Chester Branch newsletter March 2018

Events in March

We have begun the month well with another of Helen’s Training Meetings.  This time, on 03 March, we met at Backford – an ideal tower for such a meeting – and then moved out of our Branch to Neston, having lunched at the Hinderton Arms first.  Numbers were down somewhat; and perhaps the weather was a factor.  It was certainly not the warmest of days, but we all managed.  A few degrees down on the thermometer are not going to deter us, are they?

It was pleasing to see a concentration on treble bob hunting; and I am sure that proved to be useful.  It is the next logical step after Bob Doubles or Minor, and it is something to which all you aspirational learners should aspire.  Finding enough ringers to ring methods where the treble dodges 1-2, 3-4 and 5-6 (Treble Dodging Methods we call them now) is perhaps not so easy.  I had better not allow myself to be sidetracked, but I’ll repeat my plea for more learning of simple Treble Dodging methods.  They definitely do not all have to be Surprise!  (See later for a recommendation.) Something for our Ringing Master to consider when he puts on one of his practices at a six-bell tower.

Advanced Practices continue, of course.  A funeral kept me away from the last one, but by all accounts it was a success.  I know that Simon thinks hard about these practices, and they have the potential to do a lot of good.  This month we’ll be at Waverton on Friday 16 March.

Then, on 28 March, we are at Malpas for the Ringing Master’s Practice.  You have already had the special notice; and very interesting it looks, too.  And the bells are not bad, either!  We cannot blame Ben on the cancellation of last month’s practice.  This is a busy Branch, and there are plenty of busy and active ringers in it.  There will be a Chester Team in this year’s National 12-Bell Striking Contest Eliminators at Selby Abbey.  They are up against stiff competition, but we must all wish them well.  I am quite sure they will all be trying very hard.  Preparations have been very thorough, and on 24 February they had the opportunity to practise at Selby.  Clearly they could not miss out on that.  Unfortunately it meant taking out a few too many of the steadier ringers, and I think it was the right decision to cancel.

A Few Trumpets Need Blowing

Well, you know I’m a modest unassuming sort of a chap; not a limelight grabber.  But now I’m going to blow my own trumpet – not too loudly, of course, and that’s because I’ll be very happy to blow other trumpets, and especially one.  Let me explain.  Very many – practically all I should think – ring Plain Hunt.  Usually we start on five bells, and I can definitely remember when I first rang it and it was so much faster than call changes.  It is perhaps more common to ring with a cover – which is always good practice anyhow – and if eight bells are available then it is natural to progress to Plain Hunt on Seven.  Just 14 changes, and that’s it.  For learners it is quite a step, though; and needs to be rung often to achieve the required rhythm.  Did you know it can be rung to a peal?  It can, and there have been ten peals of it since 1926.  Nothing recorded before that, but I would have thought that Grandsire, Union and Stedman Triples would be what were rung earlier.  We celebrated the 300^th anniversary of the first recorded peal – Plain Bob Triples rung in Norwich in 1715 – three years ago.  What about Plain Hunt, then?  A doddle surely.  What is there to it?  To get the required 5040 changes we need to have some calls, as obviously you can’t just ring those 14 changes 360 times.  And the calls?  A bell makes fifths, causing the two other bells above it to dodge.  And singles are also needed: the bell which was going to make 7ths still does so, and then the bell which would have dodged with it makes 6ths.  OK so far?  That’s not too bad, but when calls come thick and fast – remember there are only two blows between calling positions – it gets a bit trickier.  Especially so when singles are followed immediately by bobs.

Anyhow, a peal (which had no fewer than 586 calls) with all those features was rung in our Branch on Tuesday evening.  It had three Branch members in it, and above all the conductor was from our Branch.  Please check this link to see all the details: http://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/view.php?id=1220353

