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
Category Archives: Guild Surprise Royal Practice
CANCELLED – Surprise Royal Practice – 22nd April
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,
CANCELLED – Surprise Royal Practice – Next one April 22nd – RSVP
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,
Guild Surprise Royal Practice Sunday 25th Feb (parking update)
Hi all,
The next surprise royal practice is as below;
Sunday 25th February 14:00 – 15:30
St Mary’s Southampton
Focus Methods are: Bristol and Superlative No2.
We will of course ring C/Y/N as required.
As I’ve slightly lost track of a few changes, CAN YOU PLEASE REPLY to this email to let me know if you are hoping to attend, so that I can ensure we have enough.
There is a large church car park which is Pay and Display. Make sure you enter your car registration correctly as the private company who run the car park have fined people for simple mistakes before (1 instead of i, 0 instead of O etc).
If you can attend the practice please do as we currently just have enough to make it viable.
Many Thanks!
Surprise Royal Practice Feb 25th
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,
Guild Surprise Royal Practice Sunday 28th Jan 2pm
Hi all,
To confirm the next surprise Royal practice is taking place as below;
Sunday 28th January
14:00-15:30
North Stoneham
Special method is Superlative No2.
We will also ring the standard CYN.
We are right on the borderline of having enough people to make it a viable practice so please do come and support it if you can! The practice will go ahead and hopefully lots of people will be able to make it.
Thanks,
Surprise Royal Practices in 2018 – Next one March 25th
Hi all,
Thanks to those who made it to the surprise royal practice this afternoon in Southampton. Kristian informs me it was a useful practice so thanks again to all who made it.
We won’t have a practice in December but will aim to restart again in January. I’ll send out a doodle vote with the next few months dates in a few weeks time. For information they are likely to be;
January 28th
February 25th
March 25th
April 22nd
May 27th
June 24th
Thanks again for supporting these practices.
Regards,
Surprise Royal Practice – Sunday 26th November at Bitterne Park – 14:00 -15:30
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
Surprise Royal Practice Southampton St Michael’s Sun 22nd Oct 2pm
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
Surprise Royal Practices continue – 4th Sunday of the Month – sign up here!
Hi all,
Firstly many thanks to all those who completed the feedback. It was very useful! What it did show was there was still a strong desire for practices to be continued, so after my summer off I am back to get things running again!
To make these practices as viable as possible, I am going to aim to start again in October, to allow people sufficient notice. I will advertise the next 4 practices, and using a Doodle poll, assess whether they are viable or not. All practices are on the 4th Sunday afternoon of the month. This still seems the best time for most people at present.
Please click the following link to indicate your availability;
The intention for locations would be;
22/10 – Bishopstoke
26/11 – North Stoneham
28/01 – St Mary’s, Southampton
25/02 – Hursley
I will update you towards the end of this month, so please now get signing up. Any comments/suggestion welcome, as always!
Thanks,
Southampton
Upcoming Surprise Royal Practices and the future…
Hi all,
Thank you to those who came to the last surprise royal practice. We were fairly thin on the ground, and struggled because of that, however we met and we rang so all was not lost.
A few important points going forward;
For the next few months I am extremely busy, with amongst other things my own wedding! For these reasons I am not in a place to be able to attend a surprise royal practice now myself until September. I am quite happy to organise them if someone else is happy to volunteer to lead them.
Secondly as with any new initiative it is good to regularly stop an assess the progress being made and reassess whether there is still a need for such an initiative. I have no problem in working hard to organise these practices, but if there isn’t the demand for them it is somewhat of a waste. The practice attendance does seem to fluctuate month to month, but more often then not we are on the lighter side of comfortable. However when we are more well attended good progress is often made. It is a difficult place to be in where there is still obviously some desire for such a practice, however the attendance doesn’t always make it a viable idea.
I’ve produced a short survey that I would be grateful if you could complete, it takes just a few minutes – it is a series of questions with two purposes. Firstly to gauge whether there are enough people around for a July/August practice, and secondly to gather some more general feedback to aid in my decision about whether to push on with it, or to shelve it. All feedback is gratefully received, and I will feedback the results in a few weeks time. Note you can answer this survey without being identified if you wish to.
