Thursday 12th December 2024

Richy's Blog

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Wednesday 11th December 2024

I'm not convinced I was much help at Pettistree this evening. Throughout the practice I didn't feel I was ringing at my best, especially during a touch of spliced Minor where for some reason during a lead of London Surprise my brain put me back into the Norwich Surprise we had been ringing in the previous lead, before later in the same piece I was trying to put a dodge into Plain Bob where there wasn't one!

It was just one of those nights I suppose and hopefully didn't entirely sidetrack a session that also took in Grandsire Doubles, some Norwich on its own and a 120 of Stedman Doubles to finish with once Mary Garner had been persuaded not to lead us down first! All accompanied by chocolate cake very kindly brought in by Elaine Townsend and a rendition of Happy Birthday ahead of the anniversary of her birth and rounded off by a drink in the Greyhound Inn where I was greeted by former Ipswich Town Chairman David Sheepshanks who commented favourably on my ITFC fleece, which had earlier helped me feel more comfortable in the cold at Alfie's football training!

Meanwhile ringing on the ground-floor six began with a 1296 of Cambridge Surprise Minor, one of two quarter-peals rung in Suffolk today, with the other being at Elveden of an impressive 1280 of Glasgow Surprise Major which is one of the more complicated 'regular' Surprise Major methods.

And I imagine they were ringing better than I was this evening!

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Tuesday 10th December 2024

Tonight's practice at Ufford gradually dwindled in numbers as it got closer. Ringing Master Kate Eagle was unable to make it, but we already knew that and so I was ready to run the session. However, just before I set off word came through of another who couldn't now attend due to illness and when I arrived at the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary it transpired that two more had had to drop out at the last moment and another wouldn't make it until about 8pm after getting home late.

We made do with five ringers for a while, ringing two 120s of Plain Bob Doubles, one for Margaret Weeks to ring inside and then one for Vince Buckman to do likewise before we were made six and rang some Plain Bob Minor, with a touch for Vince to navigate successfully inside and then a plain course for Margaret to ring inside to for the first time and which she rang very well!

It was a stretch for everyone to ring all the way up until 9pm though so we finished a little early and there were notable pauses between ringing for rests which allowed for much socialising and also to read the 'Code for Ringing' which was shared by the CCCBR last year but which I have only noticed up here this evening. I would love to see more of these in Suffolk's ringing chambers (Laminated copies of this were issued at the SE ADM for all towers in the SE. Ed). Not because I suspect that things are being said or done that shouldn't be, but as a reassurance to visitors to our ringing chambers - especially non-ringers - that these are safe, comfortable places to spend lots of time, as well as reinforcing the type of atmosphere that I'm sure we all agree we want to be prevalent in the exercise. My take is that it isn't a charter for ridding the humour in the ringing chamber that many of us enjoy with each other, whilst it has to be expected that instructions in the middle of ringing often have to be loud, sharp, sudden and occasionally sound rude to get the job done, but I hope such a code in the room will remind us all to be certain that the person we are joking with is happy with what we are saying and doing and to make sure that civility is restored after a rough piece of ringing! We probably all know of occasions where the atmosphere hasn't been nice or someone has been offended or upset and maybe at times we've all contributed to that in one way or another, however inadvertently, so I think anything that can help prevent such situations has to be a positive.

Meanwhile, Membership Secretary Mary Garner has sent out an email to members reminding us all that subscriptions for 2025 are due on 1st January, along with a unique number for each of us that should hopefully help make it easier to keep track of payments made online. As with most things in ringing there is no obligation to pay for a subscription, but it helps a volunteer charity that aims to support Suffolk's ringers and bells through networking, training, recruitment, restorations and augmentations, especially if it is paid promptly. And in the scheme of things for very little cost compared to other activities!

Directly or indirectly, the Guild's help can hopefully be detected in the ringing done in the county today including two quarter-peals, one rung at Great Barton and the other before the weekly practice at Offton. Well done to Sally Veal on ringing her first of Single Oxford Bob Minor in the former and Happy Birthday to her and Carl Munford for this week!

Back at Ufford though, with no normal practice next Tuesday and then the following Tuesdays falling on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, tonight was the last one here in 2024 and it seemed an appropriate way of rounding the year on this 13cwt eight off. We don't get huge numbers here and would always welcome extra help, though we appreciate that's not always possible, but we nearly always seem to get something constructive out of the evening and it has been great watching ringers progress with much laughter along the way. Even on nights like this with dwindling numbers!

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Monday 9th December 2024

The spirit of Christmas feels like it has completely arrived at St Mary-le-Tower. At a weekly practice where we continued the good work of last week with more focus on Erin Cinques and Lincolnshire Surprise Maximus, the Christmas tree was up in the corner behind the ninth rope and I picked up our first Christmas cards from the traditional card box in the middle of the ringing chamber. And it was all topped off by a pint of a beer called 'Good 'Elf' in the Halberd Inn.

Meanwhile it was also a busy day of ringing in another of the county's major towns Bury St Edmunds, as two quarter-peals of Royal were rung. One was on handbells of Little Bob and offered best wishes to former Suffolk Guild Ringing Master Amanda Richmond in her recovery. At her home tower I was very sorry to hear at tonight's notices that she was unwell, but pleased that she is appreciative of the good wishes. However, it was also imparted that she doesn't wasn't to be inundated with messages just at the moment, however well-meaning they are. Do keep her in your thoughts and footnotes though.

The other QP rung was of Yorkshire on the back ten at The Norman Tower for the Emergency Services Carol Service at the Cathedral.

I imagine St Mary-le-Tower's ringing chamber wasn't the only one where it felt like the spirit of Christmas had arrived.

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Sunday 8th December 2024

I suppose we could go ringing on Sunday mornings such as these when we awake in a strange place. However, so rare is a lay-in the otherwise wonderful and blessed stage that we are in life, with daily early routines to get the boys out to school and us to work, Saturday mornings gladly supporting Alfie playing or training with his football teammates and the Sabbath morn dedicated to singing and ringing, that such moments seem an oasis of relaxation. Even without a hangover following yesterday's alcohol-free wedding, this morning was a welcome leisurely one, with the boys opening the Advent calendars they'd brought with them and us having until noon to vacate our ground-floor room at the Travelodge overlooking the East Sussex countryside.

Eventually we did leave our accommodation of the last two nights, had breakfast at The George Hotel in nearby Hailsham and set off on a journey home which following our travels of the previous couple of days was remarkably trouble-free. It didn't get us home in time to get to Portman Road to watch Ipswich Town's male footballers play Bournemouth, but we hadn't expected to anyway and so we had already passed our tickets to my brother Chris and his wife Becky who was watching her first professional football match, Ruthie's cousin Freddie and his mother's other half Andy. And we did get back in time to listen to ITFC's soul-destroying last gasp defeat on the radio and even more importantly to ring at Ufford for the Nine Lessons and Carols with Grandsire Triples and Cambridge Surprise Major rung, before we attended the service, where mother-in-law Kate Eagle was doing one of the readings on behalf of the bellringers, who were also (eventually/specially!) thanked for our efforts by the Reverend Paul Hambling.

They were also ringing for a carol service at Stowmarket, where a 1260 of five Doubles methods was rung on the front six and was one of two quarter-peals rung in Suffolk today, with the other being the 1320 of Little Bob Maximus rung at The Norman Tower, whilst as has been traditional down the years, the second Sunday peal at Aldeburgh was a first in the method for all the band and for the Guild, which on this occasion was Cambridge/Yorkshire-above construction Drayton Bassett Surprise Major. Well done to Mary Dunbavin, June Mackay, Mike Cowling, Mark Ogden, Jed Flatters, James Smith, Richard Rapior and conductor Alan Mayle.

Hopefully they were also all able to make up for our absence from ringing on the county's bells this morning.

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Saturday 7th December 2024

Suffolk was the scene of a lot of ringing today.

The South-East District ADM took place at Framlingham with a bring and share tea, a service and of course the meeting itself, but also ringing on the 16cwt eight there. Elsewhere within our borders, there were four quarter-peals and a peal. The peal was the traditional December attempt at Pettistree to celebrate the anniversary of the first peal on the rededicated six in 1987 and saw the Guild Chairman Mark Ogden circle the tower to peals. Congratulations Mark and congratulations to former SGR Peal Secretary Alan Mayle on ringing his 1250th peal for the organisation, which he achieved yesterday in the 5008 of Double Norwich Court Bob Major at Meldreth in Cambridgeshire.

The quarter-peals were also laden with landmarks and achievements. At St Mary-le-Tower, well done to fellow Rambling Ringer Emily Mills on ringing her first inside of Maximus in the 1584 of Cambridge Surprise and the same to Catherine Harrison on ringing her first of Minor inside in one of two 1260s rung at Redgrave. Congratulations to Juliet Griffiths on ringing her twenty-fifth QP in the other one and well done to her on ringing her first of Plain & Little Bob Minor in the success at Tostock, as well as to North-West District Ringing Master Joshua Watkins on trebling to it for the first time.

We weren't taking part in any of it though as we were in Brighton for the marriage of Ruthie's best friend Fergie to Dan. In so many ways this was a wedding against the odds. Apart from family, we were pretty much the first to be told of their engagement via a phone call whilst we were having lunch in the churchyard at Aylesford during the Rambling Ringers Tour of Kent only four months ago and so although the talk then was of an October ceremony, it was still a short period of time to organise such a big event. And even if we weren't anywhere near the worst effected parts of the UK, Storm Darragh was making things extremely challenging. Some guests travelling down from the bride's home county didn't make it, stuck in the traffic chaos around the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge at the Dartford Crossing which was closed due to the high winds and even closer to proceedings we were stuck behind a queue at a standstill behind a felled tree across the A27, as we made the journey from our overnight accommodation to Fergie's abode where the bride and her bridesmaids were to have their hair and makeup done by a professional. Except in another stroke of misfortune, her car had broken down and so they had to do it themselves!

As this was happening, I had hoped to get the boys and myself out of the way by taking them down to the seafront a few minutes walk away and find somewhere to watch the Everton vs Liverpool men's football match on the TV, but that particular fixture was one of the many postponements and cancellations across the UK and especially the west due to the weather. With those conditions even over here in the south-east making spending a few hours outside with an eight-year-old and ten-year-old particularly unappealing for all concerned, we instead stayed with the bridal party making ourselves useful by making cups of tea and accompanying the mother of the bride to the venue with twenty-four bags of ice.

Eventually Fergie was walking down the aisle, the happy couple were married in a lovely ceremony and then in the same church as that happened tables and chairs were moved and a relaxed and informal reception with beautiful, ad hoc speeches and a burger van outside (the food was wonderful, even if the queuing was a bracing experience!) was held with the boys amongst the many young children enthusiastically playing together before we returned to the Travelodge for another night at the end of a lovely day. What I enjoy about weddings is how no two are the same with each one reflecting the marrying couple's personalities, but this was a particularly fine exhibition of a DIY wedding where so much was put together by Fergie and Dan and their families and friends which gave it a really personal and unique feel, especially overcoming the various setbacks! And it was a privilege for Ruthie to return the favour of twelve years ago for someone she has been best friends with since their primary school days.

No ringing was involved though. There are a number of rings of bells in Brighton, including tens at St Nicholas and St Peter's and there is a tower attached to the One Church where conceivably a small ring of bells could be hung (I've rung in smaller towers!), but as far as I can tell there wasn't even any for chiming.

I'm glad there was more ringing going on back in Suffolk then!

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Friday 6th December 2024

Not long after Ruthie left the house this morning to catch a train to Brighton, I rather feared that she was going to have a challenging journey, as word came through of technical issues on the services that she was due to travel on. As it happened, it was Josh, Alfie and me who experienced the biggest issues in getting down to the south coast on the roads later in the day.

The reason for our unusual travel arrangements was that my wife is lined up to be bridesmaid for the reason we were going down to East Sussex, the wedding this weekend of Ruthie's best friend Fergie to Dan and with Mrs Munnings not in work today she was making a head start in order to help with setting up and to attend the wedding rehearsal, whilst the youngest boys and I were to drive down after we'd finished school and work. Whilst Ruthie arrived to meet her chum only a few minutes late, our carload reached as far as Colchester on the A12 and came to a stop. Being sat by a junction, I took the chance to come off and join hundreds of other motorists in chancing our luck in bypassing the hold-up and thus began about an hour of traversing north Essex in the dark before eventually rejoining our original route and finally making it to Fergie's abode in the rain and wind as the edge of Storm Darragh hit this popular seaside resort.

A quick chat with our host and her mother and we were off to our accommodation at the Travelodge near Hellingly (home to an 11cwt six quarter-pealed only on Monday) on the edge of Eastbourne. Tomorrow's wedding is unusually alcohol-free, which when I first discovered I must admit I was slightly unnerved by. Such occasions are a rare opportunity for us to truly let our hair down (I know, I know, I don't have any left to let down!) and socialise with a few drinks, but I long got over that revelation and apart from eagerly anticipating a special day for someone who was a bridesmaid for us and Godmother to Alfred, I am now quite intrigued by what affect it will have on the day. For example, I know a lot of people - myself very much included - who need a bit of Dutch courage to let themselves loose on the dancefloor as was exhibited at George & Lucy Heath-Collins' wedding a few weeks ago! There is one bonus already and that is that without the need to secure somewhere within walking distance or via an affordable taxi journey, we were free to search for a place to stay at a reasonable rate across a wider area, hence why we were about twenty miles away. Although its isolated location meant that my tea had to be a Pot Noodle purchased from the garage opposite, it was a nice spot to lay our heads for the night.

It meant missing this year's annual winter curry night with our fellow St Mary-le-Tower ringers in Ipswich, but earlier I did get the opportunity to read the latest edition of The Ringing World, which included 'Thought for the Week' written by Haverhill's talented ringing vicar Max Drinkwater on this occasion, but that was as close as we got to any actual ringing today.

That wasn't the case for other ringers back in Suffolk though. Well done to Neal Dodge, Andrea Alderton, David & Lesley Steed, Maureen Gardiner and conductor Stephen Dawson on ringing their first quarter-peal of Xmas Tree Delight Minor in the 1296 at Tostock. I chuckled a little at the festive theme of the method as it reminded me of the band's response to my comment on the lack of a seasonally named method in last year's QP on the 5cwt gallery-ring six on the first Friday of December, which ultimately led to the footnote to the 1320 of Christmas Treble Bob Minor at Woolpit later in the month!

I hope their journeys tonight weren't overly challenging too.

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Thursday 5th December 2024

There is much going on in the districts and it has been a busy few weeks of course with all of them holding their 2024 ADMs, the last of which is due to be the South-East's at Framlingham on Saturday and for which information has been sent out and/or shared on their page on this website, such as the agenda, draft minutes, nomination forms for officers and the like, which is all meant to streamline the business of the afternoon. The North-East held theirs at Southwold on 9th November and the agenda for that is amongst a number of links on their page on this site, whilst the South-West held theirs at Bures a fortnight after that and links including a report from their Chairman Pauline Brown. And following theirs at Hopton in October, today the North-West's Secretary Mary Oliver-Barratt emailed members with a calendar of the events they have planned for 2025. Certain ones stand out like the visit to the ten at Stowmarket penciled in for next month and their intention to hold their ADM in Fornham St Martin in October with ringing on the new eight there, whilst I'm delighted to see that they have brought back their striking competition, with that slated for Horringer in September.

The 8cwt ground-floor eight at Leonard's church by the gates to the Ickworth Estate was also the scene of a quarter-peal today, but as usual for a Thursday there was no ringing for us as Ruthie was practicing with her choral colleagues and I noticed that the recordings from Sunday's peal at Exeter Cathedral that had just been on Facebook are now also on YouTube for the world to watch. Only about six minutes from the 4 hours and 24 minutes of ringing, but it captures, the beginning, the end, a sense of what its like ringing inside such a big famous ringing chamber and an essence of the composition and the superb ringing, especially Matthew Hilling on the second heaviest bell in the world hung for change-ringing. Well worth a watch if you weren't able to at the weekend.

And it's well worth catching up with the districts with so much going on.

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Wednesday 4th December 2024

An evening that began with me watching Alfie football training with his teammates whilst Josh again played the game with other younger siblings on the sidelines, ended with mother-in-law Kate's dog Merlin being lavished with attention by a group of archeologists in The Greyhound in Pettistree whilst in between I joined the weekly practice on the ground-floor six next door.

That session was a pretty decent one with the pleasant surprise of Wickham Market ringer Steve Elliott being there. Steve was once the Ringing Master at Woodbridge and is a very good ringer but spent a long time out of ringing before returning to the exercise in recent years at his home tower and here on Sunday mornings. However, we don't usually see him on Wednesday nights so this was a bonus and he helped us to ring a typically eclectic repertoire, which included a touch of Plain Bob, Little Bob & Cambridge Surprise Minor spliced, some Ipswich Surprise Minor and at the end multiple Minor methods spliced where the treble ringer did well to continue on the right path despite mishearing Beverley for Wembley and wondering if they should be treble bobbing or plain hunting! And there was some Norwich Surprise Minor which I was asked to ring in.

"I'm happy to try some lower league stuff," I 'quipped' in reply.
"You might have to soon," retorted Mike Whitby.

A typically jovial evening was rounded off with that drink with Mrs Eagle, the Garners and Sam Shannon in the ancient inn that backs onto the churchyard and preceded with a quarter-peal, but there was nothing else noted from Suffolk on BellBoard. I don't suppose every ringer's evening was as full as mine was today.

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Tuesday 3rd December 2024

No Ufford for us this evening as we were at Portman Road.

Midweek evening matches are a bit of a rarity this season. There are fewer teams in the Premier League and so fewer fixtures and less need to squeeze them between weekends. In fact, the pace at which the games have arrived has been almost glacial thus far. Tonight though, we were hosting Crystal Palace with quite an early 7.30pm kick-off, which meant our pre-match preparation was a bit more rushed than normal. With no time for our usual meal in the Mermaid as instead we parked up near Christchurch Park and wandered in past the eight of St Margaret's where they were to have their weekly practice later on, the twelve of St Mary-le-Tower where I had been last night and then the five of St Lawrence which are sadly still unringable due to work needing doing on the tower, before grabbing some grub from one of the many burger vans outside the stadium.

No ringing therefore, but we saw Offton ringer Caroline Goodchild from afar who was very busy working at getting nearly 30,000 fans in, whilst we also had a pint with Norwich ringer Simon Rudd in the Fanzone - and Amanda Richmond's nephew who was with him - and met with him again at half-time of a very disappointing ninety minutes from our perspective.

Despite our absence from Ufford, I hope that Suffolk's ringing was less disappointing today.

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Monday 2nd December 2024

From the moment I got to St Mary-le-Tower's weekly practice tonight, it was a busy and productive session. Having rushed up after parking during a break between pieces, I was immediately asked to stand behind Ivan Culham who was ringing the sixth - rung from in front of the door - to a touch of Erin Cinques. Very well he did too, especially as I abandoned him partway through as someone was trying to open the door directly behind me. Ringers don't generally enter whilst ringing is going on, especially when in changes, so I suspected it was a non-ringer and was anxious that they didn't innocently barge in and cause harm to themselves or others. Therefore as Ivan continued undeterred, I briefly stepped out of the ringing chamber to explain to them what was going on and that we'd let them in once we'd finished that piece. It transpired this was Adam, a young chap who was indeed a non-ringer but sat in on a couple of pieces almost in awe of what we were doing before leaving after some very kind words. He also asked if anyone present was from Lincolnshire where he had apparently come from, to which the reply from some of us was "no, but we know what it looks like."

For coincidentally tonight we had been asked to familiarise ourselves with the Surprise Maximus version of this method and with the visits of Julian Colman, Andrew Stone and Essex Association Ringing Master Andrew Kelso we had a couple of quite reasonable attempts at it, especially considering it was the first time for a long time that pretty much everyone had rung it. Along with some Yorkshire Surprise Maximus and Stedman Cinques it was an extremely useful evening's ringing which I think we were quite pleased with and of course was followed by refreshment in the Halberd Inn.

All in all a positive night then, but I was really sorry and shocked to hear of the passing of Jim Towler. Like many ringers from Essex he was a character well known to Suffolk ringing, especially as along with his wife Yvonne he was always willing to help ringing and ringers within our borders when he could, with 132 of his 2619 peals rung for the Guild, the most recent of which was the 5042 of Yorkshire Surprise Maximus in Ipswich last year and which was also the final of the eleven peals I was privileged to ring with this super ringer. Although one that sticks out in my mind most vividly was one that I didn't ring in as he very kindly helped out by ringing in one of four simultaneous peals I had arranged for St Edmund's Day in 2009 which it transpired was his 2000th tower bell peal. A landmark that some ringers may have insisted was a grand event planned well in advance with much singing and dancing for their home association (which there is nothing wrong with of course!), but which he reached whilst helping out his friends in the SGR to mark a Suffolk occasion in an otherwise nondescript 5040 of Minor at Cavendish. It seemed to say a lot about him and I was personally really grateful for his humility then.

His death seems to have been very unexpected too, as he'd last appeared on BellBoard less than a fortnight ago trebling to a 5040 at Arkesden south of the River Stour alongside a band with strong connections north of it and was due to ring in the 5088 of Bristol Surprise Major at Danbury today in memory of Joe Roast, but which poignantly was also dedicated to Jim. Our thoughts are certainly with Yvonne and their family.

There was nothing from our county on BellBoard today though, so it is a good moment to remind South-East District members in particular but everyone else too, that the SE is due to hold its ADM at Framlingham on Saturday. Like the other District ADMs before them, this is an important event not just for the business, but for connecting the district that is home to towers and bands from Felixstowe to Offton, Dennington to Stutton, as well as socially. A lot of effort is being put into it, so please do support it if you can.

Hopefully it'll be a busy and productive afternoon from the start!

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Sunday 1st December 2024

As alluded to a couple of weeks ago, Christmas feels like it started for many a while ago, but come December I feel ready to get into the festive spirit. Of course Christmas itself is still over three weeks away, but Advent is typically a wonderful period in itself, usually full of anticipation, events, meeting up with friends, lots of food, lots of drink and hopefully a sense of how blessed we are. And today our household launched the season's joy pent up for some time in Alfie & Josh who for days have been begging us to get our tree and decorations up, a jolly task undertaken this afternoon almost entirely by the eight and ten-year old!

It contributed to a day that felt generally Christmassy with the CD of festive ditties put on in the car again (where it had been all year and simply picked up partway through Bing Crosby and David Bowie warbling about 'Peace on Earth' and the 'Little Drummer Boy' where it had been left on 5th January) on the way into Ipswich this morning for service ringing at St Mary-le-Tower where despite missing a handful of regulars we still rang Grandsire Caters and call-changes on twelve.

Afterwards in Costa Coffee it was good to see one of our 'walking wounded' Chris Birkby, who unfortunately is likely to be out of ringing for a while but was at least able to join a typically large crowd for our post-ringing refreshment before the boys and I made continued on to Grundisburgh where a touch of Grandsire Triples was the peak of proceedings.

That was my ringing done for the day though, but elsewhere in Suffolk ringers were busier in the exercise with an impressive four quarter-peals rung in the county as Little Bob Royal was rung on the back ten at The Norman Tower, Plain Bob Major at Halesworth, Plain, St Martin's & St Simon's Bob Doubles at Lakenheath and Cambridge Surprise Minor on the front six at Mildenhall.

Further afield, I was also impressed by the peal of David Pipe's classic 12-part composition of six Maximus methods at Exeter Cathedral. An incredible feat not just of mental but physical endurance on the world's second heaviest ring of bells hung for change-ringing and judging by the videos shared on the Bellringers Facebook page (including right at the end of the 4 hours and 24 minutes of ringing) at an extremely high standard. Even more so when one considers that four of the band had rung in the 18,720 of the 147 'standard' Treble Dodging Minor methods at Ston Easton yesterday, meaning that they had completed a total 153 methods in 23,760 changes and 13 hours and 21 minutes across the weekend.

Many of those ringing will hope to be ringing in the National 12-bell Striking Contest in 2025 and so would've been very interested in the draw for the qualifiers - as they have been rebranded this time - planned for Saturday 22nd March, which was made this evening. For the first time there are four groups with just two qualifying from each for the final scheduled for Saturday 28th June at St Mary Redcliffe in Bristol, which may change the dynamic. The ones at Beverley and St Nicholas Pier Head in Liverpool both have hosts ringing which may offer an opportunity for a surprise or two, as demonstrated by Portsmouth this year. However, at the former one imagines that perennial qualifiers Melbourne will nab one of the qualifying spots with either St Paul's Cathedral or Leeds getting the other, but York cannot not be ruled out and Stockton on Tees apparently has a flourishing twelve-bell band, impressively so given its location, so watch out for them too.

On the face of it, the favourites at the latter must surely be the holders the Cumberland Youths, whilst Guildford will be many people's pick for the runners-up spot I imagine, mainly because the rest of the teams including the hosts only have three appearances in the final between them this century. However, after building up their experience in recent years, Cheltenham or Chester may fancy reaching their first final ever, Reading their first since 2005 and Worcester their first since 2016.

Meanwhile at Rotherham, it's hard to look beyond the College Youths and Cambridge qualifying, but Oxford will probably have high hopes of pipping one of them, whilst both Norwich and Sheffield will be hoping that their experience of hosting the final in recent years might give them an outside chance of qualifying for the first time in many years. And it will be interesting to see if Leicester can 'do an Ipswich' and qualify in their first entry since 2006!

Finally, as certain as we can be about things that we can't be certain of, pretty much everyone will expect Birmingham to qualify at Shrewsbury, probably followed by 2019 winners Exeter. However, the team from the 72cwt twelve surprisingly didn't reach the final this year, which opens the door of hope to surprise 2024 finalists Portsmouth and one-time regular finalists Towcester. Also, Chilcompton are another team who have been building their experience in the competition in recent years including holding the most recent final in June, as have Hursley, so they could be dark horses in this. Great as Truro's first ever entry into the contest is, one imagines this will merely be the beginning of them building similar experience to their fellow competitors. Although as we showed in 2022, you never know! No entry for us this year though, but hopefully we'll be able to enjoy proceedings from the outside in just over three months time.

It also made for interesting reading whilst Ruthie was out in Beaumont-cum-Moze in Essex singing with her Illuminati choral colleagues, where there were some Christmas songs, as they too got into the festive spirit!

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Saturday 30th November 2024

There is much big stuff happening in the world to get folk fraught. War in Ukraine, the troubles in the Middle East (which seems to have had another conflict brought into the mix today), trade tariffs, assisted dying. I expect with all of those there are high powered meetings with high stakes and much stress occurring in sterile offices or daunting state rooms. It was somewhat warming therefore to spend my evening beneath the beams of the cosy living room of a rural cottage in deepest darkest rural Suffolk in a meeting where we discussed heaters, cobwebs and ladybirds, with my wife sat opposite with Alfie & Josh looking adoringly bored and the promise of wine and food afterwards. Welcome to the Pettistree ringers AGM, being held in person for the first time for five years and all the more wonderful for that.

There was other stuff of course, such as the need to recruit in order to maintain the success this ground-floor six has had for many years and it is always nice to look back on the previous twelve months, as well as to thank those who help make it happen. A lovely way to spend an evening and thank you to the Garners for hosting us and mother-in-law Kate for taking us and bringing us back.

It all came on a day when we weren't actually do any ringing, with the main focus in the morning not atypically for a Saturday being Alfie playing football but others were more active, with a 5040 of Cambridge Surprise Minor rung for the Guild at Wormingford just over the Essex border in memory of Evelyn Reeve by a band including her daughter Claire on the treble. It was also the 150th peal on this 8cwt six, twenty-eight of which were rung by Evelyn as her leading tower and according to the fabulous Pealbase the only one she circled.

I also grabbed a read of the latest edition of The Ringing World, which arrived with us this morning. On this occasion, Felixstowe is mentioned as one of the towers due to feature on BBC Radio 4's 'Bells on Sunday' in December (with the 15th the date it's penciled in for) and Nigel Gale writes in to make readers aware that the bells of "a Suffolk village" whose casting appears on an ITV news report about John Taylor & Co were that of Drinkstone. Taylor's are the main focus in this issue, but there is much else of interest in there such as an interview with Colin Turner following him reaching his 8,000th peal and a report on the London 12 Bell Competition amongst much else.

It was nice to read about something other than the big stuff happening in the world getting folk fraught.

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Friday 29th November 2024

On the face of it tonight was a disappointing one. Ruthie and I travelled out to the outpost of Orford on a dark autumnal evening for a Surprise Major practice and found that we made up five, with Mike Cowling, Richard Rapior and organiser and South-East District Ringing Master Hal Meakin already there. And that was it. We rang a couple of brisk touches of Stedman Doubles called by Mike and with still no one else arriving we rang the bells down and Hal and our household retired to The King's Head for a drink.

Yet we enjoyed our family outing out to the coast. In fact I usually enjoy coming out here. In the summer it's a vibrant, busy place full of holidaymakers benefitting from the sea breeze, but at this time of year it is extremely atmospheric, yet still active. Just around the Market Hill something was being set up in the Town Hall and people were eating in the Butley Orford Oysterage, whilst in the church tables were readied for an event and there were a healthy number in the pub when we were in, especially considering it is one of three public houses in the village. But this is a geographically isolated community, miles from somewhere even as big as Woodbridge and reached on a night like this in complete darkness beyond the hedgerows and trees lit by our headlights alongside the lanes we were travelling, only broken by the lights and the occasional festively decorated building and tree in Butley and Chillesford. Like so many of Suffolk's communities, this feels like a different world.

Others were hopefully feeling the same whilst also being more successful from a ringing perspective. Well done to the entire band - Lynda Rochester, Andrea Alderton, David Steed, Stephen Dawson, David Howe and conductor Lesley Steed - on ringing their first quarter-peal of Chiltern Treble Bob Minor in the 1296 at Tostock and congratulations to Peter Lock who celebrated becoming a grandad for the first time by ringing the fifth at Wissett for the 1272 of Annable's London Surprise Minor.

They definitely weren't having a disappointing evening!

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Thursday 28th November 2024

Ruthie was out practicing with her choral colleagues this evening, battling for a parking space in a busy Woodbridge ahead of the festive light switch-on and so it was a typical Thursday without ringing for our household.

There were other ringers participating in the exercise in Suffolk though, most notably at Ixworth where a quarter-peal of Ely Surprise Major was rung. Well done to Deborah Blumfield, Louise Whitehead, Martin Kirk, Stephen Dawson and conductor Joshua Watkins on ringing their first in the method.

There is also ringing in the county planned for next month. Understandably not as much as usual at a district or Guild level as the end of the month is due to get rather busy for Christmas at a local level, but there are events penciled in on What's On. The South-East District intend to hold their ADM on Saturday 7th at Framlingham, with lots planned around it including 'Christmas fun and bell handling games', which sounds fun! And a week later the traditional seasonal ringing around Ipswich is due to take place, presumably to avoid potentially sharing the town centre with 30,000 Tractor Boys and Geordies seven days later! Unfortunately that does mean it clashes with the North-West District Practice at the newly augmented and restored six at Westhorpe, which is being followed by its own sprinkling of Christmas magic with a festive bring and share tea. As ever, please do support what you can.

Meanwhile, many here may be interested in the 'Meet the Author' talk by Gareth Davies based on his book Foolish Youths & Substantial Rewards, scheduled for online on Sunday 8th December from 7-8pm. From the many conversations I've had with Gareth (particularly via Simon Rudd's Friday night virtual pub through the lockdowns) I imagine this will be a fascinating talk about Cambridge's ringers and ringing over three hundred years and is free to join. If you would like to join it then please do book your spot!

However, something that is NOT taking place is Offton's weekly practice next week on Tuesday 3rd, as announced on the SGR's Facebook page, so please don't head to this ground-floor eight hoping to ring on that night or you'll be very disappointed!

Hopefully others also got the message via the same source that there was no session at Falkenham this evening due to illness. It wasn't only us not ringing today.

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Wednesday 27th November 2024

It is cold at the moment. I don't like it and would much rather have the temperatures of thirty degrees centigrade that we only have for a handful of days every other summer, but low temperatures are what one expects for this time of year, so I shan't grumble. However, I can see how it might make going out ringing less appealing, done as it usually is from ancient structures full of nooks, crannies and draught with thin windows (no double glazing in most towers!) and sometimes open to the whole church. Often heating is either pretty ineffective, specific to only one spot or throws out a ball of heat all at once and then has to be turned off. Those who spend even more time outside due to work, leisure or necessity will be able to comment with more authority than me, but having stood out on a near-freezing evening watching Alfie doing football training, I can safely say that the ringing chambers of our county (Cotton and East Bergholt aside maybe!) positively cosy in comparison!

Pettistree is one of the most difficult to heat, with a huge space above the ringing floor and people constantly flowing between here and the church, a space which is such a blessing during the warmer summer months but is very cold in late November, yet with its relatively modern electric heater between the treble and tenor ropes warming most of the ringing circle it was more comfortable than my earlier engagement. Wonderful and heartwarming as it is to watch Alfred doing something he enjoys and Josh having fun playing football with fellow younger siblings on the sidelines (and it really is!), it does rather highlight that our ringing chambers are not as inhospitable places as may be perceived in cold weather!

The ringing on the ground-floor six was certainly worth braving the chill for too, as I was thrust straight into calling a 120 of Stedman Doubles from the fifth and then a course of Allendale Surprise Minor and whilst we finished with a touch of Norwich, we also rang Plain Bob Doubles for John Horsnell to treble to and Grandsire for Vince Buckman to ring inside to. And another typically social evening out here was rounded off with a drink in The Greyhound Inn with the Garners and Guild Chairman Mark Ogden.

Mark was earlier part of a strong Suffolk presence in the Essex Association peal of Stedman Triples at St Peter's in Colchester and in another neighbouring county an SGR peal of Double Norwich Court Bob Major was rung on the Cambridgeshire eight of Fen Ditton.

Hopefully that kept them all warm!

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Tuesday 26th November 2024

Well done to Josh on representing his school at local dodgeball competition today. He returned home quite rightly delighted with his efforts.

He is beginning to show a real aptitude for sport and gaining more confidence which is lovely to see. However, he is also very quick at maths and good at music, which if he ever wants to take up ringing would do him no harm at all.

For this evening, I was our household's ringing representation at another productive monthly Surprise Major practice at Ufford.

It is again the first of a Surprise Major two-parter in the South-East District (though not exclusive to SE members of course), the second of which is due to be at Orford on Friday night. If you are at that stage of your ringing progression then your support would be most welcome, but if you're not and/or you can't make it to the coast in three days time, then support would be equally welcome at Barham for the SE District Kaleidoscope Practice.

Tonight saw much useful practice for those invited along, with Anne Buswell was able to have a go at three leads of Bristol a couple of times, as was Hilary Stearn with Lincolnshire, as well as Cambridge, Lincolnshire, Superlative & Yorkshire spliced. We were able to put on a decent show for Mike & Pippa's non-ringing friend from the village.

Meanwhile, a handbell peal was rung in Bacton for the NDA and was Richard Carter and conductor Jeremy Spiller's fiftieth together. Congratulations Richard and Jeremy.

And well done Josh!

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Monday 25th November 2024

Unusually for a Monday night, mine and Ruthie's roles were reversed as my wife went into Ipswich and I stayed at home looking after the boys.

She wasn't going to St Mary-le-Tower's weekly practice though, as instead she was joining her mother and sister in going to the Regent Theatre to watch 'Rhythm of the Dance'. It was much enjoyed by Mrs Munnings but both of us felt a slight pang of guilt at not being able to support the ringing on Suffolk's heaviest ring of bells, especially as they were down two regulars already through injury, one with a broken arm, the other an ankle and a foot. It is a dreadful shame for them particularly but also us a band, but hopefully they'll have speedy recoveries.

Once I'd overseen the boys doing their homework and got them to bed, my own absence at least allowed me time to read the latest issue of The Ringing World which arrived with us today and could be rightly described as the Chris Kippin edition as he was remembered following his sudden death in July. Understandably so too, as he was an absolute giant of the exercise who was an extremely talented ringer and yet spent a lot of time supporting and encouraging his local ringing scene wherever he and his wife Heather lived. Two obituaries written by the RW editor Will Bosworth and former Central Council President and son-in-law Simon Linford were fascinating accounts of an extraordinary ringing life and were accompanied by an insight into his sharp wit as some correspondence (including with John Loveless) in the letters pages from years gone by about his youthful looks was shared, a huge list of ringing performances rung in his memory and a piece by Martin Whiteley on his famous compositions of spliced Surprise Royal.

In the extra time I had tonight, I also managed to listen to yesterday morning's 'Bells on Sunday' on BBC Radio Four, which was the latest to feature bells from our county as it showcases an extract of the 1320 of Norwich Surprise Minor at Ashbocking rung in 2022. It is well worth a listen, but there are as usual also longer recordings on the tower's page on this website, including some video. As the place where I rang my first peal, I'm delighted to see this isolated 10cwt ground-floor six take its place in the limelight!

Meanwhile, it was also lovely to see Evelyn Reeve remembered by the South-West District she served for decades, with a quarter-peal of Plain Bob Minor rung at Little Cornard.

For me though and unusually for a Monday, there was no ringing.

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Sunday 24th November 2024

There was nothing particularly notable or different about ringing at Woodbridge this morning, but for some reason I was reminded of what a privilege it is to be a bellringer. It has taken me behind the scenes of many famous abbeys, cathedrals and minsters, from St Paul's to York, Westminster to Liverpool, but even 'just' going to the ringing chamber where this 25cwt eight is rung from is special. The view and the history, the nooks and crannies in a room well looked after, all of which I expect most of those that regularly go to church here have never seen. And we get to make a sound that can be heard far and wide and which contrary to what some would have you believe is appreciated by many.

Following the service downstairs afterwards which we joined, I felt privileged again as I found myself with a pitchside seat alongside my family at Portman Road to watch one of the most eagerly awaited football matches this weekend, not just in Ipswich, not even just in England but arguably in the world as the Tractor Boys took on Manchester United, new manager et al. Media from across the planet were squeezed in alongside 30,000 fans with millions of TV viewers watching on to see Ruben Amorim take charge of one of the biggest football clubs in the world for the first time, as anticipated since it was announced weeks ago, with just about every interview and piece on it focusing on him and his new team. It was pleasing therefore that l'il ol' Ipswich Town held them to a 1-1 draw in a fantastic atmosphere!

As usual it was preceded by a visit to The Mermaid for food and drink and a pint or two in the Fanzone where also as usual we met with former St Mary-le-Tower Ringing Master Simon Rudd both ahead of kick-off and at half-time, whilst elsewhere in Suffolk ringing continued with a 1254 of Grandsire Cinques at The Norman Tower and 1260 of Plain Bob Minor at Rougham. That latter QP extended the North-West District Quarter-Peal Fortnight, rounding off what appears to have been a very successful couple of weeks in that corner of the Guild with eighteen successful quarters and ten firsts. Well done to all those firsts, to NW Ringing Master Joshua Watkins on masterminding it and indeed anyone who took part.

I imagine it was a privilege to take part and help those firsts.

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Saturday 23rd November 2024

Storm Bert caused all sorts of havoc elsewhere in the UK. Deep snow, high winds and flooding battered other parts of the country, but here in Suffolk we were fortunate to get away relatively unscathed. Still, it wasn't the finest conditions to play football in as Alfie did this morning or to have a wedding, as Flora and Archie did at Grundisburgh this afternoon.

The latter was rung for by Ruthie & me with Alfred & Josh in tow and saw a horsey theme as the bride came into sight on the village green behind a horsebox, in a carriage pulled by a horse and was then greeted by another horse halfway up the path to the tower. Joshua did a splendid job of letting us know when the bride had disappeared from view on arrival and the band produced what was hopefully a pleasant backdrop for participants of proceedings below as they shivered outside whilst we played it safe by ringing call-changes on the back six.

Meanwhile, the North-West District Quarter-Peal Fortnight continued with two 1260s of Single Oxford Bob Minor, one at Stowmarket for the annual Christmas Tree Festival in the church and another at Troston which was Claire Free's first in the method. Well done to Claire on that and her promotion!

Further afield, resident Guild members past and present were peal-ringing, with former Bardwell learner Louis Suggett conducting his own composition for a 5021 of Stedman Caters at Poole in Dorset, whilst one-time Debenham ringer Robert Beavis trebled to the 5040 of four Surprise Minor methods at St Mark Lord Mayor's Chapel in Bristol, John Loveless who learnt to ring at Bures rang in a peal at Lemsford in Hertfordshire, Norman Tower ringers Liz & Phill Orme participated in one of an impressive four peals rung by the College Youths in London of David Pipe's classic cyclic Maximus composition to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of its first outing and one-time Exning youngster Jimmy Yeoman pulled the tenor into one of a further three peals of the same composition by the Cumberland Youths, SGR Chairman Mark Ogden marked the precise fiftieth anniversary of his first peal with a 5058 of Yorkshire Surprise Major at Brentwood in Essex and the birth of Sudbury ringers James & Jenny Croft's grandchild was celebrated with a handbell peal of Stedman Triples in Bromley with James on the tenors. Congratulations to James & Jenny and also to Mark on fifty years of peal-ringing.

I'm glad that none of them were sidetracked by Storm Bert!

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Friday 22nd November 2024

For the second morning running I awoke to a pleasant surprise, this time as I looked out of the window and saw we'd received a dusting of snow. Nothing compared to what other parts of the country have been getting, but it looked pretty.

Not so pretty is the forecast for tomorrow when Storm Bert is due to bring high winds and so a trip kindly organised by mother-in-law Kate to the Illuminated Garden Trail at Helmingham Hall for Saturday night was brought forward to this evening. It all meant that the usual post-work Friday routine of getting Mason and feeding a household of five was unexpectedly a bit more rushed, but it was worth it for what is a fantastic sight at a truly wonderful location. And although I am trying not to peak too soon on the festive spirit, I absolutely loved having my first mulled wine of the season in the hall's courtyard beneath its huge Christmas tree! Thank you Kate! Although in the pitch black darkness of the Suffolk countryside surrounding this isolated venue there was no sight of the church which holds a grand 17cwt eight only a few hundred yards away.

Meanwhile at another eight in the county beginning with H, well done to North-West District Ringing Master Joshua Watkins on ringing his first peal of Bristol Surprise Major in the 5056 at Horringer, whilst the NW Quarter-Peal Fortnight continued with a 1260 of eleven Doubles methods at Tostock. Happy Anniversary to David & Lesley Steed! Those weren't the only ringing performances from within our borders recorded on BellBoard on this cold November Friday though, as the FNQPC successfully rang a 1320 of Cambridge Surprise Minor at Ashbocking, the 10cwt ground-floor six that are lined up to feature on BBC Radio 4's 'Bells on Sunday' this weekend.

It's good to see that the ringers of Suffolk weren't put off by the snow!

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Thursday 21st November 2024

There was a wonderful surprise when I got up this morning, braced for the usual cajoling to get Alfie & Josh fed and readied for school, only to find them dressed and having made their own packed lunches! Perhaps we are doing something right in our parenting. Or at least they're going in the right direction despite us!

It was the highlight of an otherwise mundane day which involved no ringing for us, nor anything noted on BellBoard from Suffolk, although hopefully the usual Thursday practices such as at Grundisburgh and The Norman Tower were running and productive.

There was a tenuous link to the county with a couple of notable peals rung on handbells in Reading celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of David Pipe's Cyclic Six Maximus composition first being performed. David has links to Suffolk through his father Rod and I know he has been a big help to ringing in Bury St Edmunds along with others from Cambridge, whilst it has been wonderful to see youngsters like George Salter and Jimmy Yeoman from within our borders going on to ring this ground-breaking composition.

From a personal point of view though, not as wonderful as waking to find Alfie & Josh already dressed and their lunches packed!

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Wednesday 20th November 2024

I did something very unusual today. Indeed, for the first time in five years. No, it wasn't buying a round of drinks or ringing the eleventh at St Mary-le-Tower to Grandsire Cinques without grumbling. In fact, I went to the dentist. The main reason initially for me not undertaking this task had been the pandemic of course, but since then it has been a mixture of not getting round to booking an appointment, not being able to and even cancelled appointments. This afternoon though, I finally found myself in the chair and was pleasantly surprised to find my teeth appear in pretty good condition. Going to the dentist is a little like going to a Guild AGM, just without the fun bits around it like the tea, pubs and ringing. And this year's record fast one at Stowmarket probably took as much time out of my day then as my trip for my checkup today did. It is something that has to be endured, but is very important.

To continue the theme of unusualness, following their football match last night Alfie and his teammates had been excused training this evening. As we've come to expect with youth football it had all been arranged very last minute and so unfortunately there was no opportunity to offer our services for the pre-practice quarter-peal at Pettistree, but I was able to make my way to there for the session that followed in a more leisurely fashion than I normally do.

Unfortunately the practice wasn't our finest with the numbers of experienced Surprise Minor ringers thin on the ground and therefore we weren't able to support those near the beginning of their ringing progression as well as we usually do and nor were we able to indulge in the variety of Surprise Minor methods that we typically do as we huddled together in the heated ringing chamber. It can go like that sometimes both here and elsewhere and we still had an enjoyable night, but it was unusual for what is consistently one of the very best six-bell practices in Suffolk and probably East Anglia. God willing it'll be back to it's usual fine standard next week.

Talking of next week, an email from South-East District Ringing Master Hal Meakin reminds folk that the Surprise Major Practice is due to be held from 7.30-9pm on Friday 29th November at Orford with Lincolnshire, Pudsey and Superlative added to the usual. Please do take advantage of this opportunity and before that if you can, please support the South-West District ADM at Bures, where sustenance is planned to be a bring and share tea.

Meanwhile the 1296 of Cambridge Surprise Minor on the ground-floor six was one of two QPs within our borders dedicated to St Edmund's Day along with the 1282 of Rutland Surprise Major rung at The Norman Tower on the Collings 8. Although in keeping with the general celebrations of the day it is more low-key than a few years ago, it's great to see ringers still marking the 20th November in the county he is patron saint of.

I imagine that at least some of the band in Bury St Edmunds enjoyed refreshment in a pub after their efforts, which is exactly what we did after ours as I joined Sam Shannon, Ray Lewis and the Garners in The Greyhound.

Which certainly wasn't unusual.

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Tuesday 19th November 2024

Snow and ice were making life challenging elsewhere in the country, but there were no such hurdles here in Suffolk.

It was chilly mind, especially as I stood on the sidelines watching Alfie and his football teammates playing in a friendly training match, an occasion which also made for a busy evening.

For no sooner as I had brought our young goalkeeper home then I was straight out to Ufford for the weekly practice there. Even with just one of the heaters currently working, from the outside when I arrived on this bitterly cold and pitch dark night with six ringers already pulling away, the ringing chamber looked a warm and welcoming sight. And so it was for a session that saw us fulfill a request from Vince to treble to Little Bob Minor and then Plain & Little spliced and some Cambridge Surprise Minor which Margaret trebled really well to. Although some Plain Bob Doubles didn't go so well as half the band seemed to be ringing a different touch to the other half of the band!

Still, it was all very productive and it kept us warm!

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Monday 18th November 2024

St Mary-le-Tower's ringing chamber was a hive of celebrity this evening. Not only were film stars Hal Meakin and Amanda Richmond present, but we were also visited by "the Gary Lineker of ringing" (as described by one of the ringers on our WhatsApp group!) Matthew Tosh and his wife Claire. Many will know Matthew as the instigator and presenter of the live broadcast of the National 12-bell Striking Contest Final, but he is a good ringer too as he participated in Stedman Cinques, Cambridge Surprise Maximus and Yorkshire Surprise Maximus amongst much else tonight, whilst Claire also rang in call-changes on twelve before they joined another large crowd in the Halberd Inn for refreshment afterwards.

Earlier in the day meanwhile, it had been another active day on the North-West District Quarter-Peal Fortnight. Well done to NW Secretary Mary Oliver-Barratt on ringing her first of Minor in the 1260 of Plain Bob at Great Barton, whilst there was also a 1296 of Little Bob Royal rung on handbells in Moats Tye.

All featuring local ringing celebrities!

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Sunday 17th November 2024

It is the 17th of November. Yet it is suddenly beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Ruthie will point to the fact that she has been rehearsing Christmas music with her choral colleagues for weeks, but even so I was surprised that on the way into Ipswich for morning ringing with Josh wearing his festive t-shirt, the radio station we were listening to blared out 'I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day' and then proceeded to gleefully play a number of songs I wouldn't usually expect to hear on the airwaves at least until folk are opening the first door on their Advent calendars. For our refreshment at Costa Coffee I enjoyed the Terry's Chocolate Orange drink which is among a selection normally only brought out for the festivities and after that the boys insisted that we visit the decorated tree now stood on the Cornhill and where preparations were being made for this evening's big switch-on of the lights.

Meanwhile, I watched a film this afternoon more suited to December than mid-November, but which could signal the beginning of an exciting movie career for some Suffolk ringers. Christmas at Plumhill Manor is a seasonal tale of an American businesswoman who inherits a typical big old English country manor house (the eponymous Plumhill Manor) and spends the festive period there, falling in love and learning important heartwarming lessons in life and all that. Much of it appears to have been filmed locally, including St Mary-le-Tower from about 39 minutes in. And from about 42 minutes in, former Guild Ringing Master Amanda Richmond, the St Mary-le-Tower Society of Change Ringers Steeple Keeper George Heath-Collins, South-East District Ringing Master Hal Meakin and SE Chairman Stephen Christian appear in robes to take part in a handbell performance which ends in an unexpected way and prompts some Hollywood-esque acting from Hal and Podge! Although actually filmed in the middle of a night in June, it was all very festive!

I joined some of the film stars on the county's heaviest twelve on this Sabbath morn, but only just! A late departure from home was followed up with a detour around the road closures of Woodbridge to drop my wife off at church and then half a course of Yorkshire Surprise Maximus just pulled off as the boys and I parked up in Ipswich, enjoyable listen that it was! Therefore I was only just in time to ring in the final piece, although that proved to be a very pleasant touch of Stedman Cinques. There was certainly no time to gather autographs.

Following our refreshment and inspection of the town's tree, we then continued onto Grundisburgh where my arrival was gratefully received by the quintet already there and busying themselves by ringing all the fives in the tower. Under the watchful eyes of my sons and Mark Ogden's grandson I was pleased to help out with some Grandsire Doubles and call some call-changes, but with Mrs Munnings heading off to Great Saxham to sing with the Jubilate choir for Evensong, that was it for my ringing today.

Not so for others though, with four quarter-peals and a peal rung within our borders. Most significant of those was the first QP rung at Fornham St Martin since their augmentation to an 11cwt eight, achieved with a 1344 of Plain Bob Triples. It is always a wonderful landmark in any project of this ilk where so much time, effort and money has been put in by the community and their supporters, so well done to all concerned.

It was also another addition to the North-West District Quarter-Peal Fortnight which today included the 1260 of two Bob Minor methods spliced at Bardwell too. Well done to Max Thomson on his latest achievement of his first of Plain & Little spliced! Elsewhere, a 1440 of Little Bob Royal was rung on handbells in Bury St Edmunds and back at St Mary-le-Tower the star of the big screen Hal Meakin was conducting a quarter of Erin for the first time and Ivan Culham and Peter Dykes were ringing it in this medium for the first time in this successful forty-three minutes of the Triples variation. And back at Grundisburgh the Society of Royal Cumberland Youths Peal Weekend continued with a 5040 of Cambridge Surprise Royal. As ever it is good to see local ringers involved with the aspirational societies.

Meanwhile, congratulations to Colin Turner who today became the first person to ever reach 8,000 peals with the 5024 of Lessness Surprise Major rung at his home tower of Milton in Oxfordshire with the seven people still ringing peals who have rung the most of them with him. Even two years after his death and six years since his last one with Colin, twice past Ringing Master of the SGR David Salter is still at number nine in his list of leading ringers according to Pealbase. I imagine David would've been involved as he was with Mr Turner's 5,000th and 6,000th. I've often wondered if Colin may end up reaching 10,000 peals and indeed if he'd continued on the rates he had between his 6,000th in 2013 and 7,000th in 2016 he would be well past 9,000 now, but ill health seems to have slowed him down and of course lockdowns took out fifteen months for him. I have never rung one with him but from what others have said he is deserving of reaching this landmark, apparently also giving opportunities to others, so I'm very pleased for him.

I wonder how many more peals he might have rung by the time it actually is Christmas?

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Saturday 16th November 2024

Alfie has been in the wars a little this week. Still recovering from illness and taking medicine which has left him less than 100%, he has also suffered an injury to his side which is quite painful. Therefore, it was all the more impressive that not only did he play for his football team this morning in his role as goalkeeper that requires lots of diving around onto that injury, but that they won in no small part to his saves and that he won player of the match. It was a good game and nice as well to catch up with Ruthie's uni mate whose son plays for the other team, as it was to host our near neighbours and friends Verity, Jade and for the first time their dog Rossa for tea this evening, even if Charlie Cat was less happy to welcome their pet! However, with travelling back from Alfred's match and then preparing for our visitors it left no time for ringing.

That was clearly not a problem for many other ringers, including in Suffolk where a predominantly resident Guild band contributed to the Society of Royal Cumberland Youths Peal Weekend with a 5184 of Cambridge Surprise Major rung on the 14cwt gallery-ring eight of St Margaret's in Ipswich. Not to be outdone though, a band of College Youths mainly from within our borders were ringing a 5043 of Stedman Caters at Stowmarket, whilst Juliet Griffiths was again achieving as just twenty-four hours after ringing her first QP of more than one method she rang her most methods with the 1260 of seven Doubles methods at Tostock which was the latest addition to the busy North-West District Quarter-Peal Fortnight.

Beyond our borders meanwhile, I was impressed by the 'Elizabeth peal' of Yorkshire Surprise Maximus rung at Cheltenham Minster and conducted by Norman Tower ringer Liz Orme. Sometimes these sorts of performances where a random band of ringers is brought together on the basis of a non-ringing connection such as name or date of birth can potentially be unsatisfactory, but those who took part in this 5042 in Gloucestershire seem to have genuinely enjoyed it and looking at some of those in the band that I know I imagine it was a good 3 hours and 33 minutes of ringing.

Well done to them, to Juliet, to the College Youths and the Cumberland Youths on their ringing achievements today.

And well done to our poorly Alfie.

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Friday 15th November 2024

The perception of the printed word is that it is yesterday's news when one can communicate information via social media instantly. This week's edition of The Ringing World which arrived with us this morning railed against that though with plenty that at least I haven't seen online. Simon Linford's informative article on festival churches and the ramifications for ringing at such churches. On a similar theme, the sell-off of Scottish churches, but also a report of the North American Guild AGM, the College Youths Anniversary Dinner and the trip to Fabian Stedman's ancestral home in Shropshire of a number of East Anglian ringers including Simon Rudd. And the fascinating insight from Alan Regin into the recent ten peals in a day at Dordrecht in the Netherlands.

Unsurprisingly for someone who had rung 2311 for them before today, Alan was also participating in the start of the Society of Royal Cumberland Youths Peal Weekend with a peal of the forty-one Surprise Minor methods spliced in Durham which is already his thirteenth peal since that historic day on the continent not even three weeks ago, but that wasn't the only SRCY peal today of course. Indeed that wasn't the only event being marked by ringing on this autumnal Friday, with a peal and three quarter-peals of Pudsey Surprise Major rung for Children in Need, including just over the Norfolk border at Pulham Market with a band featuring Suffolk ringer Martin Kirk.

Meanwhile there were a further two quarter-peals rung in the county, with Evelyn Reeve remembered with a 1260 of Plain Bob Triples rung at Bures and trebled to by her daughter Claire, whilst the North-West District Quarter-Peal Fortnight continued with forty minutes of Doubles at Whepstead. Well done to Deborah Blumfield on ringing her first QP on the tenor in that success and to Juliet Griffiths on ringing her first of multiple methods, her first in St Martin's and St Simon's Bob and her first on five in that same performance!

No such ringing endeavour for our household with a planned quarter-peal at Aldeburgh this evening called off yesterday due to illness, but at least we could enjoy ringing through the printed word.

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Thursday 14th November 2024

Our day began positively with watching Alfie's class assembly about their recent residential trip and ended positively with Ruthie practicing Christmas music with her choral colleagues whilst the boys and I watched England's men on the TV playing football, but as is the norm for a Thursday there was no ringing for us.

Others in Suffolk were making up the shortfall though. Mainly for the North-West District Quarter-Peal Fortnight, as a brace of successes were scored. One was at Horringer, where David Steed and NW Ringing Master Joshua Watkins were ringing their first in the medium of Cornwall Surprise Major. Well done to David and Joshua and congratulations to the latter on conducting a QP for the seventy-fifth time with the 1260 of Plain Bob Doubles on the 3cwt five at Eriswell. There were also 600 changes of Cambridge Surprise Minor rung on the front six of the 16cwt ten of Mildenhall, but not all the ringing noted on BellBoard from within our borders today was done in that corner of the county as a quarter-peal in hand was rung in Beccles to celebrate the first peal on eight on handbells for three of today's band - Ann Saunders, Philip Gorrod and Chrissie Pickup - fifty years ago.

Meanwhile I took the opportunity in my lunchbreak to watch a video recently added on YouTube by Ollie Watson, who occasionally joins us at St Mary-le-Tower, of ringing he and some friends did at Stonham Aspal last year. Great to see a largely young group enjoying what ringing offers and which I watched on the day that he conducted a peal for the first time. Well done Ollie!

And well done to Alfie and England's male footballers on beginning and ending our day so positively.

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Wednesday 13th November 2024

There was a sense of triumph over adversity at Pettistree's weekly practice this evening, as despite various setbacks a productive and enjoyable session was fashioned on the ground-floor six. Even by the time I had arrived having taken the boys to Alfie's football training and brought them back, they had already unusually lost the pre-practice quarter-peal attempt and Ringing Master Mike Whitby had left feeling under the weather. Additionally we were relatively low on numbers on a chilly night when I had my wooly hat out for the first time this autumn and yet we were still able to ring a couple of touches of Norwich Surprise Minor for Gavin Edwards, whilst Hilary Stearn called a 120 of Reverse Canterbury Pleasure Place Doubles, as well as touches of Plain Bob of the Doubles and Minor varieties and Grandsire for those at that stage, all guided superbly by Mary Garner in Mike's absence.

Mary was then joined in The Greyhound by her husband Chris after he'd been at the village hall for an apparently fascinating talk on rivers, which we heard about over a drink with Sam Shannon at a table very kindly cleared for us by the staff. It was but a part of a convivial visit that also took in a spot football chat with another patron of the tavern and reminiscing about visiting the Seckford Tap which was often visited after ringing with Stephen Pettman but closed in 2010.

I expect there was more post-ringing refreshment in pubs following a couple of peals involving Suffolk's ringers beyond our borders, as the Guild rang a 5088 of Martin Surprise Major at Kenninghall in Norfolk, whilst down in London at St James Garlickhythe SGR Treasurer Tim Hart was ringing his first of twenty-three Surprise Major methods spliced with all the work with the 5152 for the Cumberland Youths conduced by former St Mary-le-Tower Ringing Master Simon Rudd. Well done Tim!

Well done also to Lorna Penaluna who rang her first quarter-peal inside when she rang the fourth to a 1260 of Plain Bob Doubles rung at St Matthew's in Ipswich, hopefully not having to overcome too much adversity for her triumph!

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Tuesday 12th November 2024

For the Church of England it was a dramatic and troubling day with the resignation of Justin Welby as the Archbishop of Canterbury, bringing to the forefront safeguarding in the church and therefore by extension ringing and why the training we as ringers are asked to do is so important.

Ultimately we want our exercise to be safe so that it can be fulfilling and enjoyable for all and hopefully it was for Suffolk's ringers today. I found myself running the weekly session at Ufford with Ringing Master Kate Eagle called away for work. There was only enough to ring on six and so it was a productive evening for Vince Buckman and Margaret Weeks with the former in particular keen to ring lots of different bells, which is something that I believe ought to be encouraged wherever possible. However, with all of us ringing every time it was also a challenging evening physically and so we finished a bit early.

Elsewhere, another QP was added to the North-West District Quarter-Peal Fortnight with a 1260 of Plain Bob Minor at Great Barton that was dedicated to what would've been the 67th birthday of Jill Rood who died earlier this year. Beyond our borders Blaxhall ringer Mike Cowling was trebling to a 5040 of the forty-one Surprise Minor methods spliced at Harston in Cambridgeshire. And Norman Tower ringers Liz and Phil Orme rang in Gwen Rogers' 2000th peal in the 5120 of Glasgow Surprise Major at Bromley in Greater London, a performance rung for the Ancient Society of College Youths.

Speaking of which, congratulations to South-East District Ringing Master and Treasurer of the St Mary-le-Tower Society of Change Ringers Hal Meakin who this evening was elected to the society in the monthly meeting at Williamson's Tavern in the capital following the practice at St Mary-le-Bow. It is always wonderful to see the county's ringers elected to the aspirational societies, whether it be the College Youths or the Cumberland Youths and Hal has certainly earned this with his progression since moving to Ipswich as well as his tireless work in the SE and supporting other ringing. He is the type of ringer that ringing could do with generally and that includes the ASCY.

