Hi all,
Please note there will be no surprise Royal practice in June (due to a few reasons).
I will email out over the next few days about the July practice.
Regards,
Daniel Graham
Hi all,
Please note there will be no surprise Royal practice in June (due to a few reasons).
I will email out over the next few days about the July practice.
Regards,
Daniel Graham
Hi all
The next Surprise Royal practice is due to take place on SUNDAY 27TH MAY from 14:00 – 15:30.
Please use the link below to indicate if you can or can’t make it
https://doodle.com/poll/i6ddis648d3978sm
The practice will only go ahead if I get 15 or more yes responses.
I’ll update everyone later in the month as to whether it will go ahead or not.
Cheers,
Hi all,
Sadly due to lots of people being away this month I am going to have to cancel the planned surprise royal practice. There will be no practice in April.
I will make contact again soon regarding a possible May practice. The date would be 27th May.
If the May practice isn’t able to go ahead then I’ll have to review the situation as it may no longer be practical to have these practices sadly.
Thanks to those who are continuing to support the practices. Please watch this space.
Regards,
Hi all,
Due to a number of people being away, we are too short of people in March for a Surprise Royal practice to take place.
So to confirm – there will be NO PRACTICE in March.
Looking ahead to April things look slightly better, so please use the following link to let me know if you can make the April practice.
Sunday April 22nd – 14:00 – 15:30
https://doodle.com/poll/vpphxe73w83hvwah
I’ll update you in early April as to the likelihood of the practice going ahead.
Thanks,
Hi all,
Thanks to those who attended the surprise royal practice this afternoon. We had enough people to attempt the Superlative a few times, along with some Yorkshire and some less successful 3 spliced. We could have done with 3 or 4 more people, but we managed ok with the number we had.
Next month the practice is scheduled for Sunday 25thFebruary.
People seemed to like not having to go into Southampton City Centre so I will try and find another suitable tower for the next practice.
Please let me know either via the previous doodle poll, or via email if you are hoping to make the Feb practice!
Many Thanks,
Hi all,
Hi all,
Hi all,
I am now finally able to confirm the location of the next Surprise Royal Practice.
Sunday 26th November 14:00 – 15:30 BITTERNE PARK, Southampton.
Methods as usual to include C/Y/N plus Bristol Royal. If enough we will try some 3 spliced.
I have tried a few other towers this time away from Southampton but they were all unavailable.
Look forward to seeing lots of you on a Sunday!
Cheers,
Daniel Graham
Hi all,
To confirm the October surprise royal practice will be going ahead;
Sunday 22nd October = 14:00 – 15:30
PLEASE arrive for a 14:00 start, the last few practices we haven’t had 10 until close to half past
Methods: Bristol and C/Y/N spliced and single as required.
I look forward to seeing lots of you then!!
Cheers,
Southampton
The Surprise Royal practice will be going ahead this SUNDAY, 28th May, 14:00-15:30 at Hursley.
Note the start time is very 2pm as I know previously there has been some confusion
Special methods are Cambridge, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Pudsey with London/Bristol if numbers allow.
Please spread the word to those likely to attend.
There were 219 peals rung for the Guild during 2016, which is a slight fall compared to 2015; however this total is still significantly higher than any year other than 2015 since the early 1980’s. I said in my report last year that I hoped the Guild would maintain its peal ringing activity and I am pleased to say that we have achieved that. Keep it going!
I must thank Andrew Craddock for sharing the statistics generated by PealBase, allowing me to cross-check the Guild’s records. Finally I would like to thank all those conductors and organisers who submit details, compositions and fees within the one month deadline specified by the Guild rules. Please may I also remind conductors that we do require all compositions in full whether or not they have been rung for the Guild previously. I am also pleased to announce that I can now take peal fees electronically; I would request that conductors email me FIRST for a reference and the necessary account details, even if you already have them, to allow me to monitor what I have and have not received.
There were 142 tower bell peals rung for the Guild in 2016, 14 fewer than the previous year but comparable to 2014. What is of greater concern is the number of ringers taking part in a tower bell peal continued the decreasing trend witha fall to 200, this is 24 fewer than 2016 and 46 fewer than 2013.
