Eleven ringers came to tonight’s practice at Stratton Audley, where we complimented Jeremy on the new paintwork in the ringing chamber.
We welcomed Simon Cole back from Norfolk, visiting family in Oxfordshire.
After ringing up we started with a touch of Grandsire Doubles called by Richard, with Judith on the 3, fully affected.
Next we rang rounds with Lisa and Julie, two recent recruits from the Stratton team, then a touch of Reverse Canterbury, with Anne, Jeremy, Simon and Richard, followed by a touch of Plain Bob Doubles with Judith trebling.
After a touch of Grandsire with Anne, Jeremy, Teresa and Simon, we rang more rounds, then a nicely struck touch of Stedman, with Graham, Jeremy, Simon and Jan called by Richard, finishing with a touch of Plain Bob Doubles then a lower in peal led by Graham, chiming in weasels.
We took the obligatory team photo with those who stayed behind.
Next Branch Practice is on 6th December at Caversfield, another 5-bell tower.
Initially seven ringers were at the start of tonight’s branch practice at Bletchingdon, a select group of regulars with Kathryn our Branch Secretary in attendance. Having rung up all six followed by a few courses of Plain Hunt doubles called by Julie and then Grandsire doubles called by Sue, we might have thought that would have been all the band for the night. However, at that point we were joined by Emma, Laurence and Graham, which enabled us to focus on getting quality time ringing touches of Grandsire, Plain Bob and Stedman for our team to practice trebling, tenoring and inside with standers as required.
Sally and Julie got at least three touches of Grandsire and Plain Bob to cover and treble to, Judith rang inside affected to two touches of Grandsire, trebled to another touch and tenored to Grandsire and Stedman touches.
Christine rang unaffected on 3 and 4 to two touches of Grandsire doubles, gaining in fluency, while Sue trebled to touches and had one touch inside half-hunt. We attempted a touch of Stedman with Kathryn and Graham inside, which got over halfway before firing out, before time sadly ran out and we had to ring down and take the obligatory team photo near the wonderful Remembrance display (see if you can spot Kathryn, who was excellent at hiding at the back).
A really good practice, with a lot of ”prime rings” achieved. We are certainly ready for first quarter peals for some of our ringers, I think.
Yesterday Kirtlington hosted an ART M1 Teaching Handling course, which was attended by ten students from near (including Tackley, Weston and Bicester), as well as from as far afield as Kent.
Our tutor was Nick Brett from Rugby, accompanied by a senior ART tutor, Clare McArdle. Susan Read from Old North Berks and Abingdon Ringing School also supported the event.
It was interesting to hear people’s previous experiences, several of whom had felt the need to gain teaching skills to ensure that their local bands can sustain and grow their numbers, while promoting good handling practice. From this, we could see a very wide range of experience and skills amongst the students.
The day was a mixture of presentation of theory (including “what is the role of ART” and “what are the key principles of learning a complex physical activity like ringing” and “what happens after this course”) and practical sessions in the tower with tied bells. Several tips and best practice were shared, beneficial for myself included.
The practical sessions covered first and basic handling teaching activities, through putting both strokes together, introducing raising and lowering with coils assisted and unassisted, to correcting common handling faults. Naturally, the teaching of good handling is in itself a very large subject and the overwhelming majority of students attending the course need the ongoing support of mentors and the ART community to develop their teaching craft.
Ruth Leatherdale, one of the students gave this reflection on the course:
“This was an extremely useful and informative day aimed at supporting those wishing to assist their tower with teaching inexperienced, hesitant and new ringers in bell handling and bell control.
The day included both theory and practical sessions, allowing all those who took part an opportunity to put into practice introducing bell handling skills from first principles as well as maintaining control of a bell with the ‘learner’ (aka experienced ringer!) in a supportive group environment.
I personally found that trying to articulate how to ‘ring’ from first principles was extremely challenging and I was grateful to be in a group environment, benefitting from listening to other ways of explaining and demonstrating the same thing.
The warm welcome; friendly, supportive and very knowledgeable training team; informative student pack and of course the constant supply of coffee, tea and biscuits throughout the day and excellent lunch made for a thoroughly enjoyable day whilst at the same time, learning a huge amount. Thank you to all involved.”
Our more local students have been invited to join the regular Winter Ringing School activities at Kirtlington and Abingdon to put their teaching skills into practice in a safe and supportive teaching environment leading eventually (if desired) to accreditation. This should help towards getting us in a better position to train new ringing recruits leading up to next year’s coronation.
Last night, eight ringers from four branches, including Guild Master Katie Lane, gathered at Islip tower to ring a very nicely struck quarter peal of Grandsire Triples, excellently conducted by Graham Clifton. This was dedicated to the memory of Willie Haynes, especially appropriate as it was one of Willie’s local towers, with a peal board bearing Willie’s name on the ringing chamber wall.
The Bellboard record is at: https://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/view.php?id=1553538
St Marys Church, Charlton on Otmoor was packed for the funeral service for our late branch president, Willie Haynes on 4th October. Ringers who knew Willie were out in strength, including several from neighbouring branches and from further afield. Naturally, there was plenty of ringing both before and afterwards which I think Willie would have approved of.
In a moving service, which celebrated Willie’s long and active life, ringing played a significant part. Not only was Belfry Praise included in the hymns, but Kathryn Grant, Branch Secretary gave an address concerning Willie’s ringing career and related involvement with Branch and Guild, while vicar Lisa included many ringing references in her address, as well as Willie’s pivotal role in Charlton Church and community and which spoke of her and Willie’s strong friendship.
