The details for the District’s Mini-Outing on Saturday 26th May have finally come together.
We have the newly-restored 5 at Newnham to start off with, followed by the 6 at Rotherwick, then lunch at the Vine at Hannington followed by the sixes at Hannington and Church Oakley, with tea at one or other of the equally highly-regarded tea-rooms in Overton.
So we don’t have a crazily early start, and we finish quite early in the afternoon should anyone have commitments later in the day.
Apologies to all those who are either at the CC meeting in Lancaster, on the Bishopstoke tour of Scotland, or the wedding at Stockbridge – but I hope there will be enough others who can come to make a success of the day.
I am pleased to note that the Overton Band is now practicing on Fridays, just with occasional cancellations now (please phone to check before you visit)
In preparation for the Summer Tour, the Lilliputters have, for the last two years, held a day’s outing a couple of months before the Big Event.As well as giving us all a chance to meet and socialise again – some members rarely see each other away from Lilliputters! – it gives prospective new members a chance to join the group, and an opportunity to visit a different area.
Ringing at Hurstbourne Priors
Last Saturday, 6th May, it was the turn of the Basingstoke District to play host to the Lilliputters. The group continues to expand; as well as Swindon, Brighton, Abingdon, Colchester and Brockenhurst, we also welcomed new members from Bristol, Hertford and Rickmansworth.
Come 10 o’clock, we had a turnout of some 15 young and young-at-heart ringers meeting at the fine octave at St Michael, Basingstoke, to start us off with what (for many) proved to be the favourite bells of the day! Striking a balance between our usual array of silliness and maintaining a good standard of ringing, we enjoyed our time here, with call changes, Grandsire Triples and Stedman Triples the staple fare.
Following our next tower – the interesting six at Wootton St Lawrence – it was time for lunch; the highlight of the day for many, with handbells and maximum daftness a must – the two are sometimes connected! But then, who could forget last years “human bellframe” competition, or playpark antics? Fortuitously, there is a large green area just behind Wootton church, which hosted lunchtime very nicely; while some members lost a handbell quarter peal, others got stuck in the baby swings, or kept The Mighty Kaleeb entertained; no easy task!
Lunch complete, we headed onto Overton, where George brushed up on his praying, and we were joined by Tim and Rosalind Martin almost out of the blue (I had only picked up the warning text two minutes before they arrived!). Strong supporters of the tour, it was great to welcome them along and catch up. We also said farewell to Mike Martin, who had joined us for the morning – and wish him every success on his new adventure; who knows, a Lilliput adventure to Ireland may yet be on the cards!
Whitchurch proved to be the highlight for many, with an opportunity to ring on a substantial ring of ten; an interesting mix of dates and founders, augmented some twenty years ago with two modern tenors; an unusual arrangement! Here, we had the obligatory group photo – and were joined by two ringers from Battersea, who were walking in the area – but which also made enough for half a course of Cambridge Royal; a very commendable effort!
Finally, it was onto the handy eight at Hurstbourne Priors to finish the day.Aside from the field full of cows by the church, we enjoyed a good course of Cambridge, and a spanking touch of Little Bob to finish.
And that was it.Friends reacquainted, madness ensued, everything and everyone left in one piece, it was the end of another super day out.The Summer Tour will once again run in the Poole vicinity from Monday 31st July to Friday 4th August, and you are warmly invited to join us, irrespective of age and ability!
The four students were at all different levels and by the end of the morning the students were all ringing Stedman Doubles 120 and all ringing together.
The students came from Alton, Basingstoke and Bishopstoke.
This amazing progression was achieved by some fantastic helpers who travelled from Alton, Basingstoke, Overton, Sherfield-on-Loddon and Kingsclere.
Thank you to everyone for making today such a success.
All Basingstoke District members are warmly invited to attend their Annual District Meeting.
We would also like to remind members that all positions on the Committee are open for election and should anyone feel that they would like to make a contribution to the District by standing for one of the posts, please let me know; elections will be held at the ADM. The post of Treasurer, in particular, will be vacant from the next ADM, and if anyone is interested in learning more about what is involved and would like to shadow the current Treasurer (if no-one puts themselves forward this year) please let me know.
Winchester & Portsmouth Diocesan Guild
Overton, Hampshire
St Mary
Friday, 1 July 2016 (10–0–19)
120 Butterworth Doubles
1 Elizabeth A Lewis
2 Christine Holmes
3 David A Holmes (C)
4 Alan Stevens
5 Adrian P Lewis
6 Nicholas Hussey
Remembering the Somme.
During May 2016 three groups of ringers from Overton set off for a holiday in County Cork, Ireland with three days of ringing organised to ring at all six towers in the county. Adrian, Liz & Richard Lewis set off on Tuesday 10th May and David & Christine Holmes on Friday 13th May, both travelling via the Fishguard – Rosslare ferry route with Alan, Valda & Robin Stevens flying out to Cork from Cardiff on the Saturday. We all stayed in different locations with Adrian, Liz & Richard self-catering near Bantry, Alan, Valda & Robin self-catering near Courtmacsherry and David & Christine staying at the Celtic Ross Hotel in Rosscarbery.