Six ringers rang their first peal in a W&P peal during 2016 and the Guild Officers would like to extend their congratulations to Will Stoddart, Martin Willson, Helen Rolf, Janice Firth, Rob Gorton and Gemma Loweth. The latter three actually achieved their first peal in a handbell peal but are included here for completeness. To add to this list Aileen Wilson also scored her first tower bell peal.
Following the ‘First Peal 2015’ initiative it is good to see that the Guild is still introducing ringers to peal ringing and I would encourage all members to think whether you or somebody else in your tower would be interested in attempting a peal. It would be brilliant if we can increase both the numbers of new peal ringers and ringers taking part in peals in general to stem the falling trend.
Malcolm Powell heads the list of prolific peal ringers for 2016 pushing last year’s leader, Edd Colliss, into second. John Dodd and Kathryne Arkless also remain near the top with Gareth Higgs, Jim Twiney and Graham Nobbs joining the list of people to ring 40 or more peals for the Guild in 2016.
The list of prolific conductors remains largely unchanged with Edd Colliss still heading the list with Toby Arkless and Ben Carey exchanging places behind. Once again, like the total number of ringers the total number of conductors is also down 3 on 2015 to 29.
St Agatha, Portsmouth heads the list of the leading towers again with a similar number to 2015 representing over a third of the Guild’s 2016 total. It is also worth noting that no other tower rang more than 9 peals, the first time this has happened for 9 years.
The first peal on the augmented ring at All Saints Basingstoke was completed with a peal of Bristol Surprise Royal in April.
There were a number of personal footnotes during 2016 and I congratulate Paul Young on his 1200th, Martin Daniels 500th, Graham Nobbs 400th, David Mattingley 300th, Colin Butler 250th and Kieran Downer 25th. Toby Arkless and Edd Colliss scored their 250th as Conductor. Several ringers also reached a milestone for the Guild; Malcolm Powell and Jim Hodkin 500, and Andrew Howes 100.
Roy LeMarechal passed two significant milestones during 2016, ringing his 2000th peal for the Guild with a peal of Cambridge Royal at Bishopstoke in February and his 3000th peal some three weeks later, also Cambridge Royal at Bishopstoke. Roy is only the 49th person to achieve this total.
Peals were rung by the Sunday service band of Vale, Guernsey, who rang a peal of 7 Doubles in January, and Bishopstoke, who rang a peal of Double Norwich in December. I would also like to mention the 7 members of the Catherington Sunday service band who scored a peal of 13 Spliced Surprise Major in January and it was my pleasure to ring the treble for you.
In February a peal of Yorkshire Surprise Maximus was rung at Hursley by a ladies band; this is believed to be the first twelve bell peal rung by a ladies band for the W&P.
Peals were rung in memory of Guild Member and former A&P district Chairman Andrew Barnsdale.
Several peals were rung to celebrate the 90th Birthday (both actual and official) of HM Queen Elizabeth II. Peals were also rung on the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Jutland and as part of the Bell Ringers Strike Back Against Blood Cancer campaign.