Congratulations also to Susan 'Swaz' Apter on being elected as Master again. Swaz was first elected into this role which is usually held for just one year at the end of 2019 but her twelve months in charge was then wiped out by the pandemic and lockdowns and so she was reelected a year later only then to suffer major health issues on top of lockdown still blighting much of her period in charge. Now she has recovered she has worked her back up through the traditional route of being Junior Steward and then Senior Steward which are now taken by Adam Brady and Anthony Bloomfield. Wonderful to see her back in the job and God willing she'll have a fair crack at it this time!

It is a good bit of news on a troubling day for the Church of England.

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Monday 11th November 2024

Armistice Day and whilst it isn't as easy for people to stop and pause as on Remembrance Sunday with work and life generally going on, many do participate in the silence at 11am. In schools as the boys did, at home as I did, in shops, in offices and at ceremonies across the country, including at the Cenotaph of course where Big Ben marked the start of the two minute silence there.

Of course it is also more challenging for ringers to ring for the occasion, but they were managing it, including here in Suffolk with a half-muffled quarter-peal of Plain Bob Doubles rung at Pettistree and although they weren't dedicated to Remembrance there were also a couple of impressive handbells quarters rung in the county today. One was a 1344 of Kent & Oxford Treble Bob Major spliced in Bury St Edmunds, whilst in Hasketon a 1280 of Kent Treble Bob Royal was rung by an entirely different band in an exhibition of the strength in depth of handbell ringing within our borders these days.

And at St Mary-le-Tower's weekly practice the bells were still muffled at backstroke, as they were yesterday morning and at last week's session. It is a wonderful sound, hauntingly beautiful, but really difficult to strike, with the rhythm broken up by the drop in volume every other stroke, but we still managed some really nice Stedman Cinques and Yorkshire Surprise Maximus with Sue Williamson and Abby Antrobus respectively both ringing well again, whilst we also squeezed in three leads of Cambridge Surprise Maximus. There was also still stuff for those progressing towards that level, although there was some confusion when as Amanda Richmond was standing behind for one piece she called "go Plain Hunt on nine", which came as a surprise to the band who were expecting to ring Little Bob Royal, including the conductor!

A productive and jovial evening was rounded off by a really nice lower of the back ten with Jonathan Williamson leading us down superbly and Hal Meakin and David Potts on the back two managing their part in the lower well in what is a difficult task on such big bells, whilst I stayed out of the way on the second!

After all of that we felt we'd earned our refreshment in the Halberd Inn where we watched a huge flight of emergency vehicles of all types flash past to something big happening somewhere and generally relaxed and enjoyed ourselves.

I was glad to be able to take some time out of my day to stop and remember at 11am though.

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Sunday 10th November 2024

It is 106 years since the end of the First World War with the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month which inspired Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday. Yet it is just as pertinent today as it was back then. Donald Trump's reelection as President of the USA this week has thrown into sharp focus on how particularly America but also the world deals with the Ukraine situation and it wasn't lost on many that there are parallel lessons to be learnt from the period between the world wars. History is important to note because it often offers pathways for better choices today and the Remembrance period can bring the history of war and the mistakes that have led to it and/or perpetuated it to the fore. Hopefully this particular time of remembrance will resonate with the President-elect and help him make the best possible choices.

Because ultimately it isn't the leaders who will put their lives on the line, it is those in our armed services who may be called upon again in the near future if those lessons aren't learned and it is them that we remember on this Remembrance Sunday. Primarily the ones who make the ultimate sacrifice of course, but I also think of those who have been badly injured and the sacrifices they make generally with the strict discipline, being away from their families, moving around the country and the like. And I also think about all those citizens who suffer from war. Others will be thinking of loved ones lost in conflict. For people and communities across the UK it is an important day and bells are also an important part of that and we as ringers need to do all we can to ensure that they are being rung for the services happening within the earshot of bells.

Suffolk's ringers certainly seem to have been doing that on this Sabbath, with ringing reported on BellBoard from Cowlinge, Glemsford, Little Cornard, Poslingford and Woodbridge. Well done to Sarah Franklin and Tom Hancock on doing their first ringing for Remembrance at the first of those towers. Meanwhile there were quarter-peals of Grandsire Caters, Grandsire Triples and Plain Bob Minor at The Norman Tower, Buxhall and Horringer respectively. Well done to Chris Graham on ringing his first on eight and congratulations to Neal Dodge on ringing his twenty-fifth QP on the bells in the second of that trio and well done also to Jane Watson on ringing her first quarter of Minor and half-muffled in the last of them, with all three performances kicking-off the North-West District Quarter-Peal Fortnight which is due to run until 23rd November. And at Aldeburgh the second Sunday peal was rung half-muffled for the fallen as well as marking the precise centenary of that first peal of Yorkshire Surprise Major for the Guild at Debenham which was also marked on that eight yesterday. Well done to past Ringing Master of the SGR Tom Scase on conducting a far from straightforward Alan Reading composition.

They had a good turnout at St Mary-le-Tower this morning too with Surprise Maximus rung, but with needing to drop Mason off for work I couldn't make that and having seen via WhatsApp that Grundisburgh were going to be short on numbers with Ringing Master Stephen Pettman not around on this occasion, I decided to go along to the county's lightest twelve. I'm glad I did too, as having spent a while sat in the car with the boys alongside the green as setting things up for the Remembrance part of their service by the war memorial began, I helped them ring some Grandsire Doubles and Plain Bob Doubles before joining the ceremony outside. As the sun came out it was typically moving, with Guild Chairman Mark Ogden demonstrating superb bell control to strike the tenor eleven times. Although I will take some credit for setting it at backstroke at the end of ringing!

It was all necessarily sombre and solemn, but not everything about the day was as folk enjoyed the freedoms that have been fought so hard for. From a ringing perspective, three residents of our county were ringing in the 5042 of Cambridge Surprise Maximus at Walsall which was the second peal of the day for Oliver Bates and the boy with ancestry from within our borders Henry Pipe as they had earlier rung a handbell peal of seventy-six Treble Dodging Minor methods in Harborne with Henry's younger brother Alfred, which in turn followed on from the peal of ten Maximus methods spliced down at St Mary le Bow with one-time Ipswich ringer George Salter.

For us fans of Ipswich Town men's team (the women were busy also winning at the same time which was also enjoyable!) though, the highlights of our day included our first Premier League victory for twenty-two years as the Tractor Boys rather surprisingly won 2-1 in front of 61,000 fans at the incredible Tottenham Hotspur Stadium against our hosts. There was something almost old fashioned about myself and my three sons being gathered round the radio waiting for those agonising last few minutes to play out before the final whistle blew to raucous cheering from those lucky enough to be and in our household!

Even better though, straight after we set straight off to the county town's railway station as we welcomed Ruthie back from what sounds like was a fun weekend near Brighton for her friend Fergie's hen do, with my wife being particularly pleased with making it through the London Underground on her own on Friday and today! We then settled in for a quiet evening in. Simple pleasures made possible in large part by those we were remembering today.

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Saturday 9th November 2024

I wouldn't change it for the world and regularly thank God for it, but following on from mentioning how parenthood makes my peal-ringing challenging, today showed how it can present similar challenges to my ringing generally and life itself!

With Ruthie not due back from the south coast until tomorrow and therefore me gladly taking on sole hands-on parenting duties for today, I had in mind some vague intentions to occupy myself and the boys on this typically autumnal Saturday, starting with taking Alfie to and watching him play football for his team this morning, a leisurely lunch, making up a plateful of sandwiches for the North-East District bring and share tea, travel up to Southwold for their ADM, the service and ringing and then return to Woodbridge to join mother-in-law and Ufford Ringing Master Kate Eagle and much of my wife's family for the 'fish-friendly' fireworks at the Tide Mill.

Mason announcing to me last night that he was working today wasn't particularly a problem. There was time to drop him off and he is seventeen and able to make his own way home and sort out his own tea if needs be, but the illness that his poor younger brother Alfred is suffering from basically meant all those good intentions went out of the window. We know it isn't contagious as he went to the doctors earlier in the week, but it wasn't really advisable for him to be hanging around outside for long periods of time at this time of year. That meant his footy fixture was out the window with even the boy himself decreeing he didn't feel well enough, which is a sign that he definitely isn't the full ticket! It also made standing on a beach inadvisable, so that little treat was a no-no. And I made the decision that hovering by the River Deben on a chilly dark November evening probably wasn't sensible, although Granny Kate very kindly picked Mason & Josh up to take them along - thank you Kate! Ultimately what scuppered joining friends well established and not yet met for ringing on the 10cwt eight at the church of St Edmund King and Martyr and all that followed on from that though was the medicine he has to take. This needs to be kept in the fridge, taken a certain number of times throughout the day and has restrictions on when it can be taken before and after food and so it meant a few hours out and about without access to a fridge made that particular trip impractical.

Therefore, bar dropping my eldest son off for his day's employment and AJM's player of the match award he won last time out with his coach (thankfully they were playing at home on this occasion) and a brief foray to the shop whilst we picked Mason up from work, I was at home all day with our ill son. Meanwhile I'm glad to report Ruthie was enjoying her friend Fergie's hen do with a trip into Bognor Regis for curry, as recounted via a very welcome video call from her this evening.

Other ringers were being more active in the exercise than us though, particularly down in London where there was much ringing for the Lord Mayor's Show including at St Mary le Bow where former Ipswich ringer George Salter was among those ringing in the 5016 of ten Maximus methods spliced.

Another ringer from our county busy ringing elsewhere was North-West District Ringing Master Joshua Watkins who as well as judging the Southern Universities Association striking competition rang in three quarter-peals, which included conducting the fastest QP on tower bells for all the band in twenty-six minutes of St Clement's College Bob Minor on the 2cwt six at St Barnabas in Southampton and then a brace on handbells in the ringing chamber at Bitterne Park and Liverpool Street in the city, the latter being his first of Major in hand. Well done Joshua!

Unfortunately though, former Bures learner John Loveless was involved in a peal attempt of Stedman Caters at Christ Church in Swindon which was set up agonisingly near to the end, apparently after two bells had swapped. It can happen and has happened many times before (both Ruthie and I have lost peals that late), but I was very sorry to hear of that.

There was significant ringing happening within our borders too though. A 720 of Norwich Surprise Minor was rung half-muffled at Woolpit on this Remembrance weekend, as was the 5100 of Yorkshire Surprise Major at Debenham which was marking the centenary of the first peal in the method for the Guild rung in the same tower, for which a pealboard hangs in the ground-floor ringing chamber from where the 21cwt eight are rung. Congratulations to past Ringing Master of the SGR Jed Flatters on ringing his five hundredth peal!

There was no chance of me ringing in it though, but I wouldn't change the reason for that for the world!

My peal-ringing will have to wait.

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Friday 8th November 2024

Ruthie was on a bit of an adventure today as she travelled down to Brighton for her best friend - and our bridesmaid as well as Alfie's Godmother - Fergie's hen do on what is intended to be a weekend of fun. Which means it's just the boys and me at home at the moment, including Fergie's poorly Godson Alfred who spent another day at home from school whilst I worked.

It all led to a fairly mundane day as my wife travelled to the south coast on various trains and the London Underground and then enjoyed a couple of drinks with her buddy, but it was less mundane for other ringers in Suffolk, especially at Haughley where a quarter-peal of Doubles was rung on the 14cwt five for the local school's remembrance service.

No ringing for me though, but I did at least have this week's copy of The Ringing World to read which features both weddings and Suffolk, with Sue Freeman writing in to explain how the ringers at Stoke by Nayland are made aware of when to ring as the bride and groom are leaving the church. And former Guild Ringing Master Amanda Richmond's piece on George & Lucy Heath-Collins's wedding at St Mary-le-Tower is a good read, even if they have left Ian Culham and myself off the quarter-peal report at the bottom!

For all that excitement though, my day couldn't be said to have been as adventurous as Ruthie's.

My peal-ringing will have to wait.

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Thursday 7th November 2024

I would like to boost my peal totals. It's just not that easy at the moment. Saturday mornings are generally out due to Alfie's football matches which I'm keen to watch as many of as I possibly can. Ipswich Town home fixtures, likewise. Evenings are even more difficult. A combination of activities for the boys, commitments to local practices, Ruthie's choir practices and usually only one of us being able to go out makes the period post-work and post-school impractical for me disappearing for four or five hours whilst Mrs Munnings gets the boys ready for bed. Or vice versa. And then when I do get to spend some time with my wife I don't feel I can constantly be filling that with peal-ringing. Nonetheless, my total of just five this year less than eight weeks before it is due to come to a close is far lower than I would like and would be - bar the lockdown dominated years of 2020 and 2021 - my lowest for twenty years during when I was going through a conscious reduction in my peal-ringing due to my circumstances at the time. One day I'd like to reach a thousand peals and by Pealbase metrics that's going to take me another forty-two years at my current rate.

No matter how much I up my rate, I'm as sure as I possibly can be that I'll never reach the numbers that those ringing in the peals at Bletchingdon and Milton in Oxfordshire today have managed over the years. With the former all the band had rung at least 5,000 in the medium (indeed with the two he rang today, Colin Turner is now up to 7,997) and 1,000 on the tenor and then the latter all ringing in the 5088 of Bristol Surprise Major had rung at least 1,000 peals with at least one of the band, with the marvelous Pealbase saying that this was Paul & Ruth Curtis's 5,378th together. Incredible stats and whilst not the way many of us would like to be spending our days, they do enjoy it and by accounts produce good ringing. All part of life's - and ringing's - rich tapestry.

Whilst that was all happening, I was working from home with a poorly Alfred which was no problem as he occupied himself whilst I worked, but it did mean missing Josh's class assembly. which was a pity. Elsewhere in Suffolk meanwhile, a quarter-peal of Plain Bob & Grandsire Doubles was rung on the 11cwt ground-floor six of Chediston, but there was no ringing for either of us as Ruthie went out choral practicing and singing for the All Souls Benefice Eucharist at St Mary-the-Virgin in Woodbridge.

My peal-ringing will have to wait.

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Wednesday 6th November 2024

Whilst the world was digesting the news that Donald Trump has been reelected as President of the USA, there was lots going on closer to home.

In the main that was ringing and especially quarter-peals as five were rung in Suffolk, with the headline act being the 1260 of Plain Bob Doubles rung at Bramford which was Amanda Critchlow's first QP on the treble and Fiona Smith's first covering. Well done Amanda and Fiona, but there were was also an impressive 1280 of fourteen Surprise Major methods spliced at Elveden, as well as notable quarters of Double Norwich Court Bob Major and Cambridge Surprise Major both rung on The Barn Owl Ring in Norton.

And at Pettistree the 1400th in the medium since the bells were rehung in 1986 was rung ahead of the weekly practice which once I'd taken Alfie and Josh to the elder son's football training and then back home, I joined. Very busy it was too, as even in the short time I was there I conducted a 240 of Norwich Surprise Minor, rang in a course of Allendale Surprise Minor and participated in some Grandsire Doubles. There was much amusement too when Mark Ogden called a touch of spliced Surprise Minor and Mike Whitby couldn't hear the change of methods, which seemed to come down to the Guild Chairman's calls being muffled by his ringing style! With the volume he used when calling one method I was wondering if there was a lady called Beverley somewhere out in the village bemused by who was asking for her.

In between pieces of ringing we enjoyed the box of chocolates that former South-East District Chairman Peter Harper had very kindly brought along on the occasion of his birthday, which is also the birthday of my brother Chris. Happy Birthday to Peter and Chris!

Mr Harper's big day was celebrated by the aforementioned 1296 of Bourne Surprise Minor rung on this ground-floor six ahead of this evening's session, which in turn was followed by Sam Shannon, the Garners and myself having a drink in The Greyhound where we reminisced about the 'Beast from the East', the series of attempts that ultimately resulted in successful peals of the forty-one Surprise Minor methods spliced that Mary and I were involved in a few years ago and also digested that news from the US.

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Tuesday 5th November 2024

"Remember remember the fifth of November". Of course it was hard not to with the sound of fireworks going off, including in Ufford where the weekly practice tonight was cancelled in anticipation of the huge numbers of cars parking around the village for the display at the White Lion, as indeed it apparently transpired. And it took me a moment for the penny to drop on the peal of Tresham Surprise Major rung at Longcot in Oxfordshire dedicated to the date! Not to mention the QPs in Bedfordshire of Guy Fawkes Surprise Minor and Bonfire Night Surprise Major at Arlesey and Stotfold respectively.

Meanwhile, ringers from our county were ringing in the quarter at Pulham Market in Norfolk, whilst there was ringing today in Suffolk too, with a 1260 made up of Stedman, Grandsire and Plain Bob Doubles rung at Blythburgh and the session at Offton preceded by Caroline Goodchild's first quarter-peal of Double Norwich Court Bob Major inside. Well done Caroline!

A day to remember indeed!

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Monday 4th November 2024

This evening showed the depth of twelve-bell talent in Suffolk. With a number of regulars missing through PCC meetings, holidays and honeymoons, with the help of the visiting Julian Colman, Andrew Stone and Ruth Suggett, St Mary-le-Tower's weekly practice saw us ring Stedman Cinques and Yorkshire Surprise Maximus, both on its own and in spliced with Cambridge. Abby Antrobus did well ringing inside to that Yorkshire, young Peter Dykes from Essex also did well to a touch of Stedman, whilst South-East District Ringing Master Hal Meakin won't have done his chances of being elected to the College Youths any harm by following up calling his first quarter-peal of Stedman at Ardleigh recently with conducting one of the touches of the principle tonight. On top of that Claire Haynes trebled well to Grandsire Cinques and Little Bob Maximus. All very productive and all without a huge number of other twelve-bell ringers in the county. If you can't help us on a Monday night then please do consider going along to The Norman Tower on a Thursday. Or even better, both!

Earlier in the day meanwhile, I got to have a read of the latest edition of The Ringing World which arrived with us this morning. Nothing specifically Suffolk-related that I could find in there beyond the peal and quarter-peal columns (including the quarter-peal at Aldeburgh that Ruthie rang in precisely a month ago), but plenty that I found interesting reads. Such as the article on the seventieth anniversary of the Birmingham University Society of Change Ringers due to take place in 2025 and a potted history of the organisation founded by - amongst others - one-time Grundisburgh ringer Rod Pipe and which I did a fair bit of socialising with during my time living and ringing in the West Midlands. Also an explanation by Simon Gay of cyclic compositions which I would encourage people to read, as well as a report on a practice emergency evacuation in Sydney that I suggest towers in Suffolk - particularly ones with ringing chambers upstairs - consider undertaking. On the front is a picture of Staplehurst in Kent where I rang in one of Peter Border's final peals in 2000 before he died whilst ringing during another peal attempt just a few days later. And I loved the fabulous photo taken by Dave Towell on the back page of Lichfield Cathedral - a glorious 31cwt ten which I did a fair bit of ringing on during my time out there - set to the background of a rainbow.

That was all a lovely prelude to that productive evening on the heaviest twelve within our borders which was followed by refreshment in the Halberd Inn afterwards of course, with another big attendance in there, showing the depth of ringing pub-going in Suffolk too.

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Sunday 3rd November 2024

When the boys and I arrived at the top of the stairs to St Mary-le-Tower's ringing chamber this morning to find a puzzled Diana Pipe clutching half a loaf of seemingly fresh white bread she had found discarded in front of the door to this famous room it led to much bemusement. No one else of the large crowd already present inside had passed by it on the way in, suggesting for some reason it had been left whilst the ringing was ongoing, but by whom and why? Perhaps it was felt we were in need of nourishment or it was some form of subliminal message that we can't fathom. Bizarre.

Still, the ringing continued with that aforementioned big attendance allowing us to ring a touch of Stedman Cinques that Sue Williamson rang really well from the non-too-easy treble and Cambridge Surprise Maximus, which as mentioned before is impressive on a Sabbath morn for a twelve-bell tower in our circumstances, before we followed up with refreshment in the refurbished Costa Coffee. Great to hear about a good South-East District Practice at Felixstowe yesterday, but also about the College Youths 387th Anniversary Dinner which was attended by a number of those enjoying their hot drinks with us today.

Later I also watched the typically mesmerising handbell ringing from the ASCYs showcase event which can be viewed on their Facebook page (although not sure if you can if you're not on their FB page, so apologies if you can't) and then on YouTube the George W Pipe Interview with David House from earlier in the day. I've always enjoyed David's company, despite his gentle footballing ribbing following his time in Norwich! He is an intelligent, entertaining but modest man who has achieved so much in the exercise and that comes across in the interview that doesn't start until eighteen minutes into the video, although sadly the sound quality makes it a challenging listen. There are Suffolk connections too, quite apart from the interview being named after Ipswich's very own GWP. David speaks almost immediately about meeting George and his father Jim when he moved to East Anglia, whilst his wife Diana was in the audience along with Abby Antrobus and David Stanford. Indeed, Mr Stanford asks a question for his fellow David just after forty-two minutes in.

Before that though, we left Costa for Grundisburgh, passing the county's heaviest twelve being rung down in readiness for the muffles being put on for the Remembrance period on the way to the car. Once at the county's lightest twelve, we joined another big attendance, although still not quite enough to ring all the bells. Nonetheless, we did ring the back ten which was a rare treat. And then after she had arrived an hour early for singing at St Mary-the-Virgin church in Woodbridge after forgetting it was a later service, we picked Ruthie up after she'd undertaken her duties!

There was no more ringing for either of us though as instead shopping and washing were the order of the day as we prepare to return to normality this week, but there was ringing noted on BellBoard elsewhere within our borders. In particular, well done to Lizzie Wood on ringing her first quarter-peal on eight as she bonged behind on the 18cwt tenor at Halesworth, whilst there was also a 1260 of Plain Bob Doubles rung on the 12cwt six at Great Finborough.

I wonder if any bread was left for them tough?

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Saturday 2nd November 2024

There was lots of ringing going on in Suffolk today with the South-East District Practice at Felixstowe and four quarter-peals rung. I was particularly pleased to see the recent 102nd birthday of former Ashbocking ringer Brian Beecroft celebrated with the 1320 of Ipswich Surprise Minor at Palgrave. Brian is another of those old boys I remember from my youth and so I'm delighted to see him still going strong and - from the photo accompanying the entry on BellBoard - looking so well. In fact he looks almost exactly how I remember him from last time I saw him many years ago! Well done also to Joshua Watkins on ringing his first QP in the method in that same performance.

In fact it was a day of achievements and landmarks for Joshua, who was ringing at his 500th tower with the quarter of Cambridge Surprise Minor at Walsham le Willows, his seventy-fifth in the medium with Sally Crouch and along with Stephen Dawson and Guild PR Officer Neal Dodge rang his first blows of Basingstoke Bob Minor in the 1260 at Bacton. Well done Joshua, Stephen and Neal, whilst the North-West District Ringing Master also rang in the success at Yaxley.

There was also lots of ringing down in London as the College Youths held their 387th Anniversary Dinner, with six peals and two QPs rung by the ASCY for the occasion, whilst my Facebook feed saw lots of photos from the dinner itself.

Additionally the George W Pipe Interview this year was with Past Ringing Master and Secretary of the Society David House, but I didn't have the chance to watch it today. In the main because for most of the day we were in the county town for Ipswich Town's latest Premier League match. Sadly a last moment equaliser for our visitors Leicester City denied us our first victory of the season and meant we all left in a slightly downbeat mood, but overall it was another exciting, fun afternoon out with the family that took in the usual pre-match meal in The Mermaid. And having missed the last home match it was nice to meet up with Norwich ringer Simon Rudd for a drink in the Fanzone as he too had missed the previous fixture here due to being on the East meets West peal tour to Cheshire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside where nine peals were scored and just one lost on what sounds like was a successful few days in the north-west. Indeed that was the start of busy period for the former St Mary-le-Tower Ringing Master which took in the first quarter-peal of Stedman rung in what was once the home of Fabian Stedman's grandparents at Aston Munslow in Shropshire and then took him to Crediton in Devon - the one-time home tower of Past Ringing Master of the Suffolk Guild Ringing Master Howard Egglestone - for a 5009 of Stedman Cinques. All highlighting the variety of ringing.

Meanwhile, with no game to host until much later in the month, today's for the Tractor Boys remembered those who have fallen in war and is a reminder that a week tomorrow is Remembrance Sunday. Ringing may change times to and/or be shorter than the usual for the Sabbath, so please do check what towers near you are doing and help for this important date in the calendar if you possibly can. If others were able to sacrifice their lives for our freedoms, I'm sure we can sacrifice a lay-in or go out of our way a little to ensure bells are rung to thank and remember them and is something that our communities quite rightly value greatly.

Hopefully I shall be able to help where I can, but today there was no ringing for us, with our day finishing with Ruthie doing some dog-sitting for our friends and neighbours Verity & Jade and we did some cross-village viewing of Strictly Come Dancing and The Wheel. Not a lot of ringing for our household, even if there was in Suffolk and London.

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Friday 1st November 2024

I've really enjoyed this week. We've had some great days out and it is lovely waking up to a busy house, the children not entirely reliant on us, whilst the evenings and communal meals have been jovial occasions. And although we wouldn't be able to heat the house or eat, I could get very used to having a hot tub at home as we have taken full advantage of since we arrived at Down Place Lodge on Monday!

However, today was time to pack up and leave and so following breakfast our morning was mainly spent travelling back to Suffolk (with a large amount of it spent on the slip-road off the M25 queueing to get onto the A12), before we briefly welcomed Ruthie's sister and other half Chris once they'd returned to pick something up and then had a quiet evening in.
Other ringers were also travelling on this first day of November and in much the same area as we were as College Youths were gathering down in London ahead of the 387th Annual Dinner of the ASCY due to take place tomorrow night, with peals rung in the capital in anticipation, but there was also ringing in the county we were returning to today. Particularly notable was the quarter-peal of ten Plain Minor methods rung at Tostock spliced at the half-lead which I know from experience adds an extra layer of complexity and increases the speed at which things come at you! However, also notable were the 1272 of Netherseale Surprise Minor rung at Wissett and three Doubles methods rung at Earl Stonham.

Meanwhile there was good news from Falkenham as Lesley Barrell announced on the Guild Facebook page that ringing is resuming on the 5cwt ground-floor six, so please do support them at their weekly practices between 7 and 8.30pm on Thursdays if you can.

No ringing for us this week, but although we have really enjoyed this week I hope we too can be back ringing soon too.

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Thursday 31st October 2024

An incident relayed on the Bellringers Facebook page is a useful reminder to ensure that communication between ringers and church is clear and accurate. Apparently a tower in Devon had arranged for a bell hanger to inspect the bells and for the door to be unlocked and left open for them. Unbeknown to the tower contact, bellhanger and churchwarden though, ringing had been arranged for a funeral at the same time, potentially setting up a tragic outcome. Mercifully the door had been locked and so the bellhanger couldn't gain access, otherwise they may have been up amongst the bells when ringing for the funeral began. Thankfully disaster was avoided, with probably an unlikely sequence of events also needed for the worst to happen and there are lots of other things to unpack in this tale, such as leaving access to bells open to all and sundry, but the main point being made was that due to poor communication that a very nasty accident could've occurred.

It was a frightening prospect on what is earmarked as the day of frights. As I think I've mentioned before, I'm not a massive fan of what Halloween has become here in the UK, but it seems to give many people a lot of joy that if done in the right way doesn't do others any harm, including our own children. And frankly if you are going to enter into the spirit of the occasion, there probably aren't many places better than Harry Potter World, a celebration of the fictional world of witches, wizards, ghosts, dementors and all sorts of other ghoulish creatures. Therefore we were fortunate to find ourselves there today with our fellow travelers for this week as Alfie and Josh dressed as Voldemort and the eponymous boy wizard, before returning to our holiday accommodation to light the children's pumpkins. This is our third visit to the popular attraction, but each time there is something new and of course our sons have been older and able to appreciate it more with every visit. I also find the behind the scenes stuff fascinating and there is lots of that look at, whether you are a huge fan or have never read the books or watched the films.

However, there is little here to do with the exercise, bar tenuously that Durham Cathedral - home to a 28cwt ten that Ruthie and I rang at over the Central Council AGM Weekend in 2008 - is an inspiration for parts of Hogwarts and indeed was used for some scenes in the movies and so it was another quiet day from a personal ringing perspective.

Not so back in Suffolk though, where Evelyn Reeve was remembered with a peal of Double Norwich Court Bob Major at Bures where she rang her first peal in 1953 and dedicated seventy years of ringing to, rung by a band featuring Past Master of the College Youths Martin Cansdale. A very fitting tribute for her.

I imagine there was much more ringing being done in the county too and hopefully communicated effectively between ringers and church.

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Wednesday 30th October 2024

Well done to Gavin Edwards who this evening rang his first quarter-peal of Surprise in the 1296 of Cambridge Minor at Pettistree.

That preceded the weekly practice on the ground-floor six which of course we didn't make on this occasion as we continued our break in Berkshire which today took us closer to our temporary home than yesterday as we made the short journey to Windsor for a wander around this lovely old town. There were no tickets for the famous castle, but the children made their own teddy bears and we went on a boat trip along the River Thames.

And we went to two pubs. One was for lunch at the local Wetherspoons The King and Castle in the shadow of the Curfew Tower where a 26cwt eight hang and was pleasant enough until - mercifully - we had finished and were about to go and a staggeringly aggressive chap came in and picked an argument with the staff over pretty much nothing. What ensued was an ugly situation that escalated quickly with him swearing frequently and loudly in front of a pub full of children including ours and his. We stepped outside to get away from it before he was understandably turfed out, then choosing to carry his loud sweary rant onto the streets of Windsor in front of more families. At least the King & Queen weren't in residence across the road to hear it all!

Unperturbed, we later had our tea at a nearby Harvester, The Windsor Lad before returning to our accommodation for some more drinks and pumpkin carving, as we rounded a lovely day off with a lovely evening. As I hope it was for Gavin at Pettistree.

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Tuesday 29th October 2024

On our first full day of our half-term break away we were off into London as our adventures took us in on the train via Windsor and Slough.

Our initial plan was to go to the Natural History Museum, but when we arrived having walked past the 4cwt two of Paddington St James to find a two-hour queue to get in we decided we had to reassess our options. Thankfully the capital has plenty to do though and so we took a walk through the busy streets of the big smoke and caught a Tootbus, one of the touring bus companies around the city. Buckingham Palace, the Palace of Westminster and Downing Street were amongst the sights taken in, as well as the tens of St Margaret's and Westminster Abbey in Parliament Square. Or the towers they are in at least.

Again there was no ringing for us and with only three current ringers of our party of twelve it is unlikely we'll do any this week, but there was ringing back in Suffolk as the weekly practice at Offton was preceded by a 1280 of Cambridge Surprise Major.

And I was impressed that less than forty-eight hours after ringing in those ten peals in Dordrecht, brothers Daniel & Jack Page were in Tulloch in Scotland ringing quarter-peals and even a peal of Stedman Caters.

We're not the only ringers having an adventurous week.

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Monday 28th October 2024

It is half-term this week and therefore an opportunity to celebrate the recent sixtieth birthday of former South-East District Ringing Master, current holder of the position at the 13cwt eight in Ufford and of course mother of Ruthie, Kate Eagle.

For that we travelled down to Windsor for the second time this year, this time also with my wife's sister Clare's household and Ruthie's Gran. Or rather we're halfway between the famous town and Bray, home to a 24cwt eight but also where the interior shots for the infamous bellringing episode of Midsomer Murders were filmed.

Most of our day therefore was spent travelling in convoy with the mother-in-law leading us via the boys' grandad Ron's sister's for a lunch break, before arriving at our lovely destination of Down Place Lodge where the hot tub was enjoyed and a drink or two had with our tea, courtesy of a Tesco delivery arriving as we did!

Whilst there was ringing going on just a few miles away from our accommodation, with quarter-peals on the 10cwt six of Shottesbrooke and on handbells in Wokingham, there was no participation in the art for us and of course no St Mary-le-Tower for me this evening, but I imagine they coped without me! A good moment also to remind you of the advanced practice planned for a week's time on the heaviest twelve within our borders.

And there was no ringing from Suffolk noted on BellBoard today either. Perhaps other ringers from the county are away for half-term too.

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Sunday 27th October 2024

As far as I can fathom from the fantastic Pealbase, I have rung two peals in a day on sixteen occasions, first on 15th August 1995 and most recently on 30th March 2018. I even rang three in a day one time, in 2007 at The Wolery over Good Friday that year, a day when and venue where many of my two-in-a-days happened. Ringing a peal needs one to prepare mentally, to be aware that if all goes to plan, for two to four hours you will be rooted to the same spot looking at the same people in the same room doing the same thing. Of course the pay-off is hopefully a standard of ringing that it is incredibly difficult to replicate in shorter pieces of ringing and which can be fulfilling and even exhilarating. And that once you're done you can look back on it, either with satisfaction or a relief that it's over!

However, if you then have another to ring that same day, it requires delving deeper into your mental reserves. Yet another after that and it becomes even harder to summon the mental strength.

Imagine then if at the stroke of midnight on this longest of days you are faced with the challenge of attempting ten peals of Surprise Major over the following twenty-five hours. That's what eight ringers faced in Dordrecht today and which as mentioned on yesterday's blog was already underway last night with them and hour ahead in the Netherlands.

By the time we woke up this morning, three had already been scored on the 1cwt eight in 't Klockhuys, starting with the 5056 of nine methods spliced that we watched them set off into in that video on Facebook and then a 5024 of Lessness and another 5056, this time of Deva. Their breakfast at this point was well earned!

Once I had rung at St Mary-the-Virgin church in Woodbridge where a substantial proportion of the tower is behind scaffolding, attended the morning worship there and enjoyed catching up with Ruthie's Gran over tea and biscuits in St Mary's House, peals four and five of Glasgow and Cornwall had taken them halfway to their target.

The 5024 of Malpas which was the sixth of the day was announced along with a video clip as we wondered around Asda in Ipswich collecting Halloween costumes.

Seven and eight were then completed with Adelaide and Yorkshire respectively and announced when we had returned from popping round to my wife's sister's house for a cuppa and I had travelled to Wickham Market to drop off the sponsorship money very generously donated by many ringers for Alfie's participation in the Suffolk Churches Ride and Stride last month.

As a video clip of some of the eighth peal was shared, Mrs Munnings returned to St Mary's House to sort out choir music and we then had tea, the ninth attempt got going and was duly scored in Superlative with a video clip showing that the striking and rhythm was still superb, after fifteen or sixteen hours of ringing and was announced just as we'd got the boys to bed.

Finally the completion of Pealmania with a 5056 of Bristol Surprise Major was announced just as we were getting ready to go to bed.

Sadly not all the band rang in all the peals, with Michael Trimm unable to continue after the seventh of a long day, highlighting that of course there is also a physical toll as well as a mental one. Seven peals in a day is still mightily impressive, as is the three that Thirza de Kok ended up ringing in as she stepped in.

Ultimately though, this was a phenomenal achievement which personally I was chuffed to see involved four Rambling Ringers including our Ringing Master Alex Riley. Arguably the complexity of the methods (although possibly not so much for this talented band!) may have helped keep fatigue at bay although it would also require plenty of mental agility as I imagine minds were becoming increasingly tired.

It may also seem incredibly frivolous and completely bonkers, but it highlights the variety of ringing. Not many people will do this or anything similar, but judging by the comments on social media it was hopefully enthralling and inspiring ringers across the world of all abilities. This is an almost limitless art and there is no reason for any of us to allow it to become a mundane chore.

Of course there was other ringing going on throughout the 22 hours and 14 minutes of it happening on the continent, including here in Suffolk. There was an also impressive quarter-peal of Lincolnshire Surprise Royal rung on the back ten at The Norman Tower in Bury St Edmunds and well done to Avril Gardiner on her first service ringing at Little Cornard this morning.

Today was all about all those peals in Dordrecht that certainly put any efforts of mine at multiple peals in a day in the shade!

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Saturday 26th October 2024

With no commitments this morning (without even any football for the boys) we had a rare and therefore glorious lay-in. It was all very leisurely and allowed for a gentle read of Ringing Forums, prompted by my usual Saturday morning email covering the most popular topics on this interesting message board.

One is titled "Do we stop teaching people too soon?" and wonders why so many learners stall at the Plain Hunt/Plain Bob stage. Personally I think it depends on circumstances. I would imagine that at the majority of towers that is the level many learners get to as that is all that they ring as a collective at their tower and why it is so important for improvers in that position to get out to other towers and/or district and Guild (or whatever the set-up is locally) where there are even more experienced ringers to support them.

The other is titled 'The road to Wigan's tears' and is about the closure of churches, which of course potentially touches upon many peals of bells. One comment mentions that the Essex Association is collecting data on bells at churches potentially in danger of closing down, which seems a good idea for the Suffolk Guild, if it isn't already happening.

On bells in the county still available though, well done to Serena Struggles on ringing her first quarter-peal of Plain Bob Major in the 1344 at Buxhall rung in memory of her father and former Wetherden Tower Captain Ken Mulley, twenty years on from his passing.

And at Blythburgh a band from the Ely Diocesan Association rang a 120 of Plain Bob Doubles, conducted by Gareth Davies who features prominently in the report of the tercentenary celebrations of the Society of Cambridge Youths in the latest edition of The Ringing World which arrived with us yesterday. An edition that also includes a letter from former SGR Secretary & Treasurer Andrew Beckwith which I imagine might generate some correspondence!

Meanwhile in the Netherlands at Dordrecht, a practice peal was being rung for 'Pealmania' planned for the twenty-five hour long day tomorrow, whilst the first of Sunday's attempts was underway before we went to bed as they are one hour ahead, with video evidence of the start posted on the Bellringers Facebook page. Watch out for more throughout the day, God willing.

No ringing for us though, with the most notable aspect of our day being the visit of Ruthie's best friend and our bridesmaid Fergie and meeting her fiancé Dan for the first time.

It was a lovely way to follow on from that leisurely start to our day.

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Friday 25th October 2024

Hot on the heels of Tuesday evening's Surprise Major Practice at Ufford, Ruthie and I were at another one tonight, this time in the depths of Suffolk's pitch black countryside at Rendham. Well done and thank you to South-East District Ringing Master Hal Meakin for a great session on this nice 10cwt ground-floor eight on this dark autumnal Friday night as he guided quite a decent sized crowd through some Bristol, Cambridge, Lessness, Rutland and a really well-rung touch of the 'standard' eight spliced to round the ringing off. And the whole occasion was rounded off with some of us making the short walk across the road to The White Horse for a drink. Not just a productive evening but an immensely enjoyable one. Look out for more details of next month's which is planned to be on Friday 29th November. As tonight's practice on North-East District bells with North-East District members present shows, this isn't exclusively for those of the SE.

Such occasions are a joy to report on this blog, as I have now been doing for seventeen years exactly having written my first entry on this precise date in 2007. Throughout that time there has been much going on beyond just ringing that I have mentioned because it has an effect on my ringing, our ringing or ringing generally or is a backdrop to ringing, but I have tried to make sure that there is a ringing theme through each entry, something I think I honed through those early lockdown weeks when there was absolutely nothing happening at all, including in the exercise. However, my favourite days to write about are when I have done some ringing and especially when it is something different as this evening was. Yet somehow I have been able to write about something on every day for 6,210 days and personally find it quite cathartic. Therefore I am as usual grateful for the patience of Ruthie whilst I write, but also to Guild Webmaster Chris Garner for putting them up usually very quickly and by extension his wife Mary!

I also like it when I have something from the county or Guild on BellBoard to write about, but sadly due to a loss after about two and a half hours of a peal attempt of Grandsire Cinques at Grundisburgh for Daphne Pegg's 95th birthday there wasn't anything to note on this 25th October. Although judging by photos online I saw it doesn't seem to have dampened the celebrations afterwards!

It was still nice to have some good Surprise Major to report in this anniversary entry though.

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Thursday 24th October 2024

Fair play to The Ringing World. When the latest 18th October issue arrived, with the previous 11th October one still not with us on behalf of the Pettistree ringers, I emailed them on Monday lunchtime requesting a replacement copy. Less than seventy-two hours later, that replacement copy was with us, joining the 18th October edition we forgot to take to the ground-floor six last night!

Fair play also to Alfie & Josh who both received glowing reports from their teachers at the parents evening Ruthie & I attended today. And not just for their academic progress, but more importantly. their personalities and attitude. Although it did make for another busy night out for my wife with her usual choral practicing following on afterwards.

Of course it also meant that there was no time for ringing either, as is perfectly normal for a Thursday. However, God willing there will be busier days of ringing for us in November where there is much planned for Suffolk ringing, including two ADMs as the North-East District plan to hold theirs at Southwold on Saturday 9th and the South-West District intend on having theirs at Bures a fortnight later, both with open ringing, a service and a bring & share tea. Beyond those there is more happening though, with the North-West District hoping to hold a practice at Redgrave just on this side of the border with Norfolk earlier on the same day as the NE's showpiece event on the coast and the South-East District intend to bookend the month with a practice of two halves - 'Something for everyone! - at Felixstowe on the afternoon of Saturday 2nd and then a Surprise Major Practice at a venue to be confirmed and a Kaleidoscope Practice at Henley both on the evening of Friday 29th.

Additionally, the NW District have penciled in their Quarter-Peal Fortnight for the 9th to the 24th. These events are an opportunity to try new things, build on stuff members want to perfect and just generally to have fun, all with the backing of - in this case - a district focusing on the medium. Please do contact the North-West Ringing Master Joshua Watkins if you want to give something a go but don't feel able to get a band together for example, or if you can help out. Hopefully there will be lots of quarter-peals from it for us to read about in a future copy of The Ringing World, whenever it reaches us!

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Wednesday 23rd October 2024

Ruthie had a busy evening out. Whilst I took the boys to Alfie's football training, my wife was in a meeting at work before going to Pettistree's weekly practice where she rang some Allendale Surprise Minor (which apparently went a lot better than last week's attempts!) and even her favourite (not!) Stedman Doubles and contributed to a discussion on when to hold the tower's AGM, which in typical bellringers style was proving challenging to pin a date down for! All followed by a drink in The Greyhound afterwards with Ray Lewis nobly heading there early to prevent a repetition of seven days ago. The sacrifices that some people are prepared to make!

Although Mrs Munnings didn't participate in it, the evening was also preceded with a quarter-peal of Grandsire Doubles on the ground-floor six which was one of two performances in Suffolk noted on BellBoard today along with the first peal of Horringer Bob Triples in 2 hours and 47 minutes, rung on the eponymous eight and practiced with a QP at The Norman Tower last week. Congratulations to two stalwarts of the Guild Brian Whiting and Alan Mayle on ringing their two hundredth together in the medium.

Meanwhile, I'd returned home to get the boys to bed and read CCCBR Representative Marion Knight-Dixon's report on her first visit to the Central Council AGM, held recently in Exeter. It's actually been available on this website's Central Council of Church Bell Ringers Annual General Meetings Report page for a fortnight, but this is the first opportunity I've had to read it properly. Our reps put a lot of time aside to attend these events on our behalf, so I believe it is important to take in their reports, so please do so when you get the chance. Such as when your other half is having a busy evening out!

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Tuesday 22nd October 2024

The reader(s?) of this blog may recall that last month a promising week for Surprise Major here was scuppered as the South-East District Practice at Framlingham was postponed and a few days earlier circumstances conspired to prevent the local one at Ufford going ahead when we met so short that we couldn't even ring all eight. This month, things are looking better. As mentioned yesterday, the venue for Friday's planned South-East District Surprise Major Practice has been changed to Rendham but is still good to go as things stand, on an easy-going ring of bells rung from the ground-floor with plenty of parking close to the church and just yards from a nice village pub. And this evening a great Surprise Major session on the aforementioned 13cwt eight of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was led by the Ringing Master there Kate Eagle.

Not everything went of course. Despite being two of the more straightforward methods of the night, Superlative and Yorkshire were a struggle, whilst Rutland started well but then limped home a little after a couple of mistakes. However, although three leads of Bristol squeezed into what few minutes we had left at the end weren't great, a course of it previously was excellent, whilst Cambridge and Lincolnshire were rung vey well and what I thought might have been an ambitious attempt at spliced was pretty decent. Some of the striking needs polishing, but the ringing was generally at a good pace, done with confidence and in the main well-struck. Our return to regular Surprise Major at these monthly practices hasn't always been on an upward trajectory as last month highlighted, but with a sizeable crowd including a solid core of ringers experienced in this medium, tonight showed what can be achieved at these and hopefully at Rendham on Friday too.

And God willing also next month...

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Monday 21st October 2024

Not that the weekly practice at St Mary-le-Tower isn't normally a good night out, but this evening's was a particularly fun one!

In the main it was due to happy reminiscing of George & Lucy's wedding with Mr & Mrs Heath-Collins present tonight before they go on their honeymoon, whilst Hal 'Anton Du Beke' Meakin took in good spirit our admiration of his dance skills on Saturday!

There was the odd moment in the ringing too though. Eight and nine swapping in the first changes of a touch of Erin Caters for example. Ian Culham understandably going wrong during some Yorkshire Surprise Royal when I was conducting it alongside him and distracted him by asking how much more he wanted rung. And with a focus on good pull-offs the tenor ringer in one piece struggling to pull it off and starting miles behind and then coming in ahead a couple places too soon when we restarted!

From all of that you might think that it was all messing about and not very good ringing, but actually for the joviality this was a focused, productive session as we tried to concentrate on those pull-offs and gave even greater scrutiny to striking. Personally I believe we do extremely well here for reasons I've gone into into previously, but it does absolutely no harm to occasionally step back, reset and see if there is anything we could be doing different to improve and there was an element of that tonight. And it was all done in that upbeat atmosphere which of course continued on to the Halberd Inn.

That sense of fun with ringing even continued on my return home as Ruthie and I watched the latest edition of Have I Got a Bit More News for You, which is an extension of the main Have I Got News for You episode which we had watched on Friday. The 'Missing Words Round' usually features a 'guest publication' which is typically a niche magazine which some of the headlines come from and often leads to some gentle ribbing from the panel. Whilst not mentioned in the shorter original version, the longer one we watched tonight reveals that guest publication to be The Ringing World, 38 minutes and 32 seconds in, with headlines about the Central Council AGM and Big Wilf's Bell Muffles.

Ringing came out of it less bruised then one might have feared and hopefully it may even have piqued the interest of potential recruits. If it has among the younger generation then the Young Ringers Hub may be able to encourage them to take up the exercise and stick with it. Today more information about this wonderful initiative was shared on the CCCBR website and with an article which is due to go into the aforementioned RW about its aims and introduces some its team of volunteers who include former Exning learner Jimmy Yeoman and is well worth looking at.

Meanwhile, king of the dancefloor Hal Meakin sent a message out via the Guild email system in his position as South-East District Ringing Master alerting folk to the change of venue for Friday's planned Surprise Major Practice, from Framlingham to the light, easy-going ground-floor eight not too far away at Rendham. This is such a good opportunity to practice Surprise Major, something that not everyone gets the chance to do regularly, so make the most of it. Although this is rearranged from last month when it couldn't happen, the focus methods of Bristol, Lessness, London and Rutland remain the same, although I imagine there will also be some of the other 'standard' methods like Cambridge and Yorkshire. It'll need experienced ringers too, so if you are one of those please do come along and help others in this medium.

Hopefully it should be fun too!

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Sunday 20th October 2024

Elveden saw a wonderful complementing of different cultures this afternoon as a quarter-peal of Plain Bob Triples was rung on the 17cwt eight at the church of St Patrick and St Andrew to commemorate the death almost precisely 131 years ago of Maharajah Duleep Singh, a significant figure in the history of the neighbouring hall and estate and the church there where he is buried in the churchyard. A wonderful video put up on the Suffolk Guild Facebook page by Martin Kirk seems to show a Sikh ceremony going on in the cloister which connects the church with the bell tower whilst the bells ring out in the background.

For the second Sunday running though, we didn't do any ringing as instead we had a leisurely morning at the Best Western Hotel in Copdock as we gently recovered from last night's excesses with breakfast and having picked the boys up from their Granny Kate's after she had very kindly put them up overnight we also had an extremely low-key afternoon. Indeed, although Ruthie went out to sing with the Jubilate choir for Evensong at the church of St Mary the Virgin in Bramford where there is a 10cwt six, the closest we got to the exercise all day was reading the latest edition of The Ringing World which arrived with us yesterday morning but which we hadn't had time to read then.

Things were certainly more interesting in Elveden!

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Saturday 19th October 2024

Congratulations to St Mary-le-Tower ringers George Heath-Collins and Lucy Williamson who were today married in a ceremony at the Civic Church of Ipswich. Here we have a young couple the like of whom ringing needs as many of as possible. Willing to get involved with jobs (George is Steeple Keeper and Lucy Secretary of the St Mary-le-Tower Society of Change Ringers), quick to pick things up and thus progressing impressively on higher numbers and God willing having the potential to serve local ringing for many years to come. To boot they are lovely human beings and so it was fantastic to see them have such a wonderful day. And Ruthie and I were delighted to be a part of it, beginning with a quarter-peal at their home tower and ending with us being pretty much the last ones left finishing up our drinks at the evening reception at Copdock Hall.

Of course much happened in between. Having been pleased with a very decent 1282 of Yorkshire Surprise Royal, we were even more pleased with two faultless touches of Grandsire Caters (complete with lots of plain leads which are typically our nemesis with this method!) to ring the bride in and then ring her and her husband out after we had participated in an uplifting service led with typical humour and sincerity by the Reverend Tom Mumford.

Whilst a band headed to Copdock in readiness to ring the 10cwt six as they arrived at the venue for the rest of the day's festivities immediately next door, Lucy & George climbed into the vintage car which was transporting them there as those of us who had been ringing Suffolk's heaviest ring of bells had a band photo taken, tucked into the chocolates and cans of Ghostship very kindly left for us, took a moment to reflect on some really good ringing and hung the new ropes intended for the tenors in an attempt to stretch them out a bit.

With my wife and I not due to join the evening reception until 7pm and the boys with their Granny Kate, my wife and I made the most of a leisurely afternoon as we grabbed a spot of lunch from Tesco and meandered up to the Best Western Hotel a few minutes walk from Copdock Hall and where we had booked ourselves in for the night and following a relaxing few hours made our way up to the reception. What a reception too! Lots of Ipswich's ringers were present to watch George & Lucy cut the cake and have their first - wonderfully rehearsed - dance before a fabulous buffet was comprehensively devoured, ample drink consumed and much dancing undertaken in both the cèilidh and then the disco. A massive shout out to South-East District Ringing Master Hal Meakin on what is also his birthday. Like the rest of us he was definitely enjoying himself and he was undoubtedly the star of the dancefloor!

All of this left no time to watch Alfie win the player of the match award this morning, nor Ipswich Town's latest Premier League fixture at Portman Road. Although taking in Alfred's match was always going to be impractical once we discovered it was an away one, we had briefly toyed with the idea of fitting in watching the Tractor Boys in between the wedding and the reception and it seemed eminently doable with a 1pm ceremony being led by a vicar who also had to be just across the town centre at ITFC by 3pm. However, with the logistics of being reunited with the boys in time, as well as a costume change from wedding dress to footy gear leaving us little room for manoeuvre if timings went awry or things didn't go to plan, it was decided that it was safest for Mrs Eagle to sit with her grandsons and our usual social companion Chris and for their tickets to go to fans who don't normally get the chance. Disappointment at missing the Town match (especially when we discovered kick-off had been delayed to 3.15pm thus leaving us even more time to have made it!) and Alfred's success was ultimately completely dissipated not just by the Superblues losing 2-0 to Everton and a photo of AJM with his trophy but especially by the privilege of being involved in such a brilliant day that we enjoyed immensely and hope that the new Mr & Mrs Heath-Collins did too.

Congratulations Lucy & George!

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Friday 18th October 2024

1344 changes of Horringer Bob Triples was rung at The Norman Tower today as a birthday compliment to former Suffolk Guild Ringing Master Jed Flatters (it's a popular month for Ringing Master birthdays) who rang in the only other successful quarter-peal of the method, which was also the first QP on the lovely new eight at the eponymous venue back in 2017. Have they really been in that long?!

Whilst another birthday was marked with a 240 of Cambridge Surprise Minor rung at Tostock (that of the generous Lynda Rochester), otherwise there wasn't much to report on locally from a ringing perspective noted on BellBoard nor even much particularly notable beyond our borders, although with the Peterborough Diocesan Guild being particularly close to my heart my attention was drawn to the peal of Centenary Delight Major rung at Rothwell in Northamptonshire as they celebrate their centenary in a similar fashion to how the SGR did last year, with a different 5056 of the same method rung by our far South-West representatives at Barrow Gurney in Somerset fifteen months ago.

Not atypically for a Friday there was no ringing for us, which meant I was relieved that I was given something to write about by that 240 of Cambridge Surprise Minor and 1344 of Horringer Bob Triples.

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Thursday 17th October 2024

For Ruthie, this evening was rather festive as she went off to practice with her choral colleagues to practice what they plan to sing over the Advent and Christmas period, even wearing a seasonal jumper into the bargain!

It was a cheery note on a day dominated in the news with the sad and shocking announcement late last night of former One Direction member Liam Payne's death which regardless of your musical leanings was pretty sobering, but there was no ringing in the county noted on BellBoard. Hopefully there was plenty going on at practice nights such as Grundisburgh and The Norman Tower, but for today the main ringing headlines were made beyond our borders with a 5042 of Zanussi Surprise Maximus rung by a band featuring Suffolk residents Liz & Phillip Orme at Great St Mary in Cambridge, thirty-five Fourths Place Delight Minor methods spliced in 5040 changes at Wadenhoe in Northamptonshire, a 5019 of Stedman Cinques in hand in the ringing room of St Mary-le-Bow in London and a 5096 of Bristol Surprise Fourteen on handbells in Reading.

Although no Advent Sunday Surprise Minor or Christmas Delight Major. Ringers aren't as festive yet as singers.

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Wednesday 16th October 2024

My visit to Pettistree tonight was just about as brief as it could get without then not being worthwhile.

For once I'd been to Alfie's football training with Josh in tow and playing with the other younger brothers of Alfred's teammates on an unseasonably warm evening, and I'd waited for Ruthie to finish the second part of the course via video she had started last Wednesday, it was well past 8pm by the time I had arrived at the ground-floor six for the weekly practice. Nonetheless, I still had time to join in with some call-changes for a ringer visiting from near Newbury with his non-ringing wife, Plain Bob Minor for Vince Buckman to ring inside to, Allendale Surprise Minor which needs a lot of work and a course of London Surprise Minor and 120 of Stedman Doubles which both provided excellent ringing.

Sadly though, when it came to going to The Greyhound afterwards we found it closed, much to the disappointment of our visitors most of all but also for the rest of us planning on having a relaxing drink following our evening's activities and of course it shortened my planned visit to the village considerably.

At least the session was preceded with a successful quarter-peal following last week's rare loss, with the 1440 of Cambridge Surprise Minor very kindly dedicated to my birthday yesterday and that wasn't the only ringing success in Suffolk today as a peal was rung for the Ely Diocesan Association on handbells in Bacton in 1 hour and 39 minutes. Which is brisk for a peal, but still a lot longer than my visit to Pettistree tonight!

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Tuesday 15th October 2024

Birthdays during the working week are a challenge to celebrate. Going out for a few drinks isn't really an option when you have work the following morning and children to arrange babysitting for and even more so when a lot of those who you would've gone out with are in the same boat. And perhaps even more so when the birthday is not particularly significant, as was the case with the forty-sixth anniversary of my birth today.

In the circumstances though I had a jolly good day. On my first birthday since we at John Catt Educational had been moved to permanent homeworking and Ruthie and the boys out at work and school it felt strange not seeing anyone for most of it. Although I did send an email out to my work colleagues scattered across Suffolk telling them there was cake in the kitchen and was amused to receive a reply from one of them with a photo of a birthday card on their desk that they claimed was for me!

The fun mainly began once my wife and our sons had returned from their employment and education and once I was able to open my presents and cards generously gifted to me, including one kindly given to me by my fellow ringers at St Mary-le-Tower last night and two massive ones from Alfie & Josh!

After tea and some of that birthday cake, I then went on to Ufford's weekly practice wearing a badge the youngest boys had got me and insisted I wear and clutching some cakes and fizzy. That came in handy this evening as a family emergency for one of our regulars meant they couldn't attend and so there were just six including Margaret and Vince, meaning that whilst they got plenty of opportunities also meant that it was prudent to have reasonable gaps between pieces that the nibbles and booze helped fill!

Meanwhile the session at Offton was preceded with a quarter-peal of Cambridge Surprise Major and I imagine followed by a drink in The Limeburners up the hill from the 8cwt ground-floor eight, but I returned home after my ringing to enjoy some of the food and drink I have been blessed to receive!

Thank you to all who imparted felicitations via Facebook, text and in person and especially to my household for making it another memorable 15th October. It seems that despite the challenges, it is possible to celebrate a birthday during the working week.

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Monday 14th October 2024

Little Bob is a useful stepping stone on higher numbers, with its shorter courses helpful at practices where the touches are by their nature lengthy, giving those progressing on to ten and twelve-bell ringing a bitesize introduction to the pace and ropesight on such numbers of bells. A plain course is good if you are short of time, but two singles (not always but usually called at the home position at the end of the course) obviously gives those learning a bit more practice, but admittedly starts getting quite monotonous, whilst three bobs in the same position a course apart will naturally give you three courses, but mercifully is very rare as it begins to negate the usefulness of its short length. Plus the monotony increases! At St Mary-le-Tower we all diligently ring at our best of course as we strive to give those who are benefitting from it the best opportunity, but it is a bit of a running joke that as we approach a plain course of the Maximus version some of us glance at each other and collectively hope that a single isn't called! So it was at tonight's practice as we approached the end of a first course of the method, internally muttering "please don't call a single, please don't call a single." When the conductor David Potts then called a bob there was then lots of internal screaming "call a single, call a single!"

It was all in keeping with a very upbeat evening with Guild Membership Secretary Mary Garner joining me in journeying into Ipswich and back for a session that apart from that longer than anticipated Little Bob also saw Erin Cinques, Stedman Cinques and Cambridge Surprise Maximus rung, with some really good ringing along the way showing what is possible when we get enough together at the same time! A reminder again of the plan to host the first of more advanced monthly practices here on the first Monday of the month on the 4th November. And like tonight hopefully followed by a big crowd retiring to the Halberd Inn.

If all goes to plan and you can join us, you won't be ringing any bells cast by Alfred Bowell, but he did once do some work here as outlined in particular on p225 of 363 pages of fascinating records for his foundry which were added to this website's Archives Page today. I guess I'm a bit of a history buff. Not an expert, but I suppose having been brought up around historic churches and ringing upon often ancient bells doing something that has been practiced in much the same way for centuries I have always been drawn to our past, fascinated by how things used to be, so this is wonderful reading. Situated on Wykes Bishop Street in Ipswich from where he cast a number of bells from the end of the nineteenth century up until the Second World War, at the time it would've been part of a maze of terraced streets near the docks, but is now an area of neat flats and apartments amongst the waterfront complex and so it is fantastic to have this resource to take in and imagine what it was like.

Meanwhile in the here and now, a quarter-peal of Kent & Oxford Treble Bob Major was rung on handbells in Bury St Edmunds, but sadly the SGR Facebook page announced that there won't be any ringing at Falkenham for the next few weeks. Hopefully they'll be up and running as soon as possible. On a happier note though, Stowmarket Bells FB page revealed that following their recent Open Day they have welcomed three new recruits.

Hopefully at some point they'll get to ring lots of Little Bob. But maybe not too much!

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Sunday 13th October 2024

A busy, busy day of ringing in Suffolk. On top of all the usual but important service ringing which would've been going on across the county, there were an impressive four quarter-peals and a peal rung within our borders.

The one which stands out most is the 1260 of St Clement's College Bob Minor rung at Westhorpe, the first QP rung there since they were recently augmented from five to six and indeed the first known to be rung there ever. It is always a big landmark for a project when the first quarter or peal is rung, but especially somewhere like here where there is no history of such performances recorded, so well done to all involved and welcome to the ringing columns to this 8cwt six!

Although maybe not as headline-grabbing as that, the other performances on our soil are certainly worthy of mention, such as the quarters of Grandsire Doubles at Bardwell, Stedman Triples at The Norman Tower and Plain Bob Minor at Rougham, as well as the 5040 of seven Minor methods at Aldeburgh.

All pleasingly active, but unusually for a Sunday neither Ruthie nor I were involved in any ringing today, as whilst my wife went to St Mary-the-Virgin in Woodbridge to sing for the morning worship there, the boys and I went to St Andrew's in Melton. Partly because we were invited to join up with a classmate of Alfie's who was also going along, partly from much persuasion following our attendance last week at Ufford where the ever-entertaining Reverend Paul Hambling also presides and partly because of the tantalising prospect of another Harvest Lunch! We weren't to be disappointed on any of those fronts with Alfred's friend happily joining my youngest sons in the play corner (when they weren't being willingly brought up to the front to bless the harvest gifts!), Paul typically good value and the food afterwards both plentiful and delicious!