I have opted for a survey like this as it makes keeping all the information together in one place much easier. If the practice is to continue I will start using this to see if enough people are around each month.
Once I’ve had a decent reply to the survey I’ll send out an update regarding July/August and the future of the practice.
Thanks,
2017 WP GUILD REPORT – PEAL RECORDER’S REPORT
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.
Tower Bell Peals
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)
Handbell Peals
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 |
St George’s Day Ringing in Southampton
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
This news was originally posted by Daniel Graham on the Southampton City Ringers Website
Confirmed – Guild Surprise Royal Practice 30th April 2pm
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
Guild Surprise Royal Practice 30th April 2pm – only a few more people needed
Hi all,
We are close to having enough support for this to go ahead on 30th April 2017 14:00 – 15:30.
If you haven’t yet replied and are available please let me know – you might make the difference!
Those who have replied and are available I have listed below, so you all know I have received your emails.
Thanks, Dan
Guild Surprise Royal Practice 30th April – UPDATE
Hi all,
Thanks to all those who have already replied. We currently have only 6 people who have said they are available on the next suggestion date, 30th April 2017 14:00 – 15:30.
Please let me know ASAP if you are free on that date and would be likely to attend a practice. As previously we need to hit a minimum number of around 15 for it to be viable.
Thanks,
The next Guild Surprise is planned for Sunday 30th April 2pm-3.30 **RSVP**
Hi all,
There will be no March surprise royal practice due to low numbers.
It would be really good to get it going again, so lets all try extra hard to support an April practice.
The date for that would be SUNDAY 30th APRIL 14:00 – 15:30.
If you are available and hope to attend please let me know. If enough people are available then a practice shall go ahead.
Thanks,
Dan
Surprise Royal Practice – Sunday 26th February
Hi all,
The next suggested Surprise Royal practice would be on Sunday 26th February.
Once again this will only go ahead if enough people are around to support it. Please let me know ASAP if you would be able to attend a practice 14:00 – 15:30.
Many Thanks,
Daniel
Southampton
- Contact Daniel Graham
Email:Use Form
CHRISTCHURCH PRIORY RINGERS – TOWER CAPTAINS REPORT 2016/17
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
Cancelled – Surprise Royal Practice – Sunday 29th January
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
Quarter Peal at Kingston in memory of Christopher Smithies (Bournemouth Sacred Heart)
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
WP Surprise Royal Practice – Sunday 29th January 2016 *CANCELLED
Dear all,
I have had a good number of replies regarding the possible January surprise royal practice, but have not yet had quite enough to make it viable. I need around another 5 people to say they are likely to attend before I can confirm it.
If you can make Sunday 29th January please let me know ASAP – I will make a final decision in a few days time.
Dan
Surprise Royal Practice -Sun 29th Jan – RSVP
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
Bold Plans for the Ten Kingston Bells (Isle of Purbeck) SDGR
Whilst occurring outside our Guild, this may be of interest to people wondering “how can I restart ringing at an under-used tower?” RM
Eleanor Wallace Writes:
As some of you may know, I have been working with Mike Pitman recently to try and formulate a plan to get the practices and quarter peal nights up and running at Kingston again. They are such a beautiful ring of bells, and being a Kingston ringer myself for years I hate to see them not being rung as much as they should and going to waste.
As I have finally finished university and returned to the area I now have time to dedicate myself to re-establishing a regular practice night. However, I need as much support from everyone as I can and am asking for your help. Mike and I have come up with a concept of having two practice nights and two quarters a month on a friday so that the bells are rung every week, and we hope that it at least one night a month may appeal to all ringers of any standard, so that people don’t feel pressurised to dedicate themselves every single week.
The below is the monthly structure which I am trying to introduce, and I would love to hear what you guys think, advice etc as have never done anything like this before.
The Plan
From Friday 3rd March practice nights and quarter peal nights will be resuming at Kingston from 7:30 – 9:00 pm, and we would really love for you to join us. We have a lovely sounding and very easy-going ring of ten bells (tenor 26-3-16) and we want to get them ringing regularly again with the long-term aim
of becoming a supportive teaching tower. We are aiming to create a monthly structure that caters for ringers of all abilities; whether you are a called change ringer or a surprise ringer we hope to provide something for everyone.
