The annual branch striking competition and bbq was held in Islip on Fri 26th Sept.
Being a Friday evening it was always going to be a slow start, but the striking competition got underway about 6.30pm.
We only had two teams but it was still worth having the competition and giving everyone a go and encouraging the new recruits who took part.
Caversfield took to the tower first and rang call changes as the band was not ready for method ringing (two of the band have been ringing less than 9 months and are only 10 and 13 years old respectively). It was a very good effort with some good ringing and was awarded 28 faults by our judges.
Islip rang second and choose plain courses of Grandsire Doubles which went well and earned only 17 faults making Islip the winning team 2 years running.. I think Caversfield will be looking to take the shield next year though! Thanks to James Champion and his wife for judging for us.
We then retired to Kathryn’s for the bbq with Richard as head bbq chef. As usual Lucy and Fred were looking for dropped food (the bbq was not dog-nose height this year), but I don’t think they got too much despite sitting patiently at the feet of anyone who was eating!
Thanks to Kathryn for opening her home once again and thanks to the team who catered for us and for the 24+ people who came along to enjoy a good evening together.
The next branch event is the branch practice at Bicester on Monday 6th October – I hope to see lots of you there.
Anthony Cole