Leading Ringers | |
Malcolm M Powell | 66 |
Edward P D Colliss | 64 |
John A Dodd | 56 |
Kathryne R Arkless | 46 |
E C Gareth Higgs | 42 |
Graham A Nobbs | 40 |
James W G Twiney | 40 |
3 ringers | 36 |
3 ringers | 30-35 |
2 ringers | 20-29 |
10 ringers | 19-Oct |
23 ringers | 9-May |
64 ringers | 4-Feb |
88 ringers | 1 |
Total Ringers | 200 |
Leading Conductors | |
Edward P D Colliss | 42 |
Toby Arkless | 21 |
Benjamin J Carey | 17 |
Roy LeMarechal | 17 |
James W G Twiney | 6 |
Benjamin D Constant | 4 |
4 conductors | 3 |
3 conductors | 2 |
16 conductors | 1 |
Total Conductors | 29 |
Leading Towers | |
Portsmouth, St Agatha | 49 |
Bishopstoke, | 9 |
Awbridge | 8 |
Holybourne | 5 |
Portsmouth Cathedral | 5 |
Basingstoke, All Saints | 4 |
Winchester Cathedral | 3 |
8 towers | 2 |
43 towers | 1 |
Total Towers | 58 |
Minimus | 1 |
Kent Block* | 1 |
Doubles | 7 |
12m | 2 |
3m | 2 |
42v | 1 |
7m | 1 |
4m | 1 |
Doubles & Minor | 1 |
6m | 1 |
Minor | 24 |
Plain Bob | 5 |
Spliced TD (8m) | 4 |
7m S | 4 |
Spliced S (8m) | 2 |
Cambridge S | 1 |
Spliced S (41m) | 1 |
Spliced S (24m) | 1 |
Spliced S (7m) | 1 |
7m | 1 |
5m | 1 |
4m | 1 |
3m | 1 |
2m P | 1 |
Triples | 3 |
Grandsire | 3 |
Major | 83 |
Bristol S | 9 |
Superlative S | 4 |
Yorkshire | 4 |
Spliced S (8m) | 3 |
Cambridge S | 2 |
Double Norwich CB | 2 |
Rutland S | 2 |
Spliced S (23m) | 2 |
Spliced S (19m)# | 2 |
Spliced S (10m) | 2 |
Baltic Wharf S# | 1 |
Basingstoke S | 1 |
Belfast S | 1 |
Berkelium S# | 1 |
Booth S# | 1 |
Deva S | 1 |
Devonshire S# | 1 |
Dodd Fell D# | 1 |
Ealing S | 1 |
Falmouth S | 1 |
Flerovium S# | 1 |
Four Score S# | 1 |
Griffin S# | 1 |
Guernsey S | 1 |
Hunters Bar S# | 1 |
Jersey S | 1 |
Jonah S# | 1 |
Kenninghall S | 1 |
Lessness S | 1 |
Lincolnshire S | 1 |
London S | 1 |
Lye D# | 1 |
Majestic S# | 1 |
Muppet Show S# | 1 |
No. 5029 Nunney Castle S# | 1 |
No Hope D# | 1 |
Norwich S# | 1 |
November S | 1 |
Once Brewed D# | 1 |
Peterstone Wentloog S# | 1 |
Plain B | 1 |
Portsmouth S | 1 |
Preston S# | 1 |
Revolver D | 1 |
Ruthenium S | 1 |
Spliced S (21m)# | 1 |
Spliced S (17m) | 1 |
Spliced S (15m) | 1 |
Spliced S (14m) | 1 |
Spliced S (13m) | 1 |
Spliced S (6m) | 1 |
1 | |
St Agatha S# | 1 |
Tavistock S | 1 |
Thropton S# | 1 |
Uxbridge S | 1 |
Wales S# | 1 |
Watford S | 1 |
Wedding D# | 1 |
Winchester B | 1 |
Xavier S# | 1 |
Caters | 4 |
Grandsire | 3 |
Erin | 1 |
Caters & Royal | 1 |
Spliced (4m) | 1 |
Royal | 9 |
Cambridge S | 4 |
Bristol S | 2 |
Henleaze S# | 1 |
Spliced S (2m) | 1 |
Yorkshire S | 1 |
Cinques | 1 |
Grandsire | 1 |
Maximus | 7 |
Bristol S | 2 |
Yorkshire S | 2 |
Zanussi S | 2 |
Riverhead# | 1 |
Spliced S (2m) | |
Fourteen | 1 |
Spliced (2m)# | 1 |
(* first peal in the method, # first for the Guild)
The strength of handbell ringing within the Guild continues with a slight increase on the 2015 total to 77, again a new record as far as I can ascertain. The numbers of ringers and conductors participating in a Guild handbell peal remained broadly similar to 2015, both being only one fewer in 2016.
Ian Redway and Frank Morton were once again the leading ringer and conductor of Guild handbell peals. Whilst the lists of prolific ringers and conductors look very similar to previous years one name appears much higher than before with Duncan Loweth conducting 14 handbell peals for the guild.