1st Friday of the Month – Open Practice Night
Any ringer of any ability who is interested in getting practice at ten bell ringing is more than welcome. Ringing will range from Rounds and Called Changes to Plain Caters and Royal, as well as any six to eight bell ringing if its requested. Whatever you’re learning, come along! Any more advanced ringers who can help out will also be very much appreciated too.
2nd Friday – Advanced Ten Bell Practice
For ringers who want to challenge themselves learning Surprise Royal or just want to keep the cobwebs off. We will be practicing the Standard Eight Surprise Royal methods (and others as time goes on) with a special method to focus on every week.
3rd Friday – Open Quarter Peal
Whatever the method or number of bells, if you fancy ringing a quarter peal then let us know and we will try to organise it for you. This night is aimed at giving people of all standards quarter peal practice and achieving firsts in method etc. Just pop an email to Eleanor Wallace (form below)
4th Friday – Advanced Quarter Peal
We will be working through the Standard Eight Surprise Royal (and others afterwards) quarter peals. If you’re interested in getting involved, achieving firsts in Surprise Royal etc. just send an email to Eleanor:
- President’s Blog #31
About 15 years ago, the roof of Grade I listed Calke Abbey was re-configured and connected to new, bigger, drainpipes because it was no longer coping with increased levels of storm rainfall. It was the first time listed building consent was granted to a Grade I listed building for alterations brought about as a result of climate change. English Heritage (as it was then) revised its definition of ‘conservation’ at the same time to be about managing change rather than conserving things as they are.
This story is relevant because towers are starting to think about adapting to the need for increased ventilation. A couple of years ago I asked for the windows in an airless tower I ring at, Perry Barr, to be changed to be openable, but the request was declined by the church architect. I wonder now whether the answer might be different. The importance of ventilation is becoming more prominent in government guidance and I expect many towers will need to be adapted. Some test cases would be interesting to establish principles.
Last Saturday I attended the first meeting of the new PR Workgroup, which has been assembled by CC PR Officer Vicki Chapman. It was an energising meeting of people all interested in ringing PR – definitely a ‘doing’ group. The Comms & Marketing Workgroup has been wound down. That is not to say that marketing is off the agenda by any means. In fact we are working on two funding bids for large scale marketing initiatives, one with the Big Ideas Company and one with the National Heritage Lottery Fund, the latter in partnership with ART and the Handbell Ringers of Great Britain.
Keeping the PR theme, Jane McCutchan from the Truro DG demonstrated their brilliant PR initiative enabling all bells in Cornwall to be heard on Easter Sunday. Go to the Truro DG website, start typing the name of a tower into the search box, e.g. Gwennap, and you will get a link to the sound of the bells. They have recorded every tower and these links have been distributed across Cornwall’s media. Gwennap is incidentally the scene of the worst sermon I have ever heard, the vicar managing to spend 30 minutes rambling incoherently on the text “When you trim the lamps, burn incense on the altar.”
The PR Workgroup has introduced new faces to Council work. I think a particular success of current Central Council activity is how many people we have involved who would never have considered it before, having moved away from only drawing on the resources of CC Reps. One recruit I spoke to last week introduced himself somewhat apologetically as “only a village Bob Minor ringer really” – but that is exactly what we need. What makes people apologise for lack of experience? Given “only a village Bob Minor ringer” is representative of maybe 75% of ringers (and aspirational for 25%) it is a valuable perspective.
Handbell ringing took a surge with ringers in England in particular taking advantage of Covid restriction relaxation allowing groups to meet outdoors. Lockdown has created a new generation of handbell ringers, with some great success stories like the peal of 147 Treble Dodging Minor with the footnote “first touch of spliced on real handbells 1-2 and as conductor”. Handbell ringing has definitely been my own personal lockdown progress – having not really progressed in ringing for as long as I can remember I have enjoyed rediscovering being rubbish.
Young ringers who missed out on subsidised eBells via ART can take advantage of some more funding made available from the generous donations of the ART Awards of the Handbell Stadium and eBells winners to the fund.)
12 April brings back two mutually exclusive activities, in England at least. Young ringers’ groups can restart under the ‘supervised children’s activities in out-of-school settings’ guidance (see cccbr.org.uk/coronavirus for details), and adults can go to the pub and talk about ringing! I will be celebrating both by going to the gym.
