St Stephen’s, Fylingdales, as part of a service.