Report from Mark Esbester. The Guild 8 bell striking competition was held this morning at Hawley – possibly the first time it has been outside the Guild’s territory! Only 3 teams had entered, namely Bishopstoke, Catherington and Hursley – where are all the Guild’s other 8-bell (and above) bands? The judge, Vernon Bedford, commented that all 3 teams had rung well, but Hawley bells are difficult to get really consistent, accurate ringing on. Bishopstoke, ringing last were the winners, with 17 faults, Hursley second with 24 and Catherington 3rd with 31.
Report from Greg Jordan. The Guild 6 bell striking competition was also held this morning at Eversley. 5 teams entered, namely Eversley, Eling, Rotherwick & Odiham, Basingstoke St Michaels and Niton & Chale.The judges Julian Hemper and Julian Ferrar gave very fair and positive comments on all the ringing and were particularly pleased when one tower had a tricky section but continued ringing, pushed through and settled down to some good ringing again. The teams and their results are as follows;- Placed 1st St. Michael’s Basingstoke 3.5 faults, placed 2nd Eling 6.5 faults, placed 3rd Niton and Chale 8 faults, placed 4th Rotherwick and Odiham 28.5 faults, placed 5th Eversley 35 faults.
Guild Master Viv Nobbs noted that it was good to see some very local bands entering and thanked those that had travelled quite a way to compete including the band from the Isle of Wight.
Some folk went on to The Northbrook Arms, had a lovely lunch and enjoyed the skittle ally and then went on to ring at Brown Candover and Micheldever who kindly opened their towers for us. And then the rain came…. but it didn’t matter by then because everyone had had a lovely day. A special mention and thanks go to Basingstoke District officers, the towers and the tea, coffee and biscuit servers!
Thanks to David Forder, Mark Esbester,Deb Baker and Martin Barnes for photos.