Four bands of young ringers joined 12 others in the first (and probably last) Ringing Room call change competition, discovering that call change ringing on RR is really difficult, and doing so with closed handstroke leads is more difficult still. “May the team with the best internet connections win!” The competition was graced with expert judges in Paul Pascoe and Ian Avery, who helped design the format, and who awarded victory to the Beverley & District Online band. All teams rang the same test piece, being the first half of 60 on 3rds (slightly less if you started late because one of your band couldn’t find their laptop charger). The prizes were a choice of books from the Central Council shop for members of the four winning bands. Special shout out to one of the stewards, George Hart, for choosing my own “Judging Striking Competitions” as his reward for a hard afternoon’s work (bargain at £3.50).
Ironically that is a book that needs another chapter writing on judging Devon-style call change competitions. If I had an extra day in the week I’d write it (with due research). The Ancient Etruscans had eight day weeks – quite clever really as that must have enabled them to get more done.
Ringing on Easter Day proved once again quite how divisive guidance for opening up ringing can become. One thing that is agreed though is that the sooner we get away from rules and guidance that are open to so much ambiguity and room for interpretation the better. Let’s hope we don’t start to have to deal with Covid passports for ringing.
There are over 100 ‘Recovery Champions’ now pulling together and thinking about how to help get ringing back to strength in their local area. Some Recovery champions are taking a very local view, maybe focused on a cluster of towers, while others are coordinating association-wide approaches. One association has allocated a budget of £10,000 to ringing recovery – if you have a rainy day fund, it doesn’t rain much harder than this!
Simon Linford
President, CCCBRContent from https://cccbr.org.uk and logo used with permission from Central Council of Church Bell Ringers
- Guild Insurance Cover – 2021
Copies of the Guild insurance documents can be downloaded from here:
- Ringing for the funeral of HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh – 17th April 2021
Guidance for ringing for the funeral of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh on Saturday 17th April 2021
What the Church is expecting is tolling of a single bell during the hour before the funeral, which starts with a minute’s silence at 3pm on Saturday. You don’t need to toll for the full hour, just during the hour, e.g. up to 3pm. Half muffled preferred, but a single bell tolling slowly whether half muffled, fully muffled, or even unmuffled, will have the desired effect.
Initial announcement made on 9th April 2021
It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty The Queen announces the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
His Royal Highness passed away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle.
Guidance for ringing for the Duke of Edinburgh
Following conversations with the Church of England today, half-muffled tolling or chiming of a single bell on Saturday 10th April 2021 at 12 noon, 99 times or up to 5 minutes is recommended following the announcement of the death the Duke of Edinburgh. The Cabinet Office has declared 8 days of official mourning, during which time any other ringing should be half-muffled and in accordance with current Covid-19 restrictions. Half-muffled tolling or chiming of a single bell is recommended on the day of the funeral. There is no special dispensation of current ringing guidance on Sunday.
- Webinar recordings
Recordings of the recent webinars held on Saturday mornings have now been uploaded to YouTube. The links are below.
- Calling bobs in Plain Bob & Grandsire Doubles on 13.02.2021 – Nikki Thomas
- Learning a method on 27.02.2021 – Martin Daniels and Roger Booth
- History of bells in Hampshire on 13.03.2021 – Phil Watts
Recruitment and Retention on 27.03.21 – Matt Lawrence
The current run of webinars has now come to an end. More will be arranged after Easter in the run up to ringing resuming if there is sufficient demand. Please let us know any topics you would like to see covered. Send an email to the Communications Team with your suggestions.
- Guild officer and Committee Reports for 2020
Here are the Guild Officer and Committee reports for 2020 to download as a PDF. These were approved at the Guild Executive Committee meeting held on 20th March 2021.
