Category: Branch Practice

Eleven ringers from seven towers came to tonight’s branch practice at Kirtlington, including Willie  our president, Jeremy Adams, ringing master and Kathryn Grant​ secretary,  the band further strengthened by the arrival of Richard Hazeldine.

Ron Burgess​ also came with Derek, who started ringing only 7 weeks ago and is now ringing rounds and call changes with teams of six and eight. We also included Derek in a reducing rounds exercise, which practices standing at hand stroke as well as pulling off ahead of heavier bells when building back up to full rounds.

We rang for our first method Plain Bob doubles plain courses, Sue on 3, Judith on tenor, both nicely rung.

Richard called a number of mini- touches of Plain Bob Minor (3 consecutive bobs), in which the lightest 3 just rang Plain Hunt on 6, while the heaviest rang alternate 5/6 down, 5/6 up and made bob. Judith and Sue alternated on treble, Ellie ringing 3.

As Ellie ​ will be ringing her first quarter this weekend, we rang a touch of Bob Doubles, Ellie on 3, Judith on tenor.

We were then encouraged to ring Plain hunt on 7, then on 8, albeit a bit crunchy, then for Stu ​ we rang Little Bob Minor, Judith trebling.

Finally, a ‘boy-band’ of Willie, Jeremy, Ron, Richard, Steve and Stu rang a plain course of Bob Minor on the back 6 before we rang all 8 down in Peal.

All in all a great practice with something for everyone. Best of luck to Ellie in her Quarter on Sunday.

Well done and thanks to all for attending. Hopefully see lots of you at this month’s special practice on 17^th October at Islip.

On Wednesday 5th April Stratton Audley welcomed 11 branch ringers from 5 branch towers.

Despite trepidation from some, we did manage to ring the bells fairly well once folk got used to the ring springy ropes. We started with a touch Grandsire Doubles and then rang plain hunt on 5. Next was a touch of Plain Bob Doubles followed by more plain hunt. Bill managed a touch of Grandsire Doubles later in the evening and we finished with two (rather well struck) plain courses of Reverse Canterbury before ringing down and heading to the pub. During the evening there was a discussion about the possibility of one person ringing two bells (not sure who brought that up, but Jeremy declined so I stepped up and showed that it was possible, and thus there wasn’t anything wrong with the bells). A video will be posted if Debbs can get it to me!

The next branch event is the Branch Outing on Sat 22nd April. Do please come along if you can – promises to be a good day of ringing in the Witney & Woodstock branch – see Branch Outing details for details, and please let Jeremy know if you are coming so he can book a place for your lunch.

Anthony Cole

On Monday 6th March Kirtlington hosted the March branch practice. We started with just six ringers from Bicester and Kirtlington, but were soon joined by Jan and Richard from Ludgershall and Stephen from Charlton. After some call changes on 8, Judy and Hugh made our number up to 11. We did call changes and several variations of plain hunt on 5 through to 8, mostly very reasonable, including a variant, called “churchyard bob”.

We rang a fairly well struck touch of Grandsire Doubles and two plain courses of Plain Bob Triples, before we were joined by the newly installed rector of Kirtlington Gareth, who very gamely had a go at ringing back stroke. We hope to see Gareth again soon and maybe we’ll see his name on a peal board in the tower, emulating clerical ringers of yore 🙂

After ringing down all 8 in peal, some of us repaired to the Dashwood for a well earned drink.

Anthony Cole

On Mon 6th Feb Bicester hosted the February branch practice. We had 9 ringers (so close to being able to ring 10!).

After ringing up the front 6 and ringing some Call Changes for Sue we rang up the back 4 as a couple of extra ringers arrived. We rang plain hunt on 7 fairly well before giving Sue some call changes on 8.

Grandsire Doubles (plain courses) were next for Helen, followed by a rather shaky couple of courses of Plain Bob Minor.

After more call changes on 8 we tried something a little more advanced.. Spliced Plain Bob and Reverse Canterbury Doubles – the band was skeptical, but by swapping methods half way through a lead it proved easy enough and we managed a touch and were applauded afterwards.

We rang down the front 4 and then the back 6 before heading off home.

Our next event is our AGM at Kirtlington. Do please try to come if you can (it would be good to have every tower represented) – more details on the AGM notice page.

Anthony Cole

On Tues 3rd Jan, the first day back to work for many, Islip hosted the first branch practice of 2017.

We just had enough with 6 ringers and rang plain hunt for Sue, plain courses of Grandsire Doubles for James and Sally, call changes, more Grandsire Doubles and plain hunt. We also had some useful discussions on how call changes work.

Next practice is the special practice at Bicester on Monday 16th Jan – Plain Bob Minor and Winchendon Place Doubles are the proposed methods.

Anthony Cole

On Wednesday 7th December 8 guild members (7 branch members plus our Guild Steward Colin) headed for the Branch Practice At Charlton On Otmoor.

We started with plain course of Grandsire Doubles for Gareth, followed by a rather shaky touch of Plain Bob Doubles for SteveC.

We then had a touch of Grandsire Doubles and and another go at the touch of Plain Bob Doubles.

We then had some plain hunt on 6 and more Grandsire Doubles plain courses before another touch of Grandsire Doubles with SteveV inside. We finished with a couple of courses of Reverse Canterbury Doubles and down.

As with most Charlton practices we headed across the road for some drinks before heading home.

Our next (and last) practice will be the special practice and Christmas social at KIRTLINGTON (not Bicester as previously advertised) on Mon 19th December. Hopefully see lots of you there 🙂

Anthony Cole

Bellringing (Campanology) is often thought of as an old man’s hobby, at least by the non-ringer. However, last night proved anything but with 10 women and only 4 men attending. As a branch most towers have the same of each gender or more female ringers than male.

By the time we had enough to ring up at the Bletchingdon branch practice on Wed 2 Nov I was feeling a little outnumbered as the only male present! However, that ratio improved as the evening progressed.

After a rough “up” we started with call changes and then followed it with plain hunt and plain courses of Grandsire Doubles. The evening progressed with more of each of these, visible (and auditory) progress being made in the plain hunt.

Mike (tower captain of Launton) caused a little consternation with the Bletchingdon tower captain as she did not know him and he feigned not being a capable ringer.. don’t think she will let him forget that 😀 Ribbing continued throughout the evening!

We managed a touch of Grandsire Doubles (well done Sue ringing half hunt) and after some plain courses of Plain Bob Doubles we also managed a touch of Plain Bob Doubles to consolidate the progress made by two of our members who were fresh from attending the Steeple Aston course on Plain Bob Doubles.

“Down” was actually rather good, despite the apprehension displayed by those catching hold.

The next branch event is on Tues 22nd November at Islip.

Anthony Cole

On Mon 3rd Octboer Bicester played host to the October branch practice with 10 ringers (9 branch members plus a visitor from Northampton).

We started by ringing up the back 6 and then ringing the 3 & 4 up so we had the back 8.

We started with call changes on the 8 and  then 2 more people arrived so we rang up the trebles.

We rang rounds on 10, then plain hunt on 5. Next we rang plain courses of Grandsire Triples and some call changes on 8. Next was a touch of Grandsire Doubles. The Bicester regulars had been trying to learn All Hallows so we rang some plain courses, followed by more plain hunt on 5 and a touch of Plain Bob Minor on the back 6. Then we rang down and (as it was my birthday the next day) we headed for the Littlebury Hotel bar for a drink.

The next branch event is the mini-tour on Sat 15th October. Details have been circulated by email.

Anthony Cole