Tuesday 19th November was Islip’s turn to host the special practice. The set methods were Grandsire Triples and Single Oxford Bob Triples. Whilst we had seven ringers sadly the set methods were not going to happen.
We started with Grandsire Doubles plain courses and then plain courses of Plain Bob Minor. After more plain courses of Grandsire Doubles we tried a touch, but this proved beyond the band.
We rang down and caught in Queens in tribute to one of the Islip band who was unable to attend as she was having nibbles with HRH at Buckingham Palace. Please remember to doff your cap, curtsey or bow next time you see her!
The next branch event is the branch practice at Charlton on Otmoor on Wednesday 4th December..can it be December already? Anyway hopefully see you there (don’t forget to bow or curtsey! )
On Wednesday 6th November 9 ringers from 5 branch towers and 1 W&W tower banded together for the branch practice at Bletchingdon. We were met by the tower captain who didn’t ring due to a back injury (get well soon Sue), and our President came along to ring looking healthier than he has for a long time.. Glad to see you back ringing Willy 🙂
After ringing up we started with plain courses of Grandsire Doubles (a favourite at Bletchingdon which is why we host so many Grandsire special practices there), and then we followed that with plain courses of Plain Bob Doubles. More Grandsire followed and a touch of Grandsire where Anne stood behind to make sense (hopefully) of the observation bell… Won’t be long before Anne will be showing us how that is done! We finished with more Grandsire Doubles before ringing down.
All in all a pleasant evening on some lovely bells. The next practice is the special practice at Islip on Tues 19th Nov – Grandsire Triples and Oxford Bob Triples. Not sure we will have the ringers to ring them, but we can at least try.
On Monday 21st October Bicester played host to the October special practice. I have to admit following recent turnout I was not expecting much, but was I to be surprised! In total 9 ringers from 3 branch towers arrived and whilst Oxford TB Minor was unlikely we got close to having enough to ring it, but alas not quite.
We started with plain courses of Plain Bob Minor followed by a touch – a good start to the evening! We then rang Grandsire Doubles for Helen – getting there. We rang more plain courses of Plain Bob Minor with different people in and then another touch. With only 5 minutes left before Steve had to leave we decided to try something only I had rung before – Grandsire Minor – popular a century ago, but not so much these days – easy to ring though.. we had a shaky first course, but managed really well and by the 4th course it was faultless 🙂 Certainly didn’t expect to be ringing that on a practice night! Bobs and singles perhaps another time???
We finished with more Grandsire Doubles and down.
The turn-out far exceeded my expectations and made up (in part) for the lack of turn-out at the weekend’s outing. Lets hope the branch practice at Bletchingdon on 6th Nov is as well attended 🙂
Saturday 19th October was the day of the rescheduled branch outing (following cancellation of the outing in March due to snow).
The first tower of the day was Brightwalton, Berkshire – a fairly light 6. Only 4 ringers had arrived by the start time so we rang up the back 4 and hoped we would have more ringers joining us later. We started plain hunt on 4 and then Kathryn, Anthony B and Sally arrived to boost our number. We rang up the treble and two and then proceeded to ring some plain courses of Grandsire Doubles and call changes before our time was up.
Moving on to the next tower on some very countrified roads we arrived at Chieveley with my car sporting a punctured rear tyre…nice L shaped hole. Well that is what a spare is for though space saving ones aren’t that good really! After a rather continental style ring up of the back six we rang call changes and plain courses of Grandsire Doubles again. We then rang down and proceeded to the Hare And Hounds Hotel in Speen for lunch. I was supposed to have collected menu choices and phoned our order through, but the tyre fiasco had blocked it from my mind. Luckily with only 10 people to feed (seven ringers, one non-ringing husband, and two children) the food order didn’t take too long.
We next rang at the church in Speen – another six. We rang call changes and plain courses of Grandsire Doubles again.
Our final tower was the other side of Newbury – the ten of Thatcham (though we only rang the front six). These bells were the nicest bells of the day and we rang call changes and plain courses of Grandsire Doubles again. Before the end I had to leave to get my tyre fixed before the trip back to Bicester – a bit of googling had located a Kwik Fit in Newbury!