The individual reports, plus reports from previous years are all available here: http://www.methods.org.uk/wprept/
- 200 Club Draw results – March 2021
Once again the Covid situation meant that the March 2021 numbers for the W&P 200 Club had to be drawn at home, by Robin Milford of Curdridge and Wendy Smart of Botley, and announced at the on-line Executive Committee meeting on Saturday 20th March 2021. We didn’t peek during the draw, honest! The results were as follows:
Prize Prize Accumulation £60.00 Winning
NumbersWinners First 50% £30.00 1 Robin Milford Second 20% £12.00 30 Ian M Redway Third 10% £6.00 7 Jan Allnutt Fourth 10% £6.00 31 Wendy Ling Fifth 5% £3.00 16 Graham Nobbs Sixth 5% £3.00 26 Wendy Smart £49 will go to the Training and Development Fund from this draw. The next draw will be held at the Guild AGM – hopefully in person!
Robin Milford
- Easter Sunday Ringing
Simon Linford, President of CCCBR issued the statement below on 19th March 2021 regarding ringing on Easter Sunday:
Many incumbents are asking if some bells can be rung as part of their church or cathedral’s Easter celebrations, and bellringers are also keen to play part. The Central Council believes that bells are an important part of the act of worship, particularly on Easter Sunday. Unlike at Christmas, UK and Irish Governments have not introduced any relaxations of the rules on meeting indoors for Easter. Those rules are readily available and well understood.
We have established guidance on reducing the risk of ringing both to ourselves and each other, and most recently published our latest thinking on virus transmission and ventilation in ringing chambers, with chancel crossings at one end of the risk scale and small airless rooms at the other. We recommend considering all these factors when decided how many bells can be rung and for how long, in consultation with your incumbent, churchwardens or Cathedral Chapters.
One or more bells ringing on Easter Sunday will surely be appreciated by our churches and communities.
Simon Linford
President
Central Council of Church Bell Ringers
Link to article on CCCBR website Easter Sunday ringing – CCCBR
Please note, ringing should only take place after consultation with the incumbent and provided health and safety restrictions, ventilation etc. are adhered to. This should also include inspection of bells as many will not have been rung for over 12 months.
- Wheatley and Ringing Room **Updated 12th March 2021**
***Updated 12th March 2021***
Wheatley is now integrated with Ringing Room, so the installation below using Python is no longer required. This should make it far easier to setup.
With the increased use of online ringing, you might be interested in Wheatley especially if you find yourself short of ringers or need some steady ‘ringers’ in your virtual band.
Hursley band report that have used it for a couple of weeks now, and think it is an amazing teaching aid to bolt on to Ringing Room while we cannot get everyone back into towers.
Wheatley can be found at https://pypi.org/project/wheatley/
It has to be installed via Python (available from the Microsoft Store, then PIP, and some measure of courage and persistence is needed to find the right directory path before you can put in the correct Wheatley commands.
However having done that, Wheatley is pretty good at ringing all the bells you want it to in Ringing Room. Hursley have used it in their beginners handbells sessions, and it has significantly improved their tower bells sessions over the last couple of weeks.
If you find Wheatley rings too fast, you can change the peal speed if you wish. Suggested speeds are:
6 bells – 2hr 55min
8 bells – 3hr 5min
10 bells – 3hr 30min
12 bells – 3hr 45min
You can also set the Inertia setting to 1.0 – this means that Wheatley will wait for a human to ring, but then go back to the original speed setting, if you leave the Inertia setting off, Wheatley tends to get slower and slower.
The nice thing about using it for learners is that all the bells stay right, and you can have a session with one learner and a teacher who can “stand behind” the learner as the ringing goes on (and call bobs etc).
Of course it is really very good for individual practice for tower and handbells for those of us who don’t have things like Abel.Article supplied by Peter Hill.
Wheatley image supplied and used by kind permission of Ben White-Horne , creator of Wheatley.
- Survival and Recovery Newsletter – Issue 4
Here is the fourth newsletter from the Survival and Recovery team – an ART, CCCBR partnership. It’s a one-stop shop for news – what’s happening and what we are planning to happen which complements the BellBoard Virtual Hub.
Survival and Recovery Newsheet – Issue 4
This issue leads on new initiatives and new pages added to the Survival and Recovery Toolbox. The toolbox contains a plethora of resources, case studies and opinion pieces for ringers, Tower Captains and Guilds and Associations.
Survival and Recovery Toolbox
- Bell Restoration Fund Rules
1. Title
The fund shall be known as the Winchester and Portsmouth Diocesan Guild of Church Bell Ringers Bell Restoration Fund.
