by Rebecca Smith, Bedfordshire

On the 5th of July, we headed 100 miles away to Worcester Cathedral, for the fourth Ringing World National Youth Contest. Despite the rain on the way there, we held our spirits high. When we got there we were issued with our wristbands, orange for contestants and green for helpers and supporters. GV simulatorsWe found out we were the 14th team to ring. The first thing we did when we got there was ringing on the simulator. After a very long climb we got there and we all had a go at ringing on the dumbbells. It was a lot of fun.

After that we got on the bus, which was very posh with tinted windows and leather seats, and went to St John-in-Bedwardine. We rang a half course of Cambridge Major and a touch of Grandsire Triples. When we had finished we went to catch the bus, which had left before it was meant to so we walked slowly back towards the Cathedral, looking for somewhere to eat. After looking in several places we decided to go to a café.

Once we had eaten we headed towards Old St Martins and waited outside for the rest of our team to arrive. While we waited we listened to the other teams ringing. We also wondered why they were ringing a bell down after every team had finished.

When the team had all arrived we had our team photo taken and headed up the tower. We loved the fact that all the sallies were different colours. We were told that once we had rung our test piece we would need to ring the sixth down again. This was because in the non-contestant ringing over the lunch time the stay had broken meaning the stay had been replaced with one from a lighter bell. When we came out everyone was clapping.

We had more photos taken and then headed back to the Cathedral (for an even longer climb) to have a ring on the twelve. You really had to pull the hand-stroke to get the bell to stay up at back-stroke. When you’re sat down and people are ringing you can feel the tower and the frame move. While the service band were ringing I went and took some photos of the Cathedral. The ringing sounded really good, especially as some of the members picked probably hadn’t rung on twelve that much.

The results

After the service ringing everyone assembled in the college hall. Everyone was speaking excitedly wondering where they had come. We were enjoying what could have been our last moments as the national champions. After a technical difficulty with the microphones we were given the comments, in the order that the teams rang in. Everyone’s comments were really good and we weren’t sure who would win. The read out the results for the method category first, which six teams had entered this time. They started to announce the results for the called change competition. As they got closer to who had come first we wondered if we were going to win again. We knew we had done well but we weren’t really expecting to win for two years running. It turned out we had although all the other teams had done really well. The final results are below.

Call Changes category:
PlaceTeamGrade
1st Team 14: Bedfordshire A*
2nd= Team 6: Essex Young Eagles B+
  Team 8: Young at Herts B+
3rd Team 5: 3 Spires B
4th =  Team 15: Bath & Wells B-
  Team 13: Lincolnshire Poachers B-
5th = Team 4: St Martin’s Youths C+
  Team 7: Ely D.A. Young Ringers C+
6th Team 2: Worcester Cathedral C
7th Team 3: Vectis Youths C-
Method category:
PlaceTeamGrade
1st Team 11: Yorkshire Tykes A
2nd = Team 12: Oxford D.G. A-
  Team  1: The G. & B. A-
3rd Team 16: Suffolk Young Ringers B+
4th Team  9: Sussex Young Ringers B
5th Team 10: Derbyshire Dingers C

 

After a marvellous day we enjoyed a lovely Hog roast outside the cathedral.The day had been long but it was worth it. Well done to all the teams that took part and we hope to see everyone again next year for another great day.

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CC
Central Council of Church Bell Ringers