In August John Croft scored his 1000th peal in hand and also reached his 200th peal as conductor in a handbell peal. John Dodd rang his 1000th peal for Guild in a handbell peal in May. Martin Daniels and Trish Spink achieved their 250th and 50th peals in hand respectively.
Leading Ringers (Handbell Peals) | |
Ian Redway | 41 |
Martin J E Daniels | 35 |
John A Dodd | 25 |
Frank R Morton | 23 |
E C Gareth Higgs | 22 |
Brian J Woodruffe | 18 |
John S Croft | 17 |
Patricia D Spink | 17 |
3 ringers | 14-Oct |
4 ringers | 9-May |
9 ringers | 4-Feb |
10 ringers | 1 |
Total Ringers | 34 |
Leading Conductors (Handbell Peals) | |
Frank R Morton | 23 |
Brian J Woodruffe | 17 |
John S Croft | 12 |
Duncan Loweth | 12 |
Andrew G Craddock | 4 |
E C Gareth Higgs | 3 |
Benjamin J Carey | 2 |
Martin J E Daniels | 2 |
Thomas J Hinks | 1 |
E John Wells | 1 |
Venues (Handbell Peals) | |
Awbridge, The Clock House | 20 |
Whiteparish, Anchorsholme | 17 |
New Alresford, Jubilee | 11 |
Guernsey, San Baronto | 7 |
New Milton, Milton Grove | 5 |
Micheldever, 37 Northbrook | 4 |
Chandler’s Ford, 2 Rosemoor Grove | 3 |
Dibden Purlieu, 30 Heatherstone Avenue | 2 |
8 venues | 1 |
Total Venues | 16 |
Hi all,
Thanks to all those who came to the April practice, we had a fairly good turn out and were able to ring lots including the Pudsey and also London and Bristol.
The date for the next practice is: Sunday 28th May, 14:00 – 15:30
I will be requesting Hursley as the tower. As usual the practice will only go ahead if enough people are free and willing to attend.
PLEASE RSVP as soon as possible, so I can gauge whether a practice is viable or not.
Many Thanks,
The Southampton City Ringers and friends marked St George’s day today with two quarter peals successfully scored in the city.
1282 Cambridge Surprise Royal was rung at St Michael’s first followed by 1280 Bristol Surprise Royal at St Mary’s afterwards.
Both quarter peals can be viewed on BellBoard;
St Michael’s – http://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/view.php?id=1169932
St Mary’s – http://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/view.php?id=1169898
Dear all,
The April surprise royal practice will go ahead.
Sunday 30th April, 14:00 – 15:30 at St Mike’s Southampton
Methods will include Cambridge, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, and new for this month PUDSEY.
(We may also ring Bristol and London if enough people attend but the focus method is Pudsey)
I look forward to hopefully seeing lots of you there!
Thanks,
Dan
Hi all
Thanks to those who replied regarding a February surprise royal practice.
Sadly we are still very far from having enough people available for a viable practice to take place, and with lots of “regulars” away I think it is safest to cancel the planned practice.
March practice would be on 26th March – hopefully that will be more successful. I’ll be emailing about that again at the start of March.
Thanks,
Daniel
Email:Use Form
I am pleased to report another successful year for the Band which has seen further progress and consolidation. My report reviews the activities since our last AGM in early 2016 to date.
Starting first with our most important activity which is ringing for services, we have maintained our record of ringing Sunday by Sunday throughout the year. Unlike the Choir we take no holidays! Support for Sunday morning ringing is very strong and it is now the exception if we don’t ring all 12. The logistics of raising all the bells on Sunday morning does mean we need to work harder on our ringing up skills and I would remind people that ringing starts promptly at 8.45 and the more people who arrive on time the more likely we are to be able to raise the bells in good order.
We have fewer ringers for Evensong, however we do always ring and sometimes we ring quarter peals.
In addition we have supplied bands to ring for numerous weddings during the year, for additional services such as Civic Service and Remembrance Day. This year we rang half muffled for Remembrance and received many favourable comments. We also rang for the Radio Solent Carol service in December and our normal Easter marathon of four services. We are sourcing some new muffles for the whole 12 because the existing set are very worn.
