On Monday 15th December Bicester hosted the branch special practice and social. Sadly only two branch towers were represented (Stratton Audley and Bicester), but we were at least able to ring 8 bells at one point.
We started with plain courses of Grandsire Doubles and followed that with call changes on the back 8. Next we attempted one of the set methods for the evening – Single Oxford Bob Minor. We didn’t get that far through sadly! At this point Steve had to go to work so we rang a touch of Plain Bob Doubles before ringing down. Sausage rolls and mince pies were consumed during the evening, but we did not go to the pub – the Swan Inn is currently still closed.
May I take this opportunity to wish all branch members a happy Christmas and I look forward to ringing with you all in the new year. Next practice is at Bicester on Monday 5th January. We are hoping to distribute a card with all branch events early in the new year.
Bbq at Islip September 2014
The annual branch striking competition and bbq was held in Islip on Fri 26th Sept.
Being a Friday evening it was always going to be a slow start, but the striking competition got underway about 6.30pm.
We only had two teams but it was still worth having the competition and giving everyone a go and encouraging the new recruits who took part.
Caversfield took to the tower first and rang call changes as the band was not ready for method ringing (two of the band have been ringing less than 9 months and are only 10 and 13 years old respectively). It was a very good effort with some good ringing and was awarded 28 faults by our judges.
Islip rang second and choose plain courses of Grandsire Doubles which went well and earned only 17 faults making Islip the winning team 2 years running.. I think Caversfield will be looking to take the shield next year though! Thanks to James Champion and his wife for judging for us.
We then retired to Kathryn’s for the bbq with Richard as head bbq chef. As usual Lucy and Fred were looking for dropped food (the bbq was not dog-nose height this year), but I don’t think they got too much despite sitting patiently at the feet of anyone who was eating!
Thanks to Kathryn for opening her home once again and thanks to the team who catered for us and for the 24+ people who came along to enjoy a good evening together.
The next branch event is the branch practice at Bicester on Monday 6th October – I hope to see lots of you there.
Anthony Cole
2014 Branch Striking Comp & BBQ
The branch striking competition and BBQ will be on Friday 26th September. Please support this event and enjoy socialising with folk from around the branch (and having a little ringing competition too).
Please print out the BBQ2014 poster for your tower.
Ring bells ring ring ring (Dec 2013)
The branch Christmas social was held at Bicester on Mon 16th December. 7 branch members and one ringer transferring into the branch (yippee) met for mince pies, and some ringing. The nominated methods for this special practice were New Bob Doubles and Grandsire Triples.
Sadly we did not have a band for triples, but we still managed to start with plain courses of New Bob, albeit a little shakily. We then rang plain courses of Grandsire Doubles and then we rang some treble dodging as a prelude to attempting Cambridge Surprise Minor..well to be honest we haven’t tried that for a year or more so it would have been a surprise to get all the way through – we managed about half a course in the end.
We finished with more Grandsire Doubles before ringing down and heading for the pub for the second half of the Christmas social in the Swan Inn.
Merry Christmas everyone and I hope to see many of you in the new year – the first practice is on Monday 6th Jan at Bicester.
Anthony Cole
2013 BBQ and Striking Competition
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 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).
2013 Branch BBQ and Striking Competition details
The Branch BBQ and Striking Competition is coming up soon – Saturday 7th September in Islip (5:30pm competition followed by BBQ at Kathryn’s). The BBQ poster 2013 has full details. Please ensure you let Kathryn know if you plan to come by Sat 31st August so enough food can be bought/prepared.
Christmas special practice & social
On Monday 17th December 8 ringers from Bicester, Stratton Audley and Islip came together for the last branch event of the year – the special practice with Grandsire Doubles and Grandsire Triples on offer.
