Ringing World 5178 (23 July 2010)
Front Cover: Sussex’s 125 Year Family Fun Day
The Sussex 125 celebration year continued in fine fashion on Saturday, 5th June, held on land belonging to local ringer Richard Verrall at Dial Post. It had been arranged as a non-profit making SCACR social get together.
All ages were present, from a few months to approaching one hundred years old. We were lucky to have a hot sunny afternoon, and there was plenty to do, including two mini-rings, a hog roast, beer tent and various other attractions.
The clock goes back
The pretty Cheshire village of Burton, close to the River Dee, has a church clock with one hand. This might cause confusion to some, but on July 10th 2010 a team from Weaverham, in the Mid-Cheshire Branch of the Chester Diocesan Guild, displayed a perfect sense of timing. They emerged as very worthy winners of the annual CDG Six-bell Striking Competition. Does this portend a putting back of the clock to former times when the Mid-Cheshires ruled the world? Your correspondent will be reporting in the autumn on the inter-branch Eight-bell Striking Competition; we shall await the contest with eager expectation.
Comment
The future of ringing
The subject of the future well being of change ringing is raised quite frequently in your columns, especially after the Central Council has held its annual meeting, and its various committees have debated and deliberated the subject yet again.
In recent years we have seen, in addition to the Education Committee, the setting up of a Ringing Trends Committee, a Ringing Centres Committee and The Ringing Foundation, all of which concern themselves in one way or another with aspects of the same subject.
And yet when I read of their aspirations and proposed solutions I can’t help but conclude that they all seem to ignore the greatest asset ringing has – really excellent and able change-ringers with proven track records to match.
2010 Tewkesbury Shield
The 38th Tewkesbury Shield was held on Saturday, May 1st, and once again the weather was on our side with the threatened rain not arriving until it was all over!
The newly re-opened Tewkesbury Abbey refectory was busy all day, not only with ringers, but with other visitors, not to mention the 31 organists from Northern Ireland! The refectory is now run by volunteers, and their hard work during the day was rewarded with a profit of over £550 for the Abbey funds.
Letters
Royal Canadian handbells - Kathryn Hughes
EH and Bellringing - Brian Austin
The Empire Strikes Back: – Does it indeed!? - Chris Hutchinson
Harbingers of doom - Arch Andrews
Family affairs - Rachel A. Backhouse
Book Review
Forbidden Methods by Karl Grave
One of the characteristics of the Yorkshire character is forthrightness, and this is exemplified by the book under review, where the author does not hesitate to call a spade a spade, in emphatic terms! The subject of the book is what were called irregular Minor methods i.e. those without Plain Bob lead ends.
Points from peals (part 1) by Andrew Craddock
I first started doing “The Leading Peal Ringers List” for The Ringing World in the early 1990s. It was a lot more straightforward then than now. All peals were published in The Ringing World and the use of the Internet by most ringers was very limited or non existent.
Today, peal reports are published on Campanophile and on peals.co.uk as well as in The Ringing World. Not all peals published on Campanophile are forwarded to The Ringing World. And of course there are peals published in The Ringing World which are never forwarded to Campanophile.
Alan and Louise Ladd
On Saturday, 8th May 2010 most of the UK was experiencing gloomy, damp weather reflecting, perhaps, the uncertain state of affairs after the General Election. By contrast, the sun was shining brightly in Belfast as friends and family gathered at the church of St Mary’s on the Hill to witness a much more joyful and decisive coalition of parties; namely the wedding of Louise Sands and Alan Ladd.
Obituaries
Alexander Strachan (Tim) Watt, Gladys Margaret Goulton
ANZAB 2010
The 49th annual festival of ANZAB, the Australian and New Zealand Association of Bellringers, was held in Melbourne from 10th to 14th June, and was a resounding success. It was good to welcome visitors from UK as well as members from around Australia and New Zealand.
Tail Ends 81
‘When in doubt, follow protocol.’ This was the final sentence in a lengthy document describing a set of complex procedures. I have to admire the author because that simple advice concealed perhaps the ultimate expression of ‘All care taken but no responsibility accepted’ with the author absolved. Ah, but which protocol? I looked up the word ‘protocol’ on Mr Google and found that there are 108 million entries. It would appear that a great many other people have doubts to generate so much chaff. I narrowed my search by adding words like ‘flowers’ and ‘Lent’. No joy.
Thought for the week
Good for you! I thought, when I heard that Gloucester Cathedral’s flower arrangers had threatened to resign if the Cathedral authorities persisted in their demand that every single flower arranger should undergo a CRB check on the grounds, apparently, that the odd flower arranger just might come into fleeting contact with a stray chorister. This absurdity is a situation which will be familiar to many bell-ringers.
Maximus on Ham Common
Ham Common is a quintessentially English village green, complete with pond, just south of Richmond upon Thames, Surrey. Over the centuries it has doubtless been the scene of all sorts of activities of varying legality, but until the hot and sunny afternoon of Sunday, 23rd May change ringing on handbells had probably not been one of them.
