Ringing World 5139 (23 October 2009)

Front Cover: Loughborough bell foundry rescued
Former RW Director Andrew Wilby heads up the new company
Story by the Editor
News broke in the early evening on Friday, 16th October that Mazars, the administators of Taylors, Eayre & Smith Ltd (TES) has accepted a bid from a consortium that wishes to continue the bell trade at the historic Freehold Street site.

Society of Royal Cumberland Youths October Meeting and AGM
The October General Meeting of the Society of Royal Cumberland Youths was held on the usual first Saturday in October at St-Martin-in-the-Fields. During the morning peals were rung in London at West Hill, Cubitt Town and by a band of eleven past masters and the current Master at St-Martin-in-the-Fields. (An article about this peal will appear in due course). A peal was also rung by resident Norfolk members at St George Colegate, Norwich, some of whom then made the journey to London in time for the general ringing at St-Martin-in-the-Fields prior to the business meeting.

Staplehurst to Frittenden – Walk / ring / walk / ring
On Saturday, 15th August the Ashford and Maidstone Districts of the Kent County Association held a joint meeting and for the first time walked between these two neighbouring towers.

Letters
CCCBR and English Heritage – Alan Hughes
Reasons behind the statistics - Phil Gay
EH and bell frames - Dickon R Love
Carbon-friendly ringing - Revd Tony Graham
Gift Aid clarification - John Kington
Child Protection - C. G. Spreadbury

From the E-Lists A round-up from the internet compiled by John Camp
Ringing-theory was characteristically abstruse. Richard Smith hypothesised, and Ander Holroyd thought he could prove…

Rising Ringers with get up and go!
The Rising Ringers group was set up three years ago to get young members of the Leicester Guild together and having fun. Tony and Rob Parker were the brains behind the scheme and have now handed over to Mark Pendery. So far we have had events including bowling; Worcester Cathedral teaching Centre, ringing and cycling and rope splicing. Our latest trip took place on Thursday, 20th August, this time it was ringing and riding around Rutland water, three towers and 14 miles.

An arithmetic approach to touches of Spliced by Doug Boniface
A couple of years ago I was at district ringing practice when 8-spliced was called for. Although 8 or 9 ringers came forward to ring, it had to be abandoned because no one (including myself) knew a suitable touch. I felt sure that there must be some simple way of creating short touches of spliced but only gave it an occasional thought. However, whilst holidaying in Greece recently, I was laid low by a dodgy Chicken Souvlaki. Not daring to move too far from the hotel and having nothing better to do, I gave the problem some deeper thought and the notes below are the results of my deliberations.

Obituaries
Carol Anne Hardwick, Donald Salter

Eric and Katie’s Wedding – 1st-3rd August 2009
Two-thousand miles is a long way for a small hedgehog to travel, but I’d never been to a wedding so it seemed worth making the effort. We flew in to Calgary, which is in a place called Canada, on Friday night and arrived at our hotel at about 3am. It was still light, then someone told me it was only eight o’clock in the evening! How does that work?

Restoration of the bells of St Bartholomew’s Church, Shapwick, Dorset
The small village of Shapwick (pop. 190) lies on the site of the Roman road that runs from Old Sarum to Dorchester. The village high street and the main settlement follow the line of the road closely. St Bartholomew’s church lies on the banks of the River Stour. Lying as it did on the Roman road a ford, a few yards south east of where the church now is, was an important crossing place. It is very likely that the Roman settlement around Shapwick was the second largest in Dorset after Dorchester.

Time to recruit!
How 12 posters brought in 24 recruits
During August, we held an Open Night in the belfry in order to recruit new ringers. This seems to be the ideal time of the year to do it. Many folks are looking for a therapeutic activity for the winter evenings and many young people are changing schools and looking to widen their circle of friends.