However, as the 10cwt three at our parish church can only be chimed it involved no ringing for me, but our entire household did meet up with a ringer this afternoon. Or at least a former ringer, as once we'd picked Mason up from work we all visited Aunty Marian - sister of mine and my brother Chris's father Alan - where she had the latest edition of The Ringing World which we haven't received yet and we chatted about the exercise amongst much else.

Today's ringing in Suffolk has certainly given much to talk about!

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Saturday 12th October 2024

Our day was bookended with watching Alfie play an away game and popping to Portman Road for Ruthie to collect something from the Ipswich Town club shop this morning, with my wife rehearsing for and singing in a concert at St Mary-the-Virgin church in Woodbridge this evening. Along with nipping to the park with Alfred & Josh this afternoon and then picking their elder brother Mason up from work it left little time for any ringing and whilst the North-East District Ringing Meeting at Mendham and North-West District ADM at Hopton hopefully went well, there wasn't anything noted from Suffolk on BellBoard.

However, it is worth mentioning former Ipswich ringer George Salter ringing his first peal of David Pipe's famous 'Particles' composition in the 5016 of ten Maximus methods spliced at St Philip's Cathedral in Birmingham. Well done George!

I don't know how his day ended, but it was an impressive bookend to start his day.

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Friday 11th October 2024

There was considerable peal-ringing crossover in East Anglian ringing today.

Most notably perhaps in Great Hockham over the Norfolk border where Essex and regular St Mary-le-Tower ringer David Sparling rang his first handbell peal of Surprise Royal in the 5040 of Yorkshire conducted by the former Ringing Master at Suffolk's heaviest twelve Simon Rudd and with a band featuring Cambridgeshire ringers Lesley Boyle and Gareth Davies. Well done David!

Meanwhile back in his county of residence, the casting of the two new trebles that are due to turn Ardleigh into a ten was celebrated with a 5088 of Superlative Surprise Major rung on the current eight by a band featuring Norwich ringer Simon Smith on the seventh and Ipswich ringer and Past Guild Ringing Master Amanda Richmond on the treble, as well as the Tower Captain at St Mary-le-Tower Ian Culham on the sixth. And within our borders the first peal on the new 7cwt front six at Stowmarket created by the augmentation on the ten there was rung in 2 hours and 47 minutes in a peal which was former SGR Chairman Winston Girling's eighty-third peal in the tower in what is his eighty-third year.

Nine miles away, congratulations to North-West District Ringing Master Joshua Watkins on ringing his two hundredth quarter-peal in the 1296 of Cambridge Surprise Minor he conducted at Thurston, but there was no ringing for anyone in our household, with the closest we got to the art being very tenuous as we watched Charlie Cooper's Myth Country on BBC iPlayer. In the first episode he explores the tale of Black Shuck which naturally enough takes him to Blythburgh church, where the ground-floor ringing chamber, ropes and guides of the 10cwt six upon which the Guild 6-Bell Striking Competitions were held in 2022 feature in the background as he explores the church where the north door reputedly bears the claw marks of the subject of his lighthearted documentary.

Additionally he travels to Norfolk as our evening's TV viewing also saw East Anglian crossover.

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Thursday 10th October 2024

October is a reflective month for me as the month of my birthday and the anniversary of this blog first being written and this evening's activity only heightened that, as we visited Alfie's potential secondary school for an open evening. For Alfred is due to be stepping up to this level of education next year. As are his classmates. And his footballing teammates. And some contemporaries who are children of friends. And relatives. Indeed our two and a half hours there seemed like an almost social occasion as we caught up with folk from almost every aspect of our life apart from ringing. I'm not sure if that offers any insight into the demographics of the exercise that we didn't already know. However, I couldn't help but feel reflective about the child whose birth was recounted on these pages looking around this institution where many will leave as adults to face the world. Time stops for no man!

That's not to say it was a subdued experience. Quite the opposite actually as our son, his contemporaries and Josh took in various activities with much excitement, from science experiments using fire to a murder mystery challenge in drama to making music to writing descriptive words on tables and much more. Although no handbells or mini-rings. Perhaps that will change in the future though, with trials at getting ringing into the school curriculum happening.

It all meant there was no time for singing for Ruthie or ringing for either of us, but Ipswich ringer Hal Meakin may be getting the opportunity for some extracurricular ringing in the future as College Youths Secretary Simon Meyer's usual email covering the main points of last night's monthly ASCY meeting at Williamson's Tavern in London confirmed that the South-East District Ringing Master has been proposed for membership of the society. If all goes to plan he ought to be up for election at next month's meeting at the same venue at 8.30pm on Tuesday 12th November, where any words of support for him from other members of the College Youths either in person or via email to Simon on secretary@ascy.org.uk would be most welcome. Personally I'm always delighted to hear of Suffolk ringers being put forward for and elected to either the ASCY or the Cumberland Youths as it is a sign of a healthy ringing scene in the county, so hopefully all goes well for Hal.

Also a sign of a healthy local ringing scene are quarter-peals and peals, especially when firsts are involved, so it was fantastic to see the 1344 of Lessness Surprise Major rung on the lovely 8cwt ground-floor eight at Horringer, which was a first quarter-peal in the method for Deborah Blumfield and the conductor Joshua Watkins. Well done Deborah and Joshua!

Perhaps afterwards they spotted the Northern Lights which were present over our skies again tonight and which Ruthie and I tried to capture photos of with varying degrees of success and which was also quite a reflective moment.

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Wednesday 9th October 2024

It's been pretty wet here the last couple of nights, but I think most of us will be grateful we aren't preparing for anything on the scale of Hurricane Milton as the residents and authorities of Florida are today, including the ringers of the 17cwt eight at Miami, the only ring of bells in the state hung for change-ringing.

Therefore I hope Suffolk's ringers were grateful for being able to get out and about doing their ringing, especially as there was a fair amount being done today!

Some of that was by Ruthie, who once Josh & I had been to football training with Alfie and my wife had finished an online course for work went to Pettistree for the weekly practice with the latest edition of The Ringing World which is delivered to us on the band's behalf. After an apparently typically productive session she also went to The Greyhound next door where last week's birthday girl Kate Eagle received a birthday treat!

Unusually the pre-practice quarter-peal of London Surprise Minor was lost, but elsewhere in Suffolk they were having more success with a very impressive 1280 of fourteen treble dodging Major methods rung at Elveden and down in Essex a Guild peal of Lindsey Surprise Royal was rung on the 7cwt ten at Tollesbury.

Thank God for the good old normal British weather that allowed them all to go about their ringing in safety!

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Tuesday 8th October 2024

When we arrived at the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Ufford for the weekly practice on the 13cwt eight this evening, we were worried to find the light in the room under the ringing chamber on and the usually locked door through to the church wide open. After a quick search of the building, Ringing Master Kate Eagle diligently set about contacting one of the churchwardens who came down and was able to deduce that there was nothing untoward going on and that rather it was something to do with flowers, spilt water and airflow!

Reassured by that we started on a session that with Vince Buckman present took the pressure off Margaret Weeks this week and allowed us to expand a little more on what we did last Tuesday whilst giving her plenty of rest before we finished. And following all that Kate joined Ruthie and me at home for a cup of tea as our evening ended in a less worrying fashion that it began.

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Monday 7th October 2024

The emergency services were very busy in our part of the world today.

Just outside Melton the A12 was closed due to an incident which kept them busy and of course meant that our area was swamped with traffic which would usually be using the highway that typically bypasses our village.

In Ipswich this evening, two apparently completely unconnected accidents within a few hundred yards of each other closed another well-used thoroughfare as Civic Drive was closed during the rush hour.

And my night out in the town ended with me sat in a queue in front of an ambulance as I waited to be able to get home.

For the last few weeks as we ringers have wandered the short distance to the Halberd Inn for refreshment following the weekly practice at St Mary-le-Tower, it has become usual for a group of youngsters to congregate on the corner. I can imagine how some would find them intimidating. They are typically boisterous for a group of their age, playing loud music and personally I've never seen the appeal, especially as the evenings get colder and conditions less pleasant. However, as far as I know they have never bothered any of us as we have meandered towards the pub and they always seemed to be having quite a good time.

Tonight after we'd finished ringing though, something was clearly up, with much concern being shown for one of them who was laying on the floor and having some kind of medical episode. Some of our party checked on them, but there was nothing any of us could practically do and they had enough of them to offer support and were already calling for an ambulance which we assumed wouldn't take too long to be with them being in the town centre. Which indeed it wasn't as when I left the tavern it was already parked up as the paramedics saw to the patient who was still visibly distressed and now getting wet in the rain that had started falling, as of course the paramedics were too. Unfortunately though the ambulance was parked across the only legal exit to Tower Street where I and others had been parked down. Nonetheless, a number of cars waited patiently, understandably unsure as to whether we could go through the no entry sign at the other end of the road but also quite rightly aware that whether we could get out was the least of the paramedics' concerns. And eventually I did get out, albeit quite a bit later than I would normally get away from the county town on a Monday night.

Earlier the ringing itself had been productive. We were again a little short of Surprise Maximus ringers and although we hope it doesn't mean that people just turn up for the planned advance practices on the first Monday evening of each month which are due to start in November, it is a good moment to remind any experienced Surprise Maximus ringers and those ready to make the step up to that to level to come along on those nights if they can.

Although we did manage an excellent touch of Stedman Caters and some Yorkshire Surprise Royal that fell away but started well tonight, as can often be the case in these circumstances it was a useful practice for some of those nearer the beginning of their progression on higher numbers. Rosemary Caudle trebled to some Grandsire Caters, George Heath-Collins to Grandsire Cinques and Claire Haynes to Little Bob Maximus, whilst Ellen Christmas did well with call-changes on ten and twelve, despite Amanda Richmond's errant calling of them!

Afterwards our post-ringing drinks were also upbeat as Diana Pipe, David Sparling and David Stanford told us about Brian Whiting's recent quarter-peal tour to Norfolk, which shows how much fun can be had with ringing and ringers!

It was all part of a lovely evening out from a ringing and social perspective, but of course events outside were a sad way for things to end. I pray that everyone in all the situations that the emergency services were called out to were alright in the end and am thankful that those emergency services were able to respond to their plights on such a busy day for them.

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Sunday 6th October 2024

It is difficult for ringers to get round to everywhere on a Sunday morning. In fact it's impossible in a lot of cases. Personally my main priority is St Mary-le-Tower, my home tower and as I live close by compared to many who travel sometimes vast distances with admirable dedication on a Monday night for the practice I am keen to ensure that for my weekly opportunity to indulge in twelve-bell ringing I give something back. However, I also try and support the ringing at Grundisburgh afterwards and every other week as part of actually going to a church service I like to ring at Woodbridge.

Ufford suffers from the fact that there aren't enough local ringers available to ring the 13cwt eight regularly on the Sabbath morn, but a request was put in by the church for the bells for this morning's harvest service, so Ringing Master Kate Eagle had asked if Ruthie and I could help with ringing the bells. Figuring that my absence from Ufford would be felt more keenly than my absence from St Mary-le-Tower, we therefore found ourselves with others drafted in too to get all eight ringing, with touches of Grandsire and Plain Bob Doubles with 768 bonging behind as mother-in-law Kate got the most out of those present for some really nice ringing.

Whilst my wife headed back into Woodbridge to sing for the service there, the boys and I stopped on to the worship at the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary where Alfie took on a role as the Assistant Rector before we headed over to St Mary's Church Hall for a fantastic spread. Great that the ringers were thanked in the church and at the lunch, whilst the congregation sang Happy Birthday to Mrs Eagle!

The afternoon was less interesting, although Alfred went round to his friend's for a bit whilst we recovered from a busy day yesterday. Elsewhere in Suffolk though the ringing continued. The same band rang quarter-peals of Doubles at Great Livermere and Ingham with seven methods at the former and four methods at the latter, whilst a 1274 of Plain Bob Triples was rung at Halesworth.

Meanwhile, it is worth noting that due to redecoration in the church there will be no practice on the ground-floor eight at Offton on Tuesday. All being well they'll be back in action on Sunday morning and they'll have enough to ring them!

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Saturday 5th October 2024

Down the years, the Guild has rung a number of twelve-bell peals far beyond its borders. At one point, typically through the 1980s and 1990s they were a pretty regular thing at various points, with Surprise Maximus in all sorts of different methods rung by predominantly resident bands, such as peals of Lincolnshire at Ashton under Lyne in 1988 and Waltham Abbey in 1999, Cambridge at Leighton Buzzard in 1991 and Wakefield eight years later, Yorkshire at Rotherham in 1999 and even spliced at Bedford in 1990 and St Sepulchre in London in 1992 amongst others. There was the odd one in the early 2000s, such as a 5042 of Yorkshire at Shoreditch in 2006, one I organised at South Croydon of Cambridge in 2007 and Yorkshire at Southampton in 2010, but then none even outside the county until 5100s of Grandsire Cinques and Cambridge at St Magnus the Martyr in the capital and Kettering in 2023.

That latter brace were organised by Andrew Stone and part of a huge uplift in twelve-bell ringing for the Guild generally for the SGR centenary celebrations which has happily continued on into 2024 with today's 5042 of Cambridge Surprise Maximus on the 28cwt twelve of the Halifax Minster Church of St John the Baptist. Personally I feel such attempts are so important in helping to energise twelve-bell ringing and ringing generally for Suffolk's ringers. They can be really fun occasions, getting concerted ringing on different bells in a different place with a post-ringing drink in a different pub. Depending on how far away it is, sometimes you can make a weekend of it too. Hopefully more are coming!

It's not the kind of thing I can currently really entertain doing, as today in particular showed. For having spent the morning as we have become accustomed on Saturdays watching Alfie playing football, our day was spent celebrating the sixtieth birthday of Ufford Ringing Master and former South-East District RM Kate Eagle. Not only has she contributed significantly to - and continues to - ringing locally, but as Ruthie's mother, my mother-in-law and the boys' Granny she has been a huge help in so many ways. And not just to us of course, but also my sister-in-law Clare and her family, so it was fitting that both Kate's daughters and their families celebrated her significant day with her, first at Stonham Barns and the Owl Sanctuary there - including visiting Plop the owl who has been adopted for the birthday girl - and then following a cuppa and cake at her abode, with a meal at The Red Lion in Woodbridge before we retired to my wife's sister's home for more drink and cake.

There was ringing in Suffolk though. We couldn't make it due to Alfred's fixture, but hopefully there was a big crowd at Badingham and Dennington this morning for the SE District Practice, whilst there was also a quarter-peal of St Clement's College Bob Minor rung at Woolpit, where they didn't have to go far beyond our borders to contribute to ringing in the county.

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Friday 4th October 2024

Ruthie enjoyed a trip to the seaside today. Well, tonight. And I don't think she actually made it to the beach. Rather, she was at St Peter and St Paul in Aldeburgh where she was ringing the sixth to a 1280 of Cambridge Surprise Major which the organiser Hilary Stearn apparently rang very well in.

It wasn't the only quarter-peal rung in Suffolk on this sunny autumnal day either, with the 1320s of College Bob IV Delight Minor and Bedford Delight Minor rung at Earl Stonham and Tostock respectively a first in the methods for all the participants. Well done to Tig Sweet, Mervyn Scase, Tracey Scase, Robert Scase, Stephen Christian and conductor Tom Scase in the former and Maureen Gardiner, Andrea Alderton, David Steed, David Howe, Stephen Dawson and conductor Lesley Steed in the latter.

No such activity for me though, as I was at home looking after the boys whilst my wife went to the seaside!

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Thursday 3rd October 2024

Gordon Adams of Haverhill is a regular source of feelgood publicity for local ringing and local ringers. The ninety-year old has previously been in the news for using his incredible walking feats to raise money for the town's St Mary the Virgin church and now is in the headlines for his attempts to fundraise for the restoration of its 12cwt six. This time he has walked over two million steps - or more than a thousand miles - in eighty days, with his exploits equating to 28,622 steps and 13.2 miles a day and thus far reached about £2,000 of his £5,000 target, so there is still scope to help him reach that.

Another source of feelgood is Tower Talk, the newsletter for ART published by Bardwell's Ruth Suggett and the latest edition is now out. Encouragingly there is content from within our borders. SGR Public Relations Officer Neal Dodge recounts the entries of Suffolk's youngsters into the early Ringing World National Youth Contests, whilst Norfolk ringer Laura Parker reports on her positive experience of judging the Guild Striking Competitions at Falkenham and Felixstowe with Sally Brown in May, the first one she'd ever judged. However, there is so much more from across the world of ringing, from tips to experiences of those at or near the beginning of their ringing progression and of teachers. Please do take the time to have a read - the chances are you will find something really useful in there and if nothing else it is an extremely uplifting read!

Meanwhile on the day of his funeral, a photo featuring one-time Beccles ringer Michael Stokes and a group of other Suffolk ringers taken around the 1950s was very kindly shared on the Guild Facebook page by Steve Rabong. Much fascinating identification of those in the picture followed, with Pat & Trevor Bailey spotted along with Lester Brett, Ted Cracknell, Hubert Mitson (who of course the Mitson Shield awarded for the method-ringing Guild 6-Bell Striking Competition winners is named after) and possibly Muriel Page. I imagine others reading this could recognise more!

Although it was an exciting day for Alfie who was involved in a successful football tournament with school and Ruthie went practicing with her choral colleagues, the above is as interesting as it got from a ringing perspective.

Others in the county were mercifully more active in the exercise today though, with a quarter-peal of Doubles rung at Chediston and a 5040 of Grandsire Triples at Horringer successful and which was Sally Crouch's first peal since 1986. Well done Sally for being another source of feelgood publicity!

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Wednesday 2nd October 2024

After I'd been out for the last couple of evenings, so it was Ruthie's turn to go out tonight as she joined her mother Kate in joining Pettistree's weekly practice, where she indulged in plenty of Surprise Minor with Bourne, Carlisle and Norwich, but also helped those nearer to the beginning of their ringing progression with Doubles of the Grandsire and Plain Bob varieties. It sounds like it was a productive session, which as usual was preceded with a quarter-peal and followed by refreshment in The Greyhound.

It was all part of a busy day for my wife who had also been out with her sister today and other ringers from the county have been even busier, with Brian Whiting's annual Quarter-Peal Tour in Norfolk having been rounded off yesterday. Eleven quarters were rung, including three in hand on what appears to have been a very successful (and I imagine extremely entertaining!) week.

For me however, today was a more mundane one of work and - once I'd enjoyed a kick-about with a joyful Josh during Alfie's football training - getting the boys to bed.

There were interesting moments from the world of ringing which came to my attention via the online world though. Such as the revelation that one of the contestants in this year's Great British Bake Off is Gill Howard, a ringer from Lancashire. As with Yorkshire ringer Andrew Aspland's participation in 2021's series of The Great British Sewing Bee, it may see me paying a bit more attention to something I don't usually get too embroiled in, even though - as with Andrew - I don't know her personally. Good luck Gill!

Closer to home and less glamourous but perhaps more pertinent to local ringing is the announcement on the Suffolk Guild's Facebook page of the Ely Diocesan Association Open Tower Day in aide of the enhancement of Stretham bells and is due to take place on Saturday 29th March 2025. To echo my words on Saturday's blog about open days, I can only encourage you to save the date and enjoy proceedings!

Maybe that could be a day out for both Ruthie and me!

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Tuesday 1st October 2024

For a brief while I thought that I was about to bong behind to a quarter-peal of Plain Bob Doubles on the front six at Ufford for the second Tuesday in a row this evening. With only Hollesley learner Margaret Weeks and five Surprise Minor ringers present for the weekly practice about a quarter of an hour after it had started, Ringing Master Kate Eagle asked Margaret what she'd like to ring, which transpired to be a touch of PBD inside. Unbeknown to her (and Anne Buswell who perhaps understandably missed Mrs Eagle's subtle hint to take her jumper off!), my mother-in-law was plotting to keep calling 120s to see how far Margaret - and in particular her wrist which is recovering strength after she broke it towards the end of last year - could get, with the ultimate aim being scoring a QP.

After three extents though she seemed to be struggling a fair bit and so Kate called it round, but it was a useful 360 for her and her wrist, as were the touches of Grandsire Doubles and some more Plain Bob Doubles afterwards. However, it was necessary to give Margaret a decent rest in between touches and with only the six of us in the ringing chamber there was only so much we could expect her to do, so we finished early on this occasion.

I guess I'll have to wait for my next quarter-peal of Plain Bob Doubles bonging behind.

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Monday 30th September 2024

Over the weekend it was reluctantly decided that there will be no Ipswich entry into the 2025 National 12-bell Striking Contest. Personally I think we do remarkably well at St Mary-le-Tower. That's not meant as a boast or being elitist - we are simply a group of bellringers trying to enjoy our ringing as much as possible and ultimately trying to produce good ringing when called upon by the church. But we are geographically isolated as twelve-bell towers go, on the way to nowhere for almost everyone, with no established university providing talented students to boost our numbers and to boot our practice night runs on the same night as three other twelves in the region. Yet it is now fairly standard for us to ring Stedman Cinques and Surprise Maximus on a Monday night and even a Sunday morning.

However, our situation does mean that we are at the mercy of circumstances more than somewhere like Birmingham or even Cambridge. Over the last couple of years we have lost a handful of ringers which stretches us, but nonetheless there is - as alluded to above - enough to produce advanced stuff on twelve and to enter a team in the biggest ringing competition in the world. Getting enough together at the same time is a different matter though and has ultimately led to our decision to forgo the opportunity to take part in one of the four eliminators due to take place on Saturday 22nd March at Beverley, St Nicholas Pier Head in Liverpool, Rotherham and Shrewsbury. Such logistical challenges can also occasionally extend to the weekly practice as it did this evening, where with five or six Surprise Maximus regulars missing for work, holidays, quarter-peal tours and the like, there was no Cambridge or Yorkshire Max nor any Stedman Cinques.

One way that is hoped to help counter this is the intention to hold an 'advanced' practice on the county's heaviest twelve on the first Monday night of the month, starting in November on the 4th. We are chuffed with how we've helped our learners to progress, but we're also aware that as just one of two active twelve-bell practices in Suffolk we offer a rare opportunity for people ready to advance on higher numbers and so we are hoping that such ringers can travel distance to here with the confidence that they will get that opportunity. Likewise, we hope it will also encourage other experienced twelve-bell ringers who perhaps can't commit to travelling a long way into Ipswich on the off-chance of ringing Surprise Maximus to come and help us on those first Mondays. Inspired by the success that The Norman Tower has had by doing the same once a month at their weekly practices on a Thursday, we also hope that it will complement that and generally be good for ringing in the county as well as ourselves.

Despite the low numbers at ringing tonight, there was still a band for Major sat in the Halberd Inn afterwards and during our session there was plenty of Erin Cinques. Partly that is because it is a useful step between Grandsire and Stedman, introducing the double-dodging from 4-5 upwards of the latter without the worry of which frontwork you'll be doing next and in theory removing the hesitancy and uncertainty that comes with that. Also though, because it is planned to be the test piece for the George W Pipe 12 Bell Competition slated for Saturday 15th February at Bishop's Stortford in Hertfordshire, the twelve-bell striking competition for teams in the eastern region currently held by The Norman Tower.

All being well Ipswich will be competing in at least one twelve-bell striking competition in 2025!

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Sunday 29th September 2024

As you would expect and indeed hope on a Sunday, it was a busy day of ringing in Suffolk.
A big part of that were the four quarter-peals rung in the county, including Judith Raven's first of Grandsire which was rung in the 1269 of the Doubles variant of the method at Chediston. Well done Judith! Meanwhile there were 1260s of Doubles and Plain Bob Minor at Bardwell and Rougham respectively, whilst a 1344 of PB Major was rung on the back eight at Stowmarket.

It was an active day of ringing for some of Suffolk's ringers past and present beyond our borders too. Indeed an active weekend as a whole for a couple of them, most particularly Norman Tower ringer Clare Veal who on a visit to Dordrecht in the Netherlands has rung two quarters and two peals, including a 5080 of Cambridge Surprise Royal today. And back in the UK but actually slightly further away as the crow flies, former Ipswich ringer George Salter was pulling the tenor in at Bradford Cathedral to a 5088 of Bristol Surprise Maximus with one-time Exning learner Jimmy Yeoman which was the second of a Yorkshire double-header for them following the 5136 of eight treble dodging Maximus methods spliced at Sheffield Cathedral yesterday. Closer to home, former Debenham ringer Robert Beavis rang the fifth to a peal of Lessness Surprise Major at Milton in Oxfordshire with Colin Turner, who despite slowing considerably in notching up the peals in recent years has still rung far more than anyone else, with this being his 7991st in the medium.

Of course beyond BellBoard there will have been much service ringing across the world, although mine at Woodbridge was noted on the site as I joined them for some call-changes on the front six before I attended the morning worship downstairs. Worth noting at this point that if anyone is planning to visit the practices here on a Tuesday evening and would park in the churchyard, that that option will not be available until at least December as vehicles will not be allowed in whilst scaffolding is up around the base of the tower. Ringing is planned to continue though, so please don't be put off coming along if you can!

Our time at St Mary-the-Virgin's church was part of an unusual arrangement for us, as we had all - including Mason - walked up from home and then unfortunately had to leave the service early, as we were being picked up by mother-in-law and Ufford Ringing Master Kate Eagle to take us on to Ipswich Town's latest Premier League adventure. Unsurprisingly the 2pm kick-off against Aston Villa (already the third team we've played this season who are in the Champions League) that made leaving the church such an undesirable rush was due to it being on TV, which added further to an already anticipatory atmosphere, but there were still lots of the familiar aspects that have helped really make these family afternoons out such a joy. Food and a couple of drinks at The Mermaid was followed up with meeting up with Norwich ringer Simon Rudd before the game and at half-time, whilst as we have become accustomed to the footy itself was entertaining as the Tractor Boys fought back for a 2-2 draw in front of around 30,000 fans and a worldwide television audience. There was almost even a bonus meet-up with a ringer as Keith Brown from Lincolnshire - who had only been in town last weekend for our peal attempt of London (No.3) Surprise Royal at St Mary-le-Tower - was present, although the timings didn't work out to share a catch-up over a pint.

Once we'd returned to our abode, our day continued along the slightly odd vibes as a phone-call from my mother Sally drew our attention to the appearance tonight on ITV's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire of Pete Hallifax, the son of Northamptonshire ringers and family friends Len & Lesley as he impressively won £125,000.

More conventionally we also listened to 'Bells on Sunday' on BBC Radio 4 which this week features the bells of Woolpit and an extract of the 1320 of Plain Bob Minor rung on the 8cwt six in May in memory of local ringer Alastair McArthur. As is the norm there is a longer recording on the tower's page on this very website.

I imagine there was ringing there as well on this busy day of ringing in Suffolk.

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Saturday 28th September 2024

Well done to all involved in organising and stewarding the North-West District Open Day which today raised over £2,000 towards the project at Drinkstone. Thirty-one towers - including the new eight at Fornham St Martin - were open for enthusiastic tower-grabbers from across the country. Brilliant to hear it went so well with lots of favourable comments to NW Ringing Master Josh Watkins's announcement on Facebook.

I love an open day and I have to admit that I was tempted on joining it, even though there would've been few grabs for me. Grim tales of car engines running outside, ropes being handed over mid-touch and pushing in as the most forceful of grabbers attempt to sweep up as many towers as possible abound, but in my experience (although it is many years since I've been on one) I've never really witnessed such behaviour. Usually I've enjoyed the sense of camaraderie, unexpectedly meeting someone I know, wondering who I might bump into, what we may be able to ring at the next tower and exploring an area in a way that typically only occurs when one is out and about ringing.

However, in the end we couldn't really do it. Primarily that was because we spent the entire morning at the park where Alfie was playing in goal for his team as they won again and with some more of his friends playing in a match straight after him he rather sweetly wanted to stay on to support them and as it was sunny and Josh was playing with some of his friends on the same park we stuck around chatting with our fellow footballer parents. By that point we were well into lunchtime and of course with children of that age (and especially when they don't have any interest in the exercise) it isn't as simple as just getting up and travelling across Suffolk to ring at a load of towers! When Ruthie's sister, her other half and our nieces popped round ours that definitely finished any lingering thoughts of joining it, so I'm glad to hear it was so successful.

Well done to all involved.

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Friday 27th September 2024

Framlingham is where we were planning to be this evening for the Surprise Major practice organised by South-East District Ringing Master Hal Meakin, but as hopefully all who needed to saw that was postponed earlier in the week, with the intention that it is held on Friday 25th October.

That is now a part of What's On for next month, along with other events penciled in for October such as the SE District Practice on the ground-floor rings of Badingham and Dennington on Saturday 5th, the North-East District Ringing Meeting on the 10cwt six of Mendham a week later, the South-East District Kaleidoscope Practice at Henley on the same night as the Surprise Major Practice in Framlingham and the South-West District Outing to Campsea Ashe, Tunstall, Aldeburgh, Saxmundham and Yoxford on the 26th.

Also slated for Saturday 12th is the North-West District ADM at Hopton with a bring & share tea, which is the first of the four district ADMs this year, with the NE hoping to hold theirs at Southwold on 9th November, the SW at Bures a fortnight later and the SE on 7th December. These sound incredibly dry occasions and it is true there is no way of dressing up the actual business meetings as anything exciting, but they are still important and informative events which in this day and age of quick mass communication are rarely particularly lengthy and are usually merely a part of wonderful social occasions in the beautiful locations we are blessed to live and ring amongst. Please do support whatever you can, whenever you can.

The closest we got to actual ringing today though was reading the latest edition of The Ringing World which arrived with us this morning and listening to the ringing featured on 'Bells on Sunday' five days ago following a recommendation from Mike Whitby. It is from Great St Mary's in Cambridge and is part of David Pipe's famous 'Particles' composition and therefore gives a sense of what many only read about and rarely hear. Well worth a listen.

Meanwhile the recent interview on BBC Radio Suffolk between Wayne Bavin and Sandi Toksvig was replayed 3 hours, 41 minutes and 45 seconds into the former's breakfast show this morning where the latter expressed a desire to listen to the bells of St Lawrence in Ipswich being rung. Sadly that won't be possible for the time being as the ancient five remain unringable whilst the flintwork on the tower is fixed.

However, the Friday Night Quarter-Peal Club were busier as they rang a 1345 of Norwich Surprise Minor on the isolated ground-floor six of Ashbocking, so there was at least some ringing in the county today. Even if there wasn't at Framlingham.

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Thursday 26th September 2024

Apparently more people have a birthday on 26th September then any other date. Otherwise though there wasn't anything particularly different or notable about today, including from a local ringing perspective.

That's not to say there wasn't anything worth noting happening on bells in Suffolk on this soggy autumnal feeling day, with a quarter-peal of Ipswich Surprise Minor rung at Ixworth and a peal of thirty-four Surprise Minor rung on handbells in Bacton for the Norwich Diocesan Association.

Meanwhile, while there was no practice held at Falkenham (due to lack of numbers rather than anything to do with the tower issues which aren't affecting the ringing of this 5cwt ground-floor six), there was hopefully a session at Grundisburgh now that the road closure which had led to the practices there being cancelled for a few weeks has been lifted.

For the first time this week there was no ringing for us today, as we attended a 'Meet the Teacher' event at school for Josh as the rain lashed the classroom windows and Ruthie went choral practicing, whilst I didn't get the opportunity to have a go on my eBells this week.

And considering the day, surprisingly there weren't any birthday footnotes in the county.

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Wednesday 25th September 2024

When my employers John Catt Educational and therefore myself left their previous offices in 2018, I commented that over the previous decade there was probably nowhere I had spent as much time. In part that was because over that period we'd also moved house several times and much of my time in our abode was further diluted by going out ringing two, three, sometimes even four or five nights a week, not to mention the busy weekends in towers, especially as I was Guild Ringing Master when JCEL first moved into Woodbridge from the old school house in Great Glemham.

The same can't be said for our current office though. Apart from the incredible observation that we have been in the same house throughout the whole time, since John Catt Educational moved into these ones six years ago, there have been a couple of big changes that have seen me spend far less time in this office than our previous one and have ultimately led to today being my last day working in this office. One was the acquisition of JCEL by Hodder Education and our subsequent integration into a bigger nationwide organisation and in August saw us told that our office would be closed down at the end of this month. The other change was the pandemic, which from March 2020 saw me working from home, sometimes for months at a time but even after our return for at least two or three days a week. Not only has it meant far less time spent in this office then our previous, but it meant that from tomorrow that rather than being faced with a choice between redundancy or commuting to London we have been moved to working entirely from home.

Personally, whilst I shall miss the interaction with my co-workers I am happy enough with permanently working from home, with my main concern being remaining close to hand for the school-run, emergencies and making the most of my downtime, including with ringing, but the last few weeks and today did feel a little strange. Everyone was given the option of starting working from home from the start of September and so although I preferred to stick to my office routine, others understandably reverted to the new opportunity immediately, which meant that there was an eerie feel about my workplace and when I scooped up what I needed for permanently working from home (important things like my mug!) and left the building for the final time this afternoon, there were just two of us in a space which once held up to twenty. Although if the Guild is ever minded to set up a training centre there is plenty of space for a ring of bells in what will soon be an empty two-floor building!

From now then, the social interaction I get from ringing and ringers is going to be even more important and once I'd accompanied Alfie to his football training, that started at Pettistree this evening at the village's church of St Peter and St Paul and then The Greyhound, once Sam Shannon had returned to the church to retrieve his hat and coat leaving me very diligently looking after his pint!

Ringing on the ground-floor six was also well worth the journey (even with those multiple sets of traffic lights on the short trip!) with multiple Minor methods spliced, London & Wells Surprise Minor spliced, Bourne Surprise Minor, Norwich Surprise Minor and Stedman Doubles amongst the repertoire in the relatively short amount of time I was there during a successful session.

Unfortunately they were less successful today at Bures where the tenor clapper failed three courses into a peal attempt (there are far worse points for such things to happen!) of Double Norwich Course Bob Major, with participant Mike Cowling very kindly sharing a photo on the ringing chamber walls from 1968 featuring some ringers that people may recognise!

Meanwhile, having had to cancel the Surprise Major practice which was due to take place at Framlingham on Friday, South-East District Ringing Master Hal Meakin today announced that he has rearranged it, with the plan being to gather at the same location from 7.30-9pm on Friday 25th October.

By which point I hope I will have got fully used to working from home.

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Tuesday 24th September 2024

This week was due to be one of considerable Surprise Major focus in Suffolk, with a practice at Ufford this evening and another at Framlingham on Friday. Sadly the latter has had to be cancelled due to a lack of numbers for various reasons, although the plan is to run it next month instead (on Friday 25th October), so look out for that. When only seven were present as we approached 8pm at the former with a handful of last minute dropouts due to forgotten meetings, sudden Ofsted inspections and a car breakdown in a Tesco carpark, it became obvious that tonight's wasn't going to happen either.

Nonetheless, it wasn't a totally wasted outing and with Mike Cowling very kindly volunteering to step down, the remaining six of us rang in what was Hilary Stearn's first quarter-peal as conductor. Despite some anxious chuntering from her at the start and the odd gentle prod, she did extremely well too! Well done Hilary!

Meanwhile, there has been some success with treble dodging on eight in the county this week, with a peal of Kent Treble Bob Major rung on handbells in Bury St Edmunds yesterday being a first of Treble Bob in hand for all except the conductor Alan Mayle. Well done to Rowan Wilson, Jed Flatters and Brian Whiting!

However, a message added to the Guild Facebook tonight announces that there will be no practice at Offton in a week's time. There may not so much Surprise Major focus in Suffolk next week either.

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Monday 23rd September 2024

He's only been with us a couple of years, but at St Mary-le-Tower's weekly practice this evening we bade farewell to Graham Ridgway before he moves to Lincolnshire, a number of towers already earmarked by him to join in a way that isn't possible to the same extent in many hobbies. Throughout his time with us he has been a useful ringer to have and good company to boot.

The ringing itself was another productive session even with the number of Surprise Maximus ringers present a little low on this occasion. Of particular note to me was a really well rung half-course of Yorkshire Surprise Royal, especially for David Lugg's part in it. An exhibition of what can be achieved on higher numbers with concerted practice.

It was all followed by refreshment in the Halberd Inn where we had a surprise visit from one-time learner Jakob Hirschmann and conversation turned to lorries getting stuck under bridges when we learnt one had done just that on Norwich Road this evening!

I wonder if Graham will miss our scintillating conversation as much as we'll miss him?

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Sunday 22nd September 2024

Peal Weekend for the Ancient Society of College Youths continued today with more success including another one in Sydney (this time of Stedman Cinques at Sydney's Roman Catholic Cathedral of St Mary), a 5056 of Rugby Surprise Major rung in the Warwickshire town the method is named after in the North-East tower of St Andrew's church where uniquely there are two towers with rings of bells and a 5040 of six Maximus methods to David Pipe's classic twelve-part composition at St Mary le Bow in London which is impressive in its own right, but even more so as at least one of the band had been up at 2am after the Society of Cambridge Youths' 300th anniversary dinner according to Facebook!

Others from Suffolk who were also in Cambridge last night were back within our borders ringing on the county's bells on this autumnal Sunday, including at The Norman Tower for a quarter-peal of Grandsire Cinques and at St Mary-le-Tower where my morning's ringing began with - amongst other pieces - some Cambridge Surprise Royal that young Percy Culham disapproved of, although not as much as when it was changed to Little Bob to bring it round! And following refreshment at Costa Coffee as the Ipswich Half Marathon - including occasional local ringer Ben Williamson - went past, the boys and I went onto Grundisburgh when the boys could join another youngster with Guild Chairman Mark Ogden's grandson there and I got to ring the treble to a 120 of Plain Bob Doubles. A rare luxury!

As was being able to leave the village via the B1079, the closure of which over the last few weeks had led to the Thursday night practices on the 9cwt twelve being cancelled, although it is no longer like driving over the surface of the moon with the potholes gone!

Something else which needs fixing is the tower at Falkenham, where falling masonry means they need to raise £40,000 to sort the issue out. Thank God the lovely 5cwt ground-floor six are still ringable, but hopefully they'll be able to source the funds and fix the problem as soon as possible. A reminder that practices here on a Thursday will be from 7-8.30pm from this week.

Meanwhile, a moving 1260 of Plain Bob Minor was rung at Troston in memory of Evelyn Reeve with a band including her daughter Claire Free, but my ringing for the day was done by lunchtime ahead of a quiet afternoon and an unusual evening. For we had happily agreed to dogsit for near neighbours and friends Verity & Jade as they went out. With Ruthie singing for evensong at Great Bealings with the Jubilate Singers, I first needed to look after the hounds whilst mother-in-law Kate looked after the boys at ours, before my wife arrived from singing and took over from me, thus allowing my return home to take over from Granny Kate!

All whilst the College Youths Peal Weekend continued.

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Saturday 21st September 2024

As mentioned yesterday, it is College Youths Peal Weekend and this morning saw Suffolk's attempted contribution to the occasion as ten of us gathered at St Mary-le-Tower to try and ring a peal of London (No.3) Surprise Royal.

Our county is predominantly Cumberland Youths country. I have no problem with that. Indeed, I am delighted to see ringers from within our borders involved with either of these aspirational societies. It is good for ringing in the county. However, we do struggle here to get College Youths together and so typically the peal weekend is the only time that we do get to ring in the medium for the CYs.

Sadly we couldn't add to a weekend which thus far has seen such successes as a 5016 of Stedman Cinques on the heaviest ring of bells in the world hung for change-ringing at Liverpool Cathedral, 5082 of Sgùrr a' Chaorachain Surprise Royal at St Paul's in Birmingham, 5184 of Avon Delight Maximus at Melbourne in Derbyshire, 5088 of Cornwall Surprise Major in Canada at Quebec City's Holy Trinity Cathedral and in Australia a 5042 of Cambridge Surprise Maximus at St Andrew's Cathedral in Sydney. Things were going pretty well in a difficult method until about two and a half courses in when it all collapsed in a heap, as can so easily happen in something such as this where bells hunt on the opposite stroke. Unexpectedly though, the tenor rope was also beginning to come apart. It can happen, but it's perhaps best that we lost our attempt when we did as there was no guarantee that the rope would last sufficiently to the end. Still, it was a pity especially for conductor Louis Suggett who was up from Bournemouth for the occasion and Keith Brown, an Ipswich Town supporter who had travelled from Lincolnshire and who I first met at The Ridgman Trophy at Biggleswade in June.

We also finished too early to get a beer in any nearby pubs and so we retired to Costa Coffee instead at the start of a day when some of the band were going onto Cambridge for a dinner to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the forming of the Society of Cambridge Youths. This was an event celebrated with ringing of course, perhaps most notably a 5040 of Bristol Surprise Maximus at Great St Mary's with a band including one-time Exning learner Jimmy Yeoman and Suffolk resident Phillip Orme, but other ringers from within our borders were involved too. Ben Keating lost a quarter-peal at Chesterton but scored one at Histon yesterday, John Loveless who learnt to ring at Bures rang the tenor to a 5120 of Cambridge Surprise Major at Fulbourn and on Friday Julian Colman and Mike Cowling rang in a 5058 of Yorkshire Surprise Major at Meldreth. The band at The Norman Tower in particularly have benefitted from the generous help and friendship of the Cambridge ringers so it is wonderful to see this anniversary marked so successfully.

Nothing so exciting for me once I'd returned home though. In fact the rest of my household were having a more interesting day than me as they went up to the Henham Steam Rally with Granny Kate. In 2011 we went along to help out with the Vestey Ring there, but whilst there was no ringing presence this time round it sounds like they had a good time up there.

There was no further ringing noted on BellBoard either, although a 1320 of Taxal Delight Minor rung at Tostock yesterday was added today and was a first in the method for all the band. Well done to Andrea Alderton, Lesley Steed, Maureen Gardiner, David Howe, David Steed and conductor Stephen Dawson.

Hopefully the South-West District had a successful practice at Great Thurlow. Or at least more successful than our attempt to add to the College Youths Peal Weekend.

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Friday 20th September 2024

It was a day of arrivals.

Most significantly for us, Alfie arrived back home from his school residential trip, full of exciting tales of activities undertaken and food eaten in what seems to have been the invaluable few days we'd hoped it would be for him and his peers.

Less significantly though noteworthy for a ringing blog was the arrival of the latest edition of The Ringing World, which featured a piece on the first peal on the ten of Stowmarket which was rung in March and also a report on the recent celebrations held for the thirtieth anniversary of the Lundy Island Society. As the name suggests this is the ringing organisation which is associated with ringing on the island and which I have rung three peals for, including one with fellow Suffolk ringers in 2007 on one of the trips I arranged for the county's ringers.

Another arrival was celebrated with a quarter-peal on handbells in Hasketon as the birth of Alfred Stanford was marked by a 1344 of Superlative Surprise Major which was a first in the method in hand for Grandad David. Well done David!

Meanwhile, the College Youths Peal Weekend has got underway with a number of performances around the country. Hopefully heralding the arrival of a successful few days of peal-ringing for the ASCYs.

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Thursday 19th September 2024

It's been a while, but with Ruthie out at choral practicing, Josh in bed and the evening now very dark pretty early, it felt as good a time as any to get the eBells out that Tim Hart very kindly gifted me in 2021 (I've no idea if Sir Keir Starmer has also been gifted a set!). Rust was evident as I struggled through a course of Cambridge Surprise Minor ringing 5-6 on Ringing Room with Wheatley ringing the front four after a handful of aborted attempts not helped by the usual lag. I'm fairly sure the ability to put compositions into RR now is new since I was last on there, so I might be able to test myself a bit more, but for now I satisfied myself with the plain course and felt pretty pleased to get back on it.

Meanwhile there was another touching ringing tribute to Evelyn Reeve who died a month ago aged eighty-five, with a 5085 rung at Hadleigh in the South-West District where she dedicated decades of ringing, of Yorkshire Surprise Major and also a method named after her for the last half-lead which is a variation of Yorkshire that with the places being made in 5678 had the potential to catch the ringers on the back four out right at the end! Well done to them on negotiating that!

And I guess well done to me on negotiating a course of Cambridge Surprise Minor on my eBells after such a long break from them.

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Wednesday 18th September 2024

With Alfie away there was no football training for us this evening. In theory we could've offered one of us for the pre-practice quarter-peal at Pettistree, but as it transpired we ended up hosting our friend Matt with this the only time we could manage meeting with him.
As they have become accustomed, they managed perfectly alright without our 'help', with a 1296 of Cambridge Surprise Minor and Ruthie did manage to get along to the session that followed, plus some post-ringing refreshment in The Greyhound with Mark Ogden, who somehow found time for a drink amongst all his jobs!

And even without Alfred's football training, I'm impressed that my wife found the time to go ringing too!

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Tuesday 17th September 2024

Later than usual, the latest edition of The Ringing World arrived with us this morning with a stunning photo on the front. There isn't much in the way of Suffolk links beyond peal and quarter-peal reports, but a quick overview of the recent Central Council AGM in Exeter reveals that Guild Chairman and Young Ringers' Coordinator Mark Ogden and already lead of the 'Ringing 2030 Environments' workgroup has taken on another role!

There was more time to read it this evening too, with no practice at Ufford on this occasion and nothing on BellBoard from within our borders today. Although not all that far beyond them the longest peal of Bristol Surprise Major yet rung on handbells was successful in Godmanchester with a 13440 rung in 6 hours and 7 minutes with umpires including John Loveless and ought to appear in a future edition of The Ringing World, whenever it might reach us.

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Monday 16th September 2024

An earlier start than usual for Alfie this morning as he set off on his school residential trip, which all being well will see him and his classmates undertaking all sorts of activities and taking on various responsibilities. Understandably there is a little anxiety on our part with this being the first time he has been away from us for more than a weekend and with someone other than family, and it was strange not having him about the house later on, with Josh and us already missing him, but it is of course an important and potentially exciting experience for our ten-year-old.

And life otherwise went on as normal, including me going to St Mary-le-Tower for the weekly practice where once I'd travelled in to the backdrop of an absolutely stunning sunset full of vivid red and orange, I arrived to some Cambridge & Yorkshire Surprise Royal being rung, pulled the tenor in to and called an aborted attempt of London (No.3) Surprise Royal and rang in a nice touch of Stedman Cinques before we retired to the Halberd Inn for post-ringing refreshment.

There was also much ringing activity on bells in the county earlier in the day, with a quarter-peal of Little Bob Royal rung on handbells in Moats Tye by a resident Suffolk band, while there were a brace of peals rung within our borders by the Saint James' Guild with a visiting band featuring former Bures ringer John Loveless, with a 5024 of London Surprise Major at Hitcham and a 5088 of High Ham Surprise Major at St Gregory's in Sudbury.

I imagine it was an earlier start than usual for some of them too.

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Sunday 15th September 2024

This afternoon I enjoyed listening to a video clip put up on Facebook of the penultimate lead of a superbly struck (at that point and with the band that was ringing I imagine also throughout) peal of twelve Major methods being rung on the back eight of the sixteen at St Martin in the Bullring in Birmingham, with former Exning learner Jimmy Yeoman among the extremely talented ringers participating.

However, it was a rare moment of downtime on a busy afternoon of sorting and shopping in readiness for a school trip for one of the boys, but no ringing for us.

I did do some in the morning though as I joined the ringers at Woodbridge for Grandsire Doubles before joining the service downstairs afterwards, whilst beforehand I enjoyed a chat on the stairs with local ringer Elspeth Hilson as we waited for a piece to end, discussing how far away you can hear the bells across the town.

And there was ringing elsewhere in Suffolk. We were disappointed that our otherwise necessarily busy afternoon prevented us from ringing in the 1319 of Grandsire Cinques at St Mary-le-Tower, but delighted to see it successfully rung and George Heath-Collins and Ivan Culham getting their first quarter-peal on twelve. Two ringers who we've seen firsthand working hard to progress on higher numbers and therefore this landmark is well earned. Well done guys! Congratulations also to Tim Stanford and his wife Megan on becoming parents again!

Meanwhile, well done to Juliet Griffiths on ringing her first QP of Grandsire in the 1260 of the Doubles version rung at Euston and congratulations to Sally Crouch and David Steed on ringing their fiftieth quarter together in the seven Minor methods spliced rung at Troston in a performance where the eighty-two changes of methods were silent and unconducted.

I don't know if there is any video of it, but I imagine it was enjoyable to listen to.

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Saturday 14th September 2024

Well done to Josh, Alfie, Ruthie and Kate on taking part in the 'Suffolk Churches Ride and Stride' this afternoon, the former two for the first time ever, the latter three on their bikes, whilst Josh went about on his scooter. I meanwhile merely wandered about accompanying our youngest son around the churches and chapels of first Woodbridge as we took in the Methodist Church, St Thomas of Canterbury's Roman Catholic church, St John's, the Quay Church (where the boys had an impromptu drumming lesson), the familiar church of St Mary the Virgin with its 25cwt eight and the chapel that is part of the Seckford Almshouses, before Joshua & I met Mason after he'd finished work, dropped him off at home and used the car to catch the others up at the 'new' and old (where the boys were allowed a chime of the 5cwt bell cast by Miles Graye of Colchester in 1618 which is the only one in the tower) churches of Melton and then the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Ufford. Which is where a phenomenal effort ended with a drink outside the White Lion in beautiful warm sunshine that suggested that we weren't quite done with summer yet. Thank you to everyone who very generously sponsored Alfred for this - he didn't let you down! Josh's confidence takes a lot of building up and we weren't 100% sure he would take part and so we didn't ask for sponsorship for him, but although it would've been asking a lot of him to scoot from Woodbridge to Melton and then Ufford (plus it would've taken absolutely ages compared to the cyclists who we were going around with!), he did brilliantly too! We weren't the only ringers from within our borders taking part either, so well done to all who took part.

AJM's efforts were all the more impressive considering he had already played for his football team in another successful away fixture this morning, but both he and his younger brother were able to put their feet up for the return of Strictly Come Dancing and to watch - at their request - the Last Night of the Proms with us.

Unsurprisingly there wasn't time for any ringing for us, but other riders and striders in the county would've been accompanied by the sound of bells in Bury St Edmunds, Rougham and Stowmarket on a notable day for Suffolk ringing. Well done to Clare Veal, Tim Hart and Julian Colman on ringing their first peal of Bristol Surprise Maximus at The Norman Tower (which was also the Guild's first in the method for five years) on what was a packed day of peal-ringing for Julian, Joan Garrett and Simon Rudd as they were also in the 5040 of Cambridge Surprise Royal which was also the first peal of Surprise Royal on Suffolk's newest ten. Congratulations to Andrew Stone on his 300th in the medium in that 3 hours and 14 minutes, whilst the middle performance on the 15cwt six between the other two locations was a quarter-peal of Plain Bob Minor.

It was busy in Suffolk's churches then, whether it be with ringing, riding or striding.

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Friday 13th September 2024

One of the many aspects of ringing to like is the ability for romance to blossom with a shared activity that both of you can understand and undertake together and introduce children to and set the process off all over again for the next generation. My Mum and Dad met through ringing. More specifically on Jim Pipe's 'Pipe's Pilgrims' ringing trip of 1974. My brother Chris met his now wife Becky through the exercise. And of course Ruthie and I first met during our pursuit of the art.

Judging by the thread about the subject on the Bellringers Facebook page we are far from the only ones, with lots of ringers contributing with accounts of how they met their loved ones through ringing and how their parents, their children and/or generations further back met thanks to bells. It did get me wondering just how far back some families could trace their lineage purely through couples who had met whilst ringing!

One fine example of a ringing family is the Scases with two former South-East District Ringing Masters, SE District Treasurer, GMC Reps and a former Guild Ringing Master amongst their number and this evening they were ringing a quarter-peal on the 10cwt ground-floor six at Tannington of Old Oxford Delight Minor. Well done to Jenny, Tracey, Mervyn, Robert, conductor Tom and necessary non-Scase Phil Day on ringing their first QP in the method.

Meanwhile, a peal of Bristol Surprise Major was rung at Felixstowe to mark the retirement of the priest in charge at St John the Baptist's the Reverend Canon Andrew Dotchin, who very kindly left the band a box of chocolates and put a video on the SGR's Facebook page from outside whilst they were ringing which sounded very good. A retirement well-earned!

There was no ringing for me today though, with work and an evening in with my wife who I'm glad I met through ringing.

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Thursday 12th September 2024

On the Suffolk Guild's Facebook page today, Lesley Barrell announced that the weekly Thursday practice on the lovely 5cwt ground-floor six of Falkenham - where the SGR 6-Bell Striking Competitions were held earlier this year - will now run from 7-8.30pm. Not tonight though, nor in a week's time, as also revealed in the same post. Earlier in the week, Eric Falla warned that there wouldn't be a practice at Bramford. This is a useful place to let people know quickly when a practice is cancelled. Please do as Lesley and Eric have and put something up there if you are having to call off a practice or any ringing in fact.

Indeed, if you want to promote an event such as the 60s Dinner and Dance at St Edmund's Hall in Hoxne on Saturday 28th September to raise funds for the bells there which Ruth Suggett put up a few days ago or ask a question as Oliver Lee did about practices at Lavenham (apparently there sadly aren't any currently, although they still manage five or six on a Sunday morning) or celebrate something such as South-East District Ringing Master Hal Meakin did for the hugely successful SE Quarter-Peal Day at the weekend. It is a fantastic means of communication we could only dream of even just twenty years ago. Use it to your benefit and the benefit of others using the FB page.

Away from social media, there was actual ringing going on in the county with a quarter of Grandsire Triples at Lowestoft following the funeral of David McLean featuring ringers from Suffolk and a 1344 of Uxbridge Surprise Major rung at Horringer and dedicated to the life of Terry Kirk, the wife of Martin. Our thoughts are with Martin and their family at a difficult time.

Well done to Louise Whitehead and North-West District Ringing Master Joshua Watkins on ringing their first QP in the method, but there was no ringing for us today.

As was the case at Falkenham.

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Wednesday 11th September 2024

The journey between Melton and Pettistree is about three and a half miles, around a ten minute drive, if that. Yet the powers-that-be have somehow managed to squeeze two sets of roadworks on that short stretch, complete with temporary traffic lights changing colour at the speed of an exhausted snail.

They are unwelcome delays at the best of times, but even more so when one is running late already as I was this evening on the way to the weekly practice on the ground-floor six. That was because not only was Alfie playing football first, but for the second Wednesday running he and his teammates were involved in a match which by its nature went on until later than training does. Unfortunately it wasn't as successful as a week ago and Saturday (probably not helped by me being an assistant referee in the first half until an older sibling of another player enthusiastically offered to take it on, perhaps sensing my inadequacy!) it was at least a home fixture and so there was still time once we'd returned for one of us to go out ringing, albeit later than usual.

I'm glad that one of us did though as we were missing a lot of regulars including Ringing Master Mike Whitby. Unfortunately having got there too late to see Jonathan & Suzanne Stevens and South-East District Ringing Master Hal Meakin (having departed to go to Felixstowe to dispatch his masterly duties on a busy night for him too) who had rung in the pre-practice quarter-peal (as well as Richard Stevens who had apparently been useful for switching the light on in the ringing chamber during the QP!), but in the short amount of time I spent there Mary Garner managed to run a productive session including Stedman Doubles and Cambridge Surprise Minor for the visiting Gavin Edwards and Norwich Surprise Minor.

And it was all rounded off with a sizeable crowd retiring to The Greyhound Inn next door before I negotiated all those roadworks and temporary traffic lights on the short journey back to Melton.

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Tuesday 10th September 2024

With England's men's senior football team playing on the TV this evening, the Great British Bake Off due to occupy my wife's Tuesday evenings soon and no practice there in a week, Ruthie went out to Ufford's weekly session which apparently went along similar lines to last week's with all the same attendees bar the Munnings swap, leaving me at home with the boys watching the Three Lions beating Finland 2-0.

Meanwhile on the Bellringers Facebook page, Dickon Love shared the announcement that the National Lottery Heritage Fund is to support the Church of England's Conservation Grants Scheme to the tune of £4.68m over the next five years, which helps the church to preserve features including bells. Quite how much will be spent on bells and in what way isn't entirely clear, but it can only be good for ringing and the CofE.

If nothing else, it should be more useful to the exercise than I was this evening!

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Monday 9th September 2024

Happy Birthday to David Stanford, who spent his big day in the most wonderful way - with ringers, ringing!

He rang in his own birthday peal, which was - as so many have been since he rang his first just six years ago - rung on handbells as he rang 5-6 to a 5040 of Plain Bob Major, this time in Moats Tye, before later joining us at St Mary-le-Tower's weekly practice.

Hopefully he enjoyed the session on Suffolk's heaviest ring as much as I did with a big crowd that included a visit from Anne Bray, who is usually otherwise engaged on a Monday and who I only initially noticed in the busy ringing chamber as I passed her in the touch of Stedman Cinques which I was thrust straight into after arriving! That touch was part of a more advanced practice on twelve than last week, with Cambridge and Yorkshire Surprise Maximus also rung, but there was plenty for those nearer the beginning of their progression on higher numbers as well, with Rosemary Caudle and Sonia Doherty both trebling well to Plain Hunt on Nine, whilst George Heath-Collins rang the treble to a plain course of Stedman Cinques in impressive style.

Meanwhile, people were extremely generous with their sponsorship for Alfie's first attempt at the 'Ride and Stride' which he is due to try on Saturday, as I brought the form up the tower. If you are feeling equally generous than do let me know!

The form also came with me to the Halberd Inn where our post-ringing crowd was so large in number that we had to move to a part of the pub with more room when our initial option got too overcrowded! All of which helped fuel another jovial hour or so of refreshment that was hopefully the perfect way for David Stanford to round his birthday off!

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Sunday 8th September 2024

At the end of ringing at Grundisburgh for the service this morning, a chance comment about the boxes so expertly made by the late Don Price led to those present reminiscing about the ringer who incredibly used to make a sixty-mile round trip from Reydon to ring here every Sunday. In turn we were then drawn to the benches on the north and south sides of the ringing chamber dedicated to Marie Goodship and Sylvia Pipe respectively, before leading onto the latter's husband Cecil. I never met the latter - better known as Jim - but he is of course well known for all he did in Suffolk ringing, a Secretary of the Guild for eleven years and father to George & Roderick and therefore the patriarchal head to a ringing dynasty famous across the globe wherever change-ringing is done. By his side as the matriarchal head, Sylvia was not only his wife and mother to Rod but a talented ringer in her own right and someone I do remember ringing with in my youth. Especially on 'her' bell which is now the ninth of the county's lightest twelve. Meanwhile, Marie was a lovely old lady when I knew her who lived on her own up the hill from the church and a decent ringer too, with BellBoard recording that she rang quarter-peals of Stedman Caters and Cambridge Surprise Royal, as well as in the first QP on Pettistree's rehung bells, whilst Don was well known not just for his wonderful carpentry skills and gentle character but his considerable ringing achievements that were respected throughout the world of ringing. All fondly remembered characters who rang regularly in the little wobbly red brick tower in the depths of Suffolk's countryside, an almost impossibly picturesque village with a stream running through a green surrounded by ancient timbered cottages, a shop and pub at one corner, the old school on the other and of course the church alongside it. It was nice to remember them, especially on a day when another former ringer on these bells was utmost in my thoughts with it being precisely four years since mine and Chris's father Alan died.

Appropriately my morning's ringing was carried out at just two of the many towers that he used to help out at, firstly St Mary-le-Tower where it was good to see my mum Sally and to round the ringing off with a reasonably well-rung two courses of Grandsire Cinques before a number of us retired to Costa Coffee for refreshment and I then went on to Grundisburgh where I made up a band of six.

Note that I say "I" as unusually I was doing my Sabbath morn ringing without any of the boys, with the youngest two taken shopping by Granny Kate after her own ringing duties and then onto Rendlesham Forest to meet up with Grandad Ron and his son Tom, other half Charlotte and their daughter Esme to search for UFOs. Therefore, once I'd left Grundisburgh where they were busy preparing for the men's Tour of Britain cycle race to come through later and met Ruthie after she'd been singing at Great Bealings and enjoyed a parish lunch, we had a bit of time to ourselves at home until we were invited to meet them all up at The Red Lion in Woodbridge for some tea.

Elsewhere in the county this afternoon though, other ringers were ringing within our borders. Well done to Serena Steggles on ringing her first quarter of Plain Bob Triples in the 1260 rung at Stowmarket, whilst a quarter of eleven Doubles methods and variations was rung at Buxhall, a 1276 of Grandsire Cinques was rung at The Norman Tower and at Aldeburgh a 5152 of Zeus Surprise Major was rung as a belated 80th birthday compliment to Trevor Hughes who rang in many of the second Sunday peals on this coastal eight. He is also another of the wonderful characters of Suffolk ringing.

