On Saturday 7th September approximately 33 ringers and their families descended on Islip for the annual branch BBQ and Striking competition.
The evening started at 5:30pm with a bout of rain, but thankfully we were able to take shelter in Kathryn’s house, and in Islip tower as we started the striking competition.
First up we’re Bicester tower who were keen to repeat their success following the win last year, followed by Islip and Charlton. The competition consisted of 2 minutes practice followed by ringing the treble to signal to the judges, and then the competition piece – 1 minute of rounds followed by the bands chosen method (all bands chose Grandsire Doubles as it happens, Bicester ringing a 120 and the other teams ringing 4 plain courses). The competition was judged by friends from the Witney & Woodstock branch (Alison Merryweather-Clarke, Louise Brown and Liz Lawrence).
Once the competition pieces were over the Guild Secretary, his wife and Alison Merryweather-Clarke came up for a course of Grandsire Triples before ringing down and retiring to Kathryn’s where we enjoyed the feast prepared for us by Kathryn, Teresa and Sally.
At about 9pm following lots of jokes about who was best, the judges gave us their comments on the ringing and the results, which were:
3rd place – team 3 (Charlton) with 94%
2nd place – team 1 (Bicester) with 95%
1st place – team 2 (Islip) with 96%
The Islip band was presented with the trophy and champagne. Congratulations to Islip!
The puddings were then brought out and the champagne drunk by the winning team.
Despite the rain at the start of the evening, it was a great event and lots of fun was had by all.
(Bicester may not have won, but we will gladly back Islip going forward to the Guild competition in October).