St Fin Barre’s Cathedral Cork. Left to right: Christine Holmes, Robin Stevens, Valda Stevens, Alan Stevens, Liz Lewis, Richard Lewis, David Holmes and Adrian Lewis
Our first ringing was at St Fin Barre’s Cathedral, Cork on Sunday 15th May prior to their morning service. The bells here are a glorious Taylor/Rudhall ring of 12 with a 27 cwt tenor. Our eight ringers joining with nine locals meant that we could ring all 12 bells. A mixture of rounds, call changes and plain hunt on 11 was enjoyed by everyone present before departing for coffee at Yellowsub in glorious sunshine beside the River Lee.
Lunch had been prearranged by Liz at The Flying Enterprise where we had two tables reserved in the name of “Louis”! After a good meal and some good beer named “Hop House 13” we all went our separate ways for the rest of the day.
Monday 16th saw us on our way to Abbeystrewry Church, Skibbereen with its 3 cwt ring of six bells cast by Whitechapel in 2001. Grandsire Doubles, our first attempt at Skibbereen Doubles and Plain Bob Minor were all fluffed in some way or another so we kicked the invisible jinx out the door and ended with an excellent 120 of Skibbereen Doubles, the first extent ever rung in variation 131h/e.
Our next tower was the Far Cork Campanile at the home of Martin Hough in Drinagh. The bells here are another ring of 12 with a tenor of 11 lb hung in a pig sty opposite Martin’s workshop. Rounds on six rung by Martin, Chris and David progressed after a teaching session to rounds on eight and 12. A course of Grandsire Triples on the back eight and two courses of Cambridge S Minor on the back six were successful. Rounds on eight rung by Martin, Robin, Richard and David was also a success and we ended our visit with more rounds on 12.
We all headed our separate ways for lunch with Alan, Valda and Robin going to Leap and by coincidence the rest of us went to Nolan’s Bar in Rosscarbery where the nearby Cathedral was also the last ring of the day. The Cathedral Church of St Fachtna, Rosscarbery has a superb Taylor ring of six with a tenor of 12½ cwt that are rung from a balcony. Before we went to Ireland we were looking for doubles variations with Irish names only to find there weren’t any. So, on 6th May 2016 at Overton we rang and named variation 131c/d Seamróg Doubles for the occasion. The ringing at Rosscarbery kicked off with a well rung extent of Seamróg Doubles before 108 Plain Bob Minor. Next we rang an excellent quarter peal of 1260 Doubles 1v/1m (120 Seamróg, 1140 Grandsire), our only quarter peal of the trip, and we finished with 120 Reverse Canterbury Doubles.
Now, one of the things you soon learn here is that towers in County Cork are a long way apart! The following day, Tuesday 17th May, we rang at Doneraile and Bandon – 45 miles apart! We were due to ring at Bandon at lunchtime but this was cancelled due to a funeral so we joined them for their practice in the evening instead. But first to Doneraile some 30 miles north of Cork with a good Taylor ring of six, tenor 10 cwt and a “go” similar to Laverstoke. 120 Grandsire Doubles was followed by 120 Doneraile Doubles, this being the first extent rung in variation 131g/e. 60 Reverse Canterbury was then followed by another 120 Doneraile Doubles before we headed for Bandon via Cork in the rush hour! To avoid this, most went via Blarney which necessitated negotiating a road just about wide enough for two cars with the wing mirrors in and a huge volume of traffic.
Bandon Church is situated on a hill with a good climb up some steps before you get to the church. The tower then has a climb like nothing we have ever seen. Firstly the tower is taller and bigger than it appears. The ascent starts off nicely up a wide stone spiral, but not for long – only as far as the balcony in fact – then a long steel ladder up through a trapdoor – then a longer steel ladder up to a stone ledge – and finally, some stone steps through the wall into the ringing chamber! In addition, in the ringing chamber the ladder that accesses the bell chamber comes down permanently into the middle of the tower between the treble and tenor ropes blocking visibility completely. Bandon bells are a Taylor five with a Whitechapel tenor of 14½ cwt. Ringing here consisted of call changes, plain hunt, Grandsire and Plain Bob etc. but we did manage to ring an extent of Bandon Doubles with two local ringers on the treble and tenor, this being the first extent rung in variation 1h/e.
Ringing over, we all headed in our separate directions once more with Adrian, Liz and Richard heading for home the following day and the rest of us returning the following weekend. Christine and David attended Rosscarbery practice night on Thursday where they again met up with Martin Hough and the evening ended in the Abbey Bar drinking Guinness and talking about old times at Liss and ringing on the campanile there.
Many thanks go to Adrian & Liz for their organisation and to all the local ringers who made arrangements for us to visit them and made us so welcome.
A date touch of 1926 Spliced Polhampton Little Bob and Plain Bob Triples was rung at Overton on the 21st April to mark the 90th birthday of HM Queen Elizabeth 11, the length being the year of her birth. Polhampton Little Bob Triples was previously rung to a quarterpeal and is named after Polhampton Stud and the composition was composed on board the Cunard ship Queen Elizabeth last summer during bad weather. Full details of the performance can be found on Bellboard.
Winchester & Portsmouth Diocesan Guild
On Thursday, 21 April 2016 in 1hr 6mins
Overton, Hampshire
St Mary
Tenor: 10–0–19 in G
1926 Spliced Polhampton Little and Plain Bob Triples
Composed by David A Holmes
1 Paul Myers
2 Ken Waller
3 Christine Holmes
4 Carol Waller
5 Ben Waller
6 Joanne A Waller
7 David A Holmes (C)
8 Adrian P Lewis
90th Birthday compliment to HM Queen Elizabeth II.