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Saturday 7th September 2024

There was a great photo of Suffolk Guild PR officer and North-West District Chairman Neal Dodge with some of his fellow members of the Dove's Guide team taken at the Central Council AGM weekend down in Exeter and shared via Dove's Facebook page, but otherwise there wasn't an awful lot coming out from there with most of the day taken up with the meeting. A meeting that - along with he Ringing World AGM - can be viewed on their YouTube channel.

Back up here within our borders there was ringing though and plenty of it. There was some done at Little Cornard precisely thirty-nine years to the hour since Phillip & Theresa Marshall were married in the church, which I think was a marvelous thing to do. With a 1260 of Plain Bob Doubles at Wickham Skeith, the Ladies' Guild remembered Delia Golding and Evelyn Reeve, two of their members from the county whose funerals were held this week. Nice as well that Evelyn was remembered yesterday with a quarter-peal of six Minor methods at Tostock by a band featuring her daughter Claire.

However, the bulk of the ringing from Suffolk noted on BellBoard today came from the South-East District Quarter-Peal Day where five quarters were rung at four venues across the Shotley Peninsula with numerous achievements. Well done to Peter Dykes for whom the six Doubles methods on the 8cwt ground-floor six of Harkstead was the most he's rung to a QP. Also at Stutton to Peter Mayer who rang rang his first quarter on a treble, with the Grandsire Doubles being SE District Chairman Stephen Christian's first in the method as conductor too, whilst Gavin Edwards rang his first quarter inside. Gavin also needs congratulating for ringing a quarter of Plain Bob inside for the first time in the Doubles at Holbrook, as does Lorna Penaluna on ringing her first in the medium on a working bell in the 1320 of PB Minor on the same 8cwt six. And the same method was rung at Tattingstone for an event which included a pub lunch. To all involved and to SE District Ringing Master Hal Meakin on organising it, well done!

We weren't able to commit to it as most of our day was taken up by parenthood, first with taking Alfie to and then watching his team's latest victory and another clean sheet for our goalkeeping son, followed by travelling to Jump In at Anglia Retail Park on the outskirts of Ipswich - on a day where traffic in the area wasn't being helped by the closure of a lane on the Orwell Bridge - for Josh to attend the birthday party of a classmate, whilst Alfred and ourselves had lunch in our first experience of a Tim Hortons. I expect the pub meal for the South-East District Quarter-Peal Day would've been a nicer experience generally, but it was perfectly pleasant!

As I'm sure the day in Exeter was too!

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Friday 6th September 2024

With it being the Central Council AGM weekend in Exeter, there was plenty of ringing activity in Devon today with two routes into the cathedral city with open towers, quarters & peals being rung and a social event being held in the evening. On the CCCBR's Facebook page The Piglet Ring in Uffculme was ready and waiting for visitors and our fellow Rambling Ringer Richard Shere had vacuumed the ringing chamber at Cullompton and rung the 19cwt ten up in readiness, whilst the Suffolk Guild Representatives will have been making the long journey down there.

A year after our county had hosted the same event though, it was altogether quieter here with nothing noted on BellBoard, whilst our household weren't contributing anything to the exercise. Although we did read this week's edition of The Ringing World which arrived with us today just four days after last week's, taking in a detailed and informative obituary by John Hughes-D'Aeth for John Mayne who learnt to ring within our borders, whilst there was lots of other interesting content from the North West Ringing Course to the Cambridge Folk Festival to the transporting of bells via steam trains and canals.

I imagine future editions will include plenty about this weekend's proceedings in Exeter which seemed to have started well!

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Thursday 5th September 2024

It is a work in progress, but already the Young Ringers Hub provides a superb youthful, vibrant impression of ringing, which is the complete opposite to what I suspect most people's perceptions of the exercise is. As mentioned in the introduction to it on the CCCBR website, they would welcome anyone who would like to help develop the site and if you think you can help or know anyone who might be able to then you are invited to contact yr@cccbr.org.uk. Additionally, I hope that this hub inspires Suffolk's ringing youngsters to join other ringing youngsters.

Apart from Alfie and Josh who have both ever so lightly dabbled in the art, our evening was not spent with any young ringers or indeed any ringers of any age, but that wasn't the case for other ringers in the county, especially at Chediston where a quarter-peal of Plain Bob Minor was rung.

Meanwhile, it is worth noting that on Sunday the Men's Tour of Britain cycling race is due to come through East Suffolk from Lowestoft to Felixstowe via places like Beccles, Aldeburgh and Grundisburgh. Morning service ringing should be done in most places by the time it gets up and running at 11am, but of course there may be ringing planned along the route in the afternoon and access to that may be more challenging. And maybe there will be some ringing specially planned for it.

Perhaps something for some young ringers to get involved with...

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Wednesday 4th September 2024

Football again for Alfie, but unusually for a Wednesday evening it was for a match rather than training and an away one at that. The boy and his team played absolutely brilliantly (possibly the best I've seen them play) as they won comfortably with a clean sheet our delighted goalkeeping son and it was a joy to watch, but it left no time for ringing at Pettistree once we'd returned via dropping Alfred's teammate off at his home.

They appeared to have managed at the ground-floor six alright without us, at least judging by the band that would've been at the practice beforehand ringing a quarter-peal of Norwich Surprise Minor. That was rung in memory of Evelyn Reeve the day after her funeral at Wormingford when half-muffled ringing was carried out by ringers from both sides of the River Stour, whilst at Bures today half-muffled ringing with the tenor open was done by the regular Sunday service band there and Evelyn's daughter Claire. Along with the considerable amount of ringing done in both Essex and Suffolk since her passing, it seems a fitting farewell for someone who dedicated so much of her life to ringing.

Elsewhere in the county meanwhile, a 1312 of Yorkshire Surprise Major was rung on The Barn Owl Ring in Norton and nearby at Elveden Joan Garrett and Brian Whiting also rang in an impressive 1280 of fourteen Surprise Major methods spliced. Great to see so much advanced eight-bell ringing going on in the county.

Hopefully we'll find some time to join in with it all in between following Alfie playing football.

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Tuesday 3rd September 2024

After high numbers on the last two Tuesday evenings, on this occasion Ufford's practice was a bit low on them as only seven turned up, In part that was due to one regular injuring themselves on the slides at Center Parcs which will see them out of action for a while in an unfortunate turn of events and we wish them well. However, Ringing Master Kate Eagle fashioned a productive session which was the Noah's Ark of ringing practices. For the focus tonight was on Vince Buckman and Margaret Weeks, both of whom are at such similar stages in their progression that we rang two of almost everything that we rang over our one and a half hours here. That meant a brace of touches of Grandsire Doubles for them both to ring inside separately, a touch each of Plain Bob Minor inside and a couple of courses of Cambridge Surprise Minor to treble to, whilst we finished off with a 120 of Plain Bob Doubles which Margaret requested to ring inside to and which Vince bonged behind for.

Meanwhile, ahead of another practice in Suffolk this evening, a quarter-peal of Cambridge Surprise Major was rung at Offton and south of the border former St Mary-le-Tower Ringing Master Simon Rudd conducted the 5040 at Layer de la Haye, meaning he has now rung a peal at every ringable tower in the district of his birth, the North-East District of the Essex Association.

I'm glad he had the right number of ringers for it too!

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Monday 2nd September 2024

Ringing has a new logo and I'm not sure what to make of it.

The new image of a bell incorporating the shape of a musical note is the result of the Central Council's consultations with YellowYoYo and my natural position on marketing agencies rebranding something is one of skepticism. Typically lots of money is spent on something that one suspects won't make a plain bit of difference. The boys sometimes watch videos online that ask you to recognise the 'brand' by their logo and I can rarely remember any bar the most well-known organisations.

However, I am also of the opinion - notwithstanding the money that has already been spent on it - that it can't do any harm and if it helps in even a relatively small way then it has arguably been worthwhile. I also applaud the efforts to move beyond many of the usual ways of recruiting that no longer have the effect they used to have, not least because the traditional pool of potential recruits from church congregations is largely aging and dwindling. Meanwhile the debate online that the logo is indistinct and vague overlooks or misses that it is meant to be displayed with the word 'Bellringing'.

Whatever its degree of success or otherwise, this logo isn't going to change things on its own. After all, there is the widespread perception that ringing is carried out in cold, old unkempt ringing chambers without even the most basic facilities, with elderly folk just pulling on ropes and our necessary association with the church lends to the misguided notion that one has to be religious to be a ringer, which is an off-putting factor for some and possibly most. Of course, whilst there are kernels of truth in those perceptions, that isn't entirely the case. Ringing chambers are better looked after and in some cases better heated and increasingly with all the facilities one might need whilst one is out and about. That is before mention of the popular and developing handbell ringing scene done from the comfort of homes and any number of exciting interesting places such as beaches, the tops of castles, hilltops and canal barges. Much of it carried out by arguably the most talented and enthusiastic generation of ringers ever, as highlighted by the incredible peal-ringing feats of so many of them and the Ringing World National Youth Contest. And the opportunities to push what one's brain is capable of whilst also making new friends and going to all sorts of places that you would not normally go to is immense. Additionally we know that one isn't obliged to be religious to ring bells, though personally I believe that our links with the church are still very important. Anything that can support us getting that all across needs our support too and therefore I hope that when out and about in the community promoting ringing we can use this new branding to educate and appeal to the public.

The new logo can be found on the CCCBR's website through President Tina Stoecklin's latest blog, but there is further information about it in the current edition of The Ringing World which arrived with us this morning. Indeed there is much information on the CC in this issue with their AGM in Exeter due to be held this weekend, a year after Ipswich hosted it so superbly. Amongst that info there is also a Suffolk link as a page about the 'Ringing 2030 Workgroup Leads' features a biog and photo of Guild Chairman Mark Ogden due to his role as the lead of the 'Ringing 2030 Environments'.

Meanwhile, I was also participating in ringing as I went along to the weekly practice at St Mary-le-Tower where I was greeted by a big crowd on a humid evening. That crowd included the very welcome visit of former Bury St Edmunds ringer Clive Dunbavin and also an encouraging number of those near the beginning of their progression on higher numbers, with Mary Whittell up there with her grandson Will who was trebling well to some Plain Hunt on Nine as I arrived. Due to cruises, illness, surgery and holidays we were one or two short of being able to ring anything particularly advanced on twelve and indeed the best pieces came on ten, particularly a half-course of Yorkshire Surprise Royal that I was pleased to call from the ninth and a touch of Stedman Caters conducted by David Stanford and which I rang the treble to as George Heath-Collins watched me. Although he couldn't prevent me dropping my first backstroke! All topped off by a typically jovial drink in the Halberd Inn afterwards and which I hope portrays what a wonderful activity ringing is.

Hopefully that logo can do likewise.

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Sunday 1st September 2024

I travelled back to 1972 this afternoon. Edward Heath was Prime Minister, the world was introduced to Ziggy Stardust and six teams from the Devon Association were invited to take part in a call-change striking competition at St Vedast in London as part of that year's Central Council AGM being held jointly by the College Youths & Cumberland Youths in the capital. It was that which transported me fifty-two years into the past due to a post made by the CCCBR's former President Simon Linford on the organisation's Facebook page in July but brought to my eyes today by a recent comment on it. Below that Tom Waterson had sent a link to the report on the whole weekend and as always it makes very interesting reading.

The financial figures probably appear quite quaint compared to now (after all, apparently the average cost of a house in the UK was around £4,000 then compared to about £290,000 nowadays), whilst it was notable that not only was there already a ringing scene on the European continent, but indeed in the Netherlands and in Dordrecht itself. Although at the time when they were hoping that there would be bells hung for change-ringing in the country they may have been disappointed that it would take nearly forty years for that to finally happen, I imagine many of them would be astonished that there is now an eight and a ten hung in the town, as well as further rings in Belgium and France and a twelve in Singapore! And I expect they'd have been thrilled that at one point this afternoon there were just three peals recorded on BellBoard, all rung outside of the UK in three different countries. Intriguing too to see a cautious tone on The Ringing World despite its readership increasing to over 5,600. How that compares to these days I don't know as I can't find any figures, although I'm sure they must be somewhere.

There is so much to root through, but from a Suffolk perspective there is more to refer to than merely the presence of our CC Reps who attended Howard Egglestone, Cecil 'Jim' Pipe and the Reverend Lawrence Pizzey. Jim's son George features prominently as an Honorary Member who is listed as being on the Administrative and Public Relations Committees, as well as presenting the final report (preprepared by one-time Guild resident Frank Price) of the Overseas Committee and providing a typically entertaining report on the seven peals of Stedman Cinques attempted on the Saturday. Mention is also made of the local media reporting on the bells of St Mary's in Bury St Edmunds, 'schoolgirls taking over bellringing' in Halesworth, veteran ringers at Henley, the Leiston Modern School Handbell Team (I wonder if there is any further information on that) and the bells and ringers of Long Melford. Also a special note is made of a photo in the East Anglian Daily Times of George Finch, Gordon Haggar, Willoughby Maudlin, Joseph Preastner, Charles Sedgley, Ernest Whiting, Harry Hall, Walter Ruffles, Leslie Rudbrook, David Vincent, Albert King and George Symonds who were all between the ages of 68 and 96 at the time. 1972 seems like and is a lifetime or more ago now, but one can only marvel of what changes they must have already witnessed by this point, with ringing likely to have been as reassuring a constant to them as it should be to us. If you have the opportunity to view it all it is an absolutely fascinating read.

Quite what those potentially looking back on today from 2076 (apart from being amazed that you could still get a house for under £1m, reminiscing about when they spent all day queuing for Oasis tickets and chuckling at how quaint it was that we still met up in person) will think of ringing in 2024 is hard to tell without the benefit of hindsight that those looking back have. However, those with a particularly niche interest in Suffolk ringing in the 2020s will see that there was a quarter-peal of Plain Bob & Grandsire Doubles rung at Mendham today and that there was ringing at Bures in memory of Evelyn Reeve and St Gregory's in Sudbury. If my blog is still available to read at that point and isn't understandably disposed of in a technological dusty file to be forgotten about, they may even know that I went ringing at Woodbridge for the first time for a few weeks this morning with Ruthie and her choral colleagues returning to their duties on this meteorological start of autumn following their summer holidays. Pretty good it was too as with a big turnout including Susanne with her son Jonathan watching on we rang a decent 120 of Plain Bob Doubles on the front six before the boys and I joined the service downstairs, for which Alfie & Josh were rewarded with ice cream from the vicar's wife Liz!

Some things never change. Children would've enjoyed that just as much in 1972!

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Saturday 31st August 2024

Congratulations to my ringing contemporary John Thurman on today ringing his one thousandth peal in the 5042 of Bristol Surprise Maximus in Halifax. There was a time when our peal records were relatively comparable. According to the magnificent Pealbase run by Andrew Craddock, at the end of 2001 which was my last big year of peal-ringing before a self-imposed slowdown that lasted until I returned to Suffolk in 2005, I had rung 188 peals, 'JT' had rung 194. We started peal-ringing at roughly the same time (John in 1989, me in 1992) and rang in the same kind of circles in Birmingham and on tens and twelves around the country. We sometimes did compare peal-totals, but since then he has gone onto completely different levels to me. Not just in terms of numbers (I'm currently on 664) but especially quality, with his numbers featuring numerous of spliced on six upwards and long-lengths that included the most methods rung all-the-work (where all the inside bells ring every bit of every method) not just once but twice and also of course that well-publicised and extraordinary 25056 of Bristol Surprise Maximus on Alderney which was the longest peal yet rung on twelve bells. And all along he has carried it out with obvious satisfaction and confidence but also humility and sometimes even a sense of incredulity and self-deprecation. I'm glad this popular ringer has reached this significant landmark.

Pleasingly though, there seem to be further generations below ours coming through nationwide. Not just with the Advanced Ringing Academy which was again very active on its final day, but also down in London at St Mary le Bow where a predominantly young band - including one-time Exning learner Jimmy Yeoman and Rambling Ringers Ringing Master Alex Riley - rang a peal of eight spliced Surprise Maximus methods. They are all Orion-above the treble methods and ones that I have rung peals of individually around the turn of the century, but I never rang them spliced together so it's great to see so many young ringers doing just that.

Meanwhile within our borders and from yesterday a quarter-peal of Norwich Surprise Minor was rung at Sweffling as Richard Stevens marked his departure for the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester with his first QP in the method for seven years. Good luck Richard who I hope can continue his ringing progression in an area blessed with lots of other young ringing students.

No ringing for us today with youngsters or otherwise, as instead we were at the football for Ipswich Town's next Premier League fixture, this time against Fulham. We were with ringers though as mother-in-law and Ufford Ringing Master Kate Eagle took us all to The Mermaid for pre-match food and we met with former St Mary-le-Tower Ringing Master Simon Rudd for a drink in the Fanzone ahead of the kick-off and then for some half-time analysis during the 1-1 draw that most of us home fans were fairly pleased with.

Although possibly not as pleased as John Thurman is with his day's activities!

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Friday 30th August 2024

Drinkstone featured prominently on Taylor's Facebook page today with photos and a report from when a group visited the foundry in Loughborough yesterday to witness four of their bells being cast as part of the project to recast the six and rehang them lower in the tower in an eight-bell galvanised steel frame. Exciting times for the small village between Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket.

Certainly more exciting than our day was from a ringing perspective as instead we did some shopping for footwear for the boys and watched on the TV the impressive performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony at The Proms without music sheets, in an exhibition of music and memory akin to ringing a really complicated peal!

Perhaps the type of complicated peal that one day may be rung on Drinkstone's recast bells!

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Thursday 29th August 2024

On our first evening in this week, I took a moment to catch up a bit on what is on this website.

Most immediately with September due to arrive over the weekend, I found myself perusing the 'What's On' section which has much lined up, if all goes to plan starting with the South-East Quarter-Peal Day on the Shotley Peninsula at 11am and 3pm of Saturday 7th either side of a pub lunch. Please ask SE Ringing Master Hal Meakin for further details. Precisely a week later the North-West District intends to hold it's monthly practice at Wickham Skeith from 10am-noon whilst from 2.30-4.30pm on the same day the North-East District hope to run a session on the Vestey Ring in St Mary's church in Halesworth where there is already an 18cwt ground-floor eight of course. The intention is for it to be available in the preceding week too, so please do contact NE Ringing Master Philip Gorrod for more info. And consider using the Vestey Ring for events in your area.

Meanwhile, on the 21st the South-West District have penciled in their monthly practice for 7-8.30pm on the 12cwt six of Great Thurlow near Haverhill and the following Friday the South-East District has planned their bimonthly Surprise Major practice, this time for Framlingham from 7.30-9pm. Then the following day it should be a busy day all being well, with an Open Day in the NW District planned to raise funds for the project at Drinkstone and from 7pm a Dinner & Dance at St Edmund's Hall in Hoxne to raise money for the bells in the village church.

Elsewhere on the website it is now possible to read the draft minutes of May's BAC meeting at Tostock, which as usual imparts lots of information about the state of the bells, fittings and/or tower at various places from Bedfield to Westhorpe to Cavendish to Copdock, ranging from a new slider being fitted at Haughley to the progress of the augmentation to eight at Fornham St Martin. To tie in with 'What's On' in September, they are also planning to hold a Bell Maintenance Course at Framlingham on the 21st.

Further afield, I have been impressed by the activity of the Advanced Ringing Academy aimed at giving opportunities to young members of the Ancient Society of College Youths. It's inaugural week is giving youngsters the chance to try stuff they wouldn't usually get with ringing at eights, tens and twelves in and around the West Midlands, including quarters and peals and hopefully offers inspiration and motivation to those who worry - with good reason - that the art is a dying pursuit of the retired.

There was ringing activity within our borders too and not all done by the retired (although there is nothing wrong with that, with one of the wonderful aspects of the exercise being what it offers to those beyond work), with a brace of 1260s rung in the county at Ixworth of spliced Minor and Redgrave of Plain Bob Doubles.

Not everyone had time to catch up with what's on this website today!

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Wednesday 28th August 2024

Suffolk Guild Ringing Master, tower correspondent at a number of the county town's redundant churches and a Trustee of Ipswich Historic Churches Trust, Katharine Salter has shared a planning application on the SGR Facebook page for the proposed building of twenty-two flats next to St Clement. On it the public can object to, support and/or comment on the application and whilst I support the notion of building on this space in an already built-up busy area rather than covering another chunk of greenbelt with unaffordable homes whilst adding traffic lights to any junction within a mile and destroying yet more countryside, it is important that developers and potential residents are aware of the presence of the 15cwt six which are still rung. It's not my place to tell you whether to object to the application or not, but the more voices raising the subject of the bells the better.

Pettistree's six bells and their active band of ringers appear to have lived side by side in relative harmony with their neighbours for over thirty years since the bells were rehung, with weekly practices and Sunday ringing alongside at least one quarter-peal attempt each week and regular peal attempts, mainly due to communicating to neighbours about the ringing. It was here that we found ourselves tonight once we'd been to Alfie's latest football training for another summer holidays family outing to the ground-floor ring, along with a lot of other people too on a busy evening for Ringing Master Mike Whitby!

As with last night at Ufford, amongst our number was Iain 'Mitch' Mitchell who also rang in the pre-practice QP. Mitch is a ringer who unusually can be found in my ringing records from my early days as a young ringer in Suffolk and in my days living and ringing in the Midlands where he and his wife Jayne now live with their children. My first peal with him was the then traditional New Year's Eve peal of Grandsire at Grundisburgh in 1993, my last one - bar one at Darley Dale in Derbyshire in 2007 on one of Alan McBurnie's ringing trips - was at St Martin-in-the-Bullring in Birmingham of four Surprise Fourteen methods spliced. He is a good ringer despite his self-deprecation and even after a long period away from ringing he has been a useful ringer to have around over the last couple of days.

Nice also to catch up with him a bit more in The Greyhound afterwards as we all ended up trying to follow Ipswich Town losing a penalty shootout in between reminiscing about ringing and rehangs of the past.

Meanwhile, a peal of Bristol, Cambridge, Lessness, Superlative & Yorkshire Surprise Major spliced was rung for the Guild at Horringer and it is worth noting that there is no practice at Grundisburgh on Thursday 29th August due to road closures. Which should give people extra time to comment on that planning application!

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Tuesday 27th August 2024

There was no mistaking the main news today. And it wasn't the Surprise Major practice at Ufford. Well for us it was, even if for the rest of the world it was Oasis reuniting in news announced at 8am on the dot. The restful bank holiday over with, the importance of being idle had passed and after a day of work, we were off to the 13cwt eight.

It was a useful session, although initially some may say with a low success rate, especially with Rutland. However, little by little we got better and with a few requests of "stand by me", we decided to roll with it and produced some increasingly good ringing with some spliced called by Mike Cowling who was fresh from ringing in the first peal at West Ham for six years, half a course of Yorkshire and three leads of Bristol. When things go wrong, don't look back in anger.

Aside from the ringing itself, it was fantastic to see Geoffrey Clement, Alan McBurnie and Iain Mitchell there, all of whom were making a rare foray into Surprise Major. Indeed Mitch - who was over from the Midlands staying with family - had barely touched a rope in recent years.

Alan and Iain also joined some of us in going to the pub afterwards for cigarettes and alcohol. Well alcohol at least and there wasn't time to indulge in a champagne supernova once we'd all been round to the village tavern of the White Lion to find it closed and in darkness following their beer festival over the weekend and then travelled to The Coach & Horses before they stopped serving at 10pm.

Meanwhile over in Offton, the practice there was preceded by a quarter-peal of Cambridge Surprise Major on the 8cwt ground-floor eight at the end of a day where ringing was the main headline for us. Definitely. Maybe.

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Monday 26th August 2024

Bank Holiday Monday as usual saw many notable peals nationally, especially on higher numbers and famous rings of bells. Eight Royal methods spliced were rung at Durham Cathedral. The first peal of Maximus on the augmented ring at Stafford was rung. Further peals of Bristol Surprise Maximus were rung at Croydon Minster, Exeter Cathedral and Winchester Cathedral, whilst a 5009 of Stedman Cinques was successful at St Mary the Virgin, Redcliffe in Bristol and featured former Suffolk ringer Louis Suggett. Meanwhile, his mother Ruth was ringing in a quarter-peal of Plain Bob & Grandsire Doubles at Bardwell rung in memory of Bures ringer Evelyn Reeve with a band also featuring Evelyn's daughter Claire.

We weren't doing any ringing though as instead we had a rare very late lay-in - once Josh had very kindly got breakfast for his brother and mother - and then wandered up to the abode of our friends Charlotte, Gregory and their daughters and our Goddaughters Ava & Bea for a barbecue that they generously laid on for us.

It was a fun way to spend an afternoon and evening with a few drinks before we walked home with the big wide bright skies darkening, but it meant that we were unable to attend St Mary-le-Tower's weekly practice on this occasion as well as any peals, notable or otherwise.

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Sunday 25th August 2024

BBC Radio 4 'Bells on Sunday' this morning featured a 3 minute 10 second extract of a peal of Yorkshire Surprise Major rung at Leiston in March 2022 in memory of twice past Ringing Master of the Suffolk Guild David Salter on what would've been his 66th birthday. I was privileged to have been in the 5056 ringing the fifth and thus involved in 'Bells on Sunday' for only the second time as far as I can recall. At service ringing at St Mary-le-Tower this morning, I enjoyed reminiscing with Ralph Earey about the other time I was involved in this ringing institution, which saw us ringing Sproughton Alliance Minor at its eponymous tower where my brother and I learnt to ring at and required a number of attempts before we got a piece of ringing we thought was of a necessary standard for national radio! Ultimately the results were very pleasing considering we were ringing an unfamiliar method and an achievement for a rural six-bell band. We couldn't remember exactly when it was, but that it involved putting a tape recorder behind a gravestone dated it a bit, whilst combined with the fact that I was ringing by that point means it would've probably have been the early-to-mid 1990s. Happy memories!

My chat with the former South-East District Chairman had to be a relatively brief one though as it was during a busy session for Ringing Master David Potts with a big attendance that on this occasion not only included Ruthie, but also York ringer Tina Sanderson and local Laura Davies. Most reading this will be aware that superb ringer that Laura is, she has also discovered a talent for competitive cycling, which means that (sadly for us!) she doesn't have much time for ringing, but a minor injury meant she wasn't on her bike this weekend and therefore able to join us today! Their collective presence allowed us to finish with Stedman Cinques before a handful of us retired to Costa Coffee (for the second time this morning for some as they'd been before the later ringing time!) for refreshment and conversation that included the boys and George trying to outdo each other on inventing the most ridiculous sports!

The rest of our day was spent in the returning sunshine as we celebrated the birthday of my wife's great Uncle Gerald at her granny's home with most of her family and a barbecue, which was all very pleasant, but didn't involve any ringing that might appear on 'Bells on Sunday' in the future!

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Saturday 24th August 2024

Getting wet watching Alfie getting wet playing for his football team was enough to convince us that today was very much an indoors day.

That saw Ruthie making various puddings out of some pears we got from our friends Verity & Jade and apples John Horsnell had very kindly shared at Pettistree on Wednesday, a tasty task being undertaken as we listened to Ipswich Town trying to survive visiting the best football team in the country (and still reigning world champions) Manchester City in a trying listen but which turned out relatively respectably. It also allowed me to read Ringing Forums when prompted by my weekly Saturday morning email and The Ringing World which arrived with us this morning.

The former saw the Guild Public Relations Officer Neal Dodge promoting the North-West District Open Day on Saturday 28th September, which I hope ringers from within our borders can support - details can be found on this website of course. Additionally there is a healthy debate on the future of peal-ringing. Peal-ringing is not the be all and end all of ringing, but like every other element - such as quarters, outings, striking competitions and the like - of the exercise it is important that it is healthy and accessible. Like those other elements it offers interest beyond just the routine of turning up to ring at the weekly practice and for service ringing, which whilst fine for many is a fairly dull prospect for many others, especially youngsters. Peal-ringing opens up a world of opportunity and as Jack Page says in the forum discussion, there is really nowhere else beyond a few pockets of ringing around the country where you can get ringing as good as you can get it by the end of a well-rung peal. Obviously not every peal guarantees you that, but I have to admit that I'm hard pressed to think of any ringing as good as that which I've experienced in many peals, including peals here in Suffolk.  They should be something to aspire to and to enjoy rather than viewed from the outset as some kind of chore as so many appear to perceive them, sometimes seemingly because it they can involve a concerted effort for longer than other aspects of the art and take up a bit more of your day. Certainly since the pandemic there seems to have been a sharp drop in the numbers of peals being rung and of people ringing them and the debate on Ringing Forums is seeking to explore reasons why.

That said, to a certain extent peal-ringing in Suffolk has bucked the trend and a snapshot of that can be seen with the three Guild peals reported in this week's edition of The Ringing World, amongst much other interesting content.

Meanwhile, it has been announced that the funeral of Evelyn Reeve is planned for 10am on Tuesday 3rd September at St Andrew's church in Wormingford followed by light refreshments at The Old School House opposite.

Evelyn was remembered today with the latest success in the South-West District Quarter-Peal Month as a 1260 of Plain Bob Minor was rung at Polstead which also remembered the one-time Tower Captain of the lovely 9cwt ground-floor six Ed Hynard who died last year and would've been one hundred years old on Thursday.

That wasn't the only QP rung in the county today either. Well done to Andrea Alderton, David Steed, Maureen Gardiner, David Howe, Neal Dodge and conductor Lesley Steed on ringing their first blows of Nicholaston Bob Minor in the quarter on the also lovely 5cwt gallery-ring six of Tostock.

No ringing for us today though, as instead we retreated out of the wet to our home for our indoors day.

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Friday 23rd August 2024

Contentment can and usually does come in the simplest moments. Today after work as we sat outside the Coach & Horses with a pint of Mosaic each following a trip to the park where the boys met some of their schoolfriends for a game of football, both Ruthie and I were blessed with that sense of being content. It didn't involve any ringing in that moment, but of course ringing has contributed to it, as well as family, friends, employment, our surroundings and everything else we have been blessed with. I pray I never take it for granted and that others also feel content on this Friday evening. Us ringers ought to be thankful for all the art offers us I believe.

Others were hopefully feeling the same as they went about participating in the exercise at practices and in the quarter-peals across Suffolk. A 1320 of Oxford Treble Bob Minor at Ashbocking was rung by the FNQPC and well done to Jill Apter on the latest success in the South-West District Quarter-Peal Month as she rang her first QP of more than one method in the 1260 of Plain Bob and Grandsire Doubles rung on the 12cwt six of Kedington and well done also to Erika Clarke on her her first of Ipswich Surprise Minor in the 1272 at Wissett.

The latter was rung in thanksgiving for the life of Valerie Eagle-Bott's where she was Tower Captain on bells that she was instrumental in getting rehung in 2009, along with her husband Peter who sadly died in the week they came back and thus sadly never heard them ringing after all his efforts. Not many couples will have such a tangible legacy and it is wonderful that Peter and especially this week Valerie can be remembered upon that legacy. God willing these bells will ring out for centuries to come because of them and I hope that there was a moment that both of them could feel a contentment about that.

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Thursday 22nd August 2024

Ringing 2030 may be more familiar to some more than others but however much you know about it,  I would encourage you to consider joining the Zoom meeting planned for 8pm on Sunday 1st September where it appears the focus will be on the financial aspects of the project to regenerate ringing. There will apparently be an opportunity for participants to give views and presumably ask questions. If you would like to join the meeting then you need to email consultation@cccbr.org.uk to reserve your space.

For all the good intentions, one can only really guess at what ringing will look like in 2030, but we know what ringing in 2024 looks like thus far, with the latest additions to this year's ringing in Suffolk being quarter-peals of Yorkshire Surprise Major at Ixworth and Doubles at Stradishall. Well done to Guild PR Officer and North-West District Chairman Neal Dodge on conducting a QP of Surprise Major for the first time in the former, but both were rung in memory of Bures ringer Evelyn Reeve, as was yesterday's quarter in Essex at St Osyth.

Sadly, today also saw news of the death of another ringer from near the county's borders, this time those with Norfolk, as it was announced that David McLean passed away on Tuesday, He rang in the area of the far north-east of Suffolk that forms part of the Norwich Diocesan Association and indeed his funeral is planned to be held at St Margaret's in Lowestoft at 11.45am on Thursday 12th September, but he naturally did a lot of ringing within the SGR. That included 142 peals for the Guild, eight of which I was pleased to ring in. One was an impressive 3 hours and 20 minutes of pulling in the 20cwt tenor of Stowmarket to Bristol Surprise Major in 2006, highlighting that he was a very decent ringer, as well as someone I found very pleasant company.

God willing the exercise he clearly so enjoyed can find a way to reinvigorate itself by 2030 and beyond.

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Wednesday 21st August 2024

As with a lot of towers, the summer holiday period has seen numbers dip at Pettistree's weekly practices. Indeed, it's not restricted just to ringing. Training at Alfie's football training this evening was relatively sparse in attendance as it has been for a few weeks.

Even through those less well attended sessions still saw ringing that most six-bell practices would be ecstatic with, you could tell that we were a bit nearer to full-strength tonight as I arrived and rang in some Carlisle Surprise, Bourne Surprise and spliced Minor in the first three pieces I participated in. There was also Grandsire Doubles and Plain Bob Minor for those at that stage of their ringing progression, but also Stedman Doubles, all preceded by a quarter-peal of Beverley, Surfleet and Cambridge Surprise Minor spliced. Yesterday's practice at Ufford did the trick then! It was also a typically social evening as we caught up with our fellow ringers and John Horsnell very kindly brought a huge bag of apples for everyone, so we even came away with something for pudding!

Meanwhile at another Wednesday evening practice, it was moving to see a touch of Grandsire Doubles at Sproughton in memory of Anne Haynes on the anniversary of her death by a band including her father Geoffrey, sister Claire and nephew Tristan. I've said before how lovely it is that we as ringers can remember loved ones through our ringing and I'm pleased that Anne can be remembered in this way.

Back at Pettistree, still being the school hols we had another family outing with the boys, allowing both Ruthie and me to help out together in a way that isn't practical during termtime and of course it also meant a visit to The Greyhound, where we enjoyed a drink with the Garners as we chatted about visits to Bath Abbey, Hereford Cathedral and Ripon Cathedral amongst much else. It was a good night out, even more so for having more there.

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Tuesday 20th August 2024

It was the evening of the unexpected visitor to Ufford's weekly practice.

For as I left for the 13cwt eight, Alfie decreed he wanted to join me and so I went along with him in tow, although sadly it wasn't to come and have a go at ringing. Still, we had enough ringers to ring all eight without him, especially when fellow Rambling Ringer and once resident of Ipswich Sue McCouaig arrived, helping us to ring Grandsire Triples and Cambridge Surprise Major, whilst we also rang Beverley & Surfleet Surprise Minor spliced as practice for one of the band for a planned forthcoming quarter-peal attempt.

Having seen much activity on BellBoard from other Ramblers, with Sue's presence at the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary with myself and another member of the Society Kate Eagle, whilst Ruthie was at home with Josh a couple of miles away, it got me wondering where others we were on holiday with three weeks ago and on previous tours were ringing today. Relatively far and wide it seems. Busiest were John Mulvey who was quarter-pealing in Lancashire at Blackburn Cathedral and Padiham and Roger Riley who was in peals at Accrington and Leeds Roman Catholic Cathedral, the latter with another Rambler Simon Kemp and also his son and RR Ringing Master Alex who was also on BB with 360 changes of Plain Bob Minor on handbells in Durham. Meanwhile Stephen Askew was in Gloucestershire ringing the fourth at Ashchurch to the first ever peal of Eden Delight Major, whilst St Mary-le-Tower ringer and Rambling Ringers member Jill Birkby was in the QP at St Mary's in Peterborough.

Indeed Jill was ringing with other ringers from St Mary-le-Tower and Suffolk in that 1280 of Cambridge Surprise Major and back within our borders there were a brace of quarters rung. One was at Wetherden, where the fiftieth anniversary of the resumption of ringing on this 11cwt six was marked by three of the ringers who were part of that resumption, Basil Hart, Janet Sheldrake and Serena Steggles, along with their spouses. A nice touch to also remember Ken Mulley who died in 2004 and was instrumental in forming the 1974 band and rang with the aforementioned trio in the twentieth anniversary quarter in 1994. And the 1260 of two Doubles methods rung at Stoke by Clare as part of the South-West District Quarter-Peal Month was rung in memory of Bures ringer of many years Evelyn Reeve who sadly died yesterday. 2023 was a year of many positive moments involving 'Ring for the King' and the Guild's Centenary celebrations, but Evelyn ringing with her daughter Claire and granddaughter Megan for the first time at Troston on the day of the Guild 6-Bell Striking Competitions there was one of the most memorable. I imagine it is a wonderful memory for Claire and Megan to cherish and lovely that there is video of it on Claire's Facebook page from the time. Our thoughts are with them and their family.

Meanwhile, the art she dedicated so many years to continues to try to recruit and train the ringers that we hope will take the exercise on for more years to come. At Felixstowe, Jacky Savage is keen for more help on Wednesday evenings with an impressive six learners. If you are in a position to help, even if just occasionally, then please email felixstowe@suffolkbells.org.uk. They can't rely just rely on unexpected visitors!

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Monday 19th August 2024

My entry to St Mary-le-Tower's weekly practice this evening was a bit of a distracted blur for me. I was trying to sort something out on the Suffolk Guild Facebook page without any internet access by trying to contact Ruthie at home as a non-ringing visitor followed me in and sat in quietly on a piece, whilst in between those attempts to reach my wife I stood behind Graham Ridgway for some Little Bob Maximus and rang the second to three leads of London No.3 Surprise Royal. All in a day's work for a FB page administrator!

Eventually I could fully focus on the session which was a busy one. That London was one of two rings of a method many present had been ringing at a special practice here yesterday afternoon and we rang a touch of Stedman Cinques too, but there were also call-changes on twelve for Bramford ringer Ellen Christmas who was there fresh from her quarter-peal success at her home tower on Saturday and understandably pleased.

And afterwards I enjoyed a leisurely drink in the beer garden of the Halberd Inn, the end of my evening less of a distracted blur than the beginning of it!

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Sunday 18th August 2024

Two birthday parties for the boys meant that we were unable to make ringing at St Mary-le-Tower, Grundisburgh or Woodbridge this morning and so we got up a little earlier on this occasion and went to Pettistree. An absolutely superb half-an-hour of ringing - including a brilliant course of London Surprise Minor which was the best piece of ringing I've participated in for a while - made it worthwhile even beyond being satisfied at helping the bells ring out for the service. It also allowed us time to get up to Woodbridge Town Football Club for the first party, which as the venue suggests was a football themed one, whilst later in the day Alfie went to the second party where there was a 'gaming' van out the front and lots of water out the back, whilst the rest of our household went round to Ruthie's Mum Kate's for a roast dinner very kindly laid on by her.

All of which left very little time for any ringing additional to that which we had done on the ground-floor six of St Peter and St Paul, but elsewhere in Suffolk others were making up for lack of participation in the art on a busy day on the county's bells. Well done to Joshua Watkins and Lesley Steed on respectively ringing and conducting Plain and Little spliced in the quarter-peal at Great Barton, to Juliet Griffiths on ringing her first of Treble Bob, first on an anti-clockwise ring of bells and on ringing two quarters in a day with the 1320 of Cambridge Surprise Minor at Pakenham and Harriet Aves on ringing her first QP on eight in the 1344 of Plain Bob Triples at Stowmarket, whilst there was also a peal on handbells for The Ely Diocesan Association in Bacton.

It can't all be partying.

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Saturday 17th August 2024

Today has been anticipated for a long, long time, as The Ringing World arrived with us this morning.

Actually, whilst there is as usual lots of interesting content within the pages of the latest issue including an interview with Sudbury ringer James Croft and others such as David Brown and Paul Mounsey about the recording of 'Change Ringing on Handbells' in 1980, as well as Richard Knight's photo on the back page of a scarecrow from Poslingford which was attached to the recent 1260 of Doubles on the village's 8cwt five, it hadn't arrived with us before we'd left the house ahead of the actual reason we - and thousands and thousands of others - and been looking forward to today.

For after twenty-two long years, Ipswich Town were playing a Premier League fixture, ironically against the last club we'd played at this level Liverpool and we there for this historic occasion. As was Ufford Ringing Master Kate Eagle who along with Ruthie's sister's fiancé Chris joined us in The Mermaid for breakfast ahead of the 12.30pm kick-off and in the Fanzone and half-time Simon Rudd, former RM at St Mary-le-Tower, the landmark tower in the town that holds the county's heaviest ring of bells and has featured prominently in the huge amount of build-up to today's game. On a mural painted on the side of a building at the junction of Barrack Lane and Norwich Road a depiction of it appears all in blue alongside manager Kieran McKenna. A video produced by the Premier League starts with a shot of it. And ITV News produced a report that 3 minutes and 56 seconds in includes an interview with the be-scarfed vicar there Tom Mumford, a huge supporter of the ringers.

It felt like the world were here. We were within feet of Ed Sheeran as we queued for beer, TV cameras were everywhere as were stars of the game from the past and of course the present, especially with our opponents and the atmosphere was fabulous with 30,000 fans - including other ringers amongst both sets of supporters - packed into this otherwise ordinary corner of our county town down Portman Road from the ring of bells at St Matthew's. Even though the 2-0 loss was disappointing, it wasn't unexpected and a grand day out was had by pretty much everyone, ringers and non-ringers alike!

From there, we made the short journey to Bramford for a barbecue at the abode in the village of my wife's schoolfriend Vicky and her husband in the company of our fellow Melton residents Verity and Jade, where we were greeted by the sound of the nearby 10cwt six as Ellen Christmas was ringing her first quarter-peal away from the tenor. Well done Ellen, it sounded lovely!

Meanwhile, a QP of Plain Bob Minor was being rung at Rougham, whilst in Birmingham former Exning learner Jimmy Yeoman celebrated his birthday in typically impressive style with the 5089 of Stedman Cinques and Bristol Surprise Maximus spliced at St Martin in the Bullring, all of which will hopefully feature soon in another much anticipated edition of The Ringing World!

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Friday 16th August 2024

More quarter-peal achievement in Suffolk today and more of it courtesy of the South-West District Quarter-Peal Month.

Following two quarter-peal first-timers from within our borders earlier in the week, it was great to see another debut in the medium today. Well done to Duncan Riches on ringing his first QP in the 1260 of Plain Bob Doubles at Higham and as with Fiona and Robyn on Wednesday, I hope it is merely the beginning of a new chapter of his ringing progression.

Meanwhile, well done to Jill Apter on ringing her first of Treble Bob in the 1272 of Kent at Polstead and many congratulations to Andrea Alderton on impressively reaching her one thousandth quarter in the 1320 of Cambridge Surprise Minor at Woolpit.

No such activity for us though as after work the most unusual aspect of our day was buying goalkeeper gloves for Alfie and bike racks for our... well, bikes.

Thankfully they were being more interesting in the South-West District!

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Thursday 15th August 2024

A-level results day brought out the usual scenes. Delighted students, upset students, sage and necessary advice, the annual Jeremy Clarkson tweet. And university ringing societies and towers near to universities welcoming ringers discovering today where they have qualified for. Sadly we don't usually get many coming our way, with the University of Suffolk still in its relative infancy and thus far not the natural destination for large groups of young bellringers. Indeed we usually see them going the other way, but sometimes they go away and come back a better ringer and a huge benefit to where they learnt to ring, as has been the case with the likes of Colin Salter, Joshua Watkins and Lucy Williamson. Who knows though, maybe - just maybe - we might get someone coming from elsewhere that we can be helped by and/or help this time!

No ringing in the county by students leaving, returning, arriving or indeed anyone else was recorded on BellBoard today and we weren't doing any ourselves, but beyond our borders the start of the 2024 Bradfield Ringing Course (where we do sometimes get ringers going to and coming back here better for the experience!) was marked by a handbell peal of Plain & Little Bob Royal at the venue for the course Bradfield College. Where I expect today there were the usual scenes from students.

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Wednesday 14th August 2024

What a busy day of ringing in Suffolk, as a peal and four quarter-peals were rung within our borders today.

The peal was a 5184 of Cambridge, Lessness, Superlative and Yorkshire Surprise Major on the 8cwt eight at Henley, but the county's ringing headline was two first quarter-pealers. Well done to Robyn Slater on his debut in the medium in the 1260 of Plain Bob Doubles at Preston St Mary as part of the South-West District Quarter-Peal Month and to Fiona Smith on making hers in another 1260 of Plain Bob Doubles, this time at Bramford. Having met Fiona when she was sat up St Mary-le-Tower seeing what this ringing lark is all about, seeing her reach this point is particularly pleasing, but I'm chuffed to bits for both her and Robyn. As indeed I am to see anyone achieve this landmark, for it potentially opens the door to so much more.

Such as that which North-West District Ringing Master Joshua Watkins has exhibited. Joshua rang his first quarter-peal eight years ago and since then the medium has given him opportunities to progress his ringing, along with peal-ringing which he started two years later. His use of the mediums was very much in evidence on this hot Wednesday, as he not only participated in the aforementioned 2 hours 50 minutes at Henley but also rang in the QP of eleven Surprise Major methods spliced at Elveden, the most spliced he has rung. Well done Joshua!

Meanwhile, the fourth quarter rung since the start of the day was at Pettistree, very kindly dedicated to our recent wedding anniversary and was followed by a practice that Ruthie, myself and the boys went along to having been generously picked up by mother-in-law Kate after she'd rung in the 1296 of Cambridge Surprise Minor and she'd invited us along just as we'd sat in our car to head out to the ground-floor six under our own steam!

Even with low numbers at this peak holiday time, there was still good ringing, including a touch of spliced Minor which included Bourne, London and Norwich amongst other Surprise and Plain methods, as well as Grandsire Doubles for those trebling and bonging behind to that.

All followed by a drink in The Greyhound next door to round off a busy day of ringing in Suffolk.

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Tuesday 13th August 2024

Happy Birthday for yesterday to former Suffolk Guild Treasurer Gordon Slack. As I experienced first hand as SGR Ringing Master at the time, he was a good treasurer, but is also a good ringer and a good chap too!

The occasion was celebrated by a suitable length of Double Norwich Court Bob Major before the weekly practice at Offton by a band featuring the man himself, but there was no weekly practice at Ufford this evening.

That was mainly due to the time of year, with numbers lower than usual due to holidays and combined with the humid conditions it was understandably felt it would be unfair on those who did come for whom it would be hard work in the circumstances.

Hopefully yesterday's birthday boy Gordon didn't have to work too hard this evening!

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Monday 12th August 2024

It has been a busy and fun fortnight. Rambling Ringers, local ringing, days out in Kent, days out in Suffolk, family visits, garage clearing, football, wedding anniversaries and much quality time spent with the family. So busy was it that I turned down three peal requests for this last week and keen as I am to maintain my peal-ringing it's probably a good job that I did!

I was pleased to hear about someone else's peal-ringing though, as Ian Culham recounted how much he enjoyed Saturday's Guild peal at All Saints in Maidstone, whilst it was great to hear how well yesterday's barbecue at Diana Pipe's for the ringers of St Mary-le-Tower went, all during quick breaks between ringing at the weekly practice on the county's heaviest ring of bells.

On an evening when we welcomed visiting Ripon ringers Theo & Tracey (the former of whom trebled to Little Bob Maximus really well on a bell that even regulars and the most experienced can and do struggle on!), it was a decent session considering the humid conditions as much was rung for ringers present at various stages of their progression. Claire Haynes and George Heath-Collins both rang inside to plain courses of Stedman Caters and Graham Ridgway rang inside to LB Max, but we also rang Cambridge Surprise Maximus and a couple of touches of Stedman Cinques, the latter of which finished the ringing off and was conducted by David Stanford who earlier in the day was one of the band who rang in the quarter-peal of Little Bob Royal on handbells in Moats Tye.

Our efforts were all rounded off by a drink in the beer garden of the Halberd Inn at the end of a day that saw both Ruthie and me return to work. Well, that busy and fun fortnight had to end at some point!

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Sunday 11th August 2024

This afternoon, Diana Pipe was very kindly hosting a barbecue for the St Mary-le-Tower ringers for the second year running. Twelve months ago we very much enjoyed the occasion and I'm sure we would've done again today, especially in such gorgeous weather. However, today is also the twelfth anniversary of Ruthie and me getting married on a similarly balmy hot August day and as much as we like our fellow ringers of Suffolk's heaviest ring of bells, we didn't feel that a romantic BBQ with two dozen or so bellringers was the way we wanted the mark the occasion.

Therefore, having joined them for morning ringing on the 34cwt twelve and then some of them in Costa Coffee afterwards, we eventually dropped the boys off at Granny Kate's and made our way to The Wilford Bridge in Melton for an anniversary meal. From there we undertook a mini pub crawl as we walked alongside the River Deben to Woodbridge to enjoy drinks at The King's Head in the shadow of St Mary the Virgin, Old Mariner and finally The Red Lion where we met up again with the Ufford Ringing Master and our children (thank you Kate!) as they met up with some of Ron's family and we then made our way back home.

Meanwhile, well done to Mark Ingledew on his first quarter-peal of Cambridge Surprise Royal in the 1282 at The Norman Tower, whilst yesterday a Guild peal of Stedman Caters was impressively rung at All Saints in Maidstone where only ten days earlier I had rung a peal with the Rambling Ringers.

Well done to them and well done to Ruthie on putting up with me for all this time. I consider myself incredibly blessed to have a wife who is such a fantastic mother and also my best friend, drinking buddy and favourite ringer! And fellow enjoyer of BBQs, when they don't fall on our wedding anniversary!

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Saturday 10th August 2024

In one week, Ipswich Town's men's team are due to play their first match in the Premier League for twenty-two years, against Liverpool no less. God willing it'll be an exciting day with the senses pushed to the limit, but today we took the opportunity to watch their last planned friendly of their preseason preparations as they won 1-0 against French team Nice. Our visitors from the exotic south coast of France are a very good side penciled in to play in the Champions League in the forthcoming season and so the performance and result were very satisfying, but it was all very low-key compared to a fully competitive match, with the crowd relatively small in part due to big sections of Portman Road being out of bounds as extensive works continue apace to prepare it to the standards required for being in the most high profile league in the world before that first home fixture against the team who have been champions of England nineteen times and Europe six on 17th August. Yet this was a very pleasant way to spend a couple of hours in a relaxed, upbeat and jovial atmosphere, along with Ruthie's mother Kate, sister Clare and her fiancé Chris and our nieces Katelynn and Anna and of course even though the result is meaningless in this afternoon's context, it's always nice to see the Tractor Boys win!

Not that it was entirely relaxed, especially for Alfie, Mason and myself, as whilst my wife of eleven years, eleven months and thirty days and Josh joined the others in going to The Mermaid for breakfast, we three had a breakfast of our own from the new McDonald's in Martlesham Heath before Alfred played his first friendly of his own. Or at least the opening half of it as with the ITFC fixture kicking-off at 12.30pm and the under-11s match starting a lot later than usual, there wasn't time for him to play in the second half of the latter and for us to make the beginning of the former. Indeed, even having left his teammates losing 2-1, we still only just had enough time to dump the car somewhere vaguely near the Premier League stadium and get into it in time to see the teams coming out!

Afterwards was less stressful, involving a picturesque drive to drop Mason off opposite the 6cwt six of Sweffling for a family barbecue nearby and then rejoin our fellow football spectators at Chez Eagle for the children to use the pool and then for us all to enjoy a takeaway curry, whilst elsewhere in Suffolk a quarter-peal of Little and Plain Bob Minor was rung at Rougham.

There was enough going on today for us not to get too far ahead of ourselves about what is planned to happen in a week's time!

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Friday 9th August 2024

Our holidays continued today, as mother-in-law Kate joined us for a day out to Jimmy's Farm near Ipswich.

It is years since I last came here with a small Mason so it was an eye-opener to see firsthand how much this now famous local attraction has grown. On a roasting hot day it was lovely to wander the woodlands to build dens and watch artic foxes but also to see the headline attractions of Diego the brown bear and his polar companions. A lovely day out.

We did no ringing, with the closest we came apart from spending the day with the current Ringing Master at Ufford and former RM of the South-East District being this week's edition of The Ringing World arriving whilst we were out.

In it was content relating to ringing in our county, perhaps most notably with correspondence in The Telegraph with solicitor Gary Rycroft through his 'Ask A Lawyer' column. Someone called Jasper had got in touch after he, his wife and toddler had "recently moved from London to a lovely village in Suffolk" next to a church which sounds like a very active one with regular Sunday morning ringing, Tuesday night practices and ringing for weddings and disappointingly has taken umbrage with that. There is so much wrong with this and mercifully Gary replies that unless the ringers are being unreasonable - and he seems to suggest that what Jasper has described wouldn't constitute as being unreasonable - then they don't really have a legal leg to stand on and even suggests that they perhaps give ringing a go.

The RW sensibly advises that ringers use the advice as a starting point rather than formal legal advice, but I hope that if Jasper has approached the band within our borders that they try to invite Jasper and his family to come along and see what they do rather than get into conflict with them, whilst it is another reminder that all towers ought to consider effective sound control and positive communication with their local community. Personally I have very little sympathy for people who move into an active community and then complain about their activities, whether that be ringing, farming, pubs, sporting events, concerts or whatever else might make noise, but if we can continue what we do as much as possible (and that doesn't just mean peals and quarters, but also extended teaching of learners, outings and the like) whilst impacting as little as possible on nearby residents, that can only be a good thing.

There is also a response on the letters page to the mention of handbells at The Swan in Lavenham in a recent issue by John Eisel who had written the fascinating articles about The Great Ringing Day on the village's 21cwt eight, but on this occasion I was most captivated by a piece written by one-time Bures learner John Loveless about George Fearn of Birmingham following the marking in May of the fiftieth anniversary of his death. Of course I never met George, but during my time ringing in the UK's second city I heard much about him and his brother Henry, so this was an enthralling read that also mentioned a number of those who I did meet and ring with, whilst I was a privileged beneficiary of the weekly peals at St Philip's Cathedral that he set up. Well done Jake on bringing such extensive research to life.

Meanwhile, congratulations to another ringer who learnt within our borders George Salter, who today was married to Rachel in Somerset. Former Ipswich ringer George has been one of Suffolk's best ringing exports and a good lad to boot and it has been great to watch him grow up into a fine ringer and now married life in an event celebrated by a handbell touch of spliced Surprise Minor during their wedding breakfast.

And back in his home county, well done to Lesley Steed, Andrea Alderton, Maureen Gardiner, David Steed, David Howe and conductor Stephen Dawson on ringing their first quarter-peal of Humber Delight Minor and to Maureen on ringing her first with a new hip in the 1296 of the Norwich Surprise-above method at Tostock, rung as our holidays continued.

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Thursday 8th August 2024

It was a busy day of ringing in Suffolk, but for once - and indeed for only the third day in the last fortnight - we weren't doing any.

Congratulations to Tim Forsey on ringing his fiftieth quarter-peal in the 1260 of Plain Bob and Grandsire Doubles at Poslingford and Happy Birthday to Stephen Rabong, which was marked by a 1280 of Bristol Surprise Major rung at Horringer, whilst a handbell peal was rung for the Norwich Diocesan Association in Bacton.

We were in the company of bellringers though as we visited my brother Chris and his wife Becky for the first time since their home near Bury St Edmunds was renovated and a very good job has been done of it too. However, it was mainly nice to catch up with them as we chatted holidays, football and of course ringing.

I was briefly tempted to pop along to Grundisburgh's weekly practice as on the way back we drove past the 9cwt twelve half an hour before the session was due to begin, but after a busy couple of weeks of ringing it was probably best to have a break and leave the participation in the exercise to others on a busy day for it in the county.

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Wednesday 7th August 2024

Following two days of clearing our garage and multiple trips to the rubbish tip, today was one of fun as we headed to Walberswick for a day of crabbing, pubbing, ice cream, a chance spotting of village resident Richard Curtis and a look round the parish church.

Our attempt at crabbing at the one-time home of the British Championships (it is now apparently held at Cromer) wasn't hugely successful from a numbers perspective, but we enjoyed our hour or so alongside the River Blyth, the Southwold skyline opposite us.

Once we'd returned what crabs we had caught, we wandered up to The Bell Inn for refreshment. This is a lovely old place full of character and one could imagine being sat in the window at the front in centuries gone by watching Southwold lighthouse flashing as we did this afternoon. Of course we felt we also ought to go to this tavern for the name!

Obligatory ice creams purchased back by the river, we drove to the church of St Andrew's on the way out of the community, passing the man responsible for Blackaddder, The Vicar of Dibley, Four Weddings and a Funeral and Love Actually riding his bike along the way. After the crowds of tourists down by the river, this was pleasantly peaceful and an opportunity to tour a fascinating location, with the current church a much smaller affair than the original sat within its ruins, whilst the tower still stands tall. And having never been here previously partly because of a lack of bells hung for change-ringing, it was interesting to see reference of a bell (though no more information than that) in the literature for visitors and a sight of a bellrope in the vestry which sits at the bottom of tower, especially as there doesn't seem to be any mention made of it anywhere else, including Dove's Guide. Regardless, it is a lovely place to visit.

Following Alfie's return to football training, we ended our day in the customary way for this week at somewhere that definitely has bells, as we went to Pettistree practice and then The Greyhound. Ringing included two touches of spliced Minor, but also Plain Bob and Grandsire Doubles for those practising trebling to those, ringing inside and/or bonging behind, before with the pub pleasingly packed we sat out in the beer garden with mother-in-law Kate and her dog Merlin and the Garners.

Meanwhile, there was a quarter-peal of Double Norwich Court Bob Major rung on The Barn Owl Ring in Norton as other ringers in Suffolk were hopefully also having a day of fun.

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Tuesday 6th August 2024

Job well done. The car could probably take us directly to the rubbish dump without any interaction from us after another couple of trips to take the remaining contents that we no longer felt we wanted or needed, but our garage is now clear enough to hang a mini-ring. Or store some of the stuff currently filling the shed. Or even a car. Clarification. We're definitely not getting a mini-ring. Not anytime soon anyway.

Apart from a bike and scooter ride for the boys, it consumed another day of mine and Ruthie's annual leave, but was again rounded off with ringing and a pub, this time for both of us, Alfie and Josh as we all went to Ufford's weekly practice and then opted to pop into the Coach & Horses in Melton as we were passing.

Our evening out wasn't just a jolly though, nice as it is to be able to go out together. Having both my wife and I hopefully helped in a tangible way as it allowed us to ring Cambridge Surprise Minor with Mrs Munnings trebling and talking through what she was doing to Daniel and for Ringing Master Kate Eagle to stand behind Margaret as she rang the treble to Plain Bob Triples, whilst we also managed some Stedman Triples.

Whilst there, Anne Buswell requested help in ringing The Vestey Ring when it is due to be at the Shottisham Church Fete between noon and 3pm on Sunday 25th August and would be even more grateful for help putting it up from about 10.30am. It is worth noting the other bookings on The Vestey Ring page on this website in case it is going somewhere you might be able to go along and support.

Meanwhile on the other side of the South-East District, the session at Offton was preceded by a quarter-peal of Cambridge Surprise Major. A job well done.

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Monday 5th August 2024

With both Ruthie and me still on annual leave, today was definitely a sorting out day. That still includes much washing and the like from our week away, but more specifically it involved clearing our garage out. Ever since we moved in to the adjacent house a few years ago, it has been a dumping ground for a lot of 'deal-with-later' stuff. Nothing valuable or exciting, but things that we thought might be useful in the future or that we could sell or that we could assess at a later date.

Well that later date has arrived as perhaps in common with others I've noticed in the local vicinity, a mixture of time, good weather and motivation saw us sifting through old bits of cots, toys now too small for the boys and clothes and two trips to the rubbish tip later we have space to get to the back of the lesser visited part of our property. There is still much to do, but it was a very productive day with obvious results. Unusually so for us!

Whilst we were doing that, others were ringing in the county. In fact there were three peals rung. Two of them by a predominantly visiting band featuring some of the best young ringing talent in the country including Ringing Master of the Cumberland Youths Jack Page, the latest generation of Pipe power Henry, Yorkshire youngster Rachel Mahoney, Birmingham ringer Catherine Morley and former learners from within our borders Louis Suggett and Jimmy Yeoman in peals of London Surprise Major and then Bristol Surprise Major at Horringer and Ixworth respectively which also included some current Suffolk talent too!

Indeed, Rowan Wilson was also later, in the third peal rung on our soil, a 5008 of Plain Bob Major rung on handbells in Bury St Edmunds for the SGR, but I did also manage some ringing eventually as I went along to the weekly practice at St Mary-le-Tower where Stedman Cinques and Yorkshire Surprise Maximus were amongst the repertoire. And there were some confused looks when someone was prompted to course Amanda Richmond, even though she was standing behind the treble ringer at the time!

All followed by a drink in the beer garden of the Halberd Inn, which I felt I'd earnt after our day of sorting out!

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Sunday 4th August 2024

Our first day back from holiday saw us do what we and I expect many others usually do on the first day back from holiday - unpacking and clothes washing!

