The notice, Guild and Branch Report and minutes from last year’s AGM are available below.
Branch Practice at Ludgershall 3 August
The 5 bells of Ludgershall attracted 16 ringers from 6 towers for the monthly branch practice. Several ringers were missing – on holiday, suffering from the heat or celebrating wedding anniversaries! Although Richard Haseldine is rather hidden in this photo – taken to record the Cliff East shield before it (possibly) moves from last year’s winning team – he and Jeremy Adams ensured all ringers had plenty of practice – whether call changes, Stedman, Grandsire and even a touch of Reverse Canterbury.
Let’s hope we get as many, if not more, for the Striking Competition and barbecue on Saturday 1 September!
‘Taster’ evening at Weston-on-the-Green
We had a successful evening on Thursday 26 July with 8 potential recruits given an introduction to bellringing.
7 helpers came from Abingdon, Buckingham, and Maids Moreton to give support and encouragement with the addition of local ringers, Tower Captain Bob Hessian, Willie Haynes, Michael MacArthur, and Jeremy Adams.. The plan is that the new recruits will take part in a reasonably intensive (i.e. 10 hours) programme at W-o-t-G or possibly Bletchingdon, Kirtlington, Islip for instance as well. That’ll probably be an autumn project and we are extremely grateful to those who gave up their time (on one of the hottest evenings – so far!) to help.
Special Practice 17th July 2018 at Islip
14 ringers from 6 towers came to Tuesday night’s special practice at Islip – we were delighted to see the perpetually youthful Louise Brown who was such a stalwart welcome visitor for many years.
Although we were missing 5 other Islip ringers, we had 4 of our most recent #RingingRemembers learners who might have felt overwhelmed by the attempts of the more established to ring the designated method of Kent Treble Bob Minor (slightly more successfully on the 2nd attempt) but all are making steady progress. Without our learners we won’t, in the future, be able to ring Grandsire and Bob Triples – both of which we managed for the first time for ages under the direction of both Ringing and Deputy Ringing Masters! So something for everyone – even if not enough time for all!
Two upcoming events are Branch Practice on 3 August at Ludgershall and the Striking competition at Islip on 1st September. Hope to see lots of you then.
Kathryn Grant
Branch Practice Middleton Stoney 6th June 2018
A good turnout for Wednesday’s branch practice on a golden evening in the Middleton Stoney Park.
Although we missed the Vickars (enjoying their holiday in Dubrovnik!) Steve Cameron jetted in from Japan to join us and Kathryn returned from the US!
13 ringers (Teresa, Anne, Jean, Richard, Jan, Gareth, Eric, Hilary, Rosemary, Jan, and Linda) from 6 towers came so we were able to practice a variety of methods including Grandsire and Plain Bob and an attempt at a touch of Plain Bob Minor.
Middleton’s bells are a bit challenging but they sounded lovely enough to call two visitors who came to see what we were doing and stayed to listen.
Kathryn Grant
Quarter Peal at Ludgershall 15th May 2018
Congratulations to Jan and Richard Haseldine on the arrival of their latest grandson, Edward, for which they have just rung a Quarter Peal at Ludgershall. Congratulations also to Anne Martin, for ringing her first Quarter of Plain Bob Doubles inside.
The record on Bellboard can be found at: https://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/view.php?id=1231726.
Special Practice at Bicester 14th May 2018
12 ringers from 8 different towers within the Bicester Branch (i.e. members from 50% of all towers) came to the Special Practice on Monday at Bicester. The methods specified for the evening were Little Bob Minor and Grandsire Triples.
We started by ringing call changes on all 10 bells, and then Grandsire Triples, Plain Bob Minor plus ringing Plain Bob Major – congratulations especially to Ellie, from Kirtlington, who got through a plain course with some expert help from other ringers including Richard Haseldine, who managed to keep about three bells right at the same time!
It was good to see Sue, from Wotton, who rang plain hunt on 5 with increasing confidence.
The next Branch Practice is on Wednesday 6 June at Middleton Stoney – do come along if you can. The range of expertise is considerable which makes it all the more rewarding and interesting.
Kathryn Grant
2018 AGM documentation
Please find attached agenda and other documentation relating to the upcoming Branch AGM Monday 5th March.
Poster – Branch 6-bell Striking Competition at Islip 2nd September 2017
When: Saturday 2nd September 2017 Bicester Branch social – BBQ with striking competition.
Where: Islip
Details: Informal striking competition: 6pm BBQ immediately afterwards.
Ringing friends, partners and children all welcome to party at: Waverley House, Lower Street, Islip whilst ringing in progress (5 mins from garden to tower).
Sausages, burgers and salads freshly prepared.
Tickets only £3 (children under 16 free) – please bring your own drinks. Please get your ticket by Wednesday 30th August from: Sally Wale (01865 841926)/ Teresa Carter (01865 374909)/ Kathryn Grant (01865 373972)
Striking competition pieces may be call changes, plain hunt – anything you feel you can make sound nice!
Winners of Striking Competition will NOT be required to go forward to the Guild competition unless they wish to!
If you’re not part of a tower team still come along and perhaps join a “harlequin” team so you can experience what these competitions are like. Prize for winning team: A bottle of champagne! Poster attached: BBQ2017
Bill Knapton funeral update 30/04/2015
It is with sadness that I heard today of the death of Bicester ringer Bill Knapton, aged 92.
His funeral is to be held at Oxford Crematorium on Friday 1st May at 12pm. Please note this is a change to previously advised location at Banbury Crematorium.