Ringing World 5163 (9 April 2010)

Front Cover: Umpires’ report on 20160 Spliced Surprise Royal in 56 methods rung at St Thomas, Oxford, 18th March 2010
The challenge of ringing an all the work peal of fifty-six methods really struck me as I was umpiring the first part of the peal. I studied each method as it was rung, turning over page after page of blue lines for one and a quarter hours during which the band changed to a completely different method approximately every ninety seconds. The sheer scale of the challenge of learning so many methods would daunt all but a very few ringers and it is a great achievement that they rang such a good peal.

A year (and a bit!) in the life of the University of Surrey Society of Change Ringers
September 2008 – February 2009
by Anne Anthony
September 2008 saw the fortunes of the dormant USSCR take a turn for the better. First year student Charlotte Ellis and post-graduate Jenny Young arrived in Guildford to join final year student Ben Carey. Ben had already established himself at the Cathedral, but ‘The Magic Three’ set to work to do most things a resident university society would do. In addition to serious socialising they joined in with town and district ringing, and Charlotte and Jenny were made welcome at the Cathedral and encouraged to progress on higher numbers.

Helmingham, Suffolk – a special place in history
To many ringers throughout the country, the estate village of Helmingham in Suffolk is synonymous with some remarkable ringing achievements by the local band in the 1930s. During this period the band was made up almost entirely of estate workers representing a wide range of artisans’ skills from saddlers to brickmakers. Not only were they first class ringers, but as skilled tradesmen they were also in constant demand and highly regarded for their fine craftsmanship. In a relatively short space of time these modest Suffolk men extended the boundaries of Surprise Major ringing, with over 300 peals in nearly 50 different Surprise Major methods, many of which had never been rung to a peal before. For a time Helmingham was one of the leading 8 bell towers in the country.

Letters
Detergent ringing - Ashley Pugh
Resolving our differences - Sue Marsden
Footnotes - Alan Barber
A matter of course - Robin Emley
Bells in music - Mike Willis, John H. Allen, Tom Roast, John Haas
Bells before music - Mark Regan
Dumbo - David Gambling
And another thing … or two - David Gambling

Book Review
Multi-Extent Block Compositions
by John S. Warboys
This is book 6 in the Spliced Treble Bob Minor series published by The Whiting Society of Ringers, and, as its name suggests, focuses on multi-extent blocks of treble-dodging Minor methods. These are round blocks of two or more extents in which each of the possible 720 rows occurs the same number of times.

Beer Matters
Hope and Temperance
Don’t be alarmed, despite my doctor’s admonishments I haven’t yet joined the Band of Hope and Temperance (although I must admit to harbouring a perverse desire to visit the country’s last surviving temperance bar in Rawtenstall – it was closed for refurbishment last time I went there).

Obituary
Douglas H. Rooke

Devon Young Ringers’ spring outing 2010
On 27th March eleven young ringers from across the county had an outing in East Devon in the warm spring sunshine, assisted by numerous parents and other helpers. Ten-year-old Gareth even rang with a broken arm in plaster. The three towers were all light, easy going sixes, with some young ringers getting round the back end for the first time, taking charge of the calling where possible, and ringing from rounds to Grandsire, Stedman and Cambridge. It was good to see two very novice ringers venturing away from their home towers and experiencing different bells.

St. Peter’s, Ardingly by Lynn Wilson
An inspection of our bells in late 2008 revealed a cracked headstock on the treble and we elected not to continue ringing this bell while we considered the options.
Eventually, we decided that it would be prudent to consider taking this opportunity for a complete overhaul of all six and we sought quotations accordingly. With funding in place we applied for and were granted a Faculty and work started in late 2009 to remove and transport them to Whitechapel.

Thought for the week
Easter Day has come and gone. I expect you rang for it: so did I. We rang twenty-five minutes of rounds on seven bells at Glasbury. Not very exciting! I rang the treble. Pity we were just one ringer short and not able to ring all eight bells. The main thing was that we rang, so that everybody in the village, (and not just the ten per cent who were in church) heard, via our efforts, the Good News that Christ brought, and brings, to all of us.

Brian Austin – still going strong at 80
The peal rung at St Benedict’s, West Hunsbury Northampton on 20th February 2010 was rung as a birthday compliment to Brian Austin, who was 80 on Christmas Day 2009.

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