Category: Striking Competition

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Branch Striking Competition 7th September 2019

This year an impressive seven teams (considering the size of the branch) and over 40 branch members, partners and friends attended the branch striking competition on Saturday 7th, again kindly hosted by Islip and enjoyed the barbecue afterwards at Kathryn’s house. This was a strong contrast with last year’s reduced competition where only two “tower” teams and a small number of “harlequin” teams took part.

First up was a Bicester team, supplemented by Ludgershall, ringing a number of plain courses of Grandsire doubles, scoring 57 faults.

Next was Islip, the local team, again choosing plain courses of Grandsire Doubles and scoring 165 faults.

Third was a scratch team from Kirtlington and Bletchingdon, ringing a set of call changes, scoring 192 faults, improving through the call changes section after a tricky set of rounds.

Fourth up was Weston on the Green, including three ringers who only started ringing for the first time in September 2018, assisted by Jeremy, Kathryn and Steve. Again, a set of call changes was rung and a very creditable 68 faults scored. Well done to Weston!

Fifth was the experienced Ludgershall team, ringing a touch of Plain Bob Doubles, scoring an impressive 38 faults and winning the competition.

Sixth was a harlequin ladies’ team, ringing Grandsire Doubles and scoring 70 faults, while the final team was a harlequin young ringers’ team, comprising Islip’s youngest recruits and Charlie from Kirtlington. This team only rang part of the allotted 5 minutes and achieved a score of 120 faults, after rounding up to the equivalent time.

A big thank you to our judges, Katie Lane, Guild Master, and David Cornwall, who undertook the scoring. Also thank you to former branch member Louise Brown, who acted as time-keeper in the tower. [Photo of Ludgershall]

Team scores in ascending order

Team Score Notes
E  Ludgershall 38
A  Bicester 57
D  Weston on the Green 68
F  Ladies’ team 70
G  Young ringers 120 Faults adjusted to full length of test piece
B  Islip 165
C  Kirtlington/ Bletchingdon 192
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Bicester Branch Striking Competition 01/09/2018

Twenty five people, including ringers and non-ringers attended this year’s striking competition, hosted by Kathryn and the Islip ringers at Islip, within easy earshot of the tower. It was good to see so many current and former ringers as well as friends of the branch there.

While only two towers – Ludgershall and Islip – could bring teams composed of their own ringers, in the end five separate teams were mustered, including a “harlequin” team, a ladies’ and a gentlemen’s team.

First up were Islip, who after their one minute of rounds rang 120 changes of call changes. They scored a total of 60 points.

Next to ring were Ludgershall, last year’s winners, who rang a touch of Plain Bob Doubles for their piece, scoring  41 Points.

The Harlequin scratch team rang a touch of Plain Bob Doubles, scoring 73 points.

The ladies’ team, which included three branch officers did somewhat better, ringing three plain courses of Grandsire Doubles, scoring 64 points.

Finally, the gentlemen’s team, led by Richard and also comprising a number of Branch officers, rang a touch of Plain bob Doubles, scoring 28 points and winning the trophy.

It is interesting to note that the formation of ladies’ and gentlemen’s teams seemed to bring out a previously undetected amount of competitive, although friendly, spirit amongst some of the participants.

During and after the competition there was a fine selection of barbecued food, salads, puddings and drinks on offer in Kathryn’s garden. A big thank you to Fifi for “manning” the barbecue.

Thanks should also be made to Willie, our president, for timekeeping in the tower and of course to Philip Curtis, who expertly judged the teams’ efforts.

Detailed results are included below.

Team E (Gentlemen) 8 + 20 = 28
Team B (Ludgershall) 8 + 33 = 41
Team A (Islip) 13 + 47 = 60
Team D (Ladies) 14 + 50 = 64
Team C (Harlequin) 13 +60 = 73

Key: First number is for the rounds and 2nd number for everything after.

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BBQ and SC 2016

On Saturday 3rd Sept Bicester played host to the 2016 branch Striking Competition and BBQ.

It was a rather wet evening, but we had three teams in the competition which was judged by Richard White from Woodstock.

Team 1 (Bicester) rang a touch of Grandsire Doubles, incuring 52 faults.

Team  2 (Caversfield – defending champions) rang 4 plain courses of Gradnsire Doubles (having only rung call changes last year, but the team has progressed), incurring 58 faults.

Team 3 (Islip) with the help from two Stratton Audley ringers rang call changes and incurred 56 faults.

All very close as you can see, but Bicester topped the standings this year.

Thanks to Helen and Rob Parkinson who opened their home to us all we had a lovely evening (despite the rain) with a BBQ, salads, puddings (rather alcoholic trifle :9) and lots of chatting. A fun evening and my thanks to all who took part and contributed to the food.

Next branch practice is on Tuesday at Launton – hopefully see you there (and hope the weather is better!)

Anthony Cole