Not my most flattering photo.  I was chewing a toffee at the time.  If you’ve looked at the composition you’ll have noticed there is quite a bit to learn.  My part in the peal was not hard: my main task was to do the same thing (120 times) and not fall asleep.  Ben and the other inside ringers had far more to do; but the hero of the hour was without any doubt our conductor (and composer): Paul Hunter.  All seven of us were quite clear at the end that we had taken part in something very special, and we were in the extremely capable hands of a brilliant conductor: always in control, a voice that never faltered; and it was a privilege to be in the band. I just do not know how he did it.  He composed the peal, and then had to learn the composition, and – the hard bit – call it accurately (remember, just two blows between many calls).  Quite amazing.  And he’d done it after a day’s work.  He also has a young family; and as well as looking after ringing at the Cathedral he had the North West Striking Competition to organize earlier in the year and now he’s leading his band in preparation for the 12-Bell Eliminators.  I have no qualms whatsoever about blowing Paul’s trumpet.  Of course, he’s not unique and bell ringing keeps throwing up talented conductors – Ken Lewis was one such example in our Guild – but it is just impossible to explain to non-ringers just how high the skill level amongst some ringers can be.  Well done, Paul; and thank you very much for inviting me to ring in something the like of which I have never before experienced during 60 years of ringing bells.  Nobody will ever forget that peal.

I am fully aware that it is some time since I set these questions.  Not really your typical quiz offering, I know; more matters to get you thinking and to allow me to explain a few points about methods.

1.Regular and Irregular Methods

I’ll make good use of The Tower Handbook (Central Council, 1998) for some of my answers.  The definition on p.46 reads:

‘One with the same lead heads as Plain Bob (or Grandsire in the case of twin hunt methods).’  That immediately raises another question:  ‘what is a lead head?’  In Bob Minor, when the treble first leads at backstroke in the plain course that is the lead head; but for most ringers – and you hear this a lot when things might be getting a bit erratic – that is the ‘lead end’.  At that first backstroke lead the bells ring 135264; and then 156342, 164523, 142635.  If the first lead head of a plain course of a Minor method – Plain, Little, Treble Dodging, Alliance, etc. – is one of those rows then it is deemed to be a regular method.  Other lead heads are quite possible, however.  For instance 136245 would work.  Moreover, these irregular methods have been around for a long time.  Let me give an example:  Morning Exercise Delight Minor.  This has Oxford above the treble, and Cambridge below; so, we can call it Boatrace.  The version with Kent above the treble is called Oswald, but Kent places are not very elegant, are they?  Oxford is a much better method to ring, and thus – certainly in my opinion – Boatrace is much better than Oswald.  Yet, if you ring a 720 you will tend to find 65s at backstroke come up, and many find those very unattractive.  Also, familiarity with standard callings can be comforting, as the same old combinations of bells keep coming up.  These are missing with irregular methods and personally I find that a bit disconcerting.  I would, however, like to recommend a nice simple irregular Treble Bob Minor method: Snowdrop.  It too has Oxford above the treble.  I always use this site for getting a diagram: http://methods.ringing.org/

Another thing that might make a method irregular is if a bell strikes more than two consecutive blows in one place; although Bob Doubles, Triples, etc. are OK, and so are bobs in Kent, and singles in Grandsire.  Ringing London Minor with a bell making four blows in 6ths place at the end of the lead is fun, though.  That’s called Water.

I could go on but I’ll just finish by saying that everything is much more permissive now, which is the way it should be.  Good taste will always be there, of course.  That too is the way it should be, but after this year’s Central Council Meeting we’ll see a lot more things are going to be tolerated.

3. Cartwheeling

I am once more not going to give answers to all the January questions.  I have prepared something about method definitions; and also about asymmetric methods.  I’ll return to them next month.

Cartwheeling we can deal with quite quickly, though.  This is simply ring with a closed handstroke lead all the time, and not leaving a gap before pulling off at handstroke.  Leading is not easy and needs practice.  A dropped lead will upset the rhythm, and if you’re not getting it right expect to be told about it – and often in no uncertain terms.  On six bells, for example, remember to ring in thirteens: 123456123456 – pause for a bell to fit in, which is like an unheard no.13 – and then the leading bell starts off again at handstroke.  This is something for all of you to work on, and surely at your practices there is no harm done by simply practising leading.  But in some parts of the country they prefer ringing cartwheel.  Just like those Devon Call Changes this is another tradition which should not die.  Go to certain towers near Barnsley and you’ll find cartwheel ringing is still thriving on six bells.  It is in this part of Yorkshire where many irregular methods were first rung and named.   Some of them have a bell making 5ths away from the treble; and thus 65s at backstroke will come up often.  With cartwheeling, though, does this really matter so much?