2. Registration
The fund shall be registered as a charity.
3. Aims
The object of this fund shall be to provide financial assistance by way of grants to Churches, within the Diocese of Winchester and Portsmouth, incurring expenditure on the provision, maintenance, improvement
or acoustics of their bells and bell installations, or for the maintenance of the fabric of their towers and belfries, to enable their bells to be properly rung in full circle.4. Definitions
References to ‘the Guild’ shall mean the Winchester and Portsmouth Diocesan Guild of Church Bell Ringers. References to ‘the Executive Committee’ shall mean the Executive Committee of the Guild.
5. Trustees
The Trustees of the fund, referred to hereinafter as ‘the Trustees’, shall be the Master, the Honorary General Secretary and the Honorary General Treasurer of the Guild, and two Trustees, one from each Diocese, elected triennially by the Annual General Meeting of the Guild.
6. Honorary Independent Examiner
The Honorary Independent Examiner of the fund shall be the Honorary Independent Examiner for the time being of the Guild.
7. AdministrationThe fund shall be administered by the Trustees.
8. Grants
a. An application for or proposal to make a grant from this fund shall be considered only at a General Meeting of the Guild or at a meeting of the Executive Committee, provided at least one month’s notice in writing has been given of such application or proposal to the Honorary General Secretary.
b. Following notice duly given, the Trustees shall consider such applications or proposals and shall make recommendations to the meeting of the Guild or Executive Committee at which the application or proposal shall be discussed.
c. Grants shall be made from this fund only for the purposes outlined in the objectives in rule 3 above. A grant may be made, subject to the requirements of rule 8a above, if approved by two-thirds or more of
those members of the Guild present and voting at a General Meeting of the Guild or at a meeting of the Executive Committee. To be eligible to vote on such matters, members must fulfil the requirements of the Guild on voting. The Trustees shall inform the Guild of any grants approved at a meeting of the Executive Committee at the next General Meeting of the Guild.d. Following such approval a grant shall be made, except that the Trustees shall be given absolute discretion to reduce, but not to increase, a grant, in the exceptional circumstances that they unanimously feel it in the interests of the fund and of the Guild to do so. They shall inform the Guild of any such action at the next General Meeting of the Guild.
9. Disbursements
Any payments drawn on this fund under rule 8 above, or required under rule 11 below, shall be made over the signature of the Honorary General Treasurer for the time being and one other Trustee of the fund. No payment shall be made until the work is satisfactorily completed. All administrative and other expenses incurred in respect of the fund other than those specifically relating to the acquisition and realisation of investments shall be borne by the Guild.10. Accounts
a. The Honorary General Treasurer shall prepare accounts, consisting of a balance sheet at 31st December each year, and an income and expenditure account for the year ending on that date.b. These accounts shall be presented to the Independent Examiner of the fund who shall satisfy himself as to the correctness thereof.
c. These accounts, duly independently examined, shall be submitted for approval to the Annual General Meeting of the Guild next after the 31st December to which the accounts of the fund have been prepared.
11. Investments
The Trustees acting together shall have the power to invest or otherwise deal with the assets of the fund and such sums as the members of the Guild shall contribute or from time to time decide to transfer to the fund, in such manner as they think fit in the best interests of the fund.
12. Dissolution of the fund
a. If it shall be decided to dissolve the fund, such decision being taken only at an Annual General Meeting of the Guild, one month’s notice having been given by the Honorary General Secretary to Tower
Secretaries of such intent, the assets shall be disposed of to either or between both of the following:i. To other charitable Bell Restoration Funds as the Guild may select
ii. To the Cathedrals of Winchester and Portsmouth for the religious and charitable purposes of the said Cathedrals.
b. In the event of the Guild becoming defunct, it shall be allowed for the Registrar of Charities after five years non-working of the fund to cause it to be dissolved and its assets applied as under rule 12 a ii.
13. Changes of rulesa. No amendment of, addition to, or deletion from these Rules shall be made which would cause the fund at any time to cease to be a charity in law.
b. No alteration or addition to the above Rules may be made except at a General Meeting of the Guild, or Special Meeting called for the purpose, when the number of eligible members voting in favour must be at least 20 and double those voting against the proposal. Notice of any such proposed alteration or addition must be given in writing at least two months before the date of the meeting to the Honorary General Secretary of the Guild, who shall inform all Tower Secretaries of the Guild of this proposal at least one month before the aforesaid meeting.
