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Bicester bp 5th October 2015

On Monday 5th October 9 ringers from 4 branch towers banded together for the branch practice at Bicester.

After ringing up (hmm.. not our best) we rang plain courses of Grandsire Doubles, followed by ringing up the back bells and trying some plain hunt on 7 – new for some! With a bit of coaxing we go through it so well done Jean.

We rang a touch of Grandsire Doubles with Jeremy calling to get in some practice before I get him to call a quarter peal… shame it fired out about 90 changes through. We rang more plain hunt on 7 and then a good touch of Plain Bob Minor. We rang more Grandsire Doubles before ringing down which was pretty good. Hopefully we’ll have our new carpet before you all next visit!

The next branch event is the special practice at Islip on Tues 20th Oct – Reverse Canterbury Doubles (Plain Bob Doubles with places instead of dodges) and Plain Bob Minor. See you all there!

Anthony Cole

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Special Islip practice 21 July 2015

On Tuesday 21st July Islip hosted the July special practice. On the schedule was Grandsire Doubles and Kent TB Minor. 11 ringers came along from 4 branch towers (and one from outside the branch).

We started off with rounds and call changes for Rachel, then Laura had a lesson with Keith before some plain courses of Grandsire for Samuel. We then had more call changes and then tried treble bobbing to give Steve an idea of what to do on the treble and see if we might be up to ringing Kent.. sadly we struggled so Kent was not going to work, but Steve was getting the hang of the treble by the end. More lessons for Laura and then we rang a touch of Grandsire for Anne.

More call changes and another lesson for Laura (putting the handstroke and backstroke together) before ringing down. Have to say Rachel and Laura are making great progress so keep it up 😀

Sadly I had to get Samuel home, but the pub called to the other ringers.

The next event is the branch practice at Ludgershall on Fri 7th August – usually a good practice so do come along if you can.

Anthony Cole

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Ringing up and down course 2015

Here is Sally’s report on the branch ringing up and down course for 2015:

“A Ringing Up and Down Course was held at Bicester on 11th July led by Anthony Cole.

It was superbly organised with a low number of learners ringing and plenty of experienced ringers between us to practically keep us in check.

A very well worth while afternoon for all us learners and a leap in my progress. Thank you everone.

Sally Wale”

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Caversfield capabilities catapulted (July 2015)

Well it makes for a great headline anyway! On Friday 3rd July Caversfield hosted its first branch practice for many years and with a number of branch folk not having rung there it proved a good draw, with 13 branch members (from 6 towers), 1 learner, and 2 hangers on attending.

Having rung up in peal we rang plain courses of Grandsire Doubles (well done Sam on the treble), followed by some rounds for Claire. More plain courses of Grandsire Doubles followed (well done Amanda – first time ever inside, and hardly any prompting required – excellent:D ). We then had a short touch of Grandsire Doubles (almost there with the observation bell Anne!) with Simon watching. Some call changes were next followed by another touch of Grandsire Doubles (first Anne observation, then Simon – no mistakes Simon so singles next time!). More rounds for Claire – handling improving so well done. We then had a touch of Plain Bob Doubles before it was time to ring down.

A really useful practice for the Caversfield band – exactly what a branch practice is for – several firsts (that we cannot manage on our own yet, but having done it once, we can now start working on it ourselves) so thank you to all that attended.

The next branch event is the ringing up and down course on Saturday. Please take a look at the course notes beforehand if you are attending – see you in Bicester at 2pm .

The next practice is the special practice at Islip on Tues 21st July – Grandsire Doubles and Kent TB Minor if we get enough.. plus other things of course!

Please also start practising for the Branch Striking Competition – it is rapidly approaching – Sat 5th Sept at Islip (with BBQ)… reminds me I need to find a judge….

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Plain Bob at Islip June 2015

On Tuesday 16th June 6 branch members (from 3 towers), one former Islip ringer and 3 recruits attended St Nicholas in Islip for the special practice. The chosen methods for the evening were Plain Bob Doubles and Stedman Doubles.

The practice had started early for some handling tuition for the recruits and it was good to see one is starting plain hunt and the other is trying rounds. The third was on her very first visit up the tower so I hope to see her ringing by the time I visit next!

We started with rounds on the back 5 and then on the back 6.

Next we rang some plain courses of Grandsire Doubles with Becky watching for the first time what the treble had to do. We then rang some call changes on all 8 bells (another first for Becky).

We rang a touch of Plain Bob Doubles to show the recruits something a little more advanced before more rounds with some hilarity about which Anthony to follow (Bibbings or Cole!). We finished with a fairly good ring down in peal on the back 6.

A visit to the Swan Inn followed (a traditional part of ringing in Islip!). A good evening, but a shame not to see a few more ringers coming along.

The next branch practice is at Caversfield on Fri 3rd July. I know some branch folk haven’t rung at Caversfield so do pop the date into your diaries and come and try out our lovely 5 bells.

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June 2015 practice

On Wednesday 3rd June 9 branch folk banded together for the (as usual) sunny June Middleton Stoney branch practice.