That evening, officers from Bicester Branch, including Branch Ringing Masters Jeremy Adams, Richard Haseldine, Treasurer Anne Martin, Vice President Teresa Carter and Kathryn Grant and myself gathered at Charlton tower to ring a nicely-struck quarter peal of Grandsire Doubles. It was really nice to meet afterwards with Teressa, Willie’s daughter and family who were listening just outside the church.
Three quarter peals have now been dedicated to Willie’s memory with the expectation of at least one or even two 8-bell Quarter Peal Attempts to celebrate his life.
On Saturday morning we launched this season’s winter Ringing School at Kirtlington, where Old North Berks and Bicester Branches will alternate hosting ringing handling sessions each week until March 2023.
Four learners from Witney and Woodstock Branch and five teachers/mentors from ONB and Bicester attended. As can be expected, the learners’ experience ranged from beginning to put both strokes together to brushing up on specific handling aspects to help ring Plain Hunt and methods effectively.
Debra from Witney commented: ”Dave and I wanted to pass on our thanks to you all for today’s training session. We thought it was fantastic and extremely helpful. We are looking forward to the rest of the course.”
Kirtlington will be hosting a course for learning to teach bell handling on 22nd October. Following this we would expect to be joined by new teachers looking to practice their teaching and working towards accreditation.
If you know anyone who would benefit from attending these sessions as a student or would like to help as a teacher, please get in touch.
On the evening of 27th September, six Bicester Branch ringers including Ringing Master Jeremy Adams, Teresa Carter, Kathryn Grant, Vice President and Secretary, plus Anne and Graham, met up at Souldern Church, probably expecting a larger turnout and to take the opportunity to reflect with others on the life of our recently departed Branch President, Willie Haynes.
Kathryn and Teresa had brought two bags of books, photos and papers to sort through, which we did for 20 minutes or so, while waiting for others to arrive.
As we stayed at the magic number six, it was suggested we might attempt a Quarter Peal of Grandsire Doubles in Willie’s memory, which we duly did. We had heard of an appropriate number attending a practice and ringing a Quarter Peal, but never had the actual experience.
After one restart at the first 60, the team achieved a nicely-struck Quarter Peal in 45 minutes. The feat is now on Bellboard and is associated with Willie’s In memoriam record. We hope to add more Quarters and maybe longer lengths to his memory in the next few weeks.
An amazing fifteen ringers came to tonight’s branch practice at Woodeaton, the first practice there for several years. Perhaps it was the rarity of the location that drew such large numbers for a “grab” .Our number included a full complement of the Lee family, accompanying Colin, our steward, and ringing master Jeremy.
It was good to see a strong contingent of Islip ringers, including Sally , Sue, Kathryn, Teresa, James, Dinah and Marcus. Also great to see Celia from Bicester.
After ringing up we rang call changes for Dinah, Marcus and two Lee children, followed by some plain courses of Grandsire Doubles with James inside and Sue trebling. Next we rang a touch of Grandsire doubles for Judith to treble to, called by Colin, followed by more Grandsire and a touch of plain Bob doubles for Simon inside and Judith trebling.
Next we rang a plain course of Winchendon Place and a touch of Reverse Canterbury doubles for Kathryn finishing with a set of call changes for our less experienced ringers and a lower in peal led by Celia, before a group photo next to Baa Baa.
A really nice practice, which would have been even more perfect if we had a pub garden to sit in afterwards.
The wonders of modern technology enabled a distant photo to get us all in but not the ability to check we were all visible
Eleven ringers came to today’s Ringing up and down course at Bletchingdon, with five students and six helpers, giving us scope to form strong teams around our students as well as standers for those in the band.
We started in teams of four, with Christine, Ala Sue, David and Judith getting practice raising and lowering following an experienced ringer. We had a strong band of helpers, including Emma and Laurence, Celia, Alison and Hugh, some of whom stood with our students and explained in helpful ways.
We also took refreshments of tea, coffee, squash, homemade cake and biscuits, thank you to Sue, Hugh and Judith for providing these.
We built up to ringing five and six in peal, with all our students making real progress, whether keeping in time with the other ringers or gaining insights on handling tips and techniques.
Celia gained her first experience of leading up and down in peal, with Sue also practicing leading up and down a peal of six, with a stander.
Our helpers also got a chance to ring a plain course of Cambridge Minor before the final lower and obligatory team photo.
A really productive practice, with everyone making good progress. A big thank you to our superb helpers and to Sue for hosting us again!
I guess we’ll need to hold another such practice later this year for those who couldn’t come to today’s session.
On the longest day thirteen ringers went to the branch practice at Bicester, where after raising the bells we rang a number of courses of plain hunt on nine, followed by call changes on ten, then some plain courses of Grandsire doubles on the front six.
After some plain hunt on five on the front six a touch of Grandsire doubles was attempted, followed by some better struck plain hunt on five on the back six, with the team appreciating the weightier bells.
A reasonably struck short touch of Grandsire triples was completed, followed by more call changes on ten, a bobbed course of plain Bob triples called by Emma, then well struck courses of plain hunt on seven, finishing with lowering the back eight.
Another full programme!
the next branch practice is on Wednesday 6th July at Launton. See you there!