It was necessarily mundane, but we did get to do some ringing as with Ruthie off from choir duty at St Mary-the-Virgin in Woodbridge she joined Alfie, Josh and myself in going to St Mary-le-Tower for the later 9.45-10.30am Sunday ringing which is due to be in place throughout August. We were met by visiting York ringer and former bandmember here Tina Sanderson as Lucy Williamson ran the ringing and Amanda Richmond suggested Tina and me watch George Heath-Collins ring Plain Hunt on Eleven so we could learn something!

A fun morning was rounded off with a trip to Costa Coffee before we returned to our household post-holiday tasks and also - briefly - reading the article on the East Anglian Daily Times website that mentions bellringing as one of the selling points of Pettistree, whilst elsewhere in Suffolk the South-West District Quarter-Peal Month got underway with a 1264 of Plain Bob Major at Kersey and 1260 of Grandsire Doubles at Edwardstone, the latter of which saw Eleanor Waller ringing her first inside. Well done Eleanor!

Meanwhile, congratulations to former Guild Chairman and current North-East District Ringing Master Philip Gorrod on conducting a quarter for the 600th time in the 1280 of PB Major at Halesworth which also celebrated tomorrow's eightieth anniversary of the birth of Trevor Hughes. Trevor has done so much for ringing in the county and especially the NE District with much teaching and much support and is a super ringer to boot with many quarters and peals of spliced Surprise Major and was once a regular in the second Sunday pealband at Aldeburgh. Additionally, he is a good old Suffolk boy, a reassuring presence, particularly to those like me who have spent time living and ringing away from our lovely county. I hope you have a wonderful birthday Trevor! And that it is more exciting than our day of unpacking and clothes washing!

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Saturday 3rd August 2024

A couple of anniversaries this week have reminded me how much the Society of Rambling Ringers has remained the same but also changed.

It is thirty years ago since myself, my brother Chris and Mum & Dad first joined Rambling Ringers when what was the 44th tour went to Worcestershire, though our very first tower was the light eight of Lye in the suburbs of the West Midlands.

Many of the names that greeted us in 1994 were also present this week. Crabtree, de Kok, Dew, Mills, Pick, Wells. Many of them are now grandparents and their children who were to varying degrees contemporaries of ours are now parents. Some of us were on this 72nd tour with our children in a wonderful sense of continuity.

Yet another anniversary highlighted how things have changed too. For as with earlier this week, the online world reminded me of this date in the past. Most specifically five years ago when we left the 2019 tour unwittingly for the last time in the format that I had grown up with over the previous twenty-five years and others had known far, far further back. Of course that was the last one before the pandemic and the tour to Leicestershire we had voted on in the tour meeting on that bright day in the churchyard outside the Norfolk five of Intwood didn't happen until three years later, by which point the tour was reduced to a week. As mentioned yesterday, although last year a second week with free days was experimented with, the 2024 tour was again just a week with the general perception being that it is unlikely to ever return to a fortnight. And so whereas Saturday 3rd August 2019 was a busy intersection of those leaving after the first week, those arriving for the second week, those in the middle of a Wednesday-Wednesday visit, those on tour for the weekend and any other variation you care to think of, Saturday 3rd August 2024 was a more subdued day with a sense of winding down.

Nonetheless, although we missed the first tower of the day (I can hear you sarcastically questioning "really?") taking down our tent from The Hop Farm, we still made ringing on the gallery-ring at Ightham. Then - following a slight delay due to a misunderstanding with the keyholder over timings - we rounded our ringing for this year's tour off with a course of London Surprise Minor on the long draught of Seal, before we bade farewell with those we've spent the last few days with and headed back towards Suffolk.

After our wet experience of camping in Dorset twelve months ago, we have felt blessed with such wonderful weather for it this week, but again as with twelve months ago the best bit has been the company on the tour and on the campsite, with around fifty from across the UK and beyond joining us over the week, although we have missed Mason, my mother and others not with us this year. Meanwhile the ringing has generally been carried out at a relatively high standard. Not always perfect of course (indeed, the first touch at Dartford seven days ago firing out didn't bode well!), but there is also a huge emphasis on good striking when enjoying the privilege of ringing on other people's bells, whilst the variety of methods familiar, less familiar and completely new rung help to stave off ringing fatigue.

As with previous years, I would encourage anyone who can at least ring a variety of Surprise Minor methods to join us, whether that be for a day, all week or anything in between. There is no obligation to ring anything you are uncomfortable with (in fact that is discouraged), but also if you do want to push yourself whilst having a holiday and making new friends, this is a great way of doing that. Do let me know if you want to find out more!

This year's tour behind us though, we grabbed some lunch from a nearby Tesco and although a crash on the A12 near Chelmsford and the subsequent static queues saw us take an ad hoc diversion via Braintree (well done Ruthie on the unexpected navigation!), we made it home in time to comfortably unpack, read The Ringing World which arrived with us in our absence and even pop round to mother-in-law Kate to return the camping bits and pieces she had generously leant us and give her a gift to thank her for kindly looking after Charlie our cat whilst we were away. Which had allowed us to enjoy the changing and unchanging elements of the Rambling Ringers Tour.

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Friday 2nd August 2024

We surpassed ourselves today on the Rambling Ringers Tour. For we missed not just the first tower of the day, but the second too! Partly because of our usual leisurely start to the morning, but also because we got caught up in the obligatory roadworks of 2024 Great Britain as we dealt with various housekeeping duties such as getting fuel for the car.

Therefore our first ringing of the day was on the 15cwt eight of Linton where I rang the seventh to three leads of Bristol Surprise Major, chatted football with Exeter City season ticket holder Richard Shere and we then held the tour meeting in the churchyard.

As usual thanks were imparted by Society President Janet Dew - the successor in the role to St Mary-le-Tower ringer Chris Birkby - to the Secretary Geoff Pick (those who have ever organised a ringing outing are probably wondering like me how you even begin to tackle arranging eight days worth of towers!) and the Ringing Master Alex Riley, but otherwise it was quite unusual.

For a start, it was being held on a Friday, which is in itself was quite disorientating as for as long as I can remember it has taken place on the middle Saturday of a two week tour. However, like lots of other groups of ringers from local towers to guilds to ringing itself generally, the Society has had to adjust since the pandemic. Numbers are lower, habits have changed, lifestyles altered and after a one-week tour on its return in 2022 and an experimentation of a second week with days off twelve months ago, this year's is also 'just' a week long and it appears unlikely that there will ever be a fortnight-long tour again. As long as I've been a part of the Rambling Ringers the second week has always been sparser in ringing bodies, so in the circumstances it seems sensible to pool our resources into one week and it seems to have worked with high numbers over the last few days. I guess holding the meeting today rather than tomorrow when there won't be the high crossover of members from one lot finishing one week and another starting the next (indeed I imagine the attendance may be lower tomorrow as many start heading home) is simply a consequence of that and might now become the norm.

Additionally the vote for where we would like to go next year was a bit of a strange affair. Normally there are three or four options with a couple of clear frontrunners, with a recount quite often needed, but this time there was just a brace of choices - Northern Ireland or Herefordshire. Usually there is no attempt to sway people's decisions, but sensibly on this occasion it was warned that the logistics for the former would be challenging for a tour such as ours. According to Dove's Guide there are only sixteen rings of bells hung for change-ringing there, which would probably require us to move into the Republic of Ireland too and even then there are only a further twenty-one ringable rings south of the border and across an entire country. Accommodation would almost certainly need to be changed partway through, the travel would be vast. Exciting as the notion was, everything about it screamed impractical. Geoff and Janet's warnings were convincing and those present voted overwhelmingly for plans to be made to take the 73rd Rambling Ringers Tour to Herefordshire, with even the proposer of the Northern Ireland option abandoning their proposal and voting for it!

With that done and a picnic taken by many of us around the other side of St Nicholas' church, we then continued on with the 72nd tour by heading to the 11cwt ground-floor six of Hunton where I got to ring with young Alfred Crabtree as he did backstrokes with his grandad and dad supporting on the second whilst I rang the treble, before he then headed for a very quick trip to the park on the other side of the road with his new friends Alfie and Josh in the few minutes it took for Ruthie to ring in a touch of the 'Cambridge Six' Surprise Minor methods and ring down.

Then, having negotiated the picturesque but traffic bottleneck bridge in Yalding I rang the method of the day Caernarvon Delight Minor whilst Ruthie pulled the 17cwt tenor in to Plain Bob Minor before going to the other extreme at the next tower of Nettlestead where she pulled in the 5cwt tenor to a touch of Double Oxford Bob Minor which was one of the best of the tour thus far and done in one of the quaintest ringing chambers of the tour thus far. Although in contrast reached via a fairly hideous walk across and alongside the busy B2015.

Our next and final tower of the day also offered something different, with the 7cwt six of Wateringbury rung from a small ringing chamber alongside the stairs to the balcony which served as a waiting room for those waiting to ring, as well as a tempting play area for all the children!

Back in Suffolk meanwhile, James Smith was conducting the method he devised - Cooktown Orchid Delight Major - to a peal for the first time with the 5152 rung in 2 hours and 54 minutes at Bardwell, whilst back down here in Kent we rounded our day off by sharing pizza with our fellow camping Ramblers on what was still a long day of ringing, even without those first two towers!

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Thursday 1st August 2024

After two days of ringing, it was a day off for us to give a break from it for the boys in particular and we chose to go to Leeds Castle.

What a choice it was too! There is more to it than just the castle, interesting as that was to look around and to consider how many bells I would put in the tower if I owned it! Although the falconry display was cancelled due to the heat, we enjoyed the walk through the vast grounds, the boys absolutely adored the playground that resembled the castle and we had great fun trying to find our way to the middle of the maze along with a huge group of students from an international college.

Mind you, for a while we were slightly worried that we weren't going to get out of it in time to rejoin our fellow Rambling Ringers at Gandhi in Gravesend for the now usual tour curry! Arrive we did though, parking up just as they were rounding their day of ringing off by lowering the 18cwt eight at St George's opposite.

A great evening was had as Thirza and Harm Jan de Kok bravely shared a table with us and the boys, but a thunderstorm and the first rain of the week drove us all into our tents when we returned to the campsite, prompting an early night for some of us.

Back in Suffolk meanwhile, a handbell peal was rung in Bacton and at Buxhall a 1260 of Plain Bob, Reverse Canterbury Pleasure Place and Grandsire Doubles was rung, which was Chris Graham's first quarter-peal on a treble. Well done Chris and to the rest ringing in the above performances on doing more ringing than us today. Even if the break was good for our family!

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Wednesday 31st July 2024

Normal order was restored on the 72nd Rambling Ringers Tour to Kent as we missed today's first tower and yet it was still a very long day of ringing for me in particular!

Snodland was therefore our entry into the day's ringing, an 8cwt six rung from upstairs where mine and Ruthie's only contribution was ringing up and taking part in some Plain Bob Minor in a fleeting visit before we nipped back to the campsite having left a whole load of stuff behind including my phone!

Stuff retrieved, we were in plenty of time to ring at West Malling where ringing on this ground-floor ring was restricted to the front seven of the 10cwt eight due to the tenor being cracked. Yorkshire ringer Roger Riley did well to fashion a session here in the circumstances and it was also nice to catch up with Matthew Higby who was joining us for the day, as well as to get a first hand update on the progress of St Mary-le-Tower's training bells!

Aylesford was then my tower of the tour to run the ringing. Being a contained upstairs ringing chamber it wasn't ideal as you have to fashion the ringing around the band available rather than vice versa as you can with a ground-floor or gallery ring, but I think I did OK on this 13cwt eight with the repertoire including a course of Bristol Surprise Major which was a real joy to listen to and apparently to ring in. Although when I asked for it the band all questioned in unison "a course?!" as if I had asked them to abseil out of the window! Our hour here was bookended with a leisurely picnic lunch in the churchyard, a chat with Graham Scott and the sound of handbells and afterwards the car of one of our number needing a push from other members!

Thankfully they made it to Maidstone for the brace of towers being visited to round off the day of ringing, first on the flighty little eight of St Michael & All Angels where I rang in half a course of Superlative Surprise Major called by former Society Ringing Master Chris Woodcock and then down the hill at All Saints. I have heard so many wax lyrical about this 32cwt ten and of all the bells this week they were the ones Ruthie and I were looking forward to ringing on most. They certainly didn't disappoint! And having called a touch of Plain & Little Bob Royal spliced during the general tour ringing, I was one of of the lucky ten to enjoy them even more by ringing in the peal of Bristol Surprise Royal immediately afterwards at a tower blessed with tremendous sound control that I wish more towers - especially in Suffolk - would consider.

Whilst I have rung a peal on tour when I participated in a 5040 of seven Surprise Minor methods at Tushingham on the 2000 Tour to Cheshire (which coincidentally appears in the 5th January 2001 edition of The Ringing World that features the last tower of yesterday's ringing Otford on the cover), I have generally steered clear of agreeing to ring on them in recent years, conscious that this is our family holiday and that Ruthie - having already turned down a request to ring in it - would be left on a campsite looking after the children. However, after much pleading with both of us, the promise of transport, help and wine to my wife, she was reassured and I was persuaded.

Happily so in the end. At the end of a long, hot day of ringing, bodies and minds tiring, with a mixed band not used to ringing together, we flagged a little in the final courses, myself more than most. Yet there was some really good ringing, particularly in the circumstances and in my humble opinion I think it is a big achievement for a society such as ours to ring a peal such as this, all arranged this week by Harm Jan de Kok. Indeed, it is the Society's first in the method in its seventy-year-plus history and superbly conducted by Alex Riley to a composition he only put together on the campsite last night!

Some of the band retired to a pub, but I was keen to return to my family (with the boys enthusiastically telling me about their first trip in a left hand driven car after their lift back in Paul de Kok's Dutch vehicle!) on The Hop Farm, a bit of tea and a drink before I was rejoined by those of the pealband also staying onsite, whilst back in Suffolk a quarter-peal was rung before the weekly practice at Pettistree where after a lack of one there last Wednesday normal order was restored.

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Tuesday 30th July 2024

Extraordinary things were happening today. We made the first tower of the day on the Rambling Ringers Tour. I witnessed a door putting someone right. And we bumped into a couple of non-ringing natives as the only other people in a Kent church.

That first location was Mereworth, only a matter of a few minutes driving from the campsite and so even with our typically leisurely start to mornings on holiday we managed to get to this spectacular tower we had already seen from afar during our travels thus far this week and where we were greeted by fellow St Mary-le-Tower ringers Anne & Paul Bray, along with Peter who has been joining us at the weekly Monday practice on Suffolk's heaviest ring of bells in recent weeks. One of the nice things about the Ramblers tours is that members can come along for as little or as much of the ringing as they wish and the trio from Essex were joining us for just the day on this occasion, as was Past Master of the Cumberland Youths Peter Harrison from Australia. Although he was just on the tour for a day rather than in the UK from Down Under for the day!

The 9cwt six also saw me ring some Ipswich Surprise Minor and my journey through the 'standard' forty-one Surprise Minor methods continued onto the next venue East Peckham as I rang in some Beverley & Surfleet spliced in almost complete darkness in the ground-floor ringing chamber at an isolated church that must have been one of the earliest to come under the umbrella of what is now the Churches Conservation Trust, having closed and joined in 1973. Set in a beautiful location looking over the countryside below to boot.

From here we arrived at another notable setting as we next rang at Hadlow, a 12cwt eight rung beneath the shadow of the imposing, tall tower of the neighbouring castle which provided the perfect spot for a picnic lunch with some of the other RR families.

That said, with the glorious weather we have been blessed with thus far this week continuing, Ruthie and I were keen to find a beer garden on the way to the next ring of bells and having found the  idyllic looking The Plough at Ivy Hatch sadly "closed for refurbishment" eventually ended up in the garden round the back of The White Hart on Tonbridge Road.

Then came the correcting door at Seal Chart. This nice little six is rung from a small ringing chamber with a ceiling so low that it makes Wickham Market's look nearly cavernous and there isn't much room for others to watch on from the sidelines whilst ringing is going on. Therefore, when someone tripped up in a course of Kentish Delight Minor - one of several 'methods of the tour' that members are encouraged though not obliged to learn to help mitigate ringing fatigue over the week - I was ringing in, I was surprised to be beaten to correcting them by a voice that seemed to emanate from the door, but was of course actually former Society Ringing Master Andrew Mills who was completely unseen to me from the tenor! One of those lighthearted moments that only help keep any potential lethargy on a week of ringing at bay.

Sevenoaks saw only a brief visit from us and half a course of Cambridge Surprise Major from me as my wife had been charged with running the ringing at the next tower Otford. Most on the tour are asked to run a tower at some point to help alleviate the duties of the Society's Ringing Master and this was Ruthie's turn. Arriving far earlier than we expected, we entered to a surprised look from someone who was busy setting up for a quiz evening later. Spotting the boys' Ipswich Town shirts he explained that although he was currently visiting from Kenya he was also a fan of the Tractor Boys having emanated from Ipswich and that the only other person in the building helping him with his endeavours was also from the county town of Suffolk!

It helped pass the time a little as we awaited the arrival of our fellow ringers for ringing on this ground-floor six run perfectly by Mrs Munnings before we headed back to The Hop Farm for a meal with our fellow campers, followed by a few drinks.

Which was far from extraordinary.

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Monday 29th July 2024

As the online world reminded us today, it is precisely four years since we visited Howletts Wild Animal Park near Canterbury on our pandemic holiday down this way in place of the Rambling Ringers Tour that like most other things were cancelled in 2020.

Mercifully things have moved on since then and of course we are in the midst of the 2024 Rambling Ringers Tour, but rather than ringing we were again back at Howletts enjoying viewing the many animals one wouldn't usually find in the English countryside. Although on a wonderful but roasting hot day, a lot of them were very sensibly hiding in the shade at first!

We weren't completely cut off from the tour though, as we met up with a number of our fellow Ramblers back at the campsite, including some of the Crabtree-Croxall family hub who are based at the other end of the site. And with last night's handbell band this time successful with a quarter-peal of the Cambridge Twelve Surprise Minor methods after a move to the Hutchieson's awning (I think Liz wanted her bedroom back!), we even had some ringing to listen to.

Which the online world may remind us of in the future.

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Sunday 28th July 2024

There was much ringing going on in Suffolk today. The usual and important service ringing in the morning of course, as demonstrated by the BellBoard entry from Woodbridge, but also at The Norman Tower where the first quarter-peal of Craig Delight Royal and Renée Delight Royal was rung and dedicated to the newly married Gradidges, whilst Clare Gebel rang her first QP of Plain Bob Triples in the 1260 at Stowmarket. Well done Clare and congratulations to the band in Bury St Edmunds, including Craig himself!

We were busy ringing too, but not in the homeland. Nor indeed this morning as we awoke gently and at leisure on the second day of the 2024 Rambling Ringers Tour as our fellow campers attempted to leave The Hop Farm through the queues for a car boot sale being held onsite. As they went to Cuxton and Halling to ring for services, we had breakfast and then wandered over to the aforementioned car boot sale to purchase a football (something forgotten by the boys when packing) and other 'necessary' items.

Eventually we did join our fellow Ramblers at the 9cwt ground-floor eight of St Margaret's in Rochester for cups of tea and a spot of lunch before wandering down the hill to the Cathedral where after some ice cream we reached the ringing chamber for the 30cwt ten here via a climb not atypical for central tower rings of cathedrals but spectacular nonetheless and much enjoyed by the boys! Ringing here was also pretty good, including Stedman Caters and Bristol Surprise Royal, whilst I also pulled in the tenor to half a course of Cambridge Surprise Royal before we made the long descent.

Frindsbury - where all bar the fourth were cast by Alfred Bowell of Ipswich in the 1920s - rounded off the day's ringing with some really good Stedman Triples and Bristol Surprise Major before we travelled back to the campsite to find new neighbours Liz & Stuart Hutchieson putting their awning up alongside their caravan whilst us fellow Ramblers watched on and supported them. And then they in turn watched us all trying to light a row of disposable barbecues ahead of another sociable evening on the site, this time accompanied by the sound of a lost quarter-peal attempt of spliced Surprise Minor on handbells being rung in the Hutchieson's caravan by Stuart with Harm Jan de Kok and the Society's Ringing Master Alex Riley.

It wasn't just Suffolk where there was much ringing going on!

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Saturday 27th July 2024

Last year when we travelled down to Dorset for the 71st Rambling Ringers Tour, it was quite an undertaking. An early start and a journey that took much of the day as we made our way round to the other side of London with the heavy traffic also heading to the south coast for peak holiday season. In comparison, today as we traversed to Kent for the 72nd Tour, it was positively leisurely. Much had been packed and ready to go in the semblance of daylight still remaining after we'd returned from Helmingham yesterday and not being able to book onto the campsite until 2pm we afforded ourselves a small lay-in and cup of tea and even a read of this week's edition of The Ringing World which arrived with us this morning and included mention of the handbells hanging in the bar of The Swan in Lavenham and a letter from the journal fifty years ago bemoaning the "selfish pleasures" of "clanging fanatics" taking part on ringing holidays and what they believed (hopefully in jest!) should await them from the devil.

That was certainly food for thought as we eventually got on the road and headed down the A12 which despite the roadworks that are seemingly obligatory in 2024's Great Britain ran smoothly enough for us to reach the Dartford Crossing just as ringing was about to get underway on the 18cwt eight of Holy Trinity in the town that gives its name to the bridge and tunnels that take the M25 (well strictly speaking the A282) over and under the River Thames, the first of forty-five towers planned to be visited over the next week. Making the maiden ringing of a tour is a rare treat for us so we were pleased to take part as I rang in some Cambridge Surprise Major & Grandsire Triples for me and Ruthie rang in some Plain & Little Bob Major spliced and three leads of Bristol Surprise Major as our participation on the tour began.

It ended for today with that though, as whilst the others went on to Stone by Dartford, Swanscombe and Northfleet, we did a quick spot of shopping for tea and beyond and then headed to The Hop Farm in Paddock Wood to pitch our tent on the spot allocated us opposite those of the de Koks from the Netherlands and the Rileys from Yorkshire.

This set-up and our earlier shopping then made for a rather convivial evening with the aforementioned families on their return from ringing as we caught up with them over a few drinks whilst the boys played on the field opposite in beautiful sunshine.

All very leisurely!

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Friday 26th July 2024

There was a lot going on today.

In Paris the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games was held - uniquely - along the River Seine, impressively pulled off considering the rain and the chaos caused on the trains.

Here in Suffolk Latitude was on its second day, boosting the economy around nearby Blythburgh and its 10cwt ground-floor six at Holy Trinity church substantially. Across the border in Cambridgeshire, congratulations to Alan Mayle on conducting a peal for the Guild for the 450th time in the 5008 of Double Norwich Court Bob Major at Meldreth, whilst The Charmborough Ring was being seemingly well used at the Cambridge Folk Festival, reigniting my occasional wonderings as to whether The Vestey Ring would be out of place at Henham Park for what is outwardly leftfield as music festivals go.

Alfie went to an Ipswich Town Foundation football session and met - and got the autograph of - ITFC player Nathan Broadhead.

On the Channel Islands, 'Helen and Peter's Turquoise Week' featuring - amongst others - one-time Bures learner John Loveless reached an incredible fifty performances since it began eight days ago.

Down in Devon, the College Youths' Country Meeting was being accompanied as usual by a number of peals, with a certain poignancy following the recent death of Past Master Chris Kippin.

If you listen back as we did, you can hear about 3 hours, 22 minutes and 19 seconds into Wayne Bavin's Breakfast Show on BBC Radio Suffolk QI presenter Sandi Toksvig quoting facts about Ipswich which included that St Lawrence is the "oldest circle of church bells in the world" with remarkable accuracy and was also tentatively angling for an invite to listen to them which could be great PR!

And in Helmingham, the South-East District was holding its latest Surprise Major Practice, introducing Lessness rather successfully. Indeed, the whole event could be labelled as successful. Over twenty enjoyed this warm summer evening in wonderful surroundings, with the car park absolutely rammed. Such numbers allowed much to be rung from Cambridge and Yorkshire to London and Bristol. Although the London collapsed, three leads of Bristol sounded like it was going well as we departed slightly early, with our car blocking everyone else's in!

Meanwhile, across the county on the lovely 5cwt gallery-ring six of Tostock, well done to Lynda Rochester, Andrea Alderton, North-West District Ringing Master Joshua Watkins, Lesley Steed, Andrew Stone and conductor Stephen Dawson on ringing their first quarter-peal of spliced Surprise, Plain and Little in today's 1260.

Like I said, there was a lot going on today.

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Thursday 25th July 2024

It's been a busy week on this website's 'What's New' section, all of which I caught up with this evening.

Monday saw recordings of ringing at Aldeburgh and Laxfield from parts of the peal of Pudsey Surprise Major in January and the quarter-peal of Plain Bob Triples a fortnight ago respectively which were both a pleasant few minutes of ringing to listen to. Incidentally, a recording of a plain course of London Surprise Minor rung at the South-East District Practice at Barham in April 2022 is due to be aired on BBC Radio 4's 'Bells on Sunday' in three days time, although the full recording is available to listen to on the 11cwt ground-floor six's tower page.

Tuesday announced that the link to the printer friendly version for August's 'What's On' has been added with details with what is planned for next month. That features the SE District Practice slated for Saturday 3rd at Ufford from 10-10.45am and Wickham Market from 11am-noon with refreshments intended at the latter, whilst a week later the North-East District hope to hold a Picnic & Walk along with ringing at Wissett between 3 and 3.45pm and then Chediston between 4 and 5pm approximately and on the evening of Friday 30th the SE have penciled in a Kaleidoscope Practice at Henley. Meanwhile, throughout all of this the South-West District have lined up their Quarter-Peal Month. Please do contact SW Secretary Christine Knight, 01787 277704, if you would like to do something and/or can help.

Then yesterday links were put up to the reports from the South-East District Area Representatives and State of the SE District in the Guild's Centenary Year Report, which make fascinating reading. Area by area, tower by tower they give an overview of what is and has been happening. Some places don't get rung except for occasional visits from locals and some from further afield, whilst others seem to be thriving and it is encouraging to read of a number of young ringers - especially on the Shotley Peninsula where they seem plentiful and almost self-reliant - who I hope we can see at District events and particularly that they can get together with each other and indeed other young ringers from across the Guild. It would be great to have them encouraging each other and to perhaps even have an SGR entry in the Ringing World National Youth Contest in 2025 and/or 2026.

No ringing for us as Ruthie went to choir practice, but there was for other ringers in the county as a 1280 of Cambridge & Yorkshire Surprise Major was rung at Horringer.
Nothing added to 'What's New' though.

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Wednesday 24th July 2024

We are now in the midst of the school summer holidays and with it the return of our now traditional family treat of all going along to Pettistree practice and then a visit to The Greyhound, motivated by the boys but happily gone along with by Ruthie and me!

First up was Alfie's football training, but once that had finished and we had had our tea, we all went out to the ground-floor six for a session where we managed much from Plain Bob and Grandsire Doubles to Stedman Doubles and a touch of spliced Doubles and Minor impressively called on the fly by Mike Whitby and featuring lots of 65s and even rounds partway through, but all good fun, before proceedings were rounded off by me leading down appallingly.

Other ringers in Suffolk were doing far better than me though, most notably at Bramford where Caroline Wolton rang her first quarter-peal by bonging behind to the 1260 of Plain Bob Doubles where Kate Hepworth was ringing her first away from the tenor, before they then swapped bells for a repeat performance that allowed Caroline to immediately ring her first away from the tenor. Well done to both of them, but especially Caroline!

I can't say what the band for that brace of quarters on the 10cwt six did afterwards, but as alluded to earlier, we followed our ringing with a trip to the pub where we had a drink with the Garners and former Ipswich Town Chairman David Sheepshanks. Well, it was more the latter stood next us to thank the staff for their meal. Still, it was great to be able to treat the family to their traditional holidays night out!

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Tuesday 23rd July 2024

It was a difficult start to Ufford's practice on this lovely summer evening. The key was a couple of minutes late, one ringer hadn't got the right glasses on, another couldn't really hear due to their hearing aid not being on and the Grandsire Doubles we began with took four attempts to finish.

Things did improve though, with Plain Hunt on Seven and Cambridge Surprise Minor managed before things drew to a close with a quick sixty changes of Plain Bob Doubles.

Meanwhile, more expensive eight-bell ringing is planned for Helmingham on Friday with the South-East District Surprise Major Practice. Look up Cornwall and Lessness and do support what will hopefully be a pleasant event at a wonderful location on a lovely evening.

Elsewhere in Suffolk tonight though, Offton's weekly session was preceded by a quarter-peal of Cambridge Surprise Major. It seems they had a better start than we did at Ufford on this occasion!

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Monday 22nd July 2024

Stedman Cinques is proving very successful at St Mary-le-Tower at the moment. We may have lost a quarter-peal attempt of it yesterday and our ringing of it at this evening's weekly practice did include mistakes but overall we are ringing it really well. Indeed, one touch began with a bell initially going the wrong way - which was instantly rectified - and ended with a minor kerfuffle in the final six but in between produced some superb ringing carried out with purpose and confidence which I imagine most twelve-bell towers would be really pleased with. Additionally, the other pieces were rung for those who are feeling their way into this famous principle, such as Peter, a youngster from Essex who has been coming up from Essex recently and Sue Williamson. Both did really well in something that even the most experienced ringers can and do get lost in!

That wasn't the only good ringing of the session either. As I arrived and then stood at the top of the stairs with Diana Pipe, the door to the ringing chamber open wide on a warm evening, two courses of Little Bob Maximus was being well rung and we climaxed with me calling Cambridge and Yorkshire Surprise Maximus spliced, with Little Bob to bring it round as time finally ran out on us.

It was all followed by Chris Birkby marking his recent significant birthday by extremely generously buying a drink for each of the typically large crowd that retired to the Halberd Inn, where we sat in the beer garden and enjoyed the warm evening, very satisfied with our ringing of Stedman Cinques.

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Sunday 21st July 2024

During the morning worship at St Mary-the-Virgin in Woodbridge today, I had to step outside to take one of the boys across to the facilities at St Mary's House and I heard a bell chiming. It would've been from St John's just down the hill ahead of their service and I mused if there was a spot where if one stood long enough on the Sabbath morn you could hear this, the chimed three at Melton and of course the 25cwt eight that I rang on before this morning's service. Especially after last Sunday in Ipswich when I heard the 10cwt six of St Matthew's having rung at St Mary-le-Tower in a place where I will often also hear the eight of St Margaret's, it was a reminder of the reach that bells have and potential to let people in earshot know that a service is about to happen, maybe even to draw someone in. Getting up on a Sunday morning isn't always easy as I know, but it's moments like this that help make it worthwhile helping bells ring out.

Even when it isn't for a service, I hope that our ringing offers comfort or pleasure to those who can hear us, including our attempt at a quarter-peal of Stedman Cinques on the aforementioned heaviest twelve in the county this afternoon. And attempt is ultimately what it was. Two attempts in fact. That suggests that the ringing wasn't very good, but actually there was some very decent ringing. The first attempt was stopped after two bells had swapped and once the tenor ringers had taken their glasses off (the small things that can become big things if one isn't careful!) we set off on a second attempt that wasn't far from finishing but had to be set up after the conductor missed a bob near the end. Easily done and any conductor of Stedman has my absolute admiration.

Besides, it arguably served its purpose as we got about an hour's worth of practice at a principle that simply can't be focused on to that extent at a normal weekly session on a Monday night and I really enjoyed ringing it, particularly as I was round the front on the second alongside Ruthie on the third. Additionally, the restart allowed us to take in some of the little bell stuff on one, two, three and four again which was most enjoyable to be in amongst!

We were also very grateful to mother-in-law Kate for looking after the boys as they swam in her pool whilst we rang before we returned home for tea and to listen to the Bedfordshire Association's winning piece of Grandsire Caters at last month's Ridgman Trophy at Biggleswade just ahead of the Suffolk Guild, on BBC Radio 4's 'Bells on Sunday'. A nice way to end a day that the world generally will remember for President Joe Biden unprecedentedly stepping down from the race to take on a second term in the USA, but which for me was a day I was reminded of why we ring on Sunday mornings.

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Saturday 20th July 2024

It was one of those pleasant though mundane Saturdays. We had planned to meet with Ruthie's best friend, our bridesmaid and Alfie's Godmother Fergie, but her visit to her hometown from Brighton was cancelled yesterday due to a rather unpleasant sounding sickness in her household. Therefore, once Alfred had been to football training this morning, our day was made up of various odd jobs in and around Woodbridge as the bells of the 25cwt eight rang out for a wedding.

The seven ringing there weren't the only ones in Suffolk busier than us in the exercise. A quarter-peal attempt at Tattingstone was understandably brought round early on this hot day, so it was all the more impressive that the band also managed quarters of Cambridge Surprise, Norwich Surprise and St Clement's College Bob Minor at Harkstead, Holbrook and Stutton respectively to celebrate North-West District Ringing Master Joshua Watkins's graduation. And well done to Guild Treasurer Tim Hart on conducting a peal of Maximus for the first time when he called today's 5042 of Humberside Surprise Maximus at The Norman Tower.

Nice also to see this method in the peal columns again. It is but a tiny variation of Yorkshire first pealed at Lincoln Cathedral in 1981, but those can sometimes be the trickiest to ring as the temptation is to follow the line or construction you are varying (in this case Yorkshire) and forget to action the variation! I remember well ringing it in just my fourth peal of Maximus back in 1995 with then SGR Ringing Master David Salter pulling the tenor at St Mary-le-Tower in on another very hot day! It's wonderful what memories can be conjured up by the mere mention of a method.

Meanwhile, following my mention in yesterday's blog of it being the four hundredth anniversary next year of Lavenham's tenor being cast, I was very kindly contacted by a member of the Guild to let me know that a peal is already arranged to mark it in June, which was wonderful news to hear!

Especially on a Saturday as mundane as this, pleasant as it was.

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Friday 19th July 2024

There was global chaos today with what has been described as "the biggest IT outage in history", but apart from the potential for ringers on the way to participating in the exercise being caught in the disruption at railway stations that was caused by the mistake caused by a simple CrowdStrike update, the actual act of ringing being carried out in largely the same way it has been for centuries meant that it was unaffected by such a technological fart. Amongst much else there were peals in Cambridgeshire at Bluntisham and Hilton rung by bands where the ringers had all rung over 5,000 peals (the former saw a combined peal total of 45,405 before they'd even pulled off!) and a peal of Yorkshire Surprise Maximus at Liverpool Cathedral on the heaviest ring of bells in the world hung for change-ringing, but also a quarter-peal here in Suffolk with a 1272 of Oxford Treble Bob Minor at Wissett. Congratulations to former Guild Chairman Philip Gorrod on ringing his 1,200th QP in the latter and well done to Erika Clarke on ringing her first in the method.

As if to highlight the unchanging sense of the art, the series of articles by John Eisel on the Great Ringing Day at Lavenham in The Ringing World concludes in the edition that arrived with us today. In addition to the fascinating insight into ringing at Lavenham and in Suffolk during the nineteenth century, there is also mention made of the late Don Price and a peal of Stedman Triples rung on the 21cwt eight in 2000 for the 375th anniversary of the tenor being cast, as part of John's considerations of if the casting of the tenor was the inspiration behind the Great Ringing Day every 21st June. Another thing to jump out is that next year will be four hundred years since it was cast...

Being a bit of a history nut I absolutely love the historical pieces in the RW, but the most enjoyable element of this week's issue were the photos, quotes and reports from the recent Ringing World National Youth Contest held in London which like previous coverage of this event in the journal brought a huge splash of colour to a once grey and dry publication and puts across a hugely positive impression of enthusiasm and fun. A fantastic advert for the exercise.

It was all great to read and of course there was no danger that our reading of it would be affected by any IT outages.

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Thursday 18th July 2024

Shocking news reached the world of ringing late this afternoon as we heard that one of the giants of the exercise Chris Kippin died earlier today. He was one of the finest ringers of big bells around, no doubt helped by such a tidy handling style. When I was a youngster I remember seeing him ring and it being commented to me that he could ring in a pipe! Twenty-two finals of the National 12-bell Striking Contest featured him in one of the participating teams and only three people have judged in the competition more often than he has, so it was unsurprising that when it was cancelled in 2020, he was one of those interviewed for Matthew Tosh's replacement broadcast on the day the final was supposed to have been happening.  The interviews with him and his wife Heather are still on the contest's YouTube channel.

I didn't really know him that well, but when I did speak with him I always found him interesting company and several in Suffolk did know him a lot better. He also did quite a fair bit of ringing in this county and even for the SGR, scoring nine peals at seven different locations and conducting four of them and rung others within our borders, such as a 10080 at Monewden in 1992 and most recently in 2021 when he rang in a peal of Stedman Cinques at St Mary-le-Tower in memory of George Pipe, just some of the 2,654 peals that Pealbase says he rang.

It is very sad for the exercise as a whole, but especially for his wife Heather, daughter Eleanor, son-in-law Simon and granddaughter Charlotte who are a part of an incredible ringing dynasty. Our thoughts are with them.

On a happier note, congratulations to former Burgh ringer Annie Brechin who celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of her first peal by not only ringing her 250th in the medium, but for the first time also conducted one, all achieved with the 5040 of Bourne and Cambridge Surprise Minor on the front six at St Cuthbert in Edinburgh, the city where she now resides. 250 is all the more impressive for the fact that she has spent many years living in countries where change-ringing doesn't usually happen, or at least didn't when she was there. Great to see from a very talented Suffolk ringer.

No ringing for us though nor marked on BellBoard in the county from whence Annie came, but already four peals, two quarter-peals and a 120 of Cambridge Surprise Minor have been dedicated to Chris Kippin, a giant of the exercise.

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Wednesday 17th July 2024

On Wayne Bavin's Breakfast Show on BBC Radio Suffolk this morning he was inviting listeners to share stories of people getting stuck in places. My mind instantly flashed back to the 2018 Suffolk Guild AGM when a prominent member got stuck at the bottom of the tower at Drinkstone after using the facilities there once ringing on the 11cwt gallery-ring six had finished and the locals had locked up not realising the unfortunate ringer was still there!

Hopefully there were no incidents today of ringers in the county getting stuck anywhere as they went about their participation in the art, such as at Oakley where the Exonian Society's quarter-peal tour of Norfolk snuck south of the border for a 1296 of Kirkstall Delight Minor (the method we became very familiar with over Christmas and New Year) on the 10cwt six.

Nor were there any tales of any ringers locked in anywhere in the process of the QP being rung at Pettistree to celebrate this week's birthdays of Pippa Moss and Ruthie or at the practice that followed and which my wife attended before a drink in The Greyhound next door. Although they were extremely short on numbers on this occasion.

Perhaps some ringers were stuck after all.

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Tuesday 16th July 2024

Today we celebrated Ruthie's birthday. Or at least as much as one can celebrate a birthday in midweek with all the usual early morning rush to get everyone to school and work that then takes up most of the day in the middle of an exhausting loop of similarly hectic and exhausting days, blessed as it means we are with education and employment.

Nonetheless, my wife was showered with gifts and flowers at playgroup and once our household were all gathered together at home again following our day's activities she was able to open her presents and cards there, before she was whisked off by her mother Kate to watch The Mousetrap at Mercury Theatre in Colchester with her sister and Gran. Of course Mrs Munnings had watched this last year in London with me, but she didn't need asking twice to see it again and had a thoroughly enjoyable evening!

It did mean that I was at home with the boys and unable to go to Ufford practice, but we had a nice enough night in and elsewhere in Suffolk they were ringing, with the weekly session at Offton preceded with a quarter-peal of Cambridge, Lincolnshire, Superlative and Yorkshire Surprise Major spliced to a Brian Whiting composition.

And once the birthday girl had returned from deepest darkest Essex, there was still time for a glass of fizzy to celebrate someone who lifts our house, work, singing and ringing, highlighted by the messages she received throughout the day.

Happy Birthday Ruthie!

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Monday 15th July 2024

As is the norm for a Monday evening, I was in Ipswich. However, I was not at St Mary-le-Tower and the Halberd Inn. Rather, I was at the town's hospital on Heath Road.

For yesterday, when playing football with one of the many balloons not unsurprisingly knocking around in the house following an eighth birthday, Josh kicked Alfie in the nose. I didn't actually witness the incident but both perpetrator and victim were in agreement that it was entirely accidental. There was blood, but not much and after holding some frozen sweetcorn to the injury he seemed fine and ready to watch the big match.

Today at school though, he bumped it again and so after work I took him up to A&E on the advice of the local doctor on the phone and eventually saw a GP who was able to confirm that mercifully it wasn't broken, although he will need to avoid rough play and contact sport for the next week or two. Although he was quite upset by having to step back from footy and he was disappointed not to be offered a Kylian Mbappé-style mask, we were grateful to the wonderful NHS staff who saw us remarkably quickly considering how surprisingly busy it was for a Monday evening.

Still, it meant there was no time to make ringing on Suffolk's heaviest ring of bells or indeed anywhere else, but other ringers managed to get out as Paul Wetherell rang his first quarter-peal of Minor in the 1260 of Plain Bob at Saxmundham as part of the North-East District Quarter-Peal Week(ish). Well done Paul!

I'm pleased that someone was able to get out to ringing, but I'm even more pleased that Alfred's nose isn't broken!

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Sunday 14th July 2024

When Mikel Oyarzabal scored Spain's winner with four minutes left of the Euro 2024 Final against England in Berlin tonight, it was the climax of a day that up until that point had actually been really rather good.

The preceding eighty-five minutes had been an extremely enjoyable, entertaining match watched on TV in our living room in the company of Ruthie's sister Clare and her fiancé Chris, her Gran and her mother and Ufford Ringing Master Kate as the boys were allowed to stay up much later than they usually would be on a school night for an event that most of their peers and indeed the country would also be stopping up for.

Our evening's viewing of this historic first ever final on foreign soil for the men's national footy team followed on from a family gathering with the aforementioned crowd plus the boys' Grandad Ron (who has no interest in the game and therefore left at kick-off!) to celebrate the recent birthday of Josh and the anniversary in two days of his Mum's birth with a barbecue as the weather mercifully stayed dry. Although the soon-to-be birthday girl missed the start of her party as she was singing for the evensong at St Mary-the-Virgin in Woodbridge and rehearsing for it most of the afternoon whilst Joshua was at another birthday party, this time of two of his classmates at Suffolk Leisure Park, once we'd been to Swiss Farm to purchase meat for the later BBQ.

Before all of that, whilst my wife had been singing at the earlier service, Alfie, Josh and myself were in Ipswich and Grundisburgh for a very successful hour and a half of ringing for morning services. At the latter Janice Davies was visiting with a large number of ringing friends from Lincolnshire which allowed us to ring all twelve bells, whilst at St Mary-le-Tower Stedman Cinques and Cambridge Surprise Maximus were rung. And in between, the sound of the six at St Matthew's could be heard across the county town's centre as we walked to Costa Coffee for refreshment where memories of coach outings were recalled amongst regret that they aren't a regular thing anymore.

Meanwhile, it was announced that from next Sunday ringing on the heaviest ring of bells in Suffolk on the Sabbath morn will be an hour later from 9.45-10.30am due to there being no early service, an arrangement that is due to continue into and throughout August. If previous experience is anything to go by then we will be impacted by the absence of regulars who ring at the same time elsewhere such as Sproughton, but of course it may offer the opportunity for others to join us who can't normally do so!

Today's ringing within our borders was obviously not contained to just mine of course as even beside the usual service ringing across the county there were four quarter-peals and a peal. In the North-East District their Quarter-Peal Week(ish) continued as Plain Bob was rung at Barsham and Southwold in the Doubles and Triples versions respectively, whilst a 1282 of Albanian Surprise Royal was rung at The Norman Tower, a 1260 of PB Minor at Woolpit and a 5008 of Double Norwich Court Bob Major at St Gregory in Sudbury as the second-Sunday Aldeburgh peal goes on the road to give the residents of the seaside resort their annual summer break from peal-ringing!

No time for us to participate in anymore ringing, but it was still a good day. Even if it did end in disappointment.

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Saturday 13th July 2024

Sometimes you can perceive that everything is going against you. I certainly felt that a bit today!

For I was having one of those days of trying to be in more than one place at once as I juggled getting Alfie to his football training on the same day as trying to attend the South-East District Outing to North-East Essex.

With Ruthie helping out at a work event and having dropped Mason at his mother's (although he joins us for Rambling Ringers, as soon as he was old enough to decide for himself he declined to join such occasions!), Josh and I took Alfred to join his teammates as we always try to enable the boys to carry out their activities if at all possible. I already knew we wouldn't be able to make the first tower of Ardleigh, but I was hoping to make the second tower of Great Bromley in reasonable time. Except - and this is where I suspected things wouldn't be straightforward - the session carried on past it's usual hour length. And then a bit more.

Eventually it did end, the boy beaming in satisfaction and thus justifying us going along and sticking with it. Getting to the start of ringing on the 15cwt six of St George was now impossible, but I thought we might get to most of it and so set off hoping for a clear run on the journey. However, instantly traffic wasn't playing ball, on the A12 and the smaller roads either end with the pièce de résistance being sat at a level crossing for over ten minutes as not one, not two, but three trains were allowed to pass through.

That said, we ultimately made it in time to climb over the beam that one needs to negotiate to get into the ringing chamber and then for me to ring in some St Martin's Doubles and pull the tenor into a well-rung course of Norwich Surprise Minor within the metal rods that separate the ringers from the spectators!

And the rest of the day went pretty smoothly. There was the odd cyclist that one has to crawl behind if one wants to stay safe on winding country lanes and with this being Britain in 2024 there was the obligatory road closure, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself ringing whilst the boys took advantage of the churchyards and churches we visited to do lots of running around and exploring!

Great Bentley which followed on from there are a flighty eight round the front that we managed to get to grips with before we headed to The Fusilier pub across the village for a nice meal, even if a mix-up with the children's meals meant that Alfie and Josh were faced with huge plates of food, although not as big as Guild Chairman Mark Ogden's plate of ribs! All three made grand efforts at clearing what was put in front of them!

Dinner - ribs and all - devoured, the final in a run of Greats were rung at with a visit to the Holland variety. This is a venue as familiar to me as anywhere in this part of the world, where Ruthie and I once judged a striking competition and I rang a peal at in 2009, but it was a pleasure as always to have another go on this pleasant eight before we round the day's ringing off at another eight at nearby Kirby-le-Soken where the ringing chamber is dominated by the clock case.

It would've been great to have more from the district with the largest membership in the Guild, but it was on a different Saturday to usual at a time when many will be on holiday or ringing for weddings and there were enough to offer something for ringers of all abilities, from call-changes to three leads of Bristol Surprise Major. Thank you to SE Ringing Master Hal Meakin for a Great Day Out!

Our carload returned home in time to catch up on my wife's day before she went on a night out of cocktail making in Ipswich with her workmates, things now going our way!

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Friday 12th July 2024

Lavenham features in this week's edition of The Ringing World with the second part of John Eisel's series on the annual Ringing Day incorporating a fascinating insight into Suffolk life and ringing in the nineteenth century.

It was part of another interesting edition of the journal that we receive on behalf of the Pettistree band on a day when we didn't actually do any ringing, not unusually for a Friday. Alfie and the now eight-year-old Josh were back from school and Mason joined us and even cooked tea for us, but no ringing.

As has so often been the case this week, others in the county have picked up the slack and as has also been the case a lot recently, that included the North-East District Quarter-Peal Week(ish) which was justifying the (ish) with a QP of Cambridge & Norwich Surprise Minor at Wissett eight days after the week(ish) began. Well done to Erika Clarke (not for the first time during the week(ish)) as she rang her first in more than one Surprise method.

Well done also to Lynda Rochester, Andrea Alderton, Lesley Steed, David Steed, David Howe and conductor Stephen Dawson on ringing their first blows of Merton Delight Minor in the 1271 at Tostock, whilst there was also a 1320 of Cambridge Surprise Minor rung at Troston.

All of which should feature in future editions of The Ringing World, even if not to the extent that Lavenham does this week.

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Thursday 11th July 2024

Happy Birthday Josh!

There was of course already a celebratory mood following yesterday's football, but the eighth anniversary of our youngest son's birth was the main reason for our celebrations today. That included a very early start this morning considering the late finish last night. It was worth it to see the birthday boy open his presents though. He is prone to the occasional (spectacular!) tantrum, but he is one of the sweetest, kindest and adorable human beings we know who is also inquisitive, smart and funny.

Not we could go too hard on celebrating as it was still a school day, we had work and Ruthie was practicing with her choral colleagues, but in between all of that gifts were enjoyed, tea of his choosing made and yet another triumph of a cake from his mother tucked into.

Meanwhile, the county's ringing was again dominated by the two ringing events running concurrently in the area as two quarter-peals each were rung within our borders on Molly Week and the North-East Quarter-Peal Week(ish). The former saw a 1272 of Old Oxford Delight Minor at Brandon and a 1280 of Turneffe Surprise Major at Elveden, whilst the latter produced a couple of notable quarters. Well done to Chrissie Pickup, Tess Blower, conductor Philip Gorrod and Erika Clarke on ringing their first of Double Canterbury Place Minimus in the 1296 at Ringsfield and to Erika on ringing her first of Minimus altogether. And at Laxfield the 1260 of Plain Bob Triples was the first QP on the bells since their rehanging and augmentation. Congratulations to all involved with this project on this important landmark.

There were other ringing performances in Suffolk too though. Particularly well done to young Max Thomson whose latest achievement is ringing a quarter-peal of Triples for the first time as he trebled to Grandsire at Ixworth, whilst the lives of Earl Soham ringers Nella & Vernon Cotton were celebrated with 1360 of Doubles at the tower where Vernon was also Tower Captain for more than fifty years.

Additionally, although rung for the Norwich Diocesan Association, it was great to see Jeremy Spiller return to peal-ringing after a four-month absence following some health issues as he conducted the 5040 of fifteen Surprise Minor methods on handbells in Bacton. Which is something to celebrate.

As is Josh. Happy Birthday Josh!

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Wednesday 10th July 2024

Precisely eight years ago today, we watched Portugal win Euro 2016, England's male footballers embarrassingly having been knocked out three rounds and nearly a fortnight earlier by Iceland. We were rather preoccupied at the time though as it was the due date for Josh's birth and of course we were essentially just waiting for the big moment to arrive. As it happened he arrived the following day, just hours after Cristiano Ronaldo & co had lifted the trophy.

Fast forward to this evening in a sign of the shifting sands of times, the Three Lions were qualifying for the final due to be played on Sunday by beating Netherlands with a last minute winner from Ollie Watkins celebrated by an exuberant Joshua waving his shirt above his head.

Along with Alfie also performing in the second showing of the school production we watched yesterday, it all left no time for ringing (judging by the footnote to the quarter at Hungerford in Berkshire we weren't alone in that!), but again others in Suffolk were making up for our absence. And how!

Unsurprisingly, that mainly came courtesy of two ringing events that have been doing the rounds locally in recent days, with the North-East District Quarter-Peal Week(ish) adding another success. Well done to Lizzie Wood on ringing her first on a working bell as she trebled to the 1260 of Plain Bob Doubles at Mendham and congratulations to NE District Ringing Master and former Guild Chairman Philip Gorrod on circling the 10cwt six.

Meanwhile, Molly Week returned to the county with a staggering six QPs. That included a first in the method for Thomas Wareing in the 1296 of Bourne Surprise Minor at Woolpit, but there was also Lessness Surprise Major at Buxhall, Superlative Surprise Major at Hitcham, a 1344 of Monkton Combe Surprise Major at Horringer, Plain Bob Minor at Preston St Mary and a 1360 of Ibycus Doubles at Stradishall.

Whilst that was all occurring, a peal of Yorkshire Surprise Royal was being rung at Grundisburgh in 3 hours and 2 minutes to celebrate the Ruby Wedding Anniversary of local ringers David & Gillian Twissell. Since moving to the area from Buckinghamshire about a decade ago, they have been a real boost to ringing at the 9cwt twelve and other towers in the Carlford Benefice and are a lovely couple to boot, so I'm delighted to see their special anniversary celebrated in such a way.

And I was delighted to not only see England reach the final of Euro 2024, but to witness Josh celebrating it so excitedly!

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Tuesday 9th July 2024

It is school production season. Oh no it isn't! Oh yes... Wait, that's the wrong school production season.

This one is the one that involves those in their last year of primary school putting on a farewell show as they near the end of their time at this stage of their education. Neither Alfie nor Josh are there yet, but the former and his classmates are involved in supporting the event this year and so his younger brother, his mother and his father were in the school hall this evening supporting Alfred supporting the Year 6s as they put on their version of 'The Greatest Show' to a well earned rapturous reception.

It all meant that neither Ruthie nor I could go to Ufford's weekly practice, but others were making up for our ringing absence and unsurprisingly this week(ish) that was the North-East District, as their Quarter-Peal Week(ish) continued with another brace of quarters. Both were 1260s, one of Buxton, Childwall, Plain and St Clement's College Bob Minor at Blythburgh, one of Plain Bob Doubles at Worlingham, the latter welcoming Kate Bungay's first grandchild. Congratulations Kate and family!

And congratulations to Alfred and his peers on a great school production!

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Monday 8th July 2024

The North-East District's Quarter-Peal Week(ish) continued apace today with a trio of quarters.

Well done to Erika Clarke on ringing her first of Norwich Surprise Minor inside in the 1272 at Sweffling, congratulations to her on it being her fiftieth in the medium and to her and Philip Gorrod on ringing their fiftieth together in that same performance. Meanwhile, well done to Helen Mower on ringing her first QP covering behind in the 1260 of Plain Bob Doubles at Theberton, whilst the same number of changes of Doubles in the Grandsire variety were rung on the 11cwt ground-floor six at Yoxford.

Further ringing endeavour was attempted by those of us at St Mary-le-Tower's weekly practice, although it can't be said entirely as successfully! Indeed, Plain Hunt on Eleven inexplicably collapsed through no fault of those whose benefit it was for, with one very experienced ringer running in from an odd number bell amongst the misdemeanours of others who should know better! We were able to laugh it off as one of those things in the Halberd Inn after ringing, with the Plain Hunt subsequently rung more like it should've been, whilst despite a quite a few Surprise Maximus regulars absent we still managed Stedman Caters and London (No.3) Surprise Royal. There are many provincial twelve-bell towers around the country who would be pleased with that as holiday season gets going.

I imagine similar sentiments of satisfaction were being experienced in the North-East District too!

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Sunday 7th July 2024

When I arrange peals I sometimes wonder why I put myself through it.

When I conduct peals I sometimes wonder why I put myself through it.

When I do both together I often really wonder why I put myself through it!

We are blessed with a wide range of super peal-ringers in Suffolk and beyond, but of course none of them are professional peal-ringers, despite what BellBoard, The Ringing World and Pealbase might tell you. They all have lives (again despite what some might perceive!), many have jobs, family and other commitments. At this time of year especially, holidays are being taken. Therefore finding a band can be like a second job to my first job where I also receive a lot of nos! Even when one has a band, there is the anxiety that someone might drop out which lasts up until the day and indeed increases the closer it gets!

I am also not a natural conductor. The responsibility of staying right is magnified, especially when several others have taken a huge chunk out of their day and often travelled considerable distance at your invitation. Not only do I not want to lose the peal prematurely and waste everyone's time due a lack of concentration on my part, but I also want to make it worth their while coming out. Therefore, I might be conservative in composition choice and will spend almost every spare minute reciting it over and over until I can do so perfectly, yet still doubt my own memory in the minutes before the attempt and as I launch into calling it.

That's where I was at this afternoon as Ian Culham very kindly picked me up and drove me to Orford for a peal attempt of the eight 'standard' (are they still even considered standard now?) Surprise Major methods to celebrate the eighth anniversary of Josh's birth this Thursday coming. The weeks leading up to it were fraught with email and messenger anxiety as I feared that each reply was one less option open to me and the last couple days saw a mixture of worrying about those potential late dropouts and committing Don Morrison's 5120 to memory in between work, parenting, other ringing and watching football. "I'll send you the order confirmation for that, thank you for your time." Pudsey, Cambridge, Lincolnshire, Superlative, London. Bob. "What do want to eat Alfie?" London, Pudsey, London. Bob. "Are you ready for work Mason?" Lincolnshire, Pudsey, Cambridge. Bob. "Long fifths... Is the bride here yet boys?" Yorkshire. Bob. Bristol, Bristol. Bob. "Saka, yes!" Rutland. Bob. Bristol, Lincolnshire. Bob.

Distracted briefly by the usual south entrance to the church being locked and finding the north entrance open, the doubts crept in. Was it Pudsey then Cambridge or Cambridge then Pudsey? Did I miss a course out just then? In between ringing the bells up I checked the composition again and again, which can either be a good or bad idea! Despite still getting it right the doubts continue, as they do into the peal itself. Indeed, it gets worse during the peal. When reciting it beforehand it just rattles off. In the ringing you have to wait for it to all to come along in its own time, which gives you time to overthink things. Does the next course start with Bristol or Pudsey? Should there be a call at the next leadend?

Ultimately, I needn't have worried. Or perhaps the worry just made sure that I didn't get complacent, which is even worse than worrying. I called a bob a lead early, but instantly rectified it. At one point I said the wrong method which briefly threatened to cause a catastrophe, but again I realised my error immediately and in the end it was quite a straightforward, enjoyable 2 hours and 50 minutes that came round and was set up as the church clock struck five, with what mistakes were made corrected straight away, usually by the culprit themselves.

And at this point, I was reminded why I put myself through it as a huge wave of relief and satisfaction washed over me. Yes peals can be daunting and stressful, arranging them even more so and conducting them even more so again, but once successfully completed there is no feeling quite like it. As with life in general, the things that are the most work are generally the most rewarding.

Also of course, that it was for the anniversary of Joshua's birth made it particularly special, especially when he greeted me at home full of joy that we had rung it for him, but before I got that far I had a drink with the most of the band in The Kings Head which backs onto the churchyard. Here we sat back and relaxed, reflecting on a job well done and having been joined by James Croft's wife Jenny enjoyed hearing about her trip to Orford Ness and the thunder storm that rumbled as we had rung.

Our success wasn't the only ringing from Suffolk to make it onto BellBoard today either. Most notably at St Mary-le-Tower where Claire Haynes was ringing her first blows of Grandsire Triples in the 1260 rung on the front six - well done Claire! Meanwhile, a quarter-peal of three Doubles methods was rung at Rougham to celebrate the ordination of the Reverend Sarah Lock.

My ringing earlier in the day was also noted on BB as all eight at Woodbridge were rung before I attended the service that followed and had a cup of tea in the company of the visiting Archdeacon Rich Henderson, who I last enjoyed listening to in a service at Beccles for the Guild AGM last year. All the time, I was wondering if my phone would buzz with a dropout and that composition was running through my mind. I think I may take a momentary break from putting myself through it all!

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Saturday 6th July 2024

Today felt very British. The first Saturday of July saw the grey skies open and the rains pour forth for most of the morning and afternoon. Yet there I sat in the car watching through raindrops running down the windows as Alfie and his teammates continued in their football training.

Elsewhere, the fair at St Mary-the-Virgin church in Woodbridge apparently soldiered on with a large degree of help from the bellringers of the 25cwt eight, although we abandoned notions of popping along with two young boys probably getting drenched and miserable.

Later we were at Ufford to ring for a wedding where guests arrived dressed smartly below their umbrellas, the bride was unusually rushed to the porch as she got there twenty minutes late and they grabbed the opportunity during a break in the rain to stand beneath the dark clouds for photographs afterwards, all within the sound of us ringing the front six with Margaret Weeks still being sensibly careful with her recovery and Peter Harper's wrist feeling a bit sore. I was glad that we could ring so well for the happy couple and that the weather cleared up for them.

Whilst the conditions were nicer in Düsseldorf where England were winning through to the semi-finals of Euro 2024 via a penalty shoot-out against Switzerland, the barbecue we had at home to accompany the occasion was hurriedly finished off as the rain came down, but we still enjoyed it and all in time for us to have food as the game got underway. And long before it came to a climax as Trent Alexander-Arnold won it for the Three Lions with his penalty which prompted wild celebrations across the country, including in our household where the three brothers joyfully bundled each other to the floor!

I'm not sure all bellringers had the time to take in this victory though, as it happened on a day when there were a staggering nine quarter-peals rung in Suffolk. Admittedly eight of those were rung by the visiting 'Molly Week' featuring one-time Grundisburgh ringer Molly Waterson. Cambridge Surprise Major was rung at Clare, Norwich Surprise Minor at Edwardstone, Sheering Surprise Minor at Great Thurlow in 45 minutes, two Doubles methods at Haverhill, a 1440 of Aston Major at Kersey, Failand Surprise Major at Long Melford in 51 minutes, 1296 changes of Llaregyb Surprise Minor at Polstead and a 1344 of Aldgate East Delight Major at St Gregory in Sudbury in what was the first ever QP in the method. There was a local quarter too, as a Plain Bob Doubles was rung at Barham for the fifteenth Open Air Concert at the nearby Hall.