After Samuel had rung up the Treble and two, we rang the others up in peal before starting with plain courses of Plain Bob Doubles which the local band have been working on. Two courses without too much trouble 🙂 We then rang Grandsire Doubles and call changes. The evening progressed alternating Plain Bob and Grandsire and the locals commented how a couple of extra ringers had helped them through the Plain Bob where normally they struggle – exactly what a Branch Practice is for 😀

The next branch event is the special practice at Islip on Tues 16th June – Plain Bob Doubles and Stedman Doubles on the cards – perhaps some of the Middleton ringers need to come along and work on Plain Bob then too.

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QP for Bill Knapton (May 2015)

On Monday 25th May ringers from Bicester rang a quarter peal to celebrate the life of one of our own, Bill Knapton, who died at the end of April, aged 92. Bill rang at Bicester and Caversfield for many years, only retiring about 18 months ago after a heart bypass.

Oxford Diocesan Guild
Bicester, Oxon
St Edburg
Monday 25 May 2015 in 42 mins (15-0-7)
1260 Plain Bob Doubles

1   Janet Smith
2   Sarah Cole
3   Simon White
4   Jeremy Adams
5   Anthony Cole(C)
6   Steve Walker

Rung to celebrate the life Bill Knapton, ringer at Bicester for many years, who died recently aged 92.

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With a little help from our friends (May 2015)

On Monday 18th May 7 ringers from 4 branch towers and 3 from Buckingham came to check out the newly decorated Bicester tower which was hosting the May special practice.
After ringing up all 10 we rang the first of the nominated methods – Little Bob Minor. Then we rang some plain hunt on 8 followed by a touch of Plain Bob Doubles on the front bells – well done Si.
Next we took the rare opportunity to ring all 10 with some call changes. We followed that with a touch of Grandsire Doubles with Anne observation – nearly there Anne – well done.
Next we rang a plain course and immediately followed by a short touch of Grandsire Triples! Both nominated methods and a touch of one.. excellent!
Another two goes at plain hunt on 7 firstly with Anne on the treble and then Amanda on the treble for the first time, very well done both of you.
We finished the evening with a plain course of Plain Bob Triples and ringing down on 8.
An excellent evening with a rare opportunity to ring on 8 and 10 and a chance to extend experience for quite a few.
The next branch event is the branch practice at Middleton Stoney on Wednesday 3rd June – hope to see lots of you there.

Anthony Cole

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Recruitment? (2015)

The Guild master has been in discussion with Branch reps and Secretaries at the Spring General Committee meeting regarding recruitment and retention. Each branch was asked to submit their thoughts – see Anne’s Recruitment thoughts report on behalf of the Bicester Branch – download it below.

This does bring up a big issue really – more and more towers (countrywide, not just locally) are finding it hard to continue ringing and more towers are falling silent due to lack of ringers. Kathryn has sent these thoughts around by email:

It was great to have two new members at our Branch AGM – and youthful ones at that!  Most of our towers could do with more ringers – and although it’s sometimes a thankless job recruiting/ teaching/ retaining/ encouraging new ones, without recruits we may, within the next 10-20 years, have a number of ‘silent’ towers. Anne Martin (Launton) and I were at a meeting where this topic was discussed throughout the Oxford Guild and some of the ideas/ difficulties are highlighted in Anne’s report on the Branch website.  Do see what you can do individually to encourage newcomers to our quaint but lovely English tradition!

I echo these concerns – the Bicester branch membership is dropping and whilst some is due to people moving away, some is simply because our members are getting older and less able to ring and newer (younger) recruits are not coming forward. Equally I wonder if many towers in our branch have ringers confident or capable of teaching new recruits. If you are from a tower that has possible recruits but hasn’t a competent/capable/willing teachers then please contact Anthony or any of the branch officers and we will help where possible. Equally, if a course on teaching bell handling would be useful then get in touch and we can organise something. Having taught a new band at Caversfield over the last year or so and watching them improve I can vouch for it being a rewarding opportunity to teach new (and younger) recruits and we are now fairly good at plain hunt and are starting to work on plain courses of Grandsire Doubles (with a little extra help from Launton) which after just over one year is very pleasing – we also came second in the branch striking competition last year!

Anne’s Recruitment thoughts reportDownload

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May we ring at Piddington

On Wed 6th May 13 ringers from 5 branch towers banded together for the May branch practice at Piddington. The locals hadn’t expected us (proof reading of the branch diary cards missed that we forgot to put anything on for May!), but they were happy to see us.

We started with call changes (perhaps we should rename that “Yell changes” given the volume of the bells!) and then more call changes. We then progressed to plain courses of Grandsire Doubles and then as the evening progressed we alternated call changes and Grandsire with helpers standing behind to help one of the locals, and to help Anne try a touch. We finished with some plain courses of Plain Bob Doubles before ringing down (not our best if I am honest!).

The evening was not without incident though. Twice the 4th bell woke up the ringers by slipping wheel (once with a very experienced ringer on the end!) so a bit of maintenance will be done to look at the cause of that.

The next branch event (again not on the cards!) is the special practice at Bicester on Monday 18th May – Little Bob Minor and Grandsire Triples; we’re expecting some ringers from Buckingham to boost our numbers so please come along and attempt these methods or just the treble to them – we will hopefully have enough for someone to stand behind you. If that isn’t a draw then just come and admire Bicester’s newly painted ringing room!!

Anthony Cole