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10 members of the Bicester Branch from 4 towers) came to Islip on Tuesday for a Branch Practice – we were joined by our Guild Master, Katie Lane, which made us all perform better! For those of us who usually ring plain hunt on 3,4 or 5 bells, ringing on 7 was a bit of a challenge and forced quite a lot of quick homework!

We were all more comfortable with Grandsire Doubles – and it was great to have enough to stand by to ensure success with some of our less experienced ringers.

Kathryn Grant

Fifteen ringers from six towers came to tonight’s Branch Practice at Bicester, including Sally Cross, Gerald Bushby and Dinah, ringing there for the first time.

We started with some rounds and call changes on six for Pinda and Dinah, then a few plain courses of Grandsire doubles with Sue Carter and Gerald on the hunt bells, Judith Vickars inside and Sue Macready covering.

It was good to see Sally master the six and tenor to plain hunt doubles, before we rang the back four up and did rounds and call changes on all ten, with Gerald getting his first go on that number. We then rang some nice plain courses of St Simons doubles for Kathryn Grant.

On to a touch of Grandsire doubles, with Judith inside, before more rounds and call changes for Dinah and Pinda and an attempted touch of plain Bob minor with Anne inside, getting to the final set of Bob’s before firing out.

Our final blast was to ring all ten again, with Judith and Dinah in the team, before ringing down the front six and back four, with some good striking.

Well done everyone, hope to see people at ringing for the Christmas tree festival at Ambrosden on 4th December and branch practice at Islip on 7th December.

Steve Vickar

Seven ringers from five towers and two branches came to tonight’s Branch Practice at Caversfield, including Colin Lee our Guild steward and his nine-year-old son, Simon. Simon is confidently ringing up and down in peal and trebling to doubles methods, and so was a most welcome addition to our band.

We were joined by Anne, Jeremy, Kathryn Grant and Teresa. What was also special about tonight’s practice was that Tina, the Churchwarden and local lay minister, had laid on a wonderful array of cakes with tea and coffee, so all those who didn’t make it should know what you were missing!

We went through a pretty full repertoire of plain doubles methods, including plain courses and touches of Bob doubles, Grandsire doubles, St Simons doubles (with Anne and Kathryn inside) and Reverse Canterbury, for Teresa.

Simon joined us on four for a good lower, ending in Weasels.

The next Branch Practice is on Tuesday 23rd November, at Bicester. See you then!

Steve Vickars

Here’s the list of towers in the Banbury Branch Ringing Day. To enlarge it, click the arrow in the top corner of the poster.

13 ringers from 6 towers came to the Branch Practice last Wednesday at Bletchingdon – some of us even remembered how to ring Grandsire Doubles! Earlier that evening Gerald Bushby rang his first quarter – Plain Bob Doubles – congratulations to him!

Our next scheduled branch practice is on Thursday 2nd September at Weston-on-the-Green at 7.30pm when we can admire the work done to make the bells, and ringing them, so much more enjoyable and then on Wednesday 29th September at Middleton Stoney at 7.30pm.

Do come to both/either if you can.

There’s a Ringing Day on Saturday 18th September organised by the Banbury Branch, and also a Tower Belfry course on 23 October which will be useful for those looking after our bells to ensure we can ring in safety.

Steve Vickars and his team have been hard at work continuing to renovate much of the ring at St Mary’s, Kirtlington.

After last year’s replacement of pulleys and ceiling bosses, they finally completed cleaning and re-painting the bell frame, which had previously been painted some 50 years ago and definitely needed doing.  They noticed that there had been some corrosion on one part of a supporting girder, but the expert opinion was that the frame overall is still sound.

Steve helped Isaac and Aaron (socially distanced, naturally) to remove wheels and clappers, prepare the frame for painting, then apply Red Oxide primer and top coats to the frame, headstocks, clappers and supporting girders. This took two long weekends between end February and early March 2021, with some additional work in the intervening week.

The result is quite striking! Below are some before and after photos. Seve hopes that the frame should not require re-painting for another 40 years or so. This will be aided by the installation of a weather-proof membrane in front of the louvres, to keep moisture and dust out of the bell chamber.

Steve said, “While we intend to chime and toll for a few occasions over the next two months, we hope to return to socially-distanced ringing from May, all being well.”

The latest version of Odd Bob – Issue 103, Autumn 2020 – can be downloaded here. Older versions can be found here.

The Association of Ringing Teachers has produced a new publication on the subject of Survival and Recovery. You can download it here.