Meanwhile down in London, the Ringing World National Youth Contest was also taking place in amongst the rain, including what must have been a spectacular photo of all the participants on the steps of St Paul's Cathedral, with thirty-six teams competing! Well done to The Yorkshire Tykes on winning the Whitechapel Trophy in the Eight-Bell Method Ringing Class, Worcester Cathedral on winning the Robert Lewis Trophy in the Eight-Bell Call Change Ringing Class, Durham & Newcastle on coming out on top in the Six-Bell Method Ringing Class and Nottingham Young Ringers on triumphing in the Six-Bell Call Change Ringing Class. To use a cliche though, ringing is surely the winner as hundreds and hundreds of youngsters represented the exercise in the capital. Well done to all involved.

This week's edition of the journal that heads this huge success story up reached us this morning as well and included references to Suffolk ringing. One-time Bures learner John Loveless reports on The Ridgman Trophy recently held at Biggleswade in Bedfordshire which the Guild came second in. Haverhill's ringing vicar Max Drinkwater writes 'Thought for the Week'. And an article by John Eisel sets the scene for what seems to be an intended future piece on The Great Ringing Day at Lavenham in the 1800s.

Reading all this with a cup of tea on a wet July Saturday also seemed very British!

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Friday 5th July 2024

I'm not particularly political. Politics is important of course and if one can't recognise that after the last few years then I worry, but I don't hold an unbreakable allegiance to a party as I have thus far had with Ipswich Town for example. In my voting life I think I have voted for most parties depending on what I believed would be best at the time rather than shoehorning dogged ideology into an ill-fitting political hole. Therefore today's general election results that have seen Labour win a huge majority after fourteen years of Conservative rule elicited neither wild elation nor desperate despair.

However, I did find it all fascinating and indeed exciting, especially having devoted my day to helping ensure that the villagers of Ufford could contribute to democracy yesterday. When our own constituency of Suffolk Coastal which had been blue forever and most of us had thought would stay that way forever turned red this morning, that further added to the sense of history. And after all, for all that on this wet Friday Sir Keir Starmer became the fifth different Prime Minister in Josh's life alone (the seventh in this blog's existence incidentally), a change of government from one side to the other happens rarely in this country, with today being only the fourth time it has occurred in my lifetime and only the third time that I could remember, having been more interested in getting the hang of walking and toys when Margaret Thatcher and the Tories swept into power in 1979!

Of course everyday life went on nonetheless, including the North-East District Quarter-Peal Week(ish) as a 1260 of Grandsire Triples was rung at Aldeburgh.

No ringing for us though, as instead I took Alfie to a birthday party at Campsea Ashe Village Hall. Although plans to have a pint in the beer garden at The Duck next door whilst Josh played in the park over the fence were abandoned as the evening was beset by constant torrential rain.

I expect the weather matched the mood of those of particular political persuasions!

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Thursday 4th July 2024

I have prepared for and even attempted a long length peal, but I have never actually successfully completed one. However, I know enough from those I have been involved with and from those I know who have rung sometimes many of them, the elements and aspects of preparation for and ways of meeting the challenges of ringing for two, three, four or even more times the length of a normal length peal, even if I don't know if I would be capable of meeting them. And I know how many similarities there appear to be with being at a polling station on polling day in the UK. Such as ensuring you have plenty of supplies of sustenance and the right type of it. Breaking the fifteen hours down into chunks. Having landmarks to aim towards. Knowing how to pace yourself.

My first time as a poll clerk in Woodbridge felt a little like I imagine how ringing a long length for the first time might be. Powering through barriers previously not reached before, certainly mentally. Concentrating for such a long period of time.

The next two times were in the much quieter St Mary's Parish Hall in Ufford for a couple of quiet elections for the council and then the police commissioner. They felt a bit like I was ringing a long length of something relatively straightforward like Cambridge or Yorkshire Surprise Major on a light, easy-going set of bells. Pleasant, generally enjoyable, but not particularly taxing.

Today though, felt like a full-on record attempt of spliced, maybe even on ten or twelve, with hours and hours of focused concentration and few rest points.

For of course today was the general election, the first I've been a poll clerk at and it was quite an eye-opener as hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of voters from this quite small village poured in to carry out their civic duty. Apart from a couple of lulls at lunchtime and as the day drew to a close and a rush at around 6pm when thirty voters turned up in a hectic ten-minute period, it was manageable but constantly busy. Food was snatched at rather than leisurely taken and there was little time to break down time into easier chunks to pass as instead time flew by. In the end it was exhausting, though satisfying.

As with just a couple of months ago at the same venue, I was working with Emma who was again good company for the sixteen hours we spent in this small corner of the county's beautiful countryside, as we observed the repetitive but reassuring nature of people coming in. We'd run out of different ways of explaining why the Labour candidate wasn't the Labour candidate even though the voting slips said he was or that we knew that someone had left their glasses behind. And we discovered that Ufford loves tennis. I mean, really loves tennis! To the extent that we could attribute the two big lulls of the day in large part to happenings at Wimbledon. Everyone was lovely though, as they have been on both the previous occasions I've been poll clerk here.

It did mean leaving Ruthie to look after the boys herself and which saw her take them to choir practice, whilst of course it left no time for ringing, even if I did any on a Thursday usually.

Other ringers found the time though. The North-East District Quarter-Peal Week(ish) got underway with a 1260 of Plain Bob Minor at Chediston and nationwide ringing continued through the voting, including a 1320 of Westminster Surprise Minor at Paulton in Somerset which was dedicated to today's happenings.

Which I was really pleased to contribute to, however much or little it may be like ringing a long length peal.

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Wednesday 3rd July 2024

It was a busy day of ringing in Suffolk as four quarter-peals were rung in the county.
Two of them were on The Barn Owl Ring in Norton with a 1260 of Erin Triples in memory of Richard Brown and a 1312 of Yorkshire Surprise Major, whilst the other two celebrated wedding anniversaries.

At Elveden with the 1344 of seven Surprise Major methods spliced that was for the silver wedding anniversary of Cecilia & David Pipe, an occasion I was privileged to be at. Additionally it celebrated North-West District Ringing Master Josh Watkins completing his medical degree and ringing his first of the Project Pickled Egg 'core' seven methods of Bristol, Cambridge, Cornwall, Lessness, London, Superlative & Yorkshire - congratulations on both fronts Josh!

Meanwhile the wedding anniversary of Chris & Mary Garner and the birthday of the former was marked by the pre-practice QP at Pettistree. Nice to do so not just for all they've done for this ground-floor six but all they've done for the Guild as Webmaster, Secretary and much more.

I joined the session that followed the 1272 of Ipswich Surprise Minor. Only briefly mind, as having got there typically late after happily standing in the rain watching Alfie and his teammates at football training, I then left immediately after the practice at St Peter and St Paul had finished, forsaking a drink in The Greyhound with a very early start planned for tomorrow morning.

Nonetheless, I managed a fair bit in that time as although we were short on numbers, with the help of Glenys Fear from Campsea Ashe - who practice on Saturday mornings and have apparently been delving into the world of London Surprise Minor - we were able amongst much else to ring Cambridge Surprise Minor and finish with Stedman Doubles and down. All under the watch of the Cecil Memorial Bell won at Clopton at the South-East District Striking Competitions and the Mitson Shield won at Falkenham in the SGR Six-Bell Striking Competitions, with the latter freshly engraved on the first shield to go on the new base.

And I was glad to participate in Suffolk's busy day of ringing!

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Tuesday 2nd July 2024

With the welcome visit of Bredfield ringers Ann & Mike Pilgrim, we had an abundance of numbers at Ufford's weekly practice this evening. That allowed us to do much on six and especially eight for the benefit of Hollesley learners Daniel Atkinson and Margaret Weeks, including Triples of the Grandsire and Plain Bob varieties and PB Major, whilst we indulged in half a course of Cambridge Surprise Major with rather pleasing results!

Ann & Mike were mainly present to find ringers for the funeral of Peter Ernst, a former ringer on the 11cwt six of their home tower as well as on the 13cwt eight we were practicing on today. For those who may have known him and wish to attend, his funeral is due to take place at 1pm on Wednesday 10th July at the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. If you can also help out with ringing, then I'm sure Ann wouldn't mind hearing from you via the contact details for Bredfield on this website.

Whatever the reason for their visit, it was great to catch up with them and we were grateful for them giving us an abundance of numbers this evening!

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Monday 1st July 2024

Next year Alfie is due to go on his school residential trip and of course it takes much planning and communication between teachers and parents. Straight after work then saw a meeting with the aim of outlining the schedule and what they need to take, which was useful and exciting but of course was squeezed into what is already an evening tight for time between employment and St Mary-le-Tower's weekly practice when one throws in feeding a household and preparing the boys for bed!

Still, I made it in good time for a session that was typically productive on ten and twelve bells and was rounded off nicely in the Halberd Inn, whilst earlier in the day, ringing was also productive for the band which rang the handbell quarter-peal of Little Bob Royal in Moats Tye on a decent day of ringing in Suffolk.

Meanwhile, the band in Shetland rang another peal in hand (the second peal in Shetland?), which included former St Mary-le-Tower Ringing Master Simon Rudd and current regular David Sparling in the band.

Hopefully Alfie's school residential trip is as successful as their trip to Shetland!

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Sunday 30th June 2024

Bells, beverages, booze, building plans, birthday celebrations and Bellingham were the order of the day.

Bells at St Mary-le-Tower for service ringing, which included Stedman Cinques, overlooked from its new position hung on the wall behind the tenor rope and box by the pealboard recording the 5042 of Yorkshire Surprise Maximus rung here last year for the coronation of King Charles III. Beverages at Costa Coffee afterwards as we discussed sally colours for the training bells. No bells following that after I forgot that there wasn't ringing at Grundisburgh this morning as it was at Clopton instead where the usual fifth Sunday benefice service was being held. Sadly, having already got out at the former it was too late to get to the latter, park up and be any use to them.

From here, the booze was introduced. Not a ridiculous amount throughout the day (we're too old for that sort of bingeing!), but from when I met Ruthie after she'd finished her choral duties at morning worship in Woodbridge, it was gently constant. The fizz and canapés on offer at St Mary's House were a part of the launch of the appeal for funds for the building works proposed for this and St Mary-the-Virgin church, which includes the addition of a toilet at the bottom of the tower which will hopefully be of use to the ringers at their Tuesday night practices on the 25cwt eight!

More fizzy followed after lunch as we met with Ufford ringers Pete and Susanne, their family and their friends in Kingston Fields for a first birthday party for their son and my Godson Jonathan, an event attended by a mixture of their work colleagues, Susanne's parents and ringers and which was a really lovely way to spend an afternoon.

It was also a great precursor to our final activity of the day, as with The Red Lion halfway along our walk home and showing England's first knockout match of Euro 2024 on the screens there as we were due to be passing, it would be rude not to take advantage. And with Alfie and Josh old enough and currently absorbed by the beautiful game we found ourselves space in the beer garden watching the Three Lions from a public house for the first time for years. Not that it was a particularly enjoyable watch for much of it as they struggled again before the fabulous Jude Bellingham produced an even more fabulous goal with almost the last action of the ninety minutes (beyond in fact) to cancel out our opposition Slovakia's lead to take the game to extra time where we scored almost immediately to ultimately win the fixture and set up a quarter-final due to be played against Switzerland at 5pm on Saturday. Which will hopefully allow the North-West District to finish ringing at Great St Mary in Cambridge on their outing and for interested participants find a nearby pub to catch the climax! For today though, it was a great way to round off a lovely day.

Elsewhere though, other ringers were busier with ringing in Suffolk, with a 5090 of 90th Birthday Surprise, June Surprise and The Mees of Sproughton Alliance Major rung at Henley to celebrate the 90th birthday of June Webb, the granddaughter of renowned Sproughton ringer Charles Mee, as well as her and her husband John's Ruby Wedding Anniversary. Happy Birthday June and Happy Anniversary to her and John!

Meanwhile, former St Mary-le-Tower Ringing Master Simon Rudd was ringing what might well be the first peal rung in Shetland as he rang 7-8 to a 5088 of Bristol Surprise Major on handbells to add a B for Bristol to accompany our day of Bs.

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Saturday 29th June 2024

Ordination is a very special moment for those getting ordained and their families.

Therefore, it was a privilege to be invited to share that moment with our friend Gregory as he was ordained as a deacon in a ceremony at St James and St Edmund Cathedral in Bury St Edmunds and of course with his wife Charlotte and their daughters - and our Goddaughters - Ava & Bea. It was a moving occasion shared with a packed church which included Ufford ringer Elaine Townsend who was supporting a family member who was also being ordained.

No actual ringing though as the local band weren't asked to ring, but standing out in the sunshine beneath The Norman Tower after the service brought back memories of doing the same at the National 12-bell Striking Contest Eliminator here a couple of years ago. It really is a beautiful spot on a sunny day!

Many of us returned to Melton for a meal at the Coach & Horses to celebrate with the new deacon, whilst down in London some of Suffolk's ringers were ringing a quarter-peal of Plain Bob Caters at St Michael's, Cornhill for the start of The Guild of Young Freemen's Annual Garden Party, a Guild which the SGR Public Relations Officer and North-West District Chairman Neal Dodge is a member of. Along with Michael Royalton-Kisch, Ruth Suggett and Katie Wright, he was also ringing his first in the method, whilst Katie was conducting a QP on ten for the first time. Well done Neal, Michael, Ruth and (twice!) Katie!

Meanwhile in Warwickshire, the record for the most number of changes and longest timed peal of Minimus (yes, such records exist!) was destroyed with a 28008 of Plain, St Nicholas and Reverse Bob in 7 hours and 49 minutes with 1166 changes of methods and Elliot Daniel becoming what is believed to be the youngest person to have rung a peal of such a length. Well done to him and Luke on their youthful enthusiasm which should be applauded, even though most of us wouldn't entertain such challenges! More of the same type of endeavour from such youngsters can only benefit the exercise.

I imagine it should appear in a future edition of The Ringing World, but this week's arrived with us today featuring several pages on the recent National 12-bell Striking Contest Final at Chilcompton which further underlined the ability of striking competitions to attract young ringers and non-ringers and why I hope we can make the most here of this medium in the districts and the Guild.

There was just about time to read it after our meal out and before we watched the return of Euro 2024 - the Germany-Denmark game was stormy! - and Ruthie returned home having had to leave dinner at the pub (I did take her home a takeaway dessert!) to sing in an Illuminati concert at the distinctive St Mary's church in Swilland.

Which was a nice way for her to round off a special day.

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Friday 28th June 2024

I was slightly worried how I was going to have anything ringing-related to write about today in this blog predominantly on the ringing done in Suffolk and/or by us.

There was the break-in at St Michael and All Angels church in Framlingham, home to a 16cwt eight and which saw all the church's silver stolen from the safe. Saddened as I was by this for all parties concerned, it didn't involve ringing bar the presence of a ring of bells familiar to us and many reading this.

As I read the Melton Messenger that gets delivered to us on a monthly basis, I was pleasantly surprised (although perhaps I shouldn't be!) to find photos from Pettistree Ringing Master Mike Whitby featuring. However, they were (very nice) photos from the lighting of the beacon at the village's park for the eightieth anniversary of the D-Day landings and didn't involve the exercise at all.

Unusually for a Friday, there wasn't even the latest edition of The Ringing World!

We weren't doing any ringing ourselves either, with the closest we got being equally tenuous as Ruthie sorted choir music in St Mary's House in the shadow of Woodbridge's 25cwt eight.

Nor was there anything particularly unusual or especially notable in the ringing occurring beyond our borders, with only a couple of peals noted on BellBoard nationwide and indeed worldwide.

Mercifully though, quarter-peals of Grandsire & Plain Bob Doubles at Ashbocking and St Clement's College Bob Minor at Wissett came to my rescue, especially the latter which saw Erika Clarke ringing her first in the method. Well done Erika!

And for good measure, some regulars on the Suffolk ringing scene but from out of the county were ringing in Shetland, with St Mary-le-Tower and Essex ringer David Sparling ringing his first QP of Surprise Royal on handbells in the 1280 of Yorkshire. Well done too David!

I don't know what I was worried about!

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Thursday 27th June 2024

It was an exciting day at school for Alfie and Josh. The former was working with his mother on a 'Stay and Make' session that saw them make a 'cam toy', the latter went on an educational trip and all concerned seemed to enjoy themselves, with the cam toy turning out really well!

Ruthie was also having a relatively exciting day with that aforementioned session at school and her choral practicing, but I wasn't up to much exciting.

Not so for Max Thomson who continued his impressive progress with his first quarter-peal of Minor in the 1260 of Plain Bob at Ixworth. Well done Max!

Meanwhile, it was good to see the handbell QP in Bacton conducted by Jeremy Spiller.

It wasn't only Alfie and Josh having exciting day!

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Wednesday 26th June 2024

When a former Deputy Prime Minister is stuffing leaflets through your door you know we must be in the midst of a general election campaign. Thérèse Coffey - our local MP - wasn't the only one in the neighbourhood as the circus was also arriving in Melton, which those of all political persuasions and none might unkindly also suggest is a sign that we are in a midst of a general election campaign, but there were no politicians or clowns involved with our household's ringing activity.

On this occasion, once I'd returned from taking Alfie to his football team's training session, it was Ruthie who was out participating in the exercise this evening as she went along to the weekly practice at Pettistree which was preceded as usual by a quarter-peal and followed by a visit to The The Greyhound.

The 1296 of Annable's London Surprise Minor on the ground-floor six was dedicated to John Mayne, as was a 5008 of Double Norwich Court Bob Major rung for the Suffolk Guild at North Creake over the Norfolk border on another active day for the county's ringers and their politicians.

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Tuesday 25th June 2024

It was a day bookended by sporting endeavour, all of which Ruthie and I were mere spectators to and which elicited a mixture of reactions and emotions.

First up was the youngest two sons' school sports day. Luckily, unlike our only previous experience of school sports day with Alfie and Josh last year, with both of them now in Key Stage Two (which comprises of years three to six) they were both competing at the same time and in keeping with what I believe is fairly standard across primary schools they were on the same team. With each team named after a country, they were on Team India and so we followed them round their playing field undertaking various activities from hurdling to throwing rubber javelins to running, mercifully mostly in the shade, before all the children got into their year groups for some races at the end which saw lots of impressive racers and some falls, although I think everyone was alright in the end. And although their team coming last prompted some disgruntlement from our sons, I think they enjoyed it and we certainly did. They should be chuffed with their efforts.

Conversely, although England's men's football team finished the evening on top of their group at Euro 2024, it was only after another pretty uninspiring performance, this time against Slovenia. That didn't stop our household ending our day watching the Three Lions toil away in Germany on TV though.

That said, Ruthie lucked out by missing the first half to go to the monthly Surpise Major Practice at Ufford where although London apparently didn't go, three leads of Bristol and courses of Cambridge, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire were amongst the successful repertoire of what sounded like another useful session.

And it wasn't the only ringing on eight in the county today, as a quarter-peal of Double Norwich Court Bob Major was rung at Offton in memory of John Mayne. Although I didn't really know John, I was saddened to hear of his death and knew he was a superb ringer who learnt to ring as a youngster at Grundisburgh with fellow youngsters George & Rod Pipe, a friendship outlined in John Loveless' superb biography of George, Shake my hand and I'll show you the ropes. A phenomenal trio to come from a village in deepest Suffolk. His first peal was also for the Guild, rung at the aforementioned 13cwt eight of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on 10th August 1945, so it is no surprise his passing was marked within our borders today as well as further afield with the quarters at Dunstable in Bedfordshire and in Poynton in Cheshire.

I imagine that much more ringing was done during the practice on the 8cwt ground-floor eight that would've followed the 1312. Good to see plenty of ringing endeavour as well as sporting endeavour!

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Monday 24th June 2024

It was hot today and warm this evening at St Mary-le-Tower practice. So much so that Ringing Master David Potts issued his customary and sensible reminder to bring bottles of water along. Having badly failed in my clothing choices yesterday, I'd got shorts on for the first time this year bar when I dressed appropriately for heaving the tenor here around for three-and-a-half hours to Surprise Royal in mid-June. And there was a general glow amongst the assorted attendance that comes with British people who have spent the day going about their business in temperatures usually more likely to be found on the Mediterranean. Perfect timing for Mr Potts to produce a sign-up sheet to ring for a couple of Christmas services therefore.

To be fair, when it comes to the busy December ringing schedule at Ipswich's civic church we often get confirmation of timings relatively late and can then struggle to get ringers at a time when their diaries have already been filled up, so the fact that we have already got set-in-stone plans for services on the 2nd and 6th of the last month of the year is an opportunity to be seized upon!

Still, it seems strange to be advertising intended ringing in the bleak midwinter just after we've celebrated the summer solstice and we're leaving ringing practices and even the pub afterwards in daylight, so to balance it out it is worth noting that there are events lined up for July too. If all goes to plan a large chunk of it will be taken up with the North-East District Quarter-Peal Challenge from the 5th to the 14th. Such challenges are good ways of focusing efforts and galvinising support for those looking to achieve in ways that might be possible with their local band or everyday ringing, so if you are in that position then please don't hesitate to contact the NE Ringing Master Philip Gorrod.

Meanwhile, whilst this happening the plan is for the North-West and South-East District to hold outings in a sort of the date swap with the former intending on going to Cambridgeshire on the first Saturday slot usually used by the SE and the latter to North-East Essex on the second Saturday when the NW typically hold ringing! Also on 13th, there is an Open Day planned in South Essex if you fancy a more full-on day of ringing! All being well there will be the bi-monthly Surprise Major Practice being held this time at Helmingham on Friday 26th which could be a lovely evening in a wonderful location if the weather is as it is currently! Then God willing the next day the South-West District will be holding their monthly Practice, on this occasion at Bildeston. And the jewel of the Suffolk July ringing calendar Veterans Day at Debenham is slated for the afternoon of Wednesday 10th. As ever, please do support what you can.

Back in the here and now, there was ringing activity in Suffolk with a quarter-peal rung at Tunstall, whilst at the weekly session on the county's heaviest ring of bells, we were having a productive time with Stedman Cinques and Yorkshire Surprise Maximus only interrupted by the EGM to ratify the St Mary-le-Tower Society of Ringers' revamped constitution. With so many travelling so far to come here regularly and otherwise it is important that what we do is done in a structured, accountable, but not officious way to help ensure that it is worthwhile for those travelling to come and a good constitution should do that. After all the work to put this new constitution together therefore, I was delighted that it was ratified within five minutes, whilst also allowing people to have their say.

We followed our efforts with a refreshing drink in the beer garden of the Halberd Inn, which was the perfect way to finish a hot day and a warm evening.

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Sunday 23rd June 2024

Plenty of people understandably despair when they hear the word 'heatwave' uttered by weather forecasters and I should do really. Sunshine at the height of summer only has to briefly touch me and I find myself burning. However, I absolutely love hot temperatures. Everything seems brighter, people more carefree and nature glints beneath it, at least until it gets scorched by it. One can arrange outside events with the only thing necessary being a bit of shade, rather than heaters, jumpers, coats, wellies and all the other paraphernalia that one needs to consider in the depressing, grey, wet and cold conditions which beset this country for all bar a few glorious weeks of the year.

It made it possible for us to attend a birthday BBQ for our niece Katelynn in comfort and even to walk to the abode of her mother Clare and other half Chris without having to carry lots of extra clothing, although we still had extra clothing for Alfie and Josh who were having a water-fight with their cousins! It brought in much business for Mason at work. It allowed for washing to hang outside to dry instead of clogging up the house making it damp or using up our electricity. It made the view from the tenor box at Woodbridge even more magnificent at ringing the morning service and Christening of baby Hugo which we were privileged to witness.

Nonetheless, such temperatures are difficult to ring at length in, so much kudos and respect to those who rang in peals or quarters today. Beyond our borders that included an under-30s Cumberland Youths peal at All Saints in Worcester of David Pipe's particles composition and is yet more encouraging evidence following the recent under-30s Suffolk Guild peal at Horringer that there are multiple talented and enthusiastic young ringers God willing poised to take the exercise forward deep into the future. Here within our county though, a top effort from those who rang the 1271 of Erin Cinques at The Norman Tower and the band who were successful with their 1260 of Doubles at Blythburgh which I imagine accompanied many walkers.

Hopefully no need to despair at any potential heatwave!

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Saturday 22nd June 2024

Ever seen a referee drinking a beer during the game? Or had a ten-year-old disallow two goals for offside during an adult's match whilst being an assistant referee? Well Ruthie and I did today on a day spent outside at events dodging rain showers and getting in the shade from roasting sunshine in almost equal measure.

It began with the Melton Fete, local to us and also a very nice occasion that every time I go along I think I should've looked into booking The Vestey Ring. Whilst there are no bells hung for changing in our village of residence - with it only possible to chime the 10cwt three at St Andrew's 'New' Church - it is essentially now a suburb of Woodbridge where there is a regularly rung 25cwt eight and people flock to this annual event from the surrounding villages, so it is ripe recruitment ground for people who live near to active towers locally. It certainly wouldn't be out of place with the other stalls and activities here, with a brass band performing, archery and a Punch & Judy show and there is plenty of space for it to be prominent but not too noisy and overwhelming for others there, which has been the major stumbling block to it being a part of the Church of England tent at the Suffolk Show since its one and only appearance there in 2011. Indeed, it would be great to have it at more fetes like this, of which there are usually many held in the county over the summer, although it is important to note that one would need to get enough ringers to man it.

The Guild's mini-ring would be more out of place at the football funday being held at Wickham Market that we then went onto, but of course this was something the boys in particular had been looking forward to attending. In sight of the octagonal tower of All Saints' church which houses a 12cwt six, it was here that a friendly match had been arranged for the occasion, during which the referee enjoyed his pint as he officiated and Alfie ended up running the line, seemingly because he and his friend had picked up the flags for the second half!

As you might have gathered, it didn't leave any time for ringing, but across the county at Polstead the South-West District Striking Competition was being held with eight teams, with the judges Neal Dodge and Maurice Rose awarding Little Cornard C first place. Congratulations Little Cornard C, whose home tower and new band has apparently been a real success story since the 2018 augmentation. Special mention also to Higham who came fourth with half the band so early in their ringing progression that they were only elected to the SGR today! Indeed, lots of people were entering their first ever striking competition which is extremely encouraging and hopefully motivation and inspiration for other members and teams from the SW District and the Guild.

Most importantly though, I hope they had a fun day. Even if they didn't see a referee drinking a beer during a match or a ten-year assistant referee disallow two goals.

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Friday 21st June 2024

Happy Suffolk Day!

The now firmly established annual celebration of the county on 21st June was marked by ringing. A peal was rung on the 7cwt eight at Felixstowe of Suffolk Day Delight Major, a method first pealed on this day two years ago at Framlingham and most of today's pealband were ringing in the 1260 of Grandsire Triples at The Norman Tower later in the day, whilst the ringing headline act was at the recently-visited Tostock where Dawn Gillett rang her first quarter-peal. Well done Dawn!

Meanwhile, one of the first voices I heard on this warm sunny Friday was that of ringing vicar the Reverend Max Drinkwater as he was interviewed by Wayne Bavin 2 hours 10 minutes and 56 seconds into his breakfast show on BBC Radio Suffolk which for the occasion of this Suffolk Day was being broadcast outside Max's church of Haverhill and its 12cwt six.

No mention of ringing from within our borders in The Ringing World which arrived with us this morning though, bar in the special section on the recent eightieth anniversary of the D-Day landings which ringing here and beyond our borders marked so impressively. Still lots of other interesting content to check out though!

There was no ringing for us on this occasion, impressive or otherwise, although with both of us off work this afternoon we took advantage of the sunshine to sort out the garden a bit, take the boys down the park after school and whilst Alfie went round his classmate's house for a bit, Josh, Ruthie and I enjoyed some refreshment outside The Coach and Horses.

It was indeed a Happy Suffolk Day!

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Thursday 20th June 2024

England's 5pm Euro 2024 match against Denmark was much anticipated by our household, but by the end of it even our footy mad sons had drifted off to other things, Ruthie couldn't wait to get off to her choral practicing and I wished I was ringing somewhere. The 1-1 result isn't disastrous and we're still likely to qualify for the next stage largely thanks to already having a win under our belts, but the performance was pretty dreadful. Still, all being well I imagine we shall all be ready and raring for the final - now crucial - group match against Slovenia on Tuesday evening.

Nonetheless, others who were ringing today will have been more satisfied with their day's activity I expect, regardless of whether they also took in the footy from Frankfurt, especially those from Suffolk who made up half of the band with ringers from Norfolk to mark the summer solstice with a quarter-peal of Cambridge Surprise Major at Lowestoft where the eight are in this county but fall under the Norwich Diocesan Association and - more pertinently for this performance - are the most easterly ring of bells in the UK.

Meanwhile, the second Guild peal of Surprise Royal of the last week was rung, this time of Yorkshire at Grundisburgh where a 5040 was rung in 2 hours and 56 minutes. And was probably more entertaining than watching England's men play football.

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Wednesday 19th June 2024

CCCBR President Tina Stoecklin's latest blog is well worth a read, encouraging ringers to talk more about ringing to non-ringers. When at school, it was rarely something I would talk about as it was perceived to be very uncool and I suspect that is still the case now, but whilst I probably hold back on going into detail about my weekend ringing on the first morning back in the office (trying to explain what I was doing on Saturday morning at St Mary-le-Tower and why to my work colleagues would probably unbalance the work-conversation ratio too far for the boss's liking!), I discovered that from university onwards others do seem curious and genuinely interested. And Tina outlines how much is being done in schools, with the Touring Tower and YellowYoYo to promote the exercise in what is an upbeat entry that also covers ringing for the recent eightieth anniversary of D-Day, the National Call Change Competition and data on ringing beyond peals.

As I said, it is well worth a read as indeed I did as well as listening to the clip of ringing on the back six of the rarely rung Framsden which was recorded at the ringing for the D-Day anniversary and has been added to the tower page on this website. All taken in once I was back from Alfie's football training where for the first time he had a one-on-one session with a goalkeeping coach and Ruthie had then gone out to Pettistree practice. Whilst there she rang a typically eclectic range from spliced to London & Wells Surprise Minor and Grandsire Doubles before rounding her evening off in The Greyhound and coming home with some of the ice cream accompaniments from Hilary Stearn's recent party, which Hilary very kindly gifted to my wife!

Sadly the pre-practice quarter-peal attempt of spliced Surprise Minor was lost, but there was success on Suffolk bells elsewhere as a 1260 of Plain Bob Minor was rung at Great Barton, which I'm sure the band will enjoy telling non-ringers about!

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Tuesday 18th June 2024

Like thousands of Ipswich Town supporters I was giddy with excitement this morning as the fixtures were released for the 2024/25 season. Of course, for the first time in twenty-two years, ITFC are penciled in to play in the Premier League, the top division in English football and indeed usually referred to as the best, most exciting and popular league on the planet where they are due to take on some of the greatest teams on Earth and various superstars are bracing themselves to play in an otherwise nondescript corner of Suffolk's county town just yards down the hill from the 10cwt six of St Matthew's.

Obviously we have known who we would be up against for a few weeks, but to discover at 9am today when we would be up against them has truly brought home that this is really happening. Rather than planning my ringing around matches against the likes of Accrington Stanley, Forest Green Rovers and Morecombe as we were a couple of years ago, we have been designated Liverpool (European champions more than any other English club) at home and Manchester City (Premier League winners for the last four years running and reigning world champions) away to start and I have made a note to avoid booking myself for anything on dates like 23rd November when Manchester United are slated to come to Portman Road or 19th April when Arsenal are planned to be the visitors, whilst relieved that the Tractor Boys are scheduled to play away a week later when the plan is for the Guild AGM to be held in the South-East District. And I was glad to see that there is no game at all lined up for the day of the 2025 National 12-bell Striking Contest Eliminators on 22nd March and all being well both the South-East District and SGR Striking Competitions will fall on days when Town are supposed to be visiting elsewhere, providing those events are held on their usual dates of the first and third Saturdays of May respectively. Although it may be very busy on Saturday 21st December when I imagine the traditional Christmas ringing around Ipswich's towers is intended to take place and Ruthie and me might have to miss one fixture which as things stand clashes with a wedding we've been invited to. To add to the logistics, a lot of these games will probably be moved to be shown on TV or to accommodate opposition playing in European competition, but it does allow me to get back to some peal requests I've had to put off up to now!

No need to check the fixture list for my ringing today which was the normal Tuesday evening of Ufford practice. On this occasion that was with a big crowd that allowed us to do much on eight including Plain Bob Triples inside for Vince Buckman who didn't even know that Plain Bob on seven was a thing at the start of the session! There was also Plain Hunt on four (with two bells bonging behind) for Mary Leaming, Daniel Atkinson trebled to the PB7 and Margaret Weeks rang inside to Plain Bob Doubles for the first time since she injured her wrist six months ago, as the day ended also ended in giddy excitement!

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Monday 17th June 2024

The pressure was really on Paul Bray today!

When his wife Anne asked us all on the St Mary-le-Tower ringers' WhatsApp group to remind Paul that he had an announcement to make at this evening's practice, it predictably elicited multiple responses along the lines of "Paul, you've got an announcement this evening" which wasn't exactly what Mrs Bray was after and a building anticipation of the announcement completely disproportionate to its likely gravity.

Come the notices at practice and it was inevitably an anti-climax! Although actually it was interesting information as he was imparting details of the Guild of St Agatha - the organisation for Roman Catholic ringers, although they do welcome non-RCs as they did when I joined them on a visit to Suffolk a few years ago - Outing & AGM which is due to happen on Saturday in London. Please contact Anne on president@guildofstagatha.org.uk for more info.

The session itself was a productive one run brilliantly by Lucy Williamson despite low numbers that limited our repertoire a bit but still enabled us to ring Stedman Caters for Graham Ridgway and Yorkshire Surprise Royal before we retired to the beer garden of the Halberd Inn.

Meanwhile earlier in the day a quarter-peal of Kent Treble Bob Major was rung on handbells in Bury St Edmunds. Hopefully it wasn't more pressure than it was for Paul Bray making his announcement this evening though!

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Sunday 16th June 2024

Gifts in bed, takeaway, a pint in a sunny pub garden, a trio of football matches and ringing at three towers. For me, it was the perfect Father's Day.

Those gifts were carefully and perfectly researched by my sons who were working on the premise of presents with a beer and footy theme and thus I unwrapped a new England football shirt, some beer-themed socks and four bottles of ales, whilst they also cleverly picked up on my love of 'Only Fools and Horses', which due to my wife's disliking of it (we can't all like the same things!) I don't make a big deal of or even watch much. They did very well!

It set me up for my morning's ringing which for the second time in the last three Sundays began at Ufford. On this occasion it was to help mother-in-law and Ringing Master here Kate Eagle get all eight bells ringing for the visit of the Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich and therefore President of the Suffolk Guild, The Right Reverend Martin Seeley. Having called some call-changes on eight, I then took Alfie, Josh and myself to Grundisburgh where - once we'd popped into the village shop for milk that was sadly lacking for the morning cuppa that Ruthie was going to make for me - I contributed to some Plain Bob Doubles and call-changes on ten.

Having picked Mrs Munnings up from St Mary-the-Virgin in Woodbridge where she had been singing at the service, there was then time to watch some of our first football match of the day on TV, which was of course part of Euro 2024 - as all three were - before we were on the road again. This time it was to Tostock where my wife was singing with the Jubilate choir at the Evensong there and with an hour's practice beforehand that left myself and my two youngest sons with needing to find something to do. That something was unanimously decided upon as a walk to The Gardeners Arms in the village and where with sunshine and warm conditions (there was even an appearance from an ice cream van!) I treated myself to a Father's Day pint and sat in the garden there whilst the boys ran around, before we retreated inside to watch another fixture on the television from the European Championships.

Again, not all of it though, as we returned to St Andrew's church where rehearsals had ended and Alfred & Joshua's mother was enjoying a cup of tea. At which point we noticed the local ringers climbing up to the lovely easy-going light gallery-ring six to ring for the service. I couldn't resist popping up to have a quick ring at a place that I regularly mention due to the frequent quarter-peals here but haven't rung at for years. Those present were incredibly welcoming too, indulging me and allowing me to ring the fifth to rounds on six, the kind of welcome you can rarely get in other pastimes. Thank you to them!

I left them to carry on with their usual ringing which was a lovely backdrop to more and more people arriving for what proved to be an awesome sound in a relatively small and very atmospheric building over the following hour. Wonderful to be able to listen to my wife singing with this choir for the first time.

There were refreshments laid on for afterwards and obviously usually we would have enjoyed leisurely partaking in them, but we needed to be back for the third and final game of footy today and the most important one as England began their tournament. Fish 'n' chips purchased on the way back, we settled down to watch the Three Lions beat Serbia 1-0 over our food and a drink, which for me included a couple of those beers so kindly gifted to me at the start of the day.

Elsewhere in the county meanwhile, congratulations to Pettistree regular Pippa Moss on ringing her 1,200th quarter-peal in the 1260 of Grandsire Triples at Orford, a well-deserved landmark for this extremely useful ringer. And well done to Wayne Thomson who followed in his son Max's footsteps by ringing his first QP in the success at Bardwell, with Max ringing the treble, which seemed apt and a nice thing for a father and son to do today.

Hopefully Wayne had a great Father's Day and I know that I certainly did. My day was a beautiful reminder of how blessed I am to have three sons who I pray will grow up into kind, thoughtful adults and so far seem on track, as well as how fortunate I am to have Ruthie alongside me to help guide them in that endeavour. It truly was the perfect Father's Day.

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Saturday 15th June 2024

I found myself saying two prayers this morning in all seriousness.

"Lord, give me the strength to get through this."

"Lord, give me the strength to say no to ringing this bell to a peal in the future."

These pleas were issued as I toiled on the heaviest bell in Suffolk to the 5040 of Cambridge Surprise Royal at St Mary-le-Tower, 3 hours and 25 minutes of lots of pulling. Quite why it was so hard on this occasion I can't tell you. I've never been a natural ringer of big bells. However, according to the superb Pealbase, this was my eleventh peal on the 34cwt tenor of Ipswich's civic church. Absurdly, I am one of the leading ringers for those having pulled this bell into peals, level - as far as I can tell from my limited research - with George Pipe and John Loveless and two behind George's father Jim and over those 38 and a half hours I have largely enjoyed the ringing and been vaguely competent I believe, but today was a struggle. It is always harder to ring such a size of bell to ten bells, but I have done it before. Summer peals can be tough with the higher temperatures and the humidity, but frankly that isn't an issue with the current weather! If ringing is uneven such a big bell can be really tough to pull in for a few hours, but whilst today's efforts weren't perfect, if I'm honest there have been times I have negotiated more uneven ringing on this bell and for longer periods in peals and been fine. And I'm not convinced my struggles weren't more the cause rather than consequence of uneven ringing this time round! Both the back two bells here do have a tendency to 'blow and suck', to drop and go over, especially when they come together, but that isn't unusual and I've never had that much trouble with the issue before. Today there were times when it didn't seem to matter how hard I pulled, the bell just wouldn't get up. Others of more mature years than me are pulling in bigger bells, but they are also much better ringers, so I suspect I am just getting too old to maintain my limited big-bell ringing 'abilities'!

At some points I don't mind admitting to considering giving up. From about four or five courses and around an hour from the end my energy was utterly sapped, my body was aching all over and every dodge was a feat and that only increased as we went along. Conversely, what also increased as we got closer to the end was my desire not to let the rest of the band down. People had spent much time on organising this, preparing for it, taking time out of the day to ring. Many had travelled distance, some from quite far and I wasn't the only one who had worked hard to get to this point. Besides, it was a very special attempt as it was South-East District Ringing Master Hal Meakin's first as conductor. So I dug deep, made those prayers and powered on and although my ringing wouldn't win any striking competitions I somehow managed to keep my bell in roughly the right place until Hal called "that's all" and then - mercifully quickly - "stand" by which point I was just about able to set it. Very well done to Hal, who kept his head even on the rare occasion others were losing theirs, concentrating throughout and bar one when he called a bob a couple of blows early, put all the calls in the right places with assuredness. Hopefully the first of many!

He deserved his drinks in the Halberd Inn afterwards where conversation veered from three-bell towers to music, whilst I was just relieved to sit down, stop pulling and wrap my hands around a cold drink before I further boosted my energy levels with a trip to McDonald's and then made sure I got a bit of relaxation in as we visited my Aunty Marian where we interrupted her reading this week's edition of The Ringing World.

We then made it home in time to listen - via Matthew Tosh's fantastic live broadcast - to the hosts ringing in the National 12-bell Striking Contest Final at Chilcompton as they rounded off what sounded like a wonderful day of twelve-bell ringing, before the boys returned from their day out at Colchester Zoo where Granny Kate had very kindly taken them whilst we were busy ringing. Thank you Kate!

Whilst our sons watched more football, Ruthie and I prepared tea whilst watching the comments and results being read out from Somerset by the Head Judge Tom Griffiths and his fellow judges Julia Cater and Andrew Mills. Usually this is a few minutes of offering thanks and polite critiquing of the ringing before Birmingham are announced as the winners, as they have been seventeen times out of the previous twenty-two competitions and for the last two years. There was genuine joy therefore when it was announced that the winners were the Cumberland Youths for the first time since 1997, both in the church (the judges begin their bit 7 hours 33 minutes and 54 seconds into the broadcast) and in our household where my wife was delighted about her society winning, as was I who once was a member and have fond memories of my time with them. Great for Ian Mills who has done much ringing in Ipswich, whilst one-time Exning learner Jimmy Yeoman was ringing for the Brummies who only just finished above Bristol who had one-time Grundisburgh ringer Molly Waterson (who is interviewed 3 hours 16 minutes and 50 seconds into the broadcast) in the band, whilst resident Guild members and Norman Tower ringers Liz & Phil Orme were ringing for Cambridge.

As ever, it looked like everyone was having fun and for all that this is the closest to professional sport that ringing gets, it is still a bit of friendly fun, underlined by the handbell peal rung in Yatton with participants from three different teams before proceedings began this morning.

Meanwhile, back within our borders, ours wasn't the only performance to make it onto BellBoard, with Jill Apter ringing her first quarter-peal of Grandsire Doubles in the 1260 at Troston. Which almost certainly didn't induce as much toiling as my efforts!

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Friday 14th June 2024

A day of anticipation for events much anticipated in our household, even though we don't plan to be at either one.

One was the men's football European Championship, which is due to run in Germany across the next few weeks with the final scheduled to take place in Berlin in precisely a month. I'm aware that there has been too much football mentioned in this supposed ringing blog over recent months, so I don't intend to mention anymore than necessary, but if past experiences are anything to go by it will probably impact upon my ringing on occasions.

Friday evenings don't usually see us go out ringing anyway, so it can't be said that the footy prevented our participation in the exercise on this occasion, but all five of us gathered round the TV tonight to watch the beginning of what should hopefully be a festival of the beautiful game, a gathering of colour, song and fans from across the continent to enjoy the atmosphere of the tournament, an escape in these troubled times. The hosts certainly enjoyed the first match as they beat Scotland 5-1, but it seems that the Scottish supporters also enjoyed Munich throughout the day in good cheer in the style it should be.

As hopefully will be the case in Chilcompton tomorrow when it is planned that the National 12-bell Striking Contest Final will see ten bands produce high quality twelve-bell ringing on the 19cwt ground-floor twelve. My Facebook feeds were filled with ringing friends arriving in the area at campsites, pubs and outside the church itself, with photos of sun, rain, pint glasses filled to various levels and blackboards listing the beer and cider choices lined up for the big day.

Here within our borders there was already ringing going on. Well done to Neal Dodge, Andrea Alderton, David Steed, Lesley Steed, Clare Gebel and conductor David Howe on ringing their first quarter-peal of Single Brookhouse Bob Minor and belated birthday wishes to former North-West District Ringing Master Maureen Gardiner who has been in the wars lately having been in hospital with a broken hip. Hopefully she is on the mend now and our best wishes go to her.

There were further achievements in another QP rung in the county as Erika Clarke rang her first of Surprise Minor inside in the 1272 of Cambridge at Wissett - well done Erika! And congratulations to Sal Jenkinson on ringing her one hundredth in the medium in the same performance.

Meanwhile, this week's edition of The Ringing World was dropped off at ours this morning. Nothing much Suffolk-related, but still packed with interesting content. We hope to see next week's edition with much anticipation.

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Thursday 13th June 2024

Further to my mentioning of the National 12-bell Striking Contest Final due to happen at Chilcompton on Saturday and Matthew Tosh's planned live broadcast, today I saw the trailer for it which can also be found on the YouTube channel. Just to build the anticipation!

Another striking competition is happening a week later and within our borders, as the South-West District hold theirs and the rules were added to SW District page on this website. Even more importantly, those planning on attending should note that the venue has been changed from Higham to Polstead, which those who went to the Guild Striking Competitions in 2019 will remember are a very easy-going ground-floor six. The time has also changed, but I imagine the same welcome will be extended, so please do consider entering a method or call-change team and even if you aren't competing but are free then please do go along for good ringing, socialising, food and probably a pint or two! Contact District Secretary Christine Knight for any queries.

It may not have been competitive, but there was ringing going on in Suffolk today. Most notably in Beccles where Chrissie Pickup, Mike Cowling and Philip Gorrod were ringing their first quarter-peal on handbells to include Treble Bob, whilst at Horringer a 1320 of Cambridge & Norwich Surprise Minor was rung celebrating the birthdays of Deborah Blumfield's granddaughter Persephone and Troston ringer Claire Free. Happy Birthday Persephone and Claire and well done Chrissie, Mike and Philip!

No ringing for us as Ruthie was practicing with her choral colleagues whilst I oversaw the boys doing homework and their bedtime routine. And watching ringing striking competition trailers.

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Wednesday 12th June 2024

On Saturday ten of the best twelve-bell bands in the world and hundreds of supporters and hangers on are due to gather in a village in Somerset. Yes, it is National 12-bell Striking Competition Final time, a bit earlier than normal in order to avoid Glastonbury Music Festival which is planned to take place less than ten miles away over several days across the usual Final weekend and which apparently brings the area to a complete standstill.

Things are coming together by all accounts. Local ringer, bellhanger and organiser Matthew Higby imparted on Facebook that beer and cider are purchased, t-shirts and glasses have arrived, the souvenir booklets are printed, the cash & carry has almost been emptied, certificates are typed out and tomorrow morning he intends to supervise the delivery of toilets. Although the weather forecast isn't too brilliant, judging by the website for the event there will be indoor space, so I hope he and his team are rewarded with a big turnout for their considerable efforts.

As for who will win, in the absence of the Ipswich team it is hard to see past Birmingham winning it for the twenty-seventh time, but taking my tongue from its position firmly lodged in my cheek, it is not the foregone conclusion that many will see it, as I'm sure the Brummies themselves will acknowledge. The College Youths and the Cumberlands both also have considerable talent to call upon and I imagine will also be driven on to beat each other in their 'local derby'. Bristol, Cambridge and St Paul's Cathedral have all been placed in high positions over the last few years and can be considered potential outsiders if the favourites slip up. Melbourne are seasoned finalists (this is lined up to be their fourteenth consecutive appearance at this occasion) and very capable of reaching a high position, whilst having surprised many by qualifying for the first time, Portsmouth may do the same on Saturday and of course the hosts will have an advantage on bells and surroundings familiar to them, especially as this year no one has had a practice on them as they would've done before. Sadly the form guide from their last few appearances (bar their decent showing on home bells two years ago) suggests Guildford might struggle, but who knows? They qualified pretty comfortably from their eliminator at Reading so are obviously able to produce great twelve-bell ringing and they ought to play their part on a day which should be filled with great twelve-bell ringing.

These days it is the norm to be able to listen to it all live on the contest's YouTube channel with Matthew Tosh's fantastic broadcast that usually also features interviews with judges, participants and other people involved in the day and that is the plan for this Saturday too, with the link already up and raring to go. It takes true dedication to listen to the entire show which typically comes in at over eight hours long, but in the past we have enjoyed having it on in the background if we're at home, sometimes even cracking open a beer and imagining we were there! In particular it is exciting to see and hear the results being announced. And they are interesting to watch back in parts, as I found myself doing today to bits of the 2022 Final at Guildford Cathedral which we took part in.

There is no video of it as far as I know, but I imagine there was also good ringing at Offton today as a peal of Cambridge, Lincolnshire, Rutland and Yorkshire Surprise Major spliced was rung. Congratulations to Rowan Wilson an Alan Mayle on ringing their one hundredth together, but even more so to North-West District Ringing Master Joshua Watkins on ringing his first of Surprise, which is an impressive way of doing it! Well done Joshua!

Later in the day meanwhile, a quarter-peal of Double Court Bob Minor was rung at Pettistree ahead of a practice that after we'd been to Alfie's football training session Ruthie attended with her mother Kate and which was rounded off with a visit to The Greyhound, leaving me at home to look after the boys and also giving me the chance to read up on this Saturday's National 12-bell Striking Contest Final.

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Tuesday 11th June 2024

11th June is a significant date for birthdays of ringers from Suffolk or with Suffolk connections.

Of course it is the anniversary of Dad Alan's birth in 1945 and he was often in my thoughts as I went about my business today, although that didn't involve any ringing with Ufford practice cancelled with a substantial proportion of regulars away.

It is also the birthday of my Becky Munnings, wife of my brother Chris and a ringer at Pakenham.

And former Ringing Master of the North-East District Maggie Ross has been celebrating her fiftieth birthday with a now famous 'things to do before I turn fifty' list and a big party at the weekend. Although we couldn't make that due to our Ridgman Trophy commitments, we were delighted to meet up with her recently.

Meanwhile, there was ringing on the 8cwt ground-floor eight of Offton where the weekly session was preceded by a quarter-peal of Cambridge, Lincolnshire, Rutland, Superlative and Yorkshire Surprise Major spliced.

For us though there was nothing so exciting going on without that ringing or anything else out of the ordinary, but 11th June remains a significant date.

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Monday 10th June 2024

There is usually an upbeat feel about ringing at St Mary-le-Tower, where I think most of us understand how privileged we are to regularly ring on such a good ring of twelve and the opportunities it gives us. At this evening's weekly practice though, there was a particularly positive atmosphere as many of those present reflected on their efforts at Biggleswade on Saturday and/or Horringer yesterday, especially Claire Haynes with the former and George Heath-Collins the latter.

On top of that, Ringing Master David Potts was keen to replicate what were apparently very well rung pieces of Stedman Cinques and Yorkshire Surprise Maximus on Sunday morning, which I think we did quite successfully, whilst Cambridge Surprise Maximus was also rung. Not everything went to plan of course, as a course of Little Bob Max began with the third ringing Grandsire instead of joining me on the eighth to dodge in 5-6 prompting conductor Amanda Richmond to call it round immediately whilst the ringer of the sixth carried on trying to ring Little Bob having not heard the instruction! However, although I have no actual figures to back this up, through ringing on twelves around the country and talking to people who ring on others, I don't believe there are huge numbers of twelve-bell towers regularly ringing Stedman Cinques and Surprise Maximus, let alone on Sunday mornings. It is particularly impressive for a provincial town geographically out on a limb far from major cities and with no long established university providing promising young ringers to support us. Not forgetting that we also practice on the same night of the week as three other twelves in the region Cambridge, Chelmsford and Norwich.

I'm always impressed with our turnout in the pub afterwards, which may be a result of the good numbers at ringing or the cause of them! Or perhaps both. Tonight was no different as we went to the Halberd Inn for post-ringing refreshment, daylight still lingering as midsummer and of course Suffolk Day on 21st June approach. Hopefully there will be lots of ringing in the county for that.

There was plenty of ringing going on within our borders today though and not just in Ipswich at the civic church, with a quarter-peal of Kent Treble Bob Major rung on handbells in Bury St Edmunds in memory of Guild Life Honorary Life Member Rev Canon Geoffrey Tarris on the day of his cremation.

And beyond our borders, congratulations to former Exning learner Jimmy Yeoman on ringing his one hundredth peal of Maximus - one of which was rung for the SGR at The Norman Tower in 2019 - in the 5136 of Queenscliffe Surprise at Birmingham Cathedral. Where I imagine there was also an upbeat feel.

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Sunday 9th June 2024

I've occasionally lamented in recent years at the lack of active young ringers in Suffolk. 2016 was the last time a Guild team entered the Ringing World National Youth Contest and I can't pinpoint the last time anyone under the age of eighteen and resident rang a peal for the SGR. Mercifully things appear to be slowly improving, with (some very) young ringers ringing quarter-peals, whilst I have noticed more youngsters ringing around the county. And today pleasingly saw a peal rung at Horringer by a band entirely under the age of thirty, a group of ringers that God willing will help form the basis of the exercise in the county through the next few decades. Well done to our under-30s!

Especially well done to George Heath-Collins who was ringing his first peal. Since taking up the art after going out with his now fiancée Lucy who rang the second to this afternoon's 5040 of Grandsire Triples, George has swiftly progressed whilst fitting in fantastically with our band at St Mary-le-Tower, even taking on the role of Steeple Keeper and running the St Mary-le-Tower Society of Change Ringers website, so this is a well earned achievement and hopefully not his last one!

My day of ringing consisted of taking in the finest view within our borders when ringing a bell, in my humble opinion, as I rang the tenor at Woodbridge. If I'm being honest I didn't need the box supplied for this as the rope was far too long, but without standing on it I wouldn't have been able to enjoy the wonderful outlook through the window and down the River Deben and so I adjusted for the few minutes of ringing. Nice that we could once again ring all eight too, although that was ultimately curtailed by the fourth slipping wheel before the boys and I returned downstairs for the service where Alfie read a prayer impressively clearly and confidently and both boys produced very recognisable drawings of us in junior church!

Meanwhile twelve miles away in Aldeburgh, the 75th Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts was being marked as it usually is by a peal on the 11cwt eight at St Peter and St Paul's, with Rushden Surprise Major rung on this occasion in precisely three hours.

Two of the band - Guild Chairman Mark Ogden and Membership Secretary Mary Garner - then joined us at the home of Hilary Stearn deep in rural Suffolk with nothing but gorgeous green countryside on view. Hilary had very kindly invited us to a party with food and drink and acres of space for the boys to run around in their beautiful garden, whilst we we caught up with my Godson Jonathan - who had very kindly brought along his parents Pete & Susanne - and her many ringing friends from the various towers she takes herself to in order to further her progress, such as Debenham, Halesworth and Pettistree. Thank you Hilary and her helpers for an afternoon not even spoiled by the chilly, damp weather of a typical British summer!

Her proactiveness in ringing is an example of what I wish more ringers would do and how those of us on this side of thirty years old can still achieve in the art!

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Saturday 8th June 2024

Saturday 21st June 2025. Save the date. For that is when The Ridgman Trophy - the ten-bell striking competition for territorial ringing organisations bordering onto The Ely Diocesan Association - is planned to (finally!) be held at Boston in Lincolnshire. The fact that this was where the contest was due to go in 2020 should serve as a reminder that we can't assume anything, but going on the basis of what is intended, I hope that people from across the region and even beyond not ringing can be encouraged to come along and sample what is a showpiece occasion for ringing in East Anglia and the East of England generally, because it is one that deserves to have a bigger audience.

It is also a difficult occasion to host by the nature of its format, with the draw done in advance and the temptation for people to turn up, ring and leave straight afterwards. Great for individuals who have lots to do and feel that they can slot representing their association, guild or society in with other stuff, but not so much for creating an atmosphere. Not doing so risks putting potential participants off for something that can require much travelling for those of us right on the edge of the geographical qualifying area, but it would be great if there was enough to not only keep participating ringers there all day but also attract hangers on along in much the same way as the National 12-bell Striking Contest does, even if of course this would be on a smaller scale. On occasions in the past, not enough (and sometimes nothing at all) has been put on by the hosts and we've ended up with a handful of folk left for the results, but it is possible to encourage people to stay longer. Out of all I've been to, probably the best hosts were The Cambridge University Guild in 2017, admittedly aided by wonderful weather and the superb location of Great St Mary's church. They put much on including plenty of beer and were rewarded with a vibrant, lively and well attended competition.

And today, the Bedfordshire Association also put on a good show at Biggleswade that led to a pretty decent attendance for the results read out by Leeds ringers Graham & Wendy Bloom at the end of a lovely day out. Unlike our friends from the CUG seven years ago, they weren't particularly blessed with warm weather. Although it was pleasant enough to stand out in, Ruthie instantly regretted not bringing a jumper until I gallantly offered her mine (shamed into by James Smith doing likewise for his wife Claire!), but our hosts had things covered for the chillier conditions with the superb facilities attached to the church that offered food, tea and best of all beer!

Admittedly we had taken advantage of knowing that we weren't expected to meet until 12.15pm to drop Mason off for work and do a quick check on mother-in-law Kate's animals in her absence, but were delighted to arrive in good time as the second team up the CUG were ringing. A refreshing cuppa enjoyed and all our band present and then it was our turn. It isn't as straightforward as simply turning and ringing for this with a considerable process to go through, albeit never begrudgingly from my perspective as I quite enjoy it as it gets me in the right frame of mind to ring in something like this. First we gather at a designated point which here was where the entrance to the church and church rooms meet. Then you sign in the book that records the names of the bandmembers and on what bell they are ringing. After that we were led by the competition organiser Alan Winter round to the base of the tower and then up the stairs as The Lincoln Diocesan Guild were ringing their test piece, which for all of us was the same 179 change touch of Grandsire Caters we rang in the 2021 competition that we won at Braintree. Even having entered the ringing chamber we have to wait until our allotted time which for us today was 12.30pm before we could practice and then couldn't start the test piece until 12.40 but by 12.45. It sounds long-winded, but after all of that we produced a really good bit of ringing that regardless of the result we could be very pleased with.

First we had to wait for The Ely Diocesan Association who were the only team to ring after us and for the judges to make their deliberations which were prolonged by them needing to listen to some of the recordings again, suggesting that the results were close, so we enjoyed some of the beer on offer and caught up with more ringing friends as we waited.

They were worth the wait too. When the judges imparted the usual constructive comments, they noted that the little bells rang well together at the back and that the roll-ups were the best of the day, which was particularly pleasing for those of us on the back bells! However, they also pondered if we had somewhere to be, suggesting that we were ringing very fast - reiterated by the revelation that we had the quickest peal speed of the day at a straight three hours compared to the slowest of 3 hours and 27 minutes - and that also we weren't always ringing at the same speed together. We assumed from those observations that we'd do OK, but probably wouldn't be troubling the leaderboard.

One might therefore imagine how far up our eyebrows rose with the announcement of each place that we didn't appear until it came down to us and the host team. There was a suitable dramatic pause before it was revealed that the winners were... Bedfordshire. Congratulations to them who were presented with the trophy (freshly retrieved from Essex by Andrew Kelso after it had been left behind!) by the local vicar the Reverend Liz Oglesby-Elong, but also to us, especially to Claire Haynes who only rang her first quarter-peal on ten on a working bell last month yet rang assuredly and confidently in the second best bit of ringing in the east's biggest ten-bell striking competition this year! Well done also to SGR Ringing Master Katharine Salter getting this band together at a busy time for her!

It capped a superb day which highlighted the talent in this region. Multiple winners of the National 12-bell Striking Contest, some promising young ringers ringing for the CUG including one of the most promising Jadd Virji, two Past Masters of the Cumberland Youths in the form of Linda Garton and former Suffolk learner John Loveless and the CCCBR Vice President Vicki Chapman were all there and it was great to catch up with some of them as well as others like Lesley Boyle, Gareth Davies, Nick Elks and Sue Marsden. Additionally it was great to meet Keith Brown from Lincolnshire who as an Ipswich Town fan made a beeline for me in my ITFC shirt and it was also nice to chat with Jim Benner, another Lincolnshire ringer.

Following all that we returned home via the returning Mrs Eagle's to find chicks hatching and dogs returned at the end of a wonderful day. God willing we can have another one in Boston on 21st June 2025 with many, many others.

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Friday 7th June 2024

The latest edition of The Ringing World arrived today. Nothing Suffolk-related on this occasion, although the editorial explanation that their mailing house "suddenly and unexpectedly went out of operation" shed light on the new packaging and possibly the understandable delay of the issue from a fortnight ago.

Future editions should feature the quarter-peal at Earl Stonham rung this evening and also a peal of seven Surprise Minor methods rung on the 15cwt six of Mobberley in Cheshire on Wednesday, which might seem an odd performance for me to highlight but which does have a Suffolk connection. For the village is where the famous mountaineer George Leigh Mallory was born, with his father and grandfather having been rectors at St Wilfrid's church and a century after his death attempting to be the first mountaineer to climb to the summit of Mount Everest, a band of hillwalkers and mountaineers were ringing this 5040 to mark the anniversary. That band included St Mary-le-Tower ringer and Past Guild Ringing Master Amanda Richmond who along with the conductor Peter Ellis became what is believed the first summiteers of the world's highest peak to ring a peal together. Congratulations Amanda!