Last updated 17th March 2021
BBC Bells on Sunday January 8th 2017 featured Hurstbourne Priors – Listen again if you missed it.
Bells on Sunday for January 2017.
1st. Denton, Manchester. Grandsire Doubles.
8th. Hurstbourne Priors, Hants. Plain Bob Major.
15th. Maidstone, Kent. Plain & Little Bob Royal.
22nd. Woodchurch, Wirral. Cambridge Surprise Major.
29th. Barnoldswick, Lancs. Barnoldswick T B Minor.
Bells Ring in Shorwell to commemorate WW1 Fallen
A quarter peal was rung to remember with gratitude, and to honour, those Island ringers who died during WW1.
Winchester & Portsmouth Diocesan Guild
Shorwell, Isle of Wight
St Peter
Wednesday, 21 December 2016 in 45 mins. (9–0–5 in G)
1296 Cambridge Surprise Minor
1 Viv Nobbs
2 Graham Nobbs
3 Steve Lutener
4 Mike Winterbourne
5 Lynne Jordan
6 Pete Jordan (C)
Rung in memory of Isle of Wight ringers who died during WW1:
Private F.J. Chiverton 27633, 2nd Bn.,
Hampshire Regiment – died 30th November 1917
aged 34.
Rifleman H.S. Denness 330597, 1st/8th Bn.,
Hampshire Regiment – died 19th April 1917 aged 22.
Private A.J. Hale, 81, 48th Regt., Canadian Militia –
died 29th June 1915 aged 26.
2nd Corporal W.J.C. Millgate 16495, 36th Coy.,
Royal Engineers – died 2nd September 1918 aged 29.
Private C.G. Petchey 202479, 2nd/4th Bn.,
Hampshire Regiment – died 11th May 1918 aged 29.
1st surprise minor 3.
Bookings Open for the Hereford Ringing Course (20th-23rd April). *** Deadline 31st Jan
The groups this year range from Rounds to Surprise Royal. You are advised to apply as soon as possible as places are in great demand on this excellent residential course.
Taken from the Hereford Ringing Course Website:
- Applications for the 2017 Course are now open. Please ensure your application reaches us by the closing date of 31st January 2017.
- Download the 2017 student application pack containing the application form and notes to help you fill in the form here.
- Download the 2017 Course Programme: a version optimised for printing here; or a version for reading on screen here.
- Cheques should be made payable to HEREFORD RINGING COURSE.
- You will need Adobe Reader to be able to view and print pdf files, which can be obtained free from Adobe’s site here.
Guild Surprise Royal Practice Sunday 27th Nov 2pm Hursley
Daniel Graham writes:
A final reminder that the November surprise royal practice is taking place this weekend, details as below;
When: Sunday 27th November at 14:00 – 15:30
Where: Hursley
Methods: Special method will remain as Bristol Royal, but we will also ring Cambridge/Yorkshire/Lincolnshire as required.
Cheers,
Daniel
Southampton
Daniel Graham Reports from the Southampton St Michael’s Practice Night
An enjoyable and rewarding practice night in Southampton last night at St Michael’s with a particularly good half course of Cambridge Royal and a nice touch of 8 spliced surprise major. Lots of other ringing too including Grandsire Triples/Caters, Stedman doubles and 4 spliced (CYNS) surprise major.
Next week, at Bitterne Park, we start our new venture of increasing our 8 bell repertoire, by starting to work through the methods in ‘Smiths 23’. First method is Cray Surprise Major.
As always all ringers welcome at any of our practices 🙂
November Surprise Royal Practice Confirmed: Sun 27th Nov 2pm at Hursley
Hi all,
I’m delighted to say that, after just under 24 hours I have already had more people express an interest in the practice then ever before! To all those who have replied many thanks!
Therefore the November practice will go ahead;
When: Sunday 27th November at 14:00 – 15:30
Where: Hursley (CONFIRMED)
Methods: Special method will remain as Bristol Royal, but we will also ring Cambridge/Yorkshire/Lincolnshire as required.
Cheers,
Daniel
Southampton
