Front Cover: Down in the Forest… by John Eisel
Without leaders nothing much happens. This is particularly true for the Exercise, where a leader with skills in, say, conducting, makes all the difference to a struggling band. Some leaders stay in the same place for many years, while others, from force of circumstances, move around, and their careers can be traced by their recorded performances. What these performances are tends to be determined by the standard of ringing in the area at the time, and humble peals of Grandsire Doubles are often as much an achievement as those on higher numbers.

Letters
Good news from Harare - Ruth Hutchinson
Mini-rings – again! - Sue Marsden
Gift Aid Rules - Jackie Roberts
It’s a mystery - Stella Pedersen
Notice to quit - Rachael Rodway

From the E-Lists A round-up from the internet compiled by John Camp
Margaret Callinan, an Australian, amazingly confessed to knowing nothing about cricket.

Tower Collector – Early development years by Graham Nabb
There is no definitive history of Tower Collecting – it took only a little research on my part to realise the impossibility of such a task. Unlike peals, there is no central record of activity, and whilst tours and visits are frequently reported in The Bell News and Ringing World they represent only a small part of ‘collecting’ activity.

Obituaries
Gwendoline G. (Gee) Meyer, Iolo Dyfnan Davies

Venetian bells and Venetian bell towers
In the 18th April issue of The Ringing World last year you published an article by Julian Ansell about the impressiveness of Venetian bell ringing on the island of Torcello. Ruth and I were also in Venice early last year. One day, by chance, I found myself alone in the church of San Giobbe in Cannaregio.

Pillaton Open Day to publicise anniversary bell project by Richard Warwick
2009 marks the 750th anniversary of the foundation of St Odulph’s church, Pillaton, Cornwall, the bicentenary of the installation of three bells, and the centenary of the augmentation of the ring to six.

R is for Rocking Horse **** by Simon Linford

Accident at French foundry
Forty-six people were injured in a blast at a foundry at Villedieu-Les-Poeles in Normandy, France, on Friday 31 July.