Our band continues to grow as we have continued the tradition, long maintained at the Priory of being a teaching tower. In the last year Graham Green and Jack Brooke have joined our Sunday service band and we currently have four learners receiving one to one training so we hope that some or all of them will join the band in due course. I strongly believe that when we train ringers it is for the benefit of the whole Exercise and I am always keen for new ringers to take their place in the wider ringing community and not see their activities as confined to the Priory. Our band remain strong supporters of District activities with ringers from Christchurch often making up a sizeable proportion of those present. Ringers from the Priory also regularly support the Hordle practice night, Sunday ringing at Sacred Heart and St Peters Bournemouth, the Ringwood Surprise Practice, the Sopley minor practice, the Lymington Doubles and Minor practice and the Guild Surprise Royal practice the District Youth Practice, the District Quarter Peal club and the Guild Education events.
Many ringers in the band continue to develop their skills and in particular we should congratulate Helen Penny on her first quarter, Nicola and Luke on their first quarter inside tonTriples and Luke for conducting his first quarter at Hordle. Another highlight this year was the Guild entering a team into the National Youth Striking Competion with the involvement of three ringers from the Priory, Nicola, Luke and Helen. A long but exciting day out in London saw the ringers enjoy a variety of London towers and take part in the competition on the Royal Jubilee bells at Garlickhythe in the City.
In terms of abilities we have continued to develop our Triples ringing and new ringers are also coming up through plain hunt and into doubles. We have made good progress with some minor methods this year including Kent, Double Court, Plain and Little Bob. This builds skills and provides interest for those progressing up the ladder. We took 6 people to the Double Norwich course in the autumn, 4 students and 2 helpers and our students made very good progress with this historic and these days rather neglected method.
I am keen to develop more ringers into potential ringing masters and this year so there may be some occasions when other people are running the ringing and I’m sure you will support them.
I would like to thank all those who have supported me in leading the Tower this year including the office holders, Ian and Rosemary as Deputy Captains, Richard as Treasurer, John as Steeplekeeper and Ros as Secretary/ PR officer. Finally to all of you who support the ringing I thank you for your undiminished commitment and enthusiasm for the Band and your ringing week by week which is appreciated by so many in the Town.
Tim Martin
January 2017
Dear all,
Despite a positive initial reply, sadly it seems that not quite enough people are around this month for a viable Surprise Royal practice. Therefore the practice is CANCELLED.
I did have around 10 replies though, so will contact those people to see if a quarter peal would be of interest.
The next practice is proposed for Sunday 26th February and would be in Southampton. Feel free to indicate availability for this now, however I will email again towards the start of February.
Thanks,
Daniel
Southampton
Rung open in memory of Christopher P K Smithies, former branch assistant ringing master, and great friend to many. Chris passed away aged 62 after a long and brave battle with cancer on December 30th 2016. The method was chosen to produce the maximum amount of firsts (9!) to give thanks for all the firsts Chris achieved and helped countless others achieve, not just here in the Salisbury Guild, but with the Winchester and Portsmouth Guild and nationally with the Guild of St Agatha.
Chris is survived by his wife, Joan, who was outside listening to the quarter peal and is pictured with the band above
Salisbury Diocesan Guild
Kingston, Dorset
St James
Friday, 13 January 2017 in 1h 01m (26–3–16 in D)
1440 Swindon Surprise Royal
Arranged by Jack R Pease (no. 29)
1 Katie L Child
2 Linda D E Jasper
3 Andrew G Smith
4 Thomas R Garrett
5 Graham A Duke
6 Tim M Martin
7 Jack R Pease (C)
8 Matthew Pike
9 Angie M E Jasper
10 Eleanor G W Wallace
First in the method for all except 5. First on 10: 1
Dear all,
I hope you all had an enjoyable festive break and wish you all a Happy New Year! I hope you are all recharged for more Surprise Royal ringing!
The next date for the Surprise Royal practice is Sunday 29th January 2017. As usual this will only go ahead if enough people say they are free to attend.
Please let me know if you would be able to make this date and time.
I will email again in around a weeks time with an update on the plan.
Thanks,
Southampton