The practice started slowly, but the promise of sausage rolls and mince pies ensured we got the bells up! We rang a touch of Grandsire Doubles to start with. Our 8th ringer arrived, but sadly Grandsire Triples was not going to be. However, with 8 ringers we took the opportunity to ring some plain hunt on 7 and 8 before trying a festively named method “St Nicholas Doubles” – we stuck to plain courses, and despite hesitation beforehand we rang it well. We then rang plain courses of Grandsire Doubles for Helen and then some more St Nicholas before ringing down.
As it was a social we then decamped to the pub for some festive cheer and chat :9
A good evening and a good way to finish off the year. I wish all my readers a Happy Christmas & a Happy New Year too – the first practice next year is not until 7th January (at Bicester) when we can start working off our Christmas indulgences.
2012 Social & Striking competition
On Saturday 15th Sept Islip once again hosted the branch social and striking competition. I was keen that a tower team would win this year rather than the branch officers so it was with trepidation that I approached the evening and the number of teams that might turn up. I need not have worried as we had 4 tower teams (up from 2 last year) making for a good competition. Apart from Islip (which fielded a full local team), Bicester, Launton and Charlton teams were made of 50%+ tower members with a few extras to make up the team numbers – some who had not entered a competition before and whilst aprehensive beforehand, found it was actually quite good fun really. Islip rang first ringing Grandsire Doubles, followed by call changes from Launton. Bicester rang Plain Bob Doubles and Charlton rounded off the competition with some more call changes. The standard was very high and few trips were made by any of the teams for the judges (ably performed by Lorna and Brian Curtis from the Witney & Woodstock Branch) to separate us all by.
We all retired to Kathryn’s for a marvellous BBQ and drinks and a good chat. As usual, Kathryn, Teresa, Sally and their team of helpers had done us proud and we had our fill of the main course as day turned to night.
The results of the competition were announced before the puddings which were announced as follows:
4th place – Team B (Launton) – 51%
3rd place – Team A (Islip) – 52 %
2nd place – Team D (Charlton) – 68%
1st place – Team C (Bicester)– 80%.
Lorna presented Anthony & Jeremy with the trophy and champagne which the rest of the Bicester team shared in shortly afterwards. We also offered the champagne around to anyone else who wanted some!
It was a lovely evening with good friends and a little ringing to boot – thoroughly enjoyable and I look forward to the next one 🙂
Pancake day practice at Islip
The special practice at Islip on Shrove Tuesday and the usual Islip pancake party didn’t have the expected draw of ringers, but I guess we didn’t advertise it particularly as a pancake practice! We did have 8 ringers, but the proposed methods (Stedman Doubles and Plain Bob Major) were a little beyond us. We did manage plain courses of Stedman Doubles, but things fell apart when “Singles” were introduced. Plain courses of Grandsire Doubles sounded great and the Plain Hunt on 8 settled and was also successful. We didn’t hold up much hope for a plain course of Bob Major, but tried it nevertheless – after a few goes we managed nearly two leads… maybe a little more work is needed on that one!
Following the practice we duly decamped to Kathryn’s for pancakes and drinks – sadly there weren’t enough of us to get through all the pancakes 🙁
The branch AGM is this Saturday so hoping to see lots of branch members there.
Special last practice for 2011
The last branch event of the year was the Special Practice at Islip on Tues 20th Dec. The special methods were St Nicholas Doubles (appropriate for Christmas!) and Grandsire Triples. We were not sure we would get enough, but in the end we had 10 ringers (5 Islip, 3 Bicester, 1 Woodeaton and 1 from Long Hanborough) and managed plain courses of St Nicholas Doubles and plain courses of Grandsire Triples. We also rang plain hunt on 7 for Anthony B.
The methods were special, but so was the after practice event – Mince Pies, Sausage rolls and drinks at Kathryn’s house. Sally had made some lovely sausage rolls which were very popular and went very quickly – I think Lucy wanted some too!!
A lovely evening to finish of 2011 🙂 I wish you all a fabulous Christmas and look forward to ringing with you in the New Year.