Their mountaineering particularly but also ringing exploits were far more energetic than anything we managed during our evening especially, as we slumped on the settee, drunk beer and watched England's men's football team's last match before they are due to leave for Germany to play in the European Championships this summer. However, as they lost 1-0 at Wembley against Iceland in a fairly dire game, I was glad to have The Ringing World to read instead!

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Thursday 6th June 2024

What would life be like if 'Operation Overlord' had failed? There is no real way of telling exactly of course and it probably doesn't bear thinking about in too much detail, but it certainly wouldn't be good. What the various documentaries I've watched on the subject over the last week or two have reiterated, for all the incredible plans, strategies, diversions, deceptions and the like, it wouldn't have succeeded if it weren't for all those who went ashore on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day precisely eighty years ago and - like mine and my brother Chris' maternal grandfather Cyril - in the days that followed who were prepared for the strong likelihood that they would die trying to liberate western Europe.

It is only right therefore that every five years the anniversary is marked and a big deal is made of it and indeed an even bigger deal than previously. Inevitably time is reducing the numbers of those still around who were there, with the few left now at least in their late nineties or in their second century and of course 6th June 1944 is fading further into history and so the importance of keeping the sacrifices others made for modern day freedoms fresh in the minds of new generations increases with every passing year.

Today in bright sunshine and beneath clear blue skies, royalty, prime ministers, chancellors and presidents joined frail and often wheelchair-bound veterans on coasts that precisely eight decades ago were awash with gunfire, bombs, smoke, death and blood, with moving speeches and music, flowers from local primary school children and bagpipers. And here in the UK and indeed across the world, ringers participated in 'Ringing Out for Peace', a super initiative that (once I'd worked out how to get in!) saw me at Woodbridge helping ring all eight at 6.30 this evening with the boys watching on.

As is normally the case on such occasions, throughout Suffolk there was far too much to list absolutely everything on here but there were five quarter-peals rung within our borders I shall mention. Amongst those, the headline act from a ringing perspective was Helen Mower ringing her first QP in the 1280 of Plain Bob Doubles at Aldeburgh, making it even more special. Well done Helen!

Well done also to Georgina Inglis on ringing her first of Grandsire Doubles in the 1260 rung at Redgrave, whilst a quarter of spliced Cambridge & Yorkshire Surprise Royal was rung at The Norman Tower, another of Grandsire Doubles at Great Barton and appropriately at Woolpit a 1320 of D-Day Delight Minor was successfully completed. Great work by all who did some ringing for today's events!

The way that the events of eighty years ago have been marked not just by ringing but generally has been heartwarming, but I have to admit it wasn't the absolute highlight of the day. Rather, that goes to the hour or so I spent with Josh at school for his class's 'Stay and Make' session and where the pair of us worked together to make a Stone Age scene from a shoe box. We were rather pleased with our efforts with one of Joshua's many strengths being his creativity and it was precious time spent together which seemed particularly poignant on a day like today.

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Wednesday 5th June 2024

Last week saw Alfie's football team's final training session of the season and so we had been looking forward to less hectic Wednesdays over the summer, maybe even taking in a pre-practice quarter-peal or two at Pettistree.

That was the hope anyway. Until a message from the coach announced that it was the intention for Alfred and his teammates to train on Wednesdays after work and Saturday mornings. To be fair, this isn't the three-line whip and no one is expected to rearrange any plans, but we are keen to support our children in all their endeavours and activities, so we shall try to get him to as many as possible and so our Wednesdays and Saturdays may remain busy and challenging logistically for the foreseeable!

On this occasion, there were a few absent and we were in a different location to usual on a beautifully sunny evening, so it felt a little like a trip out, but with us also needing to battle with an egg incubator after it meant I didn't make it to the session at the aforementioned ground-floor six until very late.

Still, I'm very glad I did, quite apart from dropping the last couple of editions of The Ringing World off and helping with a practice that was low on attendees but still managed an eclectic range of ringing from call-changes for Catherine to Berwick Surprise Minor and spliced Minor, whilst for the second night running my ringing was rounded off by calling a nice 120 changes of Stedman Doubles.

And in beautiful summer conditions like these it was a reminder of how blessed we are to have such a pretty place to go ringing on our doorstep, including one of the oldest taverns in Suffolk next door to the church, The Greyhound. That was where I had a drink with the Garners following my short evening of ringing and a practice which was preceded by a quarter-peal of Doubles which on the eve of the eightieth anniversary of the D-Day landings was dedicated to the occasion, as was the very impressive peal of eleven Surprise Major methods spliced rung for the Guild at Elveden, whilst a brace of quarters were rung on The Barn Owl Ring in Norton with 1260s of Stedman Triples and St Clement's College Bob Triples on a hectic Wednesday for others too.

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Tuesday 4th June 2024

A spot of dishwasher trouble briefly threatened to derail our evening's plans, but with a potential solution identified I continued on my way to Ufford's weekly practice. Which was important, as there was a lot of responsibility on my shoulders to ensure the session went ahead. With usual Ringing Master Kate Eagle not about tonight, I needed to get the tower keys from hers and collect Susanne Eddis and with rain starting to come down I was anxious to avoid anyone waiting around getting wet.

I at least succeeded in that aim and as the rain got heavier outside I was pleased to also succeed in helping to guide a relatively productive practice inside with Doubles and Cambridge Surprise Minor for Daniel Atkinson and Margaret Weeks to treble to, but with only seven there and Margaret still needing to take it easy as her recovery continues we called it a night a few minutes early. Not before we finished with an extremely well rung 120 of Stedman Doubles as requested by Susanne though. A particularly pleasing way to end proceedings considering the low numbers there on this occasion.

Over at Offton, I hope they were also pleased with their practice this evening and it certainly started well enough with a quarter-peal of Cambridge, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire Surprise Major spliced.

Hopefully there were no dishwasher troubles to derail their evening's plans!

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Monday 3rd June 2024

St Mary-le-Tower's weekly practice had a busy feel to it this evening. Including the visit of Essex ringer Brian Meads who joined us after Chelmsford Cathedral's practice was cancelled, there were well over twenty ringers in the ringing chamber for Ringing Master David Potts to keep happy, which I think he probably managed with much rung from call-changes on twelve to Stedman Cinques and separate pieces of Cambridge and Yorkshire Surprise Maximus.

In the corner behind the tenor rope and box, pictures were being moved about on, off and around the wall and measurements being made in preparation for hanging our new pealboard marking the 5042 we rang for King Charles III's coronation last year.

And on the day that Neil Thomas from Matthew Higby & Company Ltd visited to do some measurements for the training bells planned for this ringing chamber, we received an update on the project, whilst notice was given of an EGM planned for during the practice in three weeks time to hopefully ratify the new St Mary-le-Tower Society of Change Ringers new constitution. All being well the ringing shouldn't be much more disrupted than with normal notices, so all visitors are still welcome.

Afterwards, we retired to the Halberd Inn, where we busied ourselves with socialising.

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Sunday 2nd June 2024

We are used to logistical challenges, but 11am today was a considerable one as the boys needed to be at a birthday party whilst Ruthie was in Woodbridge singing for the service at St Mary-the-Virgin and I was in Ufford for a Christening. Not just any Christening either as I was becoming Godfather to Jonathan, the son of local ringers Pete and Susanne, so it was imperative that I was there!

In the end, Granny Kate came to the rescue, as she often does as with her also going to Jonathan's special landmark she quietly took them out of proceedings at the appropriate moment and ensured they arrived at their much anticipated engagement. With their mother having taken the car with her, Mrs Eagle also very kindly picked Alfie, Josh and myself up at the start of the morning, in the process taking me service ringing at Pettistree and then at the aforementioned Ufford where she is Ringing Master and where with the help of my new Godson's parents, Pete's sister, Peter Harper and the Rapiors from Aldeburgh, we were able to ring on all eight, even ringing a touch of Grandsire Triples.

And so I was able to relax and undertake my duties under the instruction of the Reverend Paul Hambling before we enjoyed a post-service cuppa and then retired to St Mary's Parish Hall opposite where precisely a month ago I spent almost all day being a poll clerk. This was an altogether shorter and more relaxing affair though, with lots of tasty food (pretty much all made by Pete) and a glass or two of fizzy very generously laid on by Jonathan's family.

Eventually my wife arrived too with Alfred and Joshua having picked them up, to find me trying to console my Godson. A bit of time with Mrs Munnings and then back with me and he seemed fine, which I hope is a good sign. Blessed as I am to already be a Godparent, it doesn't make it any less special and a privilege to take on this role. As with my own sons, I pray that I can use my foibles, mistakes and misjudgments to guide and advise him if called upon and on a less profound note hope that perhaps one day I can help teach him to ring or get him supporting Ipswich Town. Or even better both!

Meanwhile, others were ringing elsewhere in Suffolk. Well done to Erika Clarke on ringing her first quarter-peal of Little Bob Major inside in the 1256 at Halesworth and well done again to Max Thomson who impressively followed up his first QP only last weekend with his first away from cover in the 1260 of four Doubles methods at Bardwell today. Congratulations also to Guild PR Officer & North-West District Chairman Neal Dodge on ringing his fiftieth quarter on the bells and Happy Birthday to Ixworth ringer Louise Whitehead!

Hopefully there weren't too many logistical challenges involved with these successes!

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Saturday 1st June 2024

Part two of the South-East District Double Header either side of May turning into June, as following last night's trip to Offton the monthly practice took members to Earl Stonham and then Stonham Aspal today. Two rings of bells less than two miles apart along the A1120, but otherwise worlds apart, the former being an easy-going lightish gallery-ring six 'overhauled' by Taylors twenty years ago, the latter a heavy ten in a tight ringing chamber at the top of a steep ladder and perceived at least to be very hard work.

We arrived at the first tower after a leisurely start to the day for a family used to dashing about to football fixtures early on a Saturday morning, although it was still not without some drama as we parked up outside our destination with blood pouring from Josh's mouth following an exuberant though accidental incident involving Alfie and ultimately led to his wobbly tooth coming out a little earlier and more dramatically than we were expecting! Still, despite the lack of tissue that we could really have done with in the facilities beneath the ringing chamber, our youngest son was happily fixed and we were able to join in the ringing before a brief meeting that saw a long list of new members, many of whom were there to be welcomed (back in some cases) by the turnout present.

From there that turnout made the short journey to Broughton Hall Farm to park up for ringing the 23cwt ten. These have a pretty dreadful reputation amongst many which is rooted partly in jest but also partly in seriousness. One does need to work hard at these, but with that bit of work they can be immensely satisfying and whilst this afternoon they did catch out ringers of varying abilities, there was some very reasonable ringing culminating in a decent touch of Grandsire Caters.

Meanwhile down in the church, there was an abundance of delicious cake on offer and opportunity to catch-up with friends, although with only room for those ringing and two or three others upstairs it does make running the ringing difficult as you are largely reliant on whoever is in the ringing chamber at the time. Well done therefore to SE District Ringing Master Hal Meakin, not just on today but last night too.

Our day of ringing wasn't finished just yet though as we travelled straight into Ipswich to ring for a wedding at St Mary-le-Tower. Well, to meet some of our fellow ringers for a drink in the beer garden of the Halberd Inn before making our way over to the county's heaviest ring of bells. We had been asked to ring out the happy couple after what we had been told would be a short service, which was perfect for our plans this afternoon. With a couple of bits and pieces we needed to get before tomorrow and thought we could purchase from the nearby shops in the town centre, it would even give us time to return home for me to make myself presentable for an important day planned for tomorrow, ahead of wandering up to mother-in-law Kate's for tea. Except...

All ten of us were there before the appointed start time of the ceremony as requested and waited for the bride. Us ringers are used to brides being late of course, so we waited patiently. On the back of their order of service they had a very precise timetable of events for the day. Service at 2pm. Photos at 2.30 outside the church. Still no bride, though she did arrive not long after and we even gave her a quick burst of ringing as she arrived, seeing as we were all there and frankly slightly bored by this point. Yet proceedings didn't get going until 2.45. And as we passed 3 when their reception was supposed to begin and 3.30 when they were meant to be having more photos and still they were in the church we were wondering if they were even going make their food at 5!

Eventually they did finish and it transpired that the cause of the delay had been an accident involving a child, some orange juice and the bride's dress, which was very unfortunate and probably added quite a bit of stress to what can be an already very stressful day! Hopefully the rest of the schedule went better, but it did leave us a lot shorter on time than we had expected or would've liked. We managed to hurriedly do our shopping, but once we'd very kindly been given tea by Ufford Ringing Master Kate, the considerable efforts to make myself look respectable had to wait until we got back to our abode as I tried to keep half an eye on the Champions League Final on the TV.

I hope they had better luck ringing for the wedding at Campsea Ashe that appears on BellBoard, whilst there were quarter-peals of Plain Bob Doubles, Bristol Surprise Major and Buxton Bob Minor rung at Hacheston, Horringer and Woolpit respectively in memory of Helen Brookes, Adrian Knights (on what would've been his seventy-seventh birthday) and Daisy Arcilla Brett-Holt. Well done also to Astrid Gale on ringing her first in the method in the latter 1260 on the 8cwt six.

And well done to the South-East District for a very enjoyable double-header yesterday and today!

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Friday 31st May 2024

On the eve of meteorological summer, there are few better places to spend an evening at this time of year then Offton and we were delighted to be going to this small pretty, isolated, quiet village during the eventide of today and indeed of this month. Except the weather wasn't really playing ball, as it rained for much of the day. It had at least largely stopped by the time we arrived to ring at the South-East District Surprise Major on the 8cwt ground-floor eight. That allowed the boys to play football outside and of course mercifully ringing is a predominantly indoor activity and so we still had a typically lovely time out here.

Much was rung with a reasonably sized crowd in attendance from Pudsey to Superlative to three leads of Bristol and the 'standard' eight spliced. As is often the case at such events - and arguably as it should be if ringers are looking to progress - some things went better than others, but it seemed a productive session and I hope everyone was satisfied with their hour-and-a-half on this occasion.

The last time I had been here was for the funeral of Adrian Knights earlier in the year and today he was remembered the day before what would've been his seventy-seventh birthday with a nod to one of his many ringing achievements as a peal of seven Surprise Minor methods acrostically spelling ADRIAN K was rung at Grundisburgh, scene of the groundbreaking 12240 of forty-one Surprise Minor methods spliced rung in 1988. Today's 5040 was rung by the other five members of the band from over thirty-five years ago plus another good friend of his Gill Sparling.

Arnie definitely would have approved of our visit to The Limeburners - a place he knew well - following our ringing and understandably so as we sat in a pleasingly busy country pub on a Friday night chatting to David Lugg, Brian Whiting, SE District Chairman Stephen Christian, David Stanford and Abby Antrobus over a pint. Everyday life doesn't get much more enjoyable than this.

There was other ringing going on across Suffolk too, with three quarter-peals rung. Well done to Judith Raven on ringing her first of Minor and congratulations to Jonathan Iles and conductor & North-East District Ringing Master Philip Gorrod on ringing their one hundredth together in the QP of Plain Bob at Wissett, whilst the Memorial Service for former Rougham ringer Brian Coley was preceded by a 1260 of Grandsire Doubles on the 15cwt six and Andrea Alderton's husband Michael was remembered with the 1320 of Cambridge Surprise Minor rung at Tostock. Andrea herself rang the second and our thoughts are with her and their family. As I've said before, I think it is so nice that ringers are able to remember loved ones in such a way. That quarter was also the second in two days on the easy-going 5cwt gallery-ring six, with a 1320 of Norwich Surprise Minor rung there yesterday.

Meanwhile, such is the power of my blog that even before my entry for Thursday lamenting the non-arrival of last week's edition of the RW had gone up, that issue and this week's both arrived in the post this morning. 24th May's features a wonderful piece from Laura Parker who many will recall judged the Guild Striking Competitions recently, writing about the experience of her husband Stuart - who we also met at Falkenham & Felixstowe that day - learning to ring with a condition Retinitis Pigmentosa, which leaves him with reduced vision, as well as the introduction of his guide dog Woody to ringing chambers!

The latest copy came with a report and photos from the NE District Striking Competitions at Theberton adorning the back page and gives notice that all being well there will be an extract of Pudsey Surprise Major at Aldeburgh on BBC Radio 4's 'Bells on Sunday' on 23rd June, appropriately just two days after Suffolk Day which hopefully the county's bells and ringers will celebrate in numbers.

By which point I hope we will be in the midst of a hot, sunny summer!

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Thursday 30th May 2024

Unusually, last week's edition of The Ringing World still hasn't arrived with us, but as if aware that there was a gap in our ringing reading, along has come the new edition of Tower Talk, edited of course by Bardwell Tower Captain Ruth Suggett . As usual it is packed with so much feelgood content from around the country, including here in Suffolk, with the Sole Bay Ringing Hub in the North-East District featuring on this occasion.

There was also ringing audio to enjoy, as I listened to the 6 minutes and 39 seconds extract of the 5040 of Plain Bob Triples rung at Framlingham recently by the L Martin Daniels Peal Tour and has now been added to the 16cwt eight's page on this website.

There was no actual ringing for our household today though as Ruthie practiced with her choral colleagues, sang for a service at St Mary-the-Virgin's in Woodbridge and then had a drink at The Bull Inn afterwards and things were quiet elsewhere in Suffolk from a BellBoard perspective.

At least there was Tower Talk to occupy us all instead.

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Wednesday 29th May 2024

Interesting fact about today's Suffolk Guild Peal at Gressenhall in Norfolk, at least to me. It is the fifth SGR peal on this isolated 9cwt ten in the last nineteen months, whilst the last Norwich Diocesan Association peal there was in 2018. I wonder if there is any other tower where so many peals have been rung by a single ringing organisation not from its territorial area since it's 'home' territorial ringing organisation last rang one there?

Whilst the county's Guild of Ringers was being represented north of the border, we and a number of Guild members were at Trinity Park on the outskirts of Ipswich for the Suffolk Show. Whenever this comes round I can't help but lament that circumstances mean a ringing presence here isn't practical, but I hadn't actually been since The Vestey Ring was set up with the Church of England tent in 2011 when I came and 'helped' with manning it on the second day and even rang in a quarter-peal. Sadly the noise was deemed to be too much for those in the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich's tent and the cost of having our own plot is far too prohibitive for our finances, so there hasn't been any Guild representation since.

Which is a pity. When we walked past the CofE stall this afternoon, it seemed to be missing anything attention grabbing unlike so many other tents, but it was pretty packed so I did consider all the potential audience that we and ringing were missing. Hopefully one day we can find a way to be involved in the future, even if it is just with an exhibition, handbells, leaflets, etc.

Even in the absence of bells, we still saw ringers apart from Ufford Ringing Master Kate Eagle who we were there with along with Ruthie's gran, my wife's sister and her other half and our nieces. Woolpit ringers Astrid & Nigel Gale were discovered near some toy diggers retrieving pipes from a sandpit and Graham & Veronica Downing from Chediston were looking very smart when we happened across them, whilst judging by social media there were more than enough ringers present from within our borders to have manned a Guild stand!

Beyond bumping into friends ringing and non-ringing, we generally had a lovely day in between dodging the occasional downpour, seeing much from Ipswich Town Football Club to lots of the wonderful animals (including the stubborn sheep!) on display to the wildlife nature reserve to the food tent, which was my personal favourite! And Alfie was chuffed to briefly be top of the leaderboard for the keepy-up challenge at one tent!

Once we'd eventually found where we'd parked the car, we were back home in time for me to take Alfie and tagger-along Josh to the former's footy team's final training session of the season which involved an all-in match between the adults and the players and their younger siblings including Joshua, who despite being hit in the face twice by the ball (and that without Alex Riley anywhere nearby!) really enjoyed himself.

With it being half-term, we rounded our busy Wednesday off by all going out to Pettistree practice where it was nice to see Woodbridge ringer Peter Mayer during another eclectic practice which on this occasion was accompanied by chocolate cake very kindly supplied by Guild Chairman Mark Ogden for the forthcoming sixty-fifth anniversary of his birth. Thank you Mark!

That landmark birthday was further celebrated with the pre-practice quarter-peal of Ipswich Surprise Minor and then afterwards with a drink at The Greyhound. All very enjoyable, although I can't find any interesting facts about it!

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Tuesday 28th May 2024

Today we bade farewell to Windsor, a town perfect for history buffs and planespotters alike. It has been a lovely few days for which we are very grateful to Ruthie's mother Kate for making it possible, but although we'd got today off work and thus allowing us to extend our bank holiday weekend a little, the trip had to end at some point. So it was today as we travelled the still busy M4, M25 and A12, accompanied all the way by rain.

It meant for a subdued arrival back home as we set about all the mundane tasks necessary when one arrives back from time away. There was also no ringing for us, with Ufford practice cancelled due to a lack of available regulars, although on this occasion we actually appreciated the rest following all that travelling as we bade farewell to Windsor.

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Monday 27th May 2024

When in Rome and all that...

Well when in Windsor there is plenty to do and see and we have very much enjoyed it. However, whilst down this way, it would have been extremely remiss of us to not meet up with former Halesworth ringer Maggie Ross, who now lives in Maidenhead just five miles from our base of the last couple of days.

And so today we did just that at the end of a very successful weekend for her. On Saturday she rang in a peal of thirteen Surprise Major methods spliced at Burnham in Buckinghamshire in what is planned to be a step on the way to a hoped for attempt of Chandler's famous composition of twenty-three Surprise Major methods. Then yesterday she watched on TV from a pub her team Southampton join Ipswich Town in next year's Premier League by winning the Championship Play-Off Final against Leeds United.

Therefore it was an upbeat Maggie we met with her other half Tim Palmer who I also know well from when we rang in Birmingham together and who others in Suffolk will know too.

It was lovely to see them and especially as we had a lot of fun in the process as we had a picnic at Ray Mill Island, refreshment outside Lake House Cafe in Taplow and then eighteen holes of dinosaur themed mini-golf in Maidenhead before returning to Maggie & Tim's for food before we returned to Windsor and they went off to their local practice at Bray. Very kind of them and a great end to a great few hours.

Meanwhile, back in the homeland a brace of handbell quarters of Bob Royal were rung in Moats Tye, with a 1280 of Plain which remembered long-time Offton ringer Kevin Hohl a year after his death and a 1296 of Little.

Further afield there was also considerable ringing activity as the usual selection of eye-catching peals for a Bank Holiday Monday were rung, with five peals of Maximus and one of Cinques at some of the big rings and cathedrals.

When in Worcester and all that...

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Sunday 26th May 2024

No ringing for us this morning as we got up at a leisurely pace in our Airbnb in Windsor before heading straight off to the Castle. We were booked in to join the tour of some of the most famous parts of one of the most recognisable landmarks in the UK and indeed the world! The state apartments including St George's Hall and the Quadrant were explored in our own time with the boys as engrossed as we were in the surroundings. And also spectacular views to the north that looks like takes in Eton College and the spire of St Mary's in Slough where there is a 17cwt ten.

Sadly we couldn't go in the Chapel as being a Sunday it was in use and we also couldn't get anywhere near the Curfew Tower where a 26cwt hang, but it was a wonderful few hours, even when it did rain as we were outside having lunch.

From a ringing perspective it was quiet in Suffolk too, at least judging by BellBoard, although of course there will have been much service ringing done, as there will have been across the country.

Just not by us!

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Saturday 25th May 2024

Congratulations to Norman Tower ringer Craig Gradidge on his marriage today to Renée Bird. Many of us have known Craig since he was a child and been privileged to watch him grow into a lovely young chap whilst also maintaining his presence and progress in ringing.
Their big day was celebrated with a 1282 of Yorkshire Surprise Royal at The Norman Tower and an entertaining band photo, but it wasn't the only quarter-peal rung in Suffolk today.

For at Troston, young Max Thomson was ringing his first in the medium in the 1260 of Doubles on this lovely 5cwt six. Congratulations Max and keep it up - hopefully it's the first of many!

There was also the South-West District Practice at Edwardstone on a busy day of ringing in the county, but we weren't within our borders to participate in any of it. Or at least not for much as we passed the 16cwt six of Stratford St Mary on the Essex border pretty early on our way to Windsor, our destination for this long bank holiday weekend with mother-in-law Kate and the boys' Grandad Ron.

Initially this was planned as a gentle ringing trip, but that hasn't worked out so instead it is simply now a tourist break. That began immediately after we reached the famous Berkshire town with a few hours to pass until we could get to our accommodation. Jumping on the Tour Bus we took in the community from the Castle and the Curfew Tower which holds a 26cwt to Eton College and the Guildhall via the other ring of bells in the town at St John the Baptist church. And following a bizarre mixup over tickets we took a trip down the River Thames.

By the time we'd returned from that, our home for the next three nights was ready for us. On this occasion we are making our Airbnb debut and so far so good as we had a BBQ on a hot afternoon in the back garden as we watched the regular planes that are a constant feature in this town on the flightpath.

It was a lovely day for us. And even more lovely day for Craig and Renée.

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Friday 24th May 2024

A couple of noise complaints caught my attention today.

One was about ringing as Steve Upton at Cromer shared an angry note on the Bellringers Facebook page that had been left following the practice on the 11cwt eight in Norfolk last night. There was the usual reference to disturbing residents of course, most of whom probably actually enjoy the bells or at worst are ambivalent to them and the few who don't like them having apparently pitched up next to a church tower without realising that the purpose of that tower may be occasionally noisy. However, bizarrely they complained about how it terrifies the birds, who presumably if bothered by the noise will sensibly go elsewhere. That's if they are bothered by bells. Numerous people responding to the online post from Steve noted how peregrines nest quite happily atop active ringing towers without so much as flinching and many of us will note how birds like pigeons will seemingly happily perch in the louvres throughout even the most dreadfully struck ringing.

The other news of a noise complaint was on the radio about - incredibly - the sound of ice cream vans. Such is the staggering levels of intolerance in society to anything but that which they like. For all that the natural and understandable reaction is to roll one's eyes, we have to be wary that such people are out there and prepared to react in a way that isn't likely to further inflame a delicate situation. In Cromer my personal belief is that they ought to continue as normal seeing as the complainant has apparently left no name or contact details, with the only reference to their identity being that they claim to be a member of the RSPB. If that complainant were to present themselves then arguing shouldn't be the way forward, but rather increasing understanding on both sides. Hopefully the situation won't escalate.

Having the church onside should also help and to that end the news that Graham Ridgway has been elected to the PCC at St Mary-le-Tower to join fellow local ringer Rosemary Caudle is good news. That was announced at Monday evening's weekly practice, but also in the weekly 'Tower Times' which I received by email today and which also included photos of and a piece on the pealboard being blessed by the Reverend Tom Mumford on Bell Sunday. Great PR for ringing!

Meanwhile, well done to Isis Holmes on ringing her first quarter-peal inside in the 1260 of Plain Bob Doubles at Holbrook, whilst a 1308 of St Clement's College Bob Minor was rung by the FNQPC at Ashbocking.

Hopefully everyone locally enjoyed both performances.

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Thursday 23rd May 2024

Ringing can literally and metaphorically take us to all sorts of places that we wouldn't usually go to or indeed even heard of. Higham on the border with Essex is such a place. Small, without a pub but lots of massive posh houses well above the level of anyone we would know well. However, it has a 9cwt six and is due to be the scene of the South-West District Striking Competition on Saturday 22nd June and so when I saw that listed on the What's On link emailed to members by John Taylor and Chris Garner today and having not been there for years (I have a vague memory of it being scribbled in my dreadful childlike handwriting in my early ringing records) I tried to find out a bit more about the place. Well, it is - unsurprisingly for the SW District - in a very picturesque location, in the Dedham Vale AONB, so if you aren't ringing or have a long wait to compete there is plenty to explore. And although the village doesn't have any hostelries, the neighbouring village of Stratford St Mary has The Anchor Inn and The Swan which ought to be open for post-contest drinking if you so choose! South-West members, make sure you enter a team and even if you aren't ringing in a team for whatever reason, do consider going along!

Working backwards through the month, Saturday 8th is penciled in as the date of the North-East District Outing to Wickham Skeith, Gislingham and Redgrave, all towers in the North-West District who earlier in the day intend to hold their monthly practice at Lakenheath, all on the same day as the Guild hopes to enter a band for The Ridgman Trophy at Biggleswade in Bedfordshire. And one week earlier is slated to be when the South-East District hold their monthly practice at Earl Stonham and Stonham Aspal to kick-start June, the day after they are planning on rounding May off with a Surprise Major Practice at Offton, whilst the SW also still have a practice lined up for this Saturday evening at Edwardstone. Please do support whatever you can.

A note also that Thursday 6th is the eightieth anniversary of D-Day, which the Central Council are encouraging ringers to mark. It would be wonderful to have lots of the Suffolk's bells ringing for this important day in the history of democracy at a time when of course that has been pushed to the forefront in the UK following yesterday's announcement.

Ruthie was practicing with her choral colleagues so there was no ringing for us today, but I did enjoy looking at the new features on Andrew Craddock's superb Pealbase. One is a list of those who have rung peals for fifty or more consecutive years. The late Michael Moreton impressively tops the charts on that with an incredible seventy-six years of peal-ringing between 1944 and 2019, whilst Barrie Hendry is the highest place ringer once resident within our borders in fifth with seventy-two years and I'm pleased to say still going, most recently ringing a peal on Monday at Edgbaston in the West Midlands. Of those still living and ringing in the county, Stephen Pettman and Brian Whiting feature highest at joint 106th with fifty-six contiguous years of peal-ringing. At thirty-three years, I am a long way behind!

The other new feature does include me though - just. That is a list of ringers who have rung fifty or more different peal lengths, with me having rung exactly fifty different peal lengths, including my longest of 5824 changes of Yorkshire Surprise Major at Grundisburgh back in 1999. Although I can't for the life of me remember why we rang that length! Robert Brown and the late Jeffrey Knipe top this list with 101 different lengths, whilst twice Past Ringing Master of the SGR Mr Pettman again comes out highest from Suffolk with seventy-nine different lengths.

He wasn't adding to that today, but he was unusually ringing a quarter-peal as he conducted a 1250 of Yorkshire Surprise Major on the lovely 8cwt ground-floor eight of Horringer.

Meanwhile, I was pleased to see The Touring Tower being used at a school somewhere. This is a new mobile ring funded by Taylor's and the CCCBR which are heavier and thicker than other mobile rings of bells to try and give a sense of actual church bells, but obviously light enough to be pulled by a car. In part that is helped by its design, which is demonstrated on a video recently shared on YouTube.

Imagine the places that we wouldn't usually go to that it might take ringers!

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Wednesday 22nd May 2024

There was a lot going on in the news today. We have been asked to vote for the next government on 4th July in a General Election. And having last night been voted the best manager in the country (ahead of Guardiola, Klopp and the like), Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna is apparently due to manage Brighton, Chelsea and Manchester United next season. Or become Prime Minister on 4th July.

Meanwhile, a peal of Turramurra Surprise Major was being rung for the Suffolk Guild beyond our borders in Cambridgeshire on the 10cwt eight of Fulbourn, which congratulated former SGR Peal Secretary Alan Mayle on his recent marriage to Charles, which was lovely news to hear about on Friday. Exciting times!

For us though, it was Wednesday as usual. Alfie had his football training and one of us went to Pettistree's weekly practice, which on this occasion was me as I joined a session that whilst low on numbers was high on endeavour. We did ring some spliced Minor, but mainly stuck to ringing relatively simple stuff as well as we could, including Single Oxford Bob Minor at the request of Peter Harper. All preceded by a 1260 of Double Oxford Bob Minor and followed by a few of us going for a drink in The Greyhound.

Where the only vote I needed to worry about today was whether I had a 'Balmy Days' or 'Tumble Home' to drink.

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Tuesday 21st May 2024

It was Surprise Major Day in Suffolk today.

That's not a thing of course, although perhaps it ought to be. Rather, it's just that there was a lot of Surprise Major going on.

Including two quarter-peals. One was at Hopton where the 'Pickled Egg Core Seven' - Bristol, Cambridge, Cornwall, Lessness, London, Superlative and Yorkshire - spliced was rung to a Mark Bennett composition of 1568 changes conducted by Simon Rudd and the other was before the weekly practice at Offton of Cambridge, Lincolnshire, Rutland and Yorkshire spliced. I imagine more Surprise Major was rung in the session that followed.

There was even more at Ufford where once a month a Surprise Major practice is held. Generally this is an invite-only thing, but not meant as a closed shop. Mainly it is to prevent too many people coming and not getting a proper go but also to ensure there is enough experience to help. We didn't quite achieve the latter this evening with some unable to join us due to various reasons including illness and as such, it was a bit of a struggle at times, to the extent that Mike Whitby felt the need to give us a pep talk at the end as we look to move on from blowing the cobwebs away to progressing. Nonetheless, I thought the course of Lincolnshire was rung well and there were three leads of Bristol which was invaluable experience.

And it all contributed to Surprise Major Day within our borders.

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Monday 20th May 2024

Another productive weekly practice at St Mary-le-Tower with numbers again on the slightly lower side to usual. That gave opportunities for those at the beginning of their ten and twelve-bell progression such as Sonia Docherty and Claire Haynes, the latter fresh from her achievements yesterday, as well as some Cambridge Surprise Maximus before I left with a very early birthday present (it's not until October, but much welcomed!) and the Mitson Shield under my arm. That was because no one had thought to take it to Falkenham on Saturday having held it from last year's competition in Troston and so I had been charged with it's safe transition to this year's winners Pettistree, thus seeing our house being briefly home to a bellringing trophy again following on from the Ridgman Trophy.

Once that was stored in my car, I enjoyed a drink in the Halberd Inn at the end of a day that saw ringing elsewhere in Suffolk, with a quarter-peal of Plain Bob Royal rung on handbells in Moats Tye and at Haverhill eighty changes of Plain Bob Doubles were rung as part of the collation, induction and installation of the Reverend Max Drinkwater as rector of the Haverhill with Withersfield Benefice, with Max himself in the band. The ringing can be seen about 47 minutes and 30 seconds into the livestream.

A productive day of ringing in the county all round.

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Sunday 19th May 2024

Not everything 'goes', even on a Sunday morning when we are naturally drawn to safety-first as it is more important when ringing for services to ring something well than to ring something complicated. It doesn't always go to plan though. This morning at St Mary-le-Tower  my arrival allowed for the Little Bob Royal they were about to pull off for could be upgraded to Maximus, which seemed reasonable and eminently achievable. I was handed the tenor rope and we set off, before for some reason it collapsed within a few changes. As we considered our options, a tug from Josh indicated that he needed the amenities and so I handed control of the heaviest bell in Suffolk to James Smith who in the meantime had also arrived and took my youngest son to do what he needed to do whilst they attempted the LB again. Before we had even got back to the bottom of the tower, the second piece had also collapsed though. Having climbed back up to the ringing chamber, the rope to the eighth was thrust in my direction amongst other band shuffling and finally we were successful!

Mercifully the rest of the service ringing went much better with call-changes on twelve and Stedman Caters ahead of refreshment in Costa Coffee where we were joined by South-East District Chairman Stephen Christian clutching certificates for the SE Ringing Master Hal Meakin. 'Podge' - as Stephen is affectionately known - had earlier been ringing at Tuddenham St Martin with his predecessor in the role and now current Guild Chairman Mark Ogden, who the boys and I joined afterwards at Grundisburgh where I helped to ring Plain Bob Doubles and Grandsire Doubles on the back six of the county's lightest twelve. And had a conversation about anti-clockwise rings within our borders, present and lost.

Ruthie was collected from her choral duties in Woodbridge amongst the usual crowds for the start of the annual 10k race and then after a spot of lunch was off to Kettlebaston to sing with the Jubilate Singers for evensong at St Mary's church where a 9cwt three can only be chimed, whilst back here the boys had a water fight in the sunshine and I read CCCBR President Tina Stoecklin's latest blog.

Elsewhere other ringers were busier, especially back at St Mary-le-Tower where Claire Haynes was ringing her first quarter-peal on ten in the 1259 of Grandsire Caters - well done Claire!

Well done also to former Ringing Master at the 34cwt twelve in Ipswich Simon Rudd who has had an impressive weekend of Simon peal-ringing, with peals of twenty-three Surprise Major methods spliced with bands made up entirely of Simons, first on towerbells at St James Garlickhythe in London yesterday and then today in Birmingham at former Central Council President Simon Linford's pub The Woodman on handbells. Which prompted the amusing footnote to the 5152 at Gosport in Hampshire this afternoon!

Always great when ringing 'goes'!

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Saturday 18th May 2024

We were having one of those days of trying to be in two places at once. And if I do say so myself, I think we just about managed it!

As ever, the conflicting events involved us ringing and Alfie footballing. Indeed, they were exactly the same events as we found ourselves juggling twelve months ago as the Guild Striking Competitions and Alfred's team's end of season prize presentations were again held on the same day. Of course there's nothing that can be done about it and we really wanted to go to both, but it does present logistical challenges.

We succeeded last year and on this occasion we were helped by geography as the ringing was being hosted in the South-East District with the six-bell competitions held at Falkenham and the eight-bell at Felixstowe, so we had the time to drop AJM off with his teammates on the way to the lovely easy-going light ground-floor ring at the church of St Ethelbert King of East Anglia in time for the draw very picturesquely done overlooking the River Deben. With the two teams we were ringing for very kindly allowed to ring early after the home team, Ruthie and I rang first for Pettistree and then on different bells for St Mary-le-Tower as Josh patiently waited outside before ourselves and Granny Kate dashed off to catch the end of a friendly match they were playing against the other under-10s team at the club, the presentations and a picnic.

Meanwhile, back at the contest, a further five teams were ringing, lunch was had and the results were announced by the judges Sally Brown and Laura Parker, with Pettistree awarded the Mitson Shield and Bardwell the Lester Brett Call Change Trophy, ahead of everyone moving onto the seaside resort where we were able to rejoin them for the second-half of today's ringing competition. My wife and I were ringing for St Mary-le-Tower again, but this time we were at the mercy of a completely random draw and thus found ourselves drawn last, so there was a fair bit of waiting around for the other five teams to ring. Not that that was a problem, with plenty to occupy us. The town and its seafront is a couple of minutes walk from St John the Baptist church and whilst we didn't take advantage of that ourselves, the boys were taken down to the beach for an ice cream by their Granny after she'd rung for the South-East District. We meanwhile enjoyed the welcome refreshments being magnificently served by Lesley Barrell and Jacky Savage and chatting to some of the many ringing friends we are blessed to have as the sun shone and good ringing rang out from the 7cwt eight. I even got to do some timekeeping in a flashback to my Ringing Master days at these events!

Eventually Mrs Munnings, myself and six others climbed the stairs to ring in what transpired to be a very good 224 changes of Grandsire Triples, with George Heath-Collins ringing particularly well in bonging behind. That it wasn't good enough to win is a testament to the standard of the competition generally, but especially The Norman Tower who won the Rose Trophy. Congratulations to them, Bardwell, our fellow Pettistree ringers and indeed anyone who participated today. Frankly if you are able to take part in a striking competition at all then you have already achieved something. Thank you to SGR Ringing Master Katharine Salter on running proceedings in what I know from personal experience is a tough gig and to the judges Laura and Sally on what we also know from experience is a long day. Having the six and eight-bell competitions on separate days in recent years seemed to go quite well, but I have to admit that having them both on the same day does seem to make them both a part of a much bigger occasion generally. Well done to the SE District and especially the Falkenham and Felixstowe ringers on their tremendous hosting.

However, we weren't able to witness firsthand the results for the eight-bell being given either as Ruthie needed to be back and out to All Saints church in Great Glemham, home to a 13cwt gallery-ring five and the venue tonight for Illuminati's latest concert, whilst I was at home looking after the boys and reading The Ringing World, the latest edition of which arrived with us this morning. In amongst much other typically interesting content there was quite a fair bit of content from the county in there, with a piece from Little Cornard - where incidentally the L Martin Daniels Peal Tour was rounded off yesterday - about their Bell Sunday activities, whilst a photo taken by Charlie Apter of the church set against the backdrop of the Northern Lights was 'The image of the week' and the Woodbridge ringers had sent in a report on their recent outing to Cambridge.

All whilst between us we were in two places at once.

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Friday 17th May 2024

A quiet day on the ringing front for us and for Suffolk's ringers generally, at least judging by BellBoard. Even beyond our borders there wasn't anything particularly out of the ordinary, although still some impressive stuff.

Instead our evening was occupied with arranging a potential meet-up with a ringer once of this county for what will hopefully be a less quiet day...

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Thursday 16th May 2024

If you get a spare forty-seven minutes to listen to the interview with Ernest Ambrose recently added to the Archive page on this very website, I strongly encourage you to do so. Well about forty minutes for reasons I'll mention in a moment.

For this isn't just an interview with Ernest, fascinating as listening to the voice of a ninety-four year-old ringer from over fifty years ago speaking is in itself. That as someone born in 1878 he will have known characters from our rural county and indeed our ringing chambers who themselves experienced life far back into the nineteenth century blows my mind. This is also possibly the most wonderful snapshot I've ever come across of ordinary Suffolk ringing from a period when unlike today where even the most mundane ringing can be found on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and the like, audio and even visual records are at a premium. The interviewer Tom Howlett attends the 1972 South-West District ADM being held at Lavenham and you get introductions from ringers present, including the current SW District Secretary Christine Knight who must have been a mere child at the time! What follows is then the sounds of a district ringing event 1970s style, with Grandsire Triples, Stedman Triples and three leads of Kent Treble Bob Major heard including the good and not so good bits, the calls, detailed descriptions of who was grabbing hold for pieces and snippets of chat which on occasion the participants didn't seem aware was being recorded. Although once Tom had taken Ernest back to Sudbury and described how the ringer in his nineties had once cycled out to Lavenham to ring, the last six or seven minutes are taken up with Mr & Mrs Howlett singing to "use the tape reel up," it is well worth listening to every moment up until that point. I hope one day that this blog can offer a similarly fascinating insight into ringing within our borders from 2007 until whenever my ramblings cease, but for now enjoy this marvelous bit of history and indeed the other content on the Archive page.

Today's local ringing history seems to have been restricted to the various weekly practices that usually go on around the county on a Thursday but which ringers in fifty years time may be curious to look in on, whilst the visiting L Martin Daniels Peal Tour took in 5040s of Grandsire Triples and Merchants' Return Delight Minor on the 16cwt eight of Framlingham and 6cwt ground-floor six in Theberton respectively to add to the 5088 of Yorkshire Surprise Major they rang at Grundisburgh yesterday.

Much for interested people to perhaps put aside some time looking back at in a few years time.

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Wednesday 15th May 2024

Standard Wednesday fare for us, as Alfie went to football training and then one of us went out to Pettistree practice.

On this occasion that was Ruthie where she rang much including Norwich Surprise Minor and called a course of Hexham Surprise Minor which apparently caused much confusion despite considerable checking beforehand that everyone knew that Hexham is sixth-place Surfleet! And there was chocolate from Jane Harper as she celebrated her birthday. All followed by a visit to The Greyhound and preceded as it usually is by a quarter-peal.

Standard Wednesday fare for Pettistree.

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Tuesday 14th May 2024

Many ringing chambers have a ringers' prayer hanging up on their wall, an important reminder that most of the bells we ring are hung in churches and that their primary purpose of being there is to ring for the church. The one at Ufford prompted discussion before the weekly practice there this morning as to whether they are ever actually read these days. I imagine once upon a time saying the ringers' prayer was as much a part of ringing as getting the bells up and some of us present tonight had a memory of John Girt regularly reading the one at St Margaret's in Ipswich. However, apart from occasionally ahead of the St Mary-le-Tower Society of Change Ringers' AGM when it has been held in the ringing chamber and led by the vicar, I'm struggling to recall when I last heard one read out at ringing. (A prayer is said before service ringing at Wickham Market every Sunday. Ed.)

It wasn't read out on this occasion either, although it did encourage me to actually look at it and it gave food for thought as we set about a session that saw Mary Leaming bonging behind to Plain Hunt on Five for the first time, a touch of Reverse Canterbury, Plain, St Martin's & St Simon's Bob Doubles spliced rung and some call-changes on eight called by myself in an atmosphere boosted by most in attendance having been part of winning bands at Saturday's South-East District Striking Competitions at Clopton. A good moment to remind people about the Guild Striking Competitions planned for this Saturday at Falkenham and Felixstowe, which I would encourage folk along to even if you're not in a team, as it is usually a lovely day out!

As I'm sure the ringers on the L Martin Daniels Peal Tour were having in Suffolk today where they rang a 5040 of three Minor methods at Kettleburgh and perhaps said a ringers' prayer beforehand.

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Monday 13th May 2024

Following my day of ringing Grandsire yesterday, you can imagine my delight when arriving at St Mary-le-Tower practice this evening to be asked to ring in some... Grandsire Cinques. I did manage to grab the treble for that, but in case I hadn't had enough, there was more Grandsire Cinques (where I succeeded in nabbing the tenor behind!) and some of the Triples version on the front eight. Mercifully there was some other stuff rung too, including a touch of Cambridge & Yorkshire Surprise Royal spliced with Little Bob on a night when we were considerably short on numbers, with at least four away and another in a pub somewhere near Halesworth celebrating a family birthday amongst other absentees.

There was still a decent crowd in the Halberd Inn afterwards though, with conversation including the observation that Mark Liebenrood rang his first first peal yesterday since the end of 1996. Mark was - and it appears still is - an extremely clever ringer, with the 5184 of Cambridge & Superlative Surprise Major spliced rung at St James Garlickhythe marking the centenary of the first peal of spliced Surprise Major rung to his composition and we were extremely privileged that he was a regular on the Ipswich ringing scene in the 1990s before he disappeared from ringing. Having commented on my blog last year how nice it was to see him back in ringing, I'm glad to see him back peal-ringing, as all of those in the pub who could remember him were. And as you can see from the photo from the peal in London and the band photo from the early 1991 that hangs in the ringing chamber at St Mary-le-Tower, he has barely changed either!

I was also glad to see another quarter-peal on handbells in Suffolk, this time of Plain Bob Major in Moats Tye. And a brace of peals were rung, albeit by the Lancashire Association on the L Martin Daniels Peal Tour as the first of Surprise at Troston was rung and a 5040 was rung at Hitcham of (you've guessed it!) Grandsire Triples on another day of Grandsire.

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Sunday 12th May 2024

Bell Sunday today. Wissett featured on 'Bells on Sunday' on BBC Radio 4 with an extract from the quarter-peal of Cambridge Surprise Minor rung on the 7cwt ground-floor six in a round tower in July 2022. The hymn 'Let bells peal forth' was sung at morning worship at St Mary-the-Virgin in Woodbridge. Little Cornard's ringers were holding 'have-a-go' handbell ringing and chiming for children. And at St Mary-le-Tower the new pealboard recording the 5042 of Yorkshire Surprise Maximus we rang last May for the coronation of King Charles III was blessed in the 10.30am service.

It was a service that myself and the youngest boys attended that saw the usual Sabbath morn ringing routine tweaked. Mason dropped off for work, we couldn't make it in time for the usual ringing and so we met those who did in Costa Coffee for refreshment before returning to the heaviest ring of bells in the county to bong behind for a quick blast of Grandsire Cinques ahead of the service with the board blessing, which came at its climax. The Reverend Tom Mumford got all us ringers present (plus Alfie and Josh) to the front and as he usually does spoke wonderfully about ringing.

Bell Sunday continued for us with making use of Suffolk's newest ten-bell tower as we went to Stowmarket to practice for the Guild's entry into The Ridgman Trophy, the ten-bell striking competition for territorial ringing organisations which border onto The Ely Diocesan Association, which essentially makes it an East Anglian contest. Despite the realisation that across morning and afternoon, two different towers, several pieces and nearly a couple of hours my ringing was entirely made up of Grandsire in something that constitutes some kind of ringing nightmare for me, this was a valuable session helped by Clare Veal's other half Alban Forster accompanying his girlfriend and the most extensive ringing Ruthie and I have done here since their augmentation on our third visit of the last month and a half. I also enjoyed the vibrant summery outlook through the south window of the ringing chamber!

Not everyone within our borders was ringing Grandsire though. A quarter-peal of Stedman Caters was rung at The Norman Tower for the good cause of the fortieth anniversary service for St Nicholas Hospice, whilst there were a brace of peals on the county's bells. One was the usual second-Sunday one at Aldeburgh, whilst the other was at Marlesford by the Lancashire Association. I had only noticed the other day that we hadn't had the usual visit from the L Martin Daniels Peal Tour, but it follows on from 5040s at Chediston and the now famous Wissett yesterday, so I imagine there may be more in the coming days!

And it's nice to see the county's bells ringing out on Bell Sunday!

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Saturday 11th May 2024

Competition day.

For us that was at Clopton for the South-East District 6-bell Striking Competitions, having first dropped Alfie off for his own bit of competitive action as he and his teammates played their last match of this football season, watched on by big brother Mason. With Josh accompanying us, we then got parked up in the field behind St Mary-the-Virgin church overlooking the beautiful countryside of this part of the world in time for the draw for the ringing order.

That draw conveniently put both our teams on early, with Pettistree on second and St Mary-le-Tower fourth, which meant that we could ring for both and then with the contest continuing Joshua and I left to pick Alfred and Mason up after the former's victorious match before returning to the 11cwt six for a picnic and the results. Either side of collecting our ten-year-old, I was able to enjoy the refreshments very kindly put on by the locals and the delightfully charming churchyard facilities, catch up with various ringing friends and take in the gorgeous weather in lovely picturesque surroundings, all to the backdrop of lovely ringing on nice bells.

Well done to Hollesley on winning the David Barnard Memorial Trophy in the call-change competition, especially to the four members of the band still very early on in their ringing progression, some of whom it has been great to see growing in confidence at Ufford on Tuesday nights. And we were delighted to be part of the Pettistree band which won the Cecil Pipe Memorial Trophy in the method competition. I am conscious of ringing in two bands, which I feel should be avoided if possible, but we ring at both towers one way or another whenever we can and it is worth noting that if we didn't ring for both Pettistree and St Mary-le-Tower then there would've been four ringers unable to participate this morning and one less team entering. On this occasion it was particularly pleasing that that allowed Chris Garner to ring for the former and George Heath-Collins the latter. This is what these events are all about. Anne & Paul Bray from Essex were the judges and the former summed up it perfectly when she said that whilst there are elements of teams and ringers wanting to win, the main purpose of striking competitions is the experience to help improve bands and ringers and it was wonderful to see and hear how much ringers from our hosts, Otley and bellsashen Teaching Hub enjoyed this event.

I hope the same sentiments were experienced in the North-East District Striking Competitions this afternoon, where they had the same wonderful sunny, hot weather we had in another picture-postcard location with the 6cwt ground-floor six in the thatched church of St Peter in Theberton, once they got in after a mix-up between the keyholders! Following the announcement of the results from judges Chris Bassett and Tim Munt from Kent, well done to Halesworth on coming out on top and thus winning the Trevor Hughes Trophy, to Yoxford on winning the call change trophy and Reydon on claiming the Harry Archer Trophy for being the most improved band as half their team today weren't even ringing a year ago! Seventeen entries across two district striking competitions on the same day is impressive and hopefully it inspires more entries to the Guild Striking Competitions which are due to take place at Falkenham and Felixstowe in precisely a week.

Meanwhile, our afternoon saw AJM go round his friend's house for a birthday gathering, allowing me to read this week's edition of The Ringing World which arrived with us this morning. Bar the usual peal and quarter-peal reports there wasn't anything Suffolk-related in this issue, but still plenty of interesting content. And come the evening, Granny Kate had very kindly come round to look after the boys to enable Ruthie and me to go round to the nearby home of my wife's schoolfriend Verity and her wife Jade for food, drink and an introduction to their tiny, energetic, adorable puppy.

It was a fantastic night and we were even back in time to watch the results of this year's Eurovision Grand Final, where it was competition day for Europe's singers.

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Friday 10th May 2024

Everyone across the UK was marveling at the Northern Lights from their gardens and windows tonight it seems. Except for us. Not for the lack of trying. With social media and even our various WhatsApp groups awash with amazing photos of the beautiful natural phenomenon, we kept glancing outside, even standing in our back garden for a period, but it seems that although there was a definite greenish tinge to the otherwise darkened skies, the surrounding buildings and trees were blocking any meaningful view of it.

Meanwhile, not atypically for a Friday there was no ringing for us, but relatively unusually for Suffolk there was no ringing noted on BellBoard today from anywhere within our borders. Perhaps everybody was too busy gazing at the Northern Lights.

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Thursday 9th May 2024

I awoke to St Mary-le-Tower making the news online and on the airwaves. Or Ipswich Minster as it has been named. Although I suspect most of us will continue to refer to it as St Mary-le-Tower! The title appears to have been bestowed upon the county town's civic church partly because it is a big and important church in the town, but also for the work that it has been doing in the community, especially since The Reverend Tom Mumford became the vicar there in 2021. Otherwise I'm not sure what tangible differences we shall notice, but it is clearly another bit of positive news in a positive week for the town which has already prompted talk of celebratory ringing on the ringers' WhatsApp chat!

No ringing for our household today with the focus on Ruthie practicing with her choral colleagues, the closest we got being the sound floating across the village of one of the three bells at Melton St Andrew's New Church being chimed on this Ascension Day.

Meanwhile, there are two striking competitions due to happen this Saturday, with the South-East District planning on holding theirs at Clopton in the morning and the North-East District theirs at Theberton in the afternoon. Please note the parking arrangements for the former in particular and consider entering a band to SGR Ringing Master Katharine Salter by Tuesday 14th and Friday 17th respectively for the Guild Striking Competitions planned for Falkenham and Felixstowe on Saturday 18th. These are such fun ways of enjoying ringing - they aren't professional sports events, so give it a go and see how you get on and even if you don't finish as high as you'd like then you'll hopefully have enjoyed meeting friends, making friends and listening to good ringing!

Today though there were a couple of quarter-peals rung in the county. One was at Brandeston, which must have been a very moving one as a 1260 of Plain Bob Doubles was rung at Brandeston for Woolpit ringer Alastair McArthur by a band featuring friends and his father Chris. His passing was desperately sad news, but hopefully it is a comfort to his family that the ringing family has been paying tribute. That has even included a peal rung at Ambleside in Cumbria by a band that featured his fellow Woolpit ringer Nigel Gale and some of the biggest names in ringing, but I expect today's quarter is the most special.

The other QP within our borders was at Horringer where a 1280 of Falmouth Surprise Major - the second-place version of Cornwall - was rung for the first time (in this medium at least) by all the band. Well done to Sally Crouch, David Steed, Louise Whitehead, Lesley Steed, Ruth Suggett, Deborah Blumfield, Martin Kirk and conductor Stephen Dawson!

There's lots of good stuff going on in Suffolk ringing. God willing there is still more to come at Ipswich Minster.

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Wednesday 8th May 2024

We were unusually short at Pettistree for this evening's weekly practice. So short indeed that for the first time for a long time that I can recall there was not enough to ring Minor and we called it a night a few minutes early before nearly half the number present retired to The Greyhound. Still, in the absence of Mike Whitby, Mary Garner fashioned a very productive session that was especially useful for those up to trebling, ringing inside and/or bonging behind to Doubles, all following on from a successful pre-practice quarter-peal which was dedicated to Joan Peck. She was a villager initially against the bells, but who warmed to them thanks to the ringers - particularly Chris & Mary Garner - keeping the channels of communication open with her, letting her know about extra ringing and generally staying on friendly terms with her. A fine example of how to deal with complainants. "You've got better" was a quote attributed to her about the ringers, hence the footnote! And at the practice that followed that QP we had fun too as Elaine Townsend did her 'Grandsire thing' and there was much satisfaction with how Saturday's open morning went.

It came on a strange night for us with Alfie not attending his team's football training due to an unfortunate coming together of his face and someone's knee whilst playing footy at school and there was something different occurring elsewhere in Suffolk ringing as the first peal was rung on The Barn Owl Ring in its current location, having had none rung on them in Shelland but fifteen in Claydon before then, eight of which I rang in. Congratulations to Mike Cowling on ringing his two hundredth peal for the SGR.

Elsewhere within our borders and featuring some of the same band, a quarter-peal of the 'standard' eight Surprise Major methods spliced was rung at Elveden, where as usual they had just the right number of ringers.

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Tuesday 7th May 2024

Another productive practice at Ufford this evening. Or at least once we'd got started when I had to return home for the tower keys I'd forgotten we had.

When we had got underway, Margaret Weeks rang the treble to Cambridge Surprise Minor for the first time for months, Daniel Atkinson trebled to spliced St Martin's & St Simon's Bob Doubles and Mary Leaming rang call-changes on eight with confidence and control.

Meanwhile at Offton, another Suffolk eight-bell tower with a Tuesday night practice, the session was preceded with a quarter-peal of Cambridge Surprise Major which was Caroline Goodchild's first of Surprise inside. Well done Caroline!

Hopefully the keyholder turned up with the keys on time!

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Monday 6th May 2024

A weekend of footballing celebration continued on this Bank Holiday Monday as the Ipswich Town men's team and the staff who helped them went on an open top bus parade through the town from the Portman Road stadium that should be hosting some of the world's best players and teams next season to Christchurch Park. Along with Granny Kate, Ruthie's sister's other half Chris and the boys' cousins, we decided to try and get a good spot at the latter, which we succeeded in doing and although it meant we were there for a couple of hours waiting, we were helped in passing the time with some glorious weather, music and a big screen relaying the parade's progress.

That progress unsurprisingly took them past the ring of six at St Matthew's on the same road as the ground - albeit at the east end of the church on Civic Drive rather than the west end where the tower is on Portman Road - as well as giving glimpses on the screen of the spire of St Mary-le-Tower and considerable prominence to the tower of St Margaret's where a 14cwt gallery-ring of eight hang, from about 1 minute and 53 seconds into an interview with the manager Kieran McKenna.

Not long after that, the buses turned into the park to wild cheers and much flag-waving from the estimated 35,000 present there that added to what is thought to have been about 50,000 on the streets of the town centre. We got a wonderful view of them as they came past and got a good sight of them doing interviews and starting singalongs. Last year we missed the celebrations in the park as I was ringing a peal at All Saints in Sudbury as part of a busy weekend of ringing for King Charles III's coronation, so I was particularly pleased that we could be here today, especially as that the only way I can envisage another parade next summer would be if we won the Premier League or a trophy next season. The team's done some extraordinary things over the last couple of years, but that does seem a step (or fifteen or sixteen steps) too far!

Meanwhile, the Bank Holiday typically saw a number of twelve-bell peals, most notably at Exeter Cathedral where John Hughes-D'Aeth impressively pulled in the 72cwt tenor there - the second heaviest bell in the world hung for change-ringing - to a 5044 of Stedman Cinques spliced with Bristol & Zanussi Surprise Maximus. Either pulling this tenor in or ringing that combination of methods are impressive in their own right, but doing both simultaneously is phenomenal.

Nothing noted on BellBoard from within our borders today, but I was later back in the county town and beneath the spire briefly glimpsed by the world on TV as I went along to the weekly practice on Suffolk's heaviest twelve. Practices on a Bank Holiday Monday can be unpredictable with us just as likely to be joined by a multitude of visitors holidaying or looking to ring here with their usual Monday practice cancelled as we are to meet with barely enough to make it worthwhile to ring. This evening it was somewhere in the middle pulling towards the latter. Not quite enough to do anything substantial on twelve, but an opportunity for much on ten, from George Heath-Collins building on his success yesterday by trebling to much Caters and Royal, David Lugg ringing some Stedman Caters and me calling some Cambridge & Yorkshire Surprise Royal spliced before we retired to the Halberd Inn which was still bedecked with flags and bunting for this weekend of footballing celebration.

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Sunday 5th May 2024

Following my acknowledgement in yesterday's football-heavy blog entry that my blog entries were getting very football-heavy, I don't intend to mention footy too much today. However, Saturday's success had its effect on today's ringing.

Primarily for me as having left the car in Ipswich before the match, almost certainly not being below the drink-drive limit following our celebrations anyway and no way of getting into town via public transport in time, I couldn't get to St Mary-le-Tower for morning ringing and with two young but tired boys after the excitement of twenty-four hours earlier, walking into Woodbridge to ring on the 25cwt wasn't practical, though Ruthie managed to join her choral colleagues for the service there after getting a lift from her Gran.

Additionally, a quarter-peal of Grandsire Caters rung on the back ten of Suffolk's heaviest ring of bells and Ipswich's civic church later in the day was dedicated to the town's professional men's team's promotion to the top flight, as well as being George Heath-Collins' first on ten. Well done George!

There were even congratulations for the Tractor Boys from Italy where twice past Guild Ringing Master Stephen Pettman and St Mary-le-Tower supporters Anne & Paul Bray were ringing on the Veronese mobile belfry at the Raduno of All Italy in Agnone.

Meanwhile, back within our borders, a 1280 of Yorkshire Surprise Major was rung at The Norman Tower, whilst the same number of changes was rung in Kent Treble Bob Major at Halesworth, which was a first quarter of TB Major for Erika Clarke and Sal Jenkinson. Well done Erika and Sal!