My thanks to Hilary, Anne, Kathryn, Sally, John and Anthony B for joining “Bicester Branch on tour”, for the villages for the use of their bells (and patience with our ringing up and down) and for the non-ringers (John, Samuel & Grace) who came to enjoy the day out and the pub lunch. Hopefully we can encourage more ringers to join us on future outings.
The next branch event is in just two days.. A special practice at Bicester on Monday night. Hopefully we will get enough ringers to ring Plain Bob Minor (and very unlikely Oxford TB Minor).
On Monday 7th October it was Bicester’s turn to host a branch practice. The turnout was worse than at Stratton Audley in July.. only 4 ringers. However we did ring….
We started chiming tunes (twinkle twinkle little star, oranges and lemons, kum by yah). We then decided to ring up which Anne did really well. We then progressed to Plain bob minimus. We failed at Stedman minimus and then rang more plain bob minimus before ringing down (again well done to Anne).
Having booked a baby sitter so Sarah and I could both go we weren’t going to miss out on the pub!
Next is the branch outing – please do support that and have a fun day out around Newbury. The next special practice is again at Bicester in two weeks time..hopefully we will get a better turnout then (Oxford bob minor and Plain bob minor).
On Wednesday 18th Sept it was the turn of Bletchingdon to host another Grandsire Doubles practice. Previously these practices have been very well attended and Wednesday’s practice was just as well attended with 16 ringers from 3 branches attending – the reputation of these practices must be spreading!
We started with several goes at plain courses of Grandsire. Next we had some call changes for some new ringers. We then stretched the brain cells a little with a 120 with Sue ringing observation – well done Sue.
We then had some more plain courses with Ann having her first attempt at ringing an inside bell..a little guidance was required to get the dodges right but a very good start to ringing methods inside – well done Ann.
More plain courses and then Tim rang the observation bell for another 120.
We then had some more call changes before it was time to ring down.
All in all another great Grandsire practice and it felt as though some progress was being made. A very many thanks to all the helpers who came along to stand behind and provide a little more solid ringing for the learners to work around. Great to see enthusiasm to push forward too – next time we’ll have to get a few more looking at observation and those who can manage observation perhaps need to start learning the other parts to the bobs and singles (so there’s a challenge for you).
Next practice is the branch practice at Bicester on Monday 7th October – do please support that if you can. Also please put the branch outing in your diary – full details on the branch outing page.
As promised following the snowed off outing in March, I have rearranged the branch outing. The revised outing will take place on Saturday 19th October, again in the Newbury area. Please do support this event – it should be a fun day out, but does need ringers to come along to make it worthwhile.
The re-scheduled Branch Outing will take place on Saturday 19th October, around the Newbury area. Most of the towers have been booked – when all tower details are confirmed I will put the details on the website. For now, please put Sat 19th October in your diary.
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 winning Team
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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).
On Tuesday 3rd Sept 14 ringers from 7 branch towers met at Launton for the September Branch Practice. As in previous years it was a lovely summers evening which is good given the cosy nature of Launton tower!
We started with a request – ringing up in peal practice for Jean – we made sure we had enough so I could stand behind and whisper advice, but it still wasn’t the best “up” – not all Jean’s fault though!
We moved on to plain courses of Grandsire Doubles which several bands tried.
About half way through the evening we rang down, and back up again to give more practice at “up” and “down” – the tenor proved a little tricky on the “up” and least said about that the better. However, it highlights that a ringing up and down course is needed – something to add to next years diary!
More Grandsire Doubles and Plain Bob Doubles followed with Elaine being persuaded to have a go on the treble to Grandsire. As darkness fell so our time was nearly up, but we managed to have a quick (eventful) touch of Plain Bob Minor before ringing down. A good evening get together with some ringing interspersed, and also a chance to plug the Branch BBQ and Striking Competition on Saturday (5:30pm, Islip) – hoping to see lots of branch members and their families for that – and here’s hoping I get to sample the winning champagne again (it is the taking part that matters though!)