As mentioned though, no ringing for us, with another day of sorting stuff out and me (eventually) catching a train into Ipswich to retrieve the car, as yesterday continued to effect today.

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Saturday 4th May 2024

This is a ringing blog, honest. And I feel quite sheepish about the amount of football that has crept onto here recently. I suppose it does fit into my remit with this blog to show how an active ringer tries to fit the exercise in amongst other aspects of life and I am pretty pleased that although I can't be quite as active as I once was (when I started writing back in 2007 we were generally going together to four practices a week, I was in the middle of my busiest ever peal-ringing year and as Guild Ringing Master I was often at district events around the county), I am still able to get to three weekly practice nights regularly, as well as most South-East District events and have been able to keep my peal-totals ticking over.

Nonetheless, the last two or three years have seen Ipswich Town's fortunes gradually improve and Mason, Alfie and Josh's interest and enthusiasm increase and indeed coming along to Portman Road to watch the Tractor Boys has become a lovely family occasion. As my blog entries from this week will have alerted you (and again, apologies for the football overload), today saw all of that reach fever pitch.

Anyway, ringing blog and all that, so the long and short of it was that ITFC needed to at least draw against already relegated Huddersfield Town at Portman Road. We were there, 29,000 others were there, thousands of other fans from across Suffolk, the country and the world were in town simply to soak up the atmosphere. The world's media were there hoping to catch the moment a team earnt a spot in the most watched, most popular football league on the planet. Most footy fans worldwide were hoping that 'little old Ipswich' would go up rather than Leeds United, one of the big teams only relegated from the Premier League just last year, even a lot of our visitor's fans who weren't keen on their local rivals getting promoted. We won 2-0 to return to the Premier League for the first time in twenty-two years. Or 2,189 SGR peals. Cue massive pitch invasion, blue flares, eventually a trophy presentation, lap of honour and lots of noise. Incredible, memorable stuff.

With it being a 12.30pm kick-off and Alfred's team playing away, our morning was a logistically challenging one. Ruthie and Joshua headed into town with Granny Kate and my wife's sister's fiancé Chris for breakfast at the Mermaid, the trains already packed with supporters making merry, the bars of the town centre heaving and apparently queues to get in them. Meanwhile, myself, Mason and AJM drove out to watch the latter narrowly lose but play a blinder and win player of the match before we drove into Ipswich, dumping the car and joining the rest of our party in the Fanzone just as the team coach arrived to a cacophony of noise and a blue fog of pyrotechnics and some beer in two-pint glasses. Afterwards, having realised that we were unlikely to get a drink in any of the heaving pubs in the town centre before our train back, we joined many others in grabbing some celebratory drink from a small local shop and having walked back from Melton railway station to home accompanied by just about every passing car hooting their horns in celebration, we made an unplanned trip to The Coach & Horses for a meal outside on a beautiful evening, where we were joined by the boys' Grandad Ron.

It all left no time for ringing (despite the request to ring the bells at St Mary-le-Tower for the promotion, we certainly weren't in any state to help out!), including the Pettistree open morning which nonetheless sounds like it was very successful with an estimated forty-to-fifty people through the doors. However, we did meet up with my brother and Norman Tower ringer Chris beforehand and for the celebrations post-match and briefly bumped into Debenham ringers Robert & Tom Scase on the way out of the stadium, whilst the 1320 of Ipswich Surprise Minor rung at Woolpit was dedicated to the Superblues' historic success today, neatly giving me something ringing and football related to report in this supposed ringing blog.

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Friday 3rd May 2024

Lots of people are getting very excited about Ipswich Town potentially being promoted back to the Premier League tomorrow. As am I of course, but also anxious, nervous and slightly sick at the possibility that we won't do it. Nonetheless, it has been heartwarming to see the support being shown by the town and the county from all sorts of places and folk in the hope that it might help the team get over the line. A local school was having a 'Blue Day' which featured on a report on the BBC's national news coverage. Shops are decking themselves out in blue and white. And my favourite of all, the tower of St Mary-le-Tower was lit in blue this evening.

That said, I'm trying not to think too much about it for want of getting too excited or too frightened about it, not to mention that it is healthy to put it all into perspective. Whatever happens at Portman Road tomorrow, it is only football. Therefore, I was actually quite grateful for a day of work and the arrival of The Ringing World, which this week features on the back page Erika Clarke's photos of Judith Raven and her knitted models of her fellow bandmates from the recent quarter-peal at Wissett. Additionally, the 7cwt ground-floor six in a round tower is in a list of towers due to feature on BBC Radio 4's 'Bells on Sunday', with their turn planned for Bell Sunday on 12th May.

Meanwhile, a 1320 of Beverley, Cambridge, King Edward and Surfleet Surprise Minor spliced was rung at the gallery-ring of Tostock. Which reading about helped distract me from getting too excited or terrified about tomorrow.

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Thursday 2nd May 2024

Congratulations to Lizzie Wood as she rang her first quarter-peal in the 1260 of Reverse Canterbury Bob, Grandsire and Plain Bob Doubles on the lovely 11cwt ground-floor six at Chediston.

There was no time for me to do any ringing though or indeed pretty much anything else as I was undertaking poll clerk duties today. That meant I was at the polling station for sixteen hours, unable to leave, as I helped oversee the voting process for Suffolk's Police and Crime Commissioner election.

On this occasion I was back at St Mary's Parish Hall in Ufford where I had done the same job last May and opposite where I had been just two days ago at the weekly practice at the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This time I wasn't doing it with Christine from the village who was sadly at a family funeral, but the fact that she wasn't doing it and that the table we were sat at was on the other side of the hall from normal caused quite a stir amongst locals coming in to vote!

Instead I was with a lady called Emma who was (thankfully because it's a long day!) good company and we were kept surprisingly busy with an election which is apparently normally an election that has a very low turnout. As with last year, timekeeping was aided by the 13cwt tenor next door chiming on the hour, even if was in the knowledge that it was a couple of minutes fast and Ringing Master there and mother-in-law Kate Eagle was carrying out her usual role as Polling Station Inspector and very kindly killed two birds with one stone by making Ufford her first port of call and giving me a lift in.

Meanwhile Ruthie was again gallantly picking up all of the parental duties for which I am very grateful and she had certainly earnt the cup of tea I made her once Emma had kindly dropped me off at the end of a day that was long for us, but exciting for Lizzie Wood!

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Wednesday 1st May 2024

Suffolk's ringing in May got underway straight from the off with three quarter-peals rung in the county on the first day of this month. One on handbells in the garden of The Fox in Pakenham, one at The Barn Owl Ring in Norton and the usual pre-practice attempt at Pettistree.

We weren't contributing to any ringing today though as with an early start planned at the beginning of what is due to be a long, logistically challenging day tomorrow we chose not to join the session at the aforementioned ground-floor six in order to prepare, with the main highlights of my day being a farewell buffet at work for a departing colleague and taking Alfie to his football training.

At least others have got Suffolk's ringing in May underway.

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Tuesday 30th April 2024

I may not have been great company in recent days for which I apologise. Mainly because my cough is really, really annoying me now. But also because I have been more distracted than ever before by Ipswich Town. Following Saturday night, the Tractor Boys needed four more points from their last two games (with three points for a win, one for a draw) to be ensured of returning to the Premier League for the first time since 2002. The nerves have been unbearable at times and the excitement of what could happen mixed with self telling-offs for thinking too far ahead and nightmarish visions of worst case scenarios have been exhausting. Although that probably is the cough.

This evening the first of those two fixtures was being played as ITFC played away at Coventry. There were plenty of options to watch it on TV, whether round Chris & Clare's, at a local pub or more practically with the children on a school night purchasing a Town TV pass to view it at home. However, with numbers short at Ufford for the weekly practice with Ringing Master Kate Eagle absent on this occasion, it seemed a good idea to distract myself from what could otherwise be a long night of following every kick of the ball.

Not that I was completely cut-off from proceedings with my phone on me, but the ringing offered pockets of ignorant bliss for a few minutes. And despite the low numbers it was a productive session. Mary Leaming rang Plain Hunt for the first time, Margaret Weeks continued her rehabilitation by trebling to a couple of courses of Plain Bob Doubles and Daniel Atkinson did some more Plain Hunt.

However, with just seven present which included Mary at a very early stage of her ringing progression and Margaret who has to take things easy with her recovery, it was challenging to eke out a full hour and a half practice and so we called it a night at 8.30.

By then the Superblues were 1-0 up and I couldn't resist listening to the commentary on BBC Radio Suffolk for a match where every minute seemed like an hour, as our hosts equalised and we then got what transpired to be the winner, meaning that we now head into Saturday's planned final fixture against Huddersfield Town at Portman Road needing 'just' a draw. Which is about as well as things could've gone tonight, but as I try to stop getting over-excited or thinking of worst case scenarios now may mean - cough or no cough - that I might not be great company over the next few days either. For which I also apologise.

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Monday 29th April 2024

At the back of the box from which the ninth at St Mary-le-Tower is usually rung, there is a hole in the shape of a little doorway which looks a little like the mousehole in the sideboard you'd see on Tom & Jerry cartoons. It fascinated me as a little child when my brother Chris and I used to accompany Mum & Dad to Sunday morning ringing, long before we were gripped by the art, much as Alfie & Josh usually accompany me now and Mason did before. This evening at the weekly practice on the heaviest ring of bells in Suffolk, I found myself sat behind it and I was transported back to my childhood. Much has changed in that time of course. Memories of those sadly no longer with us came flooding back, ringing styles, voices, mannerisms and all, such as George Pipe, Adrian Knights and of course my father Alan. Ringers have come and gone. Peals rung, University attended. The internet. Ipswich Town promoted and relegated multiple times. Marriage, children, many different houses. Through it all, this ringing chamber has been a constant in my life like no other place apart from the house I grew up in. There has been the odd sprucing up, new ropes, new carpet and new pealboards, but pretty much it has remained the same in that time. The dizzying array of pealboards recording some of the most historic peals in twelve-bell ringing, the window benches, the boxes with the marks of the feet from ringers past worn into them. And that little 'mousehole.' I pray one day that I shall be an old(er) man looking at that hole and transporting myself back.

Indeed, most of us are privileged to ring in rooms and buildings marked by history and with that privilege comes the responsibility of looking after them, as our forebears would have done in the centuries before us and God willing our successors as caretakers will do in the centuries after us.

Tonight's session in the famous old ringing chamber that bore witness to two world wars, the arrival of the motor car, the passing and coronations of monarchs, many Prime Ministers and the first peals of various Surprise Maximus methods including Cambridge and Yorkshire, saw one of those who was a regular here when I was small and being fascinated with that hole returning as I was pleased to see Amanda Richmond ringing for the first time since her recent skiing accident.

Along with others who also bridge that span of time such as Diana Pipe and my mother Sally, this evening she helped those we hope will take ringing here into the future, such as George Heath-Collins who trebled to Grandsire Cinques being conducted by his fiancée Lucy Williamson. We also rang in some really nice pieces of Stedman Cinques and the aforementioned Yorkshire, whilst additionally a few leads of London No. 3 Surprise Royal was rung on a productive night of ringing. Although at one point a ringer had a coughing fit that meant they had to set their bell and hand their rope to someone else. It's not just me who is suffering from this long-lasting cough that is far more annoying to us suffering with it then it is to anyone around us believe me!

Earlier in the day, a quartet of talented handbell ringers from within our borders rang a quarter-peal of Kent Treble Major in Bury St Edmunds, whilst the highlight of our household's day pre-ringing was Alfie playing his first match for the school football team which is another potential (welcome, as anything for the boys is!) element to our Monday afternoon and evening before I get into Ipswich for ringing!

That said, before I left for there today, Ruthie and I got the chance to listen to a completely ad-hoc bit of ringing publicity as Past (and all being well and usual, future) Master of the College Youths Susan 'Swaz' Apter was stopped in the street for an impromptu interview by Catherine Carr, who seems to approach random people to ask where they are going for her rather appropriately named 'Where Are You Going?' podcast. On this occasion I don't think she could believe her luck when she asked that question to an unassuming lady carrying sticks and bags and got the answer "I'm going to ring the bells at St Paul's Cathedral!" In just a few minutes Swaz was able to impart a wonderful sense of the ringing family and particularly how they helped her through losing her husband Alan Flood and her cancer. And there is the sound of the famous bells ringing out afterwards as runners were being cheered on by spectators in the London Marathon.

Meanwhile, after ringing, another big crowd went to the Halberd Inn where I chatted with my Mum about how my old secondary school has been knocked down and completely rebuilt. Another reminder of the timeless nature of the ringing chambers we are privileged to ring in, 'mouseholes' and all!

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Sunday 28th April 2024

More Suffolk coverage on BBC Radio 4's 'Bells on Sunday' as the 10cwt six of Earl Soham rang out to Cambridge Surprise Minor for all the world to hear. I'm assuming its from the quarter-peal rung there in 2022, but I don't know for sure. Either way, it's about three minutes of really well-struck ringing.

I was doing some ringing myself today, as the boys and I climbed the many steps to Woodbridge ringing chamber for me to help the local ringers ring the front six. Although to be fair they didn't really need me with a big crowd present, albeit not enough time and back bell ringers to ring the back two up. Still, it was pleasing to hear Meg talking of her recent visit to Carlisle where she actively sought out ringing and ended up ringing at the Cathedral there, doing something that I try to encourage all ringers to do as much as they can and taking advantage of the welcome that ringing and ringers offer.

Elsewhere in the county meanwhile, a 1282 of Yorkshire Surprise Royal was rung at The Norman Tower conducted by Guild Handbells & Mini-Ring Trustee Brian Whiting to his own composition with a band that included a number I suspect were responsible for that well-struck ringing on BBC Radio 4's 'Bells on Sunday'.

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Saturday 27th April 2024

OK, football numbers incoming, perhaps more than is justified in a ringing blog, but I'll try and keep it short.

Following Leeds United incredibly losing 4-0 last night, Leicester City have mathematically banked one of the two promotion spots to the Premier League automatically earned by teams finishing in first and second. Barring an incredible altering of the basis of maths, that means that the second of those spots is going to go to either Leeds or to Ipswich Town. Coming into today and thanks to yesterday's most unexpected result, it presented the Tractor Boys with a definite target. Get five points out of their last three games of the league season that are due to be played in the next week and they will have more points than our friends from Yorkshire (which includes some actual ringing friends) would be able to amount from their one remaining game. With one point awarded for a draw and three points for a victory, it meant that one win and two draws from our trio of fixtures would be enough.

The first of those matches was tonight, as 8pm on a Saturday was introduced to the list of strange kick-off times we've been subjected to as ITFC travelled to Hull City for a game being shown on the TV and hence the reason that we found ourselves round Ruthie's sister Clare's house joining her other half Chris, our nieces and Ufford Ringing Master Kate Eagle. These are indeed giddy times for all us Town fans who have endured a miserable couple of decades following the Superblues, with that nickname ambitiously applied for most of that time. Even more so for us with the boys enthusiasm off the chart and we're keen to take as much of it in whilst the going is good. This evening's thrilling 3-3 draw was a must-watch and at least gives us one of those five points needed, even if it was disappointing that we lost two of those points a couple of minutes from the end as a 3-2 lead for us was wiped out.

It also gave us a footballing bookend to a day which began with Alfie playing really well in goal for his team before a rather mundane few hours of household chores and the like, but no ringing.

Hopefully things were more interesting for the South-West District Practice at St Gregory in Sudbury, whilst further afield it looks like much fun was had on the Isle of Wight for an open day that had seen my Facebook feeds filled with excited tower grabbers making their way on the ferry over the last day or two. And things were definitely more interesting for Portsmouth ringer David Mattingley who is someone I've rung with on occasions (including a couple of quarters in Suffolk on tour when the ringing visitors stayed in my little pink cottage in Tunstall!) and I usually have a good time with socially when I see him, often at the National 12-bell Striking Contest. Some time ago he had decided that to mark his recent forty-first birthday he wanted to attempt a peal of the standard forty-one Surprise Minor methods on a 41cwt bell. That bell was the tenor at St Mary-le-Bow in London and the task is no mean feat. In its own right, it is a hard enough bell to ring on twelve, but on six where there is a lot more heaving around to get into place it is a huge challenge. Also in its own right, ringing the forty-one is far from simple. Combined it is a phenomenal achievement and indeed it is the heaviest peal of the forty-one yet rung. Additionally, for all that he is a superb ringer, David isn't a habitual ringer of big bells to peals in the sense of John Loveless, Andrew Mills, George Salter or Michael Wilby, so that achievement is all the greater. He had sent an open invitation for his friends to join him afterwards, including me and tempting as it was, a drinking session in the capital wasn't practical with our evening's plans. I did wonder if he got forty-one people to join him though!

For this blog, it also gives me some more suitable ringing numbers to impart.

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Friday 26th April 2024

Fancy taking on a role in the CCCBR? The PR Officer's role was being advertised by its former holder and now Central Council Deputy President Vicki Chapman today and is an increasingly important job for ringing's image generally. As with anything ringing-related though, I expect it can be fitted into one's life and not necessarily be as all-consuming as you may fear. Do take a look at the summary of the role and seriously consider taking it on or if there is someone else you know who might be suitable for it.

Meanwhile, the latest edition of The Ringing World arrived with us and whilst there was nothing Suffolk-related in this issue - bar peals and quarters - I enjoyed reading the various pieces on the history of The Lincoln Diocesan Guild as it celebrates its 125th anniversary. The LDG is another of those ringing organisations close to my heart as it represents a part of the world that holds fond childhood memories from visiting Mum's sister Janet and her other half Mick, which nearly always involved a visit for Sunday morning ringing on the 23cwt twelve at Lincoln Cathedral (which they could see from their front window in one of their houses!), a fine building that appears on the front page of this week's RW. Some of the ringers we rang with on such occasions feature in the content inside, such as Jack Millhouse, Geoff Parker and Les Townsend.

Due to go into a future edition of 'The Comic' is the 1440 of Cambridge Surprise Minor at Ashbocking rung today, but there was no ringing from our household. I don't think we'd be great PR for the new CCCBR Public Relations Officer to work with!

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Thursday 25th April 2024

Today was a quiet one from a ringing perspective on a typically bell-less Thursday personally as Ruthie went to her choral practices whilst I willingly stayed at home spending time with the boys and then getting them to bed.

Not so for other ringers in Suffolk, with quarter-peals rung at Redgrave and Tostock. Well done to Georgina Inglis on ringing her first of Plain Bob Doubles inside in the former and to Dee Smith and Martin Kirk on ringing their first of King Edward Surprise Minor in the latter.

If all goes to plan, May should see busier days of ringing for us too. Unusually, it doesn't start with a South-East District event on the first Saturday as it usually would. Although last year they were held in June due to King Charles III's coronation, typically in May that day would be host to the SE Striking Competitions. This year though, Ipswich Town are due to play their final league match of this exciting season at Portman Road at the same time and as I have noted, there are quite a few SE members who can typically be found at the home games, including the District Chairman and Secretary!

Therefore, it was decided to move the competition back a week to the 11th, which makes for a potentially busy day for ringing within our borders, as on the same day that teams from the SE District are planning on competing in the Cecil Pipe Memorial Bell Method and David Barnard Memorial Trophy Call Change Competitions at Clopton, teams from the North-East District are intending on challenging for The Trevor Hughes, The Call Change and The Harry Archer Trophies at Theberton, whilst in between the competitions (the SE's is slated for the morning, the NE's the afternoon), the North-West District have lined up their monthly Practice for Troston from 10am-noon.

If you still have the energy, the following day is penciled in as Bell Sunday and it would be great to get a good response to this from the county's ringers and to see plenty noted on the BB event set up for the occasion!

And then on the 18th, the intention is to hold the Guild 6-Bell and 8-Bell Striking Competitions at Falkenham and Felixstowe respectively. As with the venues the previous week, two light, easy-going rings of bells that I hope encourage lots of entries from across the county. They may be at the far end of the county for those in the west (as many of us near the coast can testify after gladly travelling out to Exning and Dalham for the 2009 competitions!), but they are right next to the A14 and the latter in particular easily accessible by rail. Kirton & Falkenham Village Hall intends to be open for refreshments down the road from the 5cwt ground-floor six whilst teams compete for the Mitson Shield and Lester Brett Call-Change Trophy, whilst in the seaside resort the plan is for refreshments to be served in the Community Room at the church as teams challenge for the Rose Trophy and of course there will be plenty open nearby, including pubs!

A week later the South-West District hope to hold their Practice at Edwardstone (another light, easy-going ring of bells) from 7-8.30pm on Saturday 25th and the month is due to be rounded off with a Surprise Major Practice at another set of friendly bells, Offton, with proceedings set to run from 7.30-9pm on Friday 31st, whilst an event with a difference but still ringing-related is lined up for the previous Friday with a Wine Tasting by former SE District Ringing Master Jonathan Williamson at Drinkstone Village Hall for the Bell Restoration Project at the nearby 11cwt six. Anyone who has watched Jonathan do one of these will know it is well worth attending if you can, so please do support it and in the process support a good cause!

Meanwhile, looking even further ahead, the Southern District of the Essex Association today asked members via the SGR's Facebook page to put Saturday 13th July into your diaries as that is when they plan to hold an Open Day with more than twenty towers to visit from Leigh-on-Sea to South Benfleet.

There is potentially lots of ringing for ringers to enjoy over the next few weeks and I would encourage you to support as much as you can and avoid days as quiet as today has been for us from a ringing perspective.

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Wednesday 24th April 2024

As brought to my attention by past Guild Secretary Carl Melville on Facebook, today's date is one of those pleasing ones to those as nerdy as me on such things - 24.4.24.

And on it the SGR rang a 5040 at Gressenhall in Norfolk of Albanian Surprise Royal, which the much-missed Don Price of Reydon rang the first quarter-peal and the first peal of, as is mentioned in the footnote. It was also the 2200th peal for the now no longer immediate Past Peal Secretary of the Guild (twenty years after he left the position!) Alan Mayle and a one hundredth together for Mike Cowling and Rowan Wilson. Congratulations Alan, Mike and Rowan!

Also on this memorable date, a 1250 of Cambridge Surprise Minor was rung at Pettistree and dedicated to the recent fiftieth wedding anniversary of tenor ringer Peter Harper and his wife Jane. Jane & Peter have been so supportive of ringing since they moved to the area seventeen years ago, leading things at the geographically isolated eight at Hollesley impressively, taking on roles in the South-East District and being strong supporters of the Guild, so I'm pleased to have seen this QP rung for them.

After taking Alfie to his football training and returning him home, I joined the practice on the ground-floor six which followed that quarter, where despite the absence of a number Surprise Minor regulars we still rang some spliced in amongst much else. Afterwards, I was pleased to have my first beer for a while in The Greyhound as I heard about the new Priest in Charge due to come here and to neighbouring Wickham Market, The Reverend Craig Shaw and his planned licensing on the evening of Wednesday 24th July, whilst tonight mother-in-law Kate and others were ringing the bells at Grundisburgh for the installation there of the Carlford Benefice's new Rector the Reverend Mark Cresswell.

I wonder what excitement might occur on 25th May 2025?

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Tuesday 23rd April 2024

The last few days have felt a little like the pandemic lockdowns, isolated away from the rest of the world. Except the rest of the world (including my household!) has been getting on with life and going out and about! Today though, I finally got to do things too.

That included going into the office at John Catt Educational for the first time since I fell ill, but also my first ringing in a week. Being a Tuesday, that naturally meant I was back in Ufford.

On this occasion it was for the monthly Surprise Major practice that Ringing Master here Kate Eagle has been trying to get up and running. Successfully so on the basis of this evening as a sizeable though not overwhelming number gathered to ring on this 13cwt eight, including Linda & Nick Thomson from Cheshire who had been pointed in this direction by Richard Rapior - who was also here tonight - when they visited Aldeburgh's weekly practice yesterday. They were very useful for a repertoire of Cambridge, Lincolnshire, Superlative and Yorkshire, as well as them spliced and three leads of Bristol, with lots of good ringing.

There was more Surprise Major splicing going on across Suffolk at Offton meanwhile, where the session on the 8cwt ground-floor eight was preceded by a quarter-peal of five methods.
Hopefully they had a super night, as did I. I'm a bit conscious of my cough which I sheepishly explain has hung around for several weeks already, has been checked by a doctor and which was made worse by whatever I have recently suffered with, but I was delighted to just be out and about again!

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Monday 22nd April 2024

I'm not 100% sure what I've been laid low with over the last few days, other than it definitely wasn't Covid (I tested for that) and I've never felt so wiped out for so long in my life. However, God willing it appears to be improving and although I'm still coughing lots, I felt ready to work and ring again. My symptoms suggest it was flu-like though and so regardless of whether it actually was, I took up the NHS' advice and held off releasing myself into rooms with crowds of people and therefore undertook my employment from home and sent my apologies for St Mary-le-Tower practice.

As became apparent on the St Mary-le-Tower ringers WhatsApp group, I wasn't the only one not going to Suffolk's heaviest twelve this evening. One had a cold, another a "head/sinus thing", whilst a third had a painful sounding encounter with a dog through a letterbox! Hopefully plenty turned up to make up for our absences.

Elsewhere in the county, ringing headlines were being made at Beccles where Marie Owen was ringing her first quarter-peal and Kate Bungay her first on a working bell in the 1260 of Plain Bob Doubles - well done Marie and Kate! Whilst in Moats Tye, QPs of Little Bob Royal and Plain Bob Royal were being rung on handbells.

Meanwhile, my family were being more active than me again, with Ruthie enduring a stressful though satisfying day at work, the boys going to school and Josh joining a classmate to celebrate their birthday, although the venue had to be changed after the star of the show's little brother went down with a sickness bug this morning. It's not just me being laid low at the moment unfortunately.

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Sunday 21st April 2024

An even better day today as I felt alright throughout without the aid of tablets. I still didn't feel I could or should go ringing this morning, but I left the house for the first time for days as I took Ruthie to playgroup as unusually she had to do some work and later dropped Alfie off at his classmate's birthday party and then picked them up again. Although being a football-loving bunch of partygoers the finish-time was unexpectedly delayed whilst they watched the FA Cup semi-final on TV!

Otherwise though, it was another day (a Sunday I think, although they've all started blurring into one another!) at home as I rested up watching the London Marathon on television as my wife went to church to sing. Although I only briefly heard a bell ringing at one point, there was lots of ringing in the capital and beyond for the event and at least two ringers that I knew with Cecelia Pipe and Fiona Wheeler both successfully negotiating the 26.2 mile-long course. And in my current state I was inspired by the energy of the 50,000+ runners, although not enough to consider doing it myself, particularly as some of them looked a little I've felt over the last couple of days by the end! Congratulations to all who ran though, especially Cecelia and Fiona.

Well done also to Harriet Aves who rang her first quarter-peal of Minor today by trebling to the 1260 of Plain Bob rung on the front six of the 19cwt ten at Stowmarket where the Guild AGM was recently held.

Indeed, well done to anyone who got out to ringing today, unlike me. God willing I shall be joining you all again soon if I continue getting better.

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Saturday 20th April 2024

Today was the best I've felt for the last couple of days, but that is all relative and there was no way I was going to be getting up and about, with rest and recuperation the watchwords of the day.

Unfortunately that meant missing a full day of activity that I had lined up, starting with Alfie's football match which his team won to make the final of the competition they were playing in. Well done AJM and chums! I was very sorry to miss that though.

As I was to miss the South-East District Practice at Clopton where there was cake, cuppas and ringing hoodies on a lovely six, with this event being held on the third Saturday rather than the first due to the Guild AGM being held then. It sounds like a good time was had however.

My wife and I were also due to ring for a wedding at Grundisburgh, so I was grateful to mother-in-law Kate Eagle for taking my place for what was apparently some really good ringing to be a part of the happy couple's big day. Although I did wonder if the congregation singing 'Stand by Me' and 'Lean on Me' was a premonition of how they expected the evening to pan out!

After very kindly popping home to check how I was, Mrs Munnings and the boys then went off with Kate to Clare and Chris' abode to celebrate our niece Anna's birthday which given the cool weather conditions ambitiously - but seemingly successfully - came in the form of a barbecue, all whilst I necessarily stayed at home, although I consoled myself with listening to and watching football going on across the country with no Ipswich Town match on this weekend.

And kept on eye on BellBoard with some notable performances rung including David Pipe and his sons Alfred & Henry who today completed a quartet of peals on handbells in Willingham over the Cambridgeshire border from us. In so doing they completed a set of all-the-work peals of each of the four regular Treble Dodging Minor groups (which collectively make up the 147 'standard' TD Minor methods) in twenty-four hours for the first time in hand, with three of them scored this side of last night.

Nothing from Suffolk, but there was a Guild peal rung beyond our borders as a 5019 of Stedman Caters was rung on the ten at All Saints in Loughborough in Leicestershire which was Alan Mayle's one hundredth peal with Mike Cowling and Andrew Stone - congratulations Alan, Mike and Andrew! Interestingly it is also already the second peal of Stedman Caters for the SGR in 2024 following on from the 5055 at The Norman Tower last month. That after it had been a decade since the previous one!

I'm pleased to see so much ringing going on, even if I can't take part in it.

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Friday 19th April 2024

Gosh, even after the heaviest night out I don't recall feeling as wiped out as I do at the moment! Probably because of (medical!) drugs I had moments of feeling OK today, but I didn't feel up to working, even from home. Indeed, I didn't really move much from bed or sofa all day.

It is frustrating as I can imagine that whenever I get back to work (God willing Monday, but I'll guess we'll see) that I'll have huge backlog to work through. Frustrating also to watch Ruthie having to carry out both our duties at home whilst I pathetically lay around. She has been a fantastic nurse!

Mercifully other ringers in Suffolk were able to be more active, most noticeably at Wissett where not only was the 1260 of Plain Bob Doubles a first inside for Judith Raven, but she also brought along wonderful looking knitted versions of the band and allowed for one of the cleverest band photos I think I've seen! Well done Judith on both counts!

Elsewhere on a busy day of ringing in the county, well done to Norfolk ringing vicar Richard Turk on calling a quarter-peal of Bristol Surprise Major in the 1280 at Bardwell and congratulations to tenor ringer David Carter on the birth of his granddaughter. On a sadder note though, Alastair McArthur was again remembered with a QP, this time at Tostock with a 1272 of Primrose Surprise Minor and the 1320 of Stedman Triples at Ixworth was dedicated to the memory of church warden and ringer here David Reeve.

Meanwhile a lovely report of the Woodbridge ringers' 'Spring Ring' to Cambridge last Saturday now appears on the church's website, giving some great local PR, whilst I felt grateful that the latest edition of The Ringing World arrived with us today and helped gently occupy my ailing senses.

Although such is my illness that it feels like reading about ringing is the closest I'm going to get to the exercise at moment!

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Thursday 18th April 2024

I don't usually call in ill for work. In fact, without poring painstakingly through my blog entries (although I do like to read back some of my older entries as a form of nostalgia/interest/vanity) I couldn't tell you last time I did. Personally I feel such a fraud, even when I am genuinely poorly, perhaps going back to my days as a temp when if I didn't go to work I didn't get paid. Or maybe - just maybe - I'm a conscientious worker! It is particularly unlikely when these days one can work from home when feeling a bit under the weather.

Today though, I had to make that rare call. I'd been feeling cold and tired over the last day or two, but put it down to the unseasonably chilly conditions and that we'd had a disturbed night earlier in the week when our neighbour had (inadvertently I think) been playing music quite loudly until the early hours. This morning I got gradually worse until I wasn't really much use to anyone and so I finished work early and went straight to bed and didn't wake up until Ruthie and the boys got back.

Whilst I felt better by that point with my first meal of the day down me, I wasn't up to ringing, even if I was able to with my wife out practicing with her choral colleagues and thus me at home getting the boys to bed. Hopefully for different reasons, there wasn't anything on BellBoard in Suffolk or by the Guild either.

However, I did feel well enough to read the information recently released about travel to Chilcompton in Somerset on Saturday 15th June when it is due to host the National 12-bell Striking Contest Final. The 19cwt twelve is set in a village with no railway station, so they were announcing tickets for coach travel from Bristol Temple Mead for £12 return to be booked by 30th April. Except they already seem to have sold out. Don't let that put you off going down there if you fancy it though. A superb website from the local ringers for the event outlines camping details on the same page as the now sold-out coach tickets, whilst elsewhere on the site there are details of other nearby railway stations, bus routes and taxi firms, as well as more accommodation in the area. There are also details of where one should be able to find ringing on the Friday evening and a menu of the onsite catering.

Although I don't think I'm quite well enough yet for a chicken thigh bap and a side of guacamole!

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Wednesday 17th April 2024

A Wednesday with a difference. Josh was very excited about going on a school trip to Trinity Park along with lots of other schools in the area, whilst this evening Alfie was playing football, but instead of the usual training a friendly match had been fixed up. It was certainly a useful exercise for our goalkeeper son as shot after shot was put in his direction from a very talented opposition and although they were heavily defeated he made a lot of great saves, as well as some good passing, as is expected from the modern GK. He and his teammates also got to play in most weather conditions known to the UK as this evening we experienced sunshine, rain, hail and apparently a rainbow (it was behind me according to Alfred), all accompanied by the cold wind that has been prevalent over the last two or three days. Incredibly AJM imparted that he "sort of" enjoyed it!

They were perfect conditions for ringing in fact, but the under-10s fixture was later in the day than their training normally is and so there was no chance of either of us getting to Pettistree, where the weekly session was proceeded by a 1272 of Norwich Surprise Minor rung in memory of Woolpit ringer Alastair McArthur - our thoughts are with Chris and his family.

I imagine the practice that followed was productive and featured it's normal eclectic range of methods and was hopefully followed by a drink in The Greyhound on this Wednesday with a difference.

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Tuesday 16th April 2024

Ufford this evening for another productive practice that myself and Peter Harper briefly ran as Ringing Master Kate Eagle needed to take a work call. It was a session that saw the usual learners from Bredfield and Hollesley continue their super progress as well as Anne Buswell calling a 120 of Plain Bob Doubles. Like so many others she doesn't call much, but as she showed tonight she is perfectly assured at it. Perhaps generally throughout ringing we ought to be sharing out the conducting duties more often.

Across the county at another eight-bell tower that practices on a Tuesday, the session at Offton was preceded by a quarter-peal as it regularly is. On this occasion it was a 1250 of Cambridge, Lincolnshire, Superlative and Yorkshire Surprise Major composed by the conductor Brian Whiting.

I expect they also had a very productive practice afterwards.

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Monday 15th April 2024

Today was a fairly challenging day of weather with high winds and more rain, but as I arrived in Ipswich for the weekly practice on Suffolk's heaviest ring of bells, the towers of St Mary-le-Tower and St Lawrence were bathed in lovely evening sunshine as the front eight at the former rang out.

It was a nice start to a night where we were a little short on numbers, but still rang some Stedman Caters and Yorkshire Surprise Royal, whilst it was fun to have a go at London (No.3) Surprise Royal again.

And although we were missing some regulars, we welcomed back Graham Ridgway after a couple of months in New Zealand that also took in ringing in a show of how welcoming the ringing family is - how many other hobbies/crafts allow you to join in with a local group on the other side of the world in such a way?

Whilst we were ringing on one twelve, former Exning learner Jimmy Yeoman was achieving on another across the country at Birmingham Cathedral as he conducted a peal on that number for the first time. Not 'just' to Yorkshire or Cambridge like most of the rest of us who have called a peal on twelve (mine was the latter in 2006 with a straightforward Rod Pipe composition), but rather to a much more complicated composition from the famous son of Grundisburgh of Avon Delight, Bristol, Rigel and Strathclyde Surprise Maximus. Well done Jimmy on yet another impressive achievement!

Back here in his home county, a quarter-peal of Plain Bob Major was rung on handbells in Moats Tye, which one imagines ought to feature in an edition of The Ringing World in the coming weeks, but the latest issue arrived with us today with an obituary for Jean Nixon, a lovely lady and ringer who I had the pleasure of ringing with on Rambling Ringers and regularly in Staffordshire when I lived and rang in the Midlands.

Nothing specifically Suffolk-related though and my efforts this evening won't contribute to any future content in the RW, but I still enjoyed it as well as joining my fellow ringers in the Halberd Inn afterwards. A lovely way to end an evening that began with those towers bathed in evening sunshine.

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Sunday 14th April 2024

When we entered St Mary-the-Virgin church in Woodbridge this morning, we were greeted by a stand exhibiting proposed plans to improve the facilities in the church and at St Mary's House, which has hosted at least one South-East District ADM that I've been to. In the church itself the work seems to be around the north door and at the bottom of the tower which includes a toilet, hopefully offering this amenity for the ringers on Tuesday evenings, whilst I did wonder if a hatch or trapdoor was planned in case the bells ever need taking down and brought back. These are just proposals at the moment and I imagine it'll take quite a long time for it to happen if it does, but all being well not too long.

The plans prompted me to wonder how feasible it would be to lower the ringing chamber as a gallery ring to help make the ringers more visible and make it less of a climb, but of course we would also lose what is in my opinion the best view in Suffolk when ringing a bell as I believe it is ringing from the tenor box here and which I got to do today as all eight were rung again. The sound of the tenors ringing out over the Market Hill as they were when we arrived is a lovely sound and I'm glad to say happening more often as this band of many learners from the Platinum Jubilee and Ring for the King develop, I imagine benefitting further from their outing to Cambridge yesterday.

Following the service which we stayed for, it was then a fairly mundane afternoon of housework and shopping for us whilst others were being more interesting from a ringing perspective. There was a 1260 of Plain Bob Minor rung on the ground-floor six at Chediston and well done to Ann-Malena Webb, Betty Baines and David Webb on ringing their first quarter-peal of Rochester Treble Bob Minor in the 1320 rung at Redgrave. Well done also to the entire band who rang their and the Guild's first peal of Jowkin Surprise Major in the second-Sunday attempt at Aldeburgh and congratulations to two of the SGR's stalwarts Mary Dunbavin and Richard Rapior.

Mary was celebrating sixty years of peal-ringing, with the first of her now 1688 peals (thank you to Andrew Craddock and his superb Pealbase for that!) rung on 21st March 1964 at Higham Ferrers in Northamptonshire. She has always been so willing to help with a peal when she can - hence she is third in the list of ringers I've rung peals with at 189 - as well other aspects of ringing and been an important part of the second-Sunday peal attempts which have long been a beacon of high-standard peal-ringing in the county.

Meanwhile, Richard was ringing his three hundredth peal on his local bells. Mr Rapior has long been a good Surprise Major ringer and in his three hundred in the tower where he is also Ringing Master he has rung countless different treble-dodging Major methods, but he is also a really nice guy, always polite, cheery and encouraging - I don't think I've ever heard him say anything critical about anyone! He is very modest too, which may be why he hasn't mentioned that according to Pealbase today's 5088 was also his five hundredth peal for the Guild!

My five hundredth peal for the Guild is the next peal-ringing landmark that I am due to reach with 'just' fifteen to go. Hopefully I'll get there, but I wonder if I'll reach that before Woodbridge's ringers get a toilet at the bottom of the tower!

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Saturday 13th April 2024

Without a match for Alfie and no ringing on that we could get to practically, it was the most leisurely of Saturday mornings for a long, long time. Indeed, I had a lay-in until 10.30am, which I can't remember the last time I was able to do! It allowed for a gentle perusing of Ringing Forums as prompted by my weekly email from them, although there was still no copy of The Ringing World to enjoy.

In theory we could've gone to the North-West District Practice at Bardwell, but we wouldn't have been able to spend enough time at the 11cwt eight before leaving again for our only engagement of the day, which was going to watch Ipswich Town's latest home fixture and the usual pre-match socialising with ringers. A meal was enjoyed with Ufford Ringing Master Kate Eagle at the Mermaid before bumping into Offton ringer Caroline Goodchild at the stadium and then having a drink with former St Mary-le-Tower RM Simon Rudd in the Fanzone.

Simon was fresh from having circled the tower at Debenham to peals with the 5024 of Bristol Surprise Major he conducted from the second and followed the 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough with his journey back to Norfolk, but we delayed our return home for a special treat for the boys and to be honest us too! It is now usual for the ITFC players to very kindly sign autographs for and have pictures with fans waiting outside post-match, sometimes up to an hour and a half after the games finish. Such dedication is to be admired as I'm not sure that I'd want to hang around for an hour and a half after I'd finished work, but it means so much to the youngsters especially and the boys had been constantly asking if we could do the same. Frankly it is less appealing in the depths of winter, particularly when relying on someone else driving us back as we usually are, but in lovely spring warmth and early evening sunshine and with this likely to be the last opportunity of the 2023-24 season to do it, we gathered with hundreds of others outside the players' entrance to meet the footballing heroes, with thanks to mother-in-law Kate for hanging around for the boys to meet their favourites.

Everyone happy, we did go home eventually and enjoyed a leisurely evening to follow-on from that leisurely morning.

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Friday 12th April 2024

Well done to Mary Oliver-Barratt on ringing her first quarter-peal on a working bell in the 1260 of four Doubles methods at Great Barton, following on from her first QP at the same tower last year.

Without even this week's edition of The Ringing World arriving with us, it also gives me something ringing-related to write about today bar it being precisely a month until it is due to be Bell Sunday and the tenuous link of celebrity ringer Timmy Mallett being mentioned on the radio and the even more tenuous link of the villagers of Framsden announcing their plans to reopen the old Doberman pub under its original name of The Greyhound, precisely six months after I mentioned plans to sort out the floor in the tower at St Mary's church may see all eight being rung there and potentially going hand-in-hand with the pub reopening!

Otherwise though, it was a quiet day from a ringing perspective with the main action being me picking mother-in-law Kate, the boys' Great Granny, their Grandad Ron and his sister up from Ipswich after a coach trip to the Netherlands and subsequently hosting Ufford's Ringing Master for a cuppa and tales of Holland.

Thank you to Mary Oliver-Barratt therefore on giving me something ringing-related to write about today and well done again!

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Thursday 11th April 2024

I noticed today that a link to the North-East District Striking Competition rules has been added to their page on this website and it is a timely reminder that all being well striking competition season locally is about to begin. Indeed, a month today the NE and the South-East Districts are both slated to hold theirs at Theberton and Clopton respectively and whilst I can't see mention at the moment on What's On about competitions in the North-West or South-West Districts, the intention is that just a week later the Guild 6-Bell and 8-Bell competitions will be reunited on one day for the first time for five years, with the planned venues being Falkenham and Felixstowe.

Pretty much every aspect of ringing seems to motivate grumbling from someone. Peals are too long for some. Quarters are too short for others. Outings involve too much travel for a number. Open days are the perfect breeding ground for bad ringing in the opinion of those who don't like them. Weddings don't pay enough for the time and effort required according to ringers reluctant to ring for such occasions. All have elements of truth to them I suppose, but without all these aspects then ringing would struggle to hold the attention of as many as it does.

Striking competitions also have their detractors and again I can see the reasoning behind their complaints. They just miss the point of what striking competitions are all about. Yes St Mary-le-Tower win a lot, but not as much as people think. There is some crossover of team-members, but again not as much is often thought, certainly as much as there used to be and only to help maximise the number of ringers who can take part - there's no point having five enthusiastic learners keen to participate but unable to because one of their regular fellow bandmembers is already ringing for another tower where they also regularly ring at. There will be nerves (even after all the ones I've rung in I still get a bit nervous when I set off in a competition piece), but they aren't scary occasions. Judges are there to judge what is the best piece of ringing but not the ringers - indeed the expectation is that they offer advice or 'constructive criticism' and are there to help. Indeed the whole experience is there to help and it has been wonderful to see new bands entering in recent years. Ultimately these aren't professional sporting events, they're just a fun way of getting folk to concentrate on striking and a good way of getting people together in an informal atmosphere. And this year on some really nice, easy-going bells. Please do enter a band if you can and enjoy the occasion!

Today was altogether quieter from a ringing perspective than God willing those days will be as a quarter-peal attempted at Horringer actually was too short as instead 216 changes of Stedman Triples were rung to celebrate yesterday's 93rd birthday of Don Kirk.

That was at least more than we were doing as I stayed at home with the boys whilst Ruthie practiced with her choral colleagues. Hopefully we'll get to practice some ringing too in the near future in case we're asked to ring in some of those striking competitions!

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Wednesday 10th April 2024

I still vividly recall a decade ago watching a tiny baby boy sleeping in his little green vest, twitching every now and then from our clinical, sterile environment looking out from Ipswich Hospital over the north-east of the town. Going from that moment straight to this, it seems difficult to equate that fragile being to the boy who turned ten today who has almost forged a life for himself. A popular character in the football team he plays in goal for, it appears also good at cross-country running and quick-witted, but kind-hearted. God willing it is a good foundation for him growing up to contribute positively to society and those around him.

His big day was celebrated with present opening, takeaway pizza and watching the film Wonka on TV before being rounded off in near-perfect style by going to watch Ipswich Town playing at Portman Road, the only thing letting the celebrations down being the 0-0 result against our visitors Watford. Still, it was a lovely day and a lovely evening out reminding us of how blessed we are to have all three boys who were together tonight.

One thing Alfred hasn't taken to - yet at least - is ringing, but the exercise again noted his birthday as the quarter-peal at Pettistree was very kindly dedicated to him and although our attendance at the footy meant we couldn't make ringing on the ground-floor six, we were in the presence of ringers. Not mother-in-law Kate who couldn't make it on this occasion, but we met with my brother Chris and St Peter Mancroft Norwich Ringing Master Simon Rudd in the Fanzone pre-match and the latter at half-time on a day that Simon also rang in a peal of Cornwall Surprise Major at Henley.

And a day when we celebrated the tenth anniversary of that tiny baby. Happy Birthday Alfie!

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Tuesday 9th April 2024

The opportunity to be the talk of the fashion world presented itself today with the announcement of a new range of Suffolk Guild clothing. If you would like to be at the forefront of this movement for the ages then it is a relatively straightforward process that is just a few clicks away from this website!

There was no sharing of mine or Ruthie's fashion prowess in any ringing chambers today with Ufford practice cancelled due to a lack of numbers, but resident Suffolk ringers were busier beyond our borders. Phil & Liz Orme were particularly busy down in London, with not only a peal of Bristol Surprise Major at Spitalfields but also a quarter-peal of Bristol Surprise Maximus, Zanussi Surprise Maximus and Stedman Cinques spliced at St Paul's Cathedral and in North Yorkshire six Scases rang a 1260 of Plain Bob Doubles on the 9cwt six of Scalby in celebration of Tracey and Mervyn's son Alex's wedding yesterday. Congratulations Alex!

Such ringing in the future might offer the opportunity to model the Guild's fashionistas!

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Monday 8th April 2024

Across North America the most watched total eclipse of the sun was occurring, complete with live streaming so that we could all watch it as it happened. I find these things fascinating and I did take in the build-up, but I missed the actual eclipse as I needed to get into Ipswich for the weekly practice at St Mary-le-Tower.

I'm glad that I did too, with Lucy Williamson running the session for the first time and doing really well with quite a lot of regulars away due to work, pleasure and illness. As is so often the case when short on numbers though, that offered up opportunities. This evening those opportunities were particularly fruitful for George Heath-Collins, David Lugg and Sue Williamson as we rang Plain & Little Bob Royal spliced, Plain Hunt on Eleven and Stedman Caters (the last attempt of which was particularly well rung) amongst other stuff, including three leads of Bristol Surprise Major on the back eight which improved as it went along and was very enjoyable.

And it was all topped off by a drink at the Halberd Inn which was also very enjoyable.
Nothing to eclipse events in North America though.

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Sunday 7th April 2024

Each year I aim to arrange a peal on or near the boys' birthdays of an appropriate number of changes and/or methods and of course each year makes that increasingly challenging from a ringing perspective. Wednesday is the tenth anniversary of Alfie's birth and so I was looking for a 5010, ten methods or both. Last year, the three boys all got peals of an appropriate number of sixteen, nine and seven Surprise Minor methods for Mason, Alfred and Josh's birthdays respectively, with all three needing rearranging after initial losses in amongst the not inconsiderable time needed to arrange the twelve-bell peals I was arranging for the Guild's centenary, whilst the eldest's seventeenth birthday in January was best served in the circumstances by a 5040 of seventeen Surprise Minor methods, so ideally I wanted to do something else for this one. However, long-term planning during the football season has become extremely difficult, with AJM often having matches arranged at short notice and Ipswich Town's success meaning that fixtures are rearranged for TV coverage just a few weeks beforehand.

So it was with arranging one for Alfie this year. Weekends are usually best of course and I did briefly consider organising it for the Easter weekend, but notwithstanding how busy that got for us, it is tricky to arrange peals over a few days when often towers don't ring for some of it and many peal-ringers can get booked up for special attempts. Next weekend more football is planned at Portman Road and so this weekend long seemed ideal. Except for the local derby against Norwich. For all the anxiety that it would turn out just as it did turn out, amongst the current enthusiasm for the Tractor Boys I wanted to tune in for that and it was pretty much certain it would be moved for Sky TV. It was just to when and that wasn't confirmed until only a month ago. That didn't leave time to arrange anything too ambitious like ten Major methods spliced or a 5010 of Stedman Caters or Cinques or anything like that and so I immediately approached Stephen Pettman about what would be possible with a suitable length on eight and he came back with the idea of an Alliance method which due to the different length of their leads would fit in with a 5010 without any funny starts, amenable as I am to those too.

Therefore I set about organising a band, relatively confident that I could get enough from the large pool of great eight-bell ringers in Suffolk and just beyond, until it became apparent that unbeknown to me Ben Keating was also fixing up a peal attempt at Southwold! On top of that, I was aware of others who were going for a quarter-peal attempt at St Mary-le-Tower, but in the end - in an exhibition of the strength in depth of the county's ringing abilities - I had got a great band together at Grundisburgh for what turned out to 2 hours and 55 minutes of some super ringing as we successfully rang a 5010 of Yorkshire Alliance Major. As the name suggests, this is based on the Surprise method of the same moniker with the only difference being that when the treble gets to the back it does cat's ears (point eights, two blows in sevenths and another point eights) instead of dodge-lay-dodge which has the effect of taking the half-lead dodges out and reducing the length of the lead. Inevitably there was the occasional trip as people added taken out dodges, but they were immediately rectified and in between, the striking and rhythm was of a good standard. Mr P did a typically grand job of conducting, I got to ring round the front for a change and we had a drink in The Dog across the green, with The Turks Head closed (hopefully) temporarily.

Meanwhile, I was delighted to see that the peal at Southwold and QP at St Mary-le-Tower were both successful, as were the 1288 of Grandsire Triples at Halesworth and 1272 of Oxford Treble Bob Minor at Rougham and at Bardwell well done to Max Thomson, Marion Knight-Dixon and Wayne Thomson on ringing their first of Coronation and to Marion on conducting it on a busy day of ringing within our borders.

Earlier I had rung at the aforementioned heaviest ring of bells in the county for the morning worship and after refreshment at Costa Coffee picked Ruthie up from St Mary-the-Virgin in Woodbridge to find her chatting with The Reverend Tom Mumford, the vicar from whence I had come! He had been to the service there as he was having a day off and I'm now looking forward to having a day off peal arranging!

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Saturday 6th April 2024

Suffolk Guild AGM Day. A day I have been approaching with a sense of dread.

Not due to proceedings in Stowmarket I hasten to add. Rather events just over thirty miles away in Norwich where Ipswich Town were playing their local rivals. It is a fixture the Tractor Boys haven't won since 2009 and we haven't won on their patch for eighteen years. Pre-children, pre-marriage, even pre-blog. I still hadn't become SGR Ringing Master since we last won in Norfolk. Even in this incredible season, we still couldn't win at Portman Road and today our record at Carrow Road continued with a disappointing 1-0 defeat.

Still, as it has done so many times over the last twenty years or so, ringing provided a respite to the disappointment as we immediately set off from the home of Ruthie's sister Clare and her fiancé Chris where we'd watched the footy and headed towards the county's newest ten. Unfortunately not in time to ring on them though, with the service touch just starting as we arrived.

Nonetheless, we appreciated the lovely service led by The Reverend Richard Stretch and enjoyed the tea provided afterwards in St Peter's Hall, with a vast choice of tasty curries (I particularly enjoyed the pheasant one!), chilli con carnes, jacket potatoes and quiches followed by an array of scrumptious puddings that raises the bar for the South-East District who are lined up to hold the 2025 AGM on Saturday 26th April. Even the meeting back in St Peter and St Mary's church was pleasant as some of us relaxed on the sofas (some more than others!) at the back during what must surely be the shortest Guild AGM on record at less than forty minutes long in what was an extremely straightforward bit of business indicative of what I've long said about these occasions in the modern age when so much is already debated, discussed and dealt with online and via email beforehand. Those meetings of hours and hours from years gone by seem to be a thing of the past.

That's not to say that nothing was sorted. The Norman Tower won the St Edmunds' Clapper and it was announced that there is no SGR Social planned this year for various reasons, whilst the Guild Striking Competitions due to be held at Falkenham and Felixstowe on Saturday 18th May were advertised. Meanwhile, due to entirely understandable reasons, Katharine Salter intends to stand down as Ringing Master at next year's AGM, whilst this year Kate Gill's five years as Secretary came to an end, Chairman Mark Ogden officially gave up the role of Annual Report Editor as he warned he would at last year's AGM in Beccles and after an incredible twenty years in the job, Christine Knight signed off as Peal Secretary.

Thank you to Kate, one of those poor officers who were thrown into the unprecedented circumstances when the pandemic hit but helped guide the Guild through those uncharted waters, as well as being one of those who organised the superb Centenary Dinner last year. I think you can be extremely satisfied with your five-year stint Kate!

Christine also deserves much thanks for her service to the Guild over the last two decades. Peal-ringing is an important element of the Guild, giving a window to others both now and in the future looking back on what ringing is being is being done by its members, as well helping progress their ringing. Therefore, its recording and analysis is also important. More tangibly though, peal fees bring funds to the Guild, a charity organisation whose purpose is to support Suffolk's ringers and for which finances help them do that through grants for bell projects, training, events, etc. Collecting the peal fees then is important, but as someone who has often needed nudging to send them, I have been most appreciative of Christine's gentle and friendly reminders. Indeed, all but one of the fifty peals I have conducted for the SGR have required me to send fees to Mrs Knight, so if and when I call another one I imagine it'll feel quite strange sending them to someone else!

As it stands though, that someone else hasn't materialised yet as no one has volunteered or been put forward for the role, as is also the case for the Report Editor, although Treasurer Tim Hart is standing in as Peal Secretary and Mark will just hold his current roll for the moment. Hopefully people can be found for these important jobs in an organisation that I think does pretty well at filling vacancies when looking at other comparative associations, guilds and societies. You would have a lot of support, not least from Christine and Mark, so please do consider taking one of these roles up if your circumstances allow. Just leaving it to them to pick the pieces up isn't really an option with Christine having earnt her 'retirement' after two decades and Mark a very busy man, what with being the Chairman and Young Ringers' Coordinator for the SGR and is now heading up the CCCBR's new Ringing 2030 Environments workgroup, as outlined in Central Council President Tina Stoecklin's latest blog which appears in The Ringing World that arrived with us this morning. An edition also includes an extract from the 5th April 1974 issue about raising funds for repairing the tower at Bildeston and a lovely obituary to Muriel Page written by Robert Beavis with help from numerous others.

Muriel may have been appreciative that with more time to play with than expected after today's proceedings, we joined a sizeable crowd in going to The Walnut, an almost TARDISesque establishment with a beer menu. The perfect way to round the day off!

Elsewhere within our borders, a lost peal attempt at Horringer did at least spawn a successful quarter-peal of Bristol Surprise Major whilst at Rushmere St Andrew a 1260 of Grandsire Doubles was successfully rung.

However, the more astute of you will have noticed that despite attending the AGM we didn't actually manage any ringing, but that is just one element of the day which is mainly a fantastic opportunity to socialise with friends, which we did today before the service, during tea and then in the pub. Please do book the date for next year's and support an event with a bad name but which certainly isn't one to dread anymore.

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Friday 5th April 2024

More Surprise Major focus this evening, on this occasion with the South-East District at Henley, where the refurbished gallery is - in my humble opinion at least - a vast improvement on what went before. The wooden balcony and frame that once separated the ringing chamber from the church is now completely glass and makes the ringing chamber light and airy and was a great setting for a session that saw me begin by standing behind to Jenny Scase ringing Bristol and then featured Superlative, Cambridge, Yorkshire and spliced, as well as Cornwall which saw Stephen 'Podge' Christian and me seamlessly swap, causing confusion for all concerned! Well done to SE Ringing Master Hal Meakin on another great practice.

Elsewhere in Suffolk meanwhile, there was a 1320 of eleven Doubles methods rung at Tostock and well done to all the band who rang their first quarter-peal of Single Court Bob Minor in the 1272 at Wissett. With some good Single Court Bob Minor focus.

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Thursday 4th April 2024

Alfie's day was memorable as he met one of the Ipswich Town players when men's defender Cameron Burgess visited the football holiday session that he was at. Not only did our son get to meet the Australian international, but he also got to chat with him and ask him questions (his favourite ITFC player is Leif Davis and his hardest match so far was Monday's for those interested) and even had his shirt autographed. Although it means he can't wash it now! Still, it made his day and it was very exciting for him!

Whilst Ruthie practiced with her choral colleagues this evening, it can't be said the day was as exciting for the rest of the household, with no ringing done by us and indeed there was none recorded on BellBoard from anyone in Suffolk or by the Guild.

At least Alfie's day was memorable.

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Wednesday 3rd April 2024

It's the Easter school holidays and bizarrely (or perhaps not as they're ours?) it has become a typical treat for the boys on Wednesday evenings during the holidays to go to Pettistree's weekly practice and particularly The Greyhound afterwards. Therefore, after Alfie had done football training we collectively travelled to the ground-floor six for a session that was short on numbers, including quite a few Surprise Minor ringers. Yet still London and a touch of spliced were rung as well as call-changes and Doubles of the Grandsire and Plain Bob varieties for John and Sam to treble and/or bong behind to.

Afterwards Alfred and Josh's wish was fulfilled as we popped to the pub next door with their Granny Kate and Hollesley ringer Sam, whilst the practice was preceded with a quarter-peal of Cambridge Surprise Minor rung for one of our absentees Mary Garner.

That wasn't the only birthday being celebrated with a QP in Suffolk today though. Former Guild Chairman Brian Whiting's was with an impressive 1280 of eleven Surprise Major methods spliced at Elveden, whilst the birthday of outgoing SGR Peal Secretary Christine Knight and that of Anita Rose were marked with a 1312 of Double Norwich Court Bob Major at Hopton.

Meanwhile, ringing further afield announced good news from former Burgh ringer Annie Brechin as the peal of Lessness Surprise Major rung in Scotland - where she now lives and rings - at Alloa celebrated her engagement to Edmund. Congratulations Annie and Happy Birthday Mary, Brian, Christine and Anita!

All very upbeat news on an upbeat day, especially for our boys with their holiday treat!

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Tuesday 2nd April 2024

British Summer Time began over the weekend and definitely had an effect on the evening I experienced today as I went out to ringing practice for the first time since the clocks were put forward.

Initially, whilst distracted - like just about every Ipswich Town fan today I imagine - by rewatching the highlights of last night's football at Portman Road and that final goal in particular, it caught me off guard that mother-in-law Kate and Susanne Eddis arrived to pick me up for Ufford practice in daylight, as I lost track of time. And having hastily got my shoes on and leapt into the waiting car, I got to the 13cwt eight to witness Daniel's attempt to take the ringing chamber clock off the wall so it could be changed in line with BST, only for it to somehow be flung halfway across the room! Doesn't time fly... No one was hurt and once it had been put back together - hands and all - we were able to continue with a productive session, especially for Margaret Weeks, who continued her recovery with her first proper ringing since injuring herself in December. Nothing too long, but instead short bursts, culminating in some Plain Hunt on Five.

It was also a useful hour and a half for Peter & Jane Harper's daughter Lizzie who was visiting her parents and joined her father tonight for some bonging behind to Plain Hunt on Seven and trebling to some Plain Bob Doubles, whilst we also rang a 120 of Stedman Doubles and a course of Norwich Surprise Minor only ended by a phonecall on the Ringing Master's phone that she thought might be for work but transpired to be her other daughter! There were also call-changes that briefly needed calling by colours instead of numbers! It was a fun night as British Summer Time gets going!

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Easter Monday 1st April 2024

April Fools' Day produced its usual array of suspiciously daft looking stories on what one social media commentator noted is the only day when we don't take everything online at face value. Bellringers came up with announcements throughout the morning with varying degrees of credibility, from reports that the Swan Tower in Perth which holds a ring of sixteen had twisted in record Australian temperatures, to plans to ring the twelve at St Albans Cathedral from the chancel with no rope guides to the much thought of ten at Abergavenny being augmented.

It was also Easter Monday, a day when peals on church bells return in numbers. Indeed, there were almost as many peals rung on church bells today as there had been over the previous four days combined. There are usually notable peals rung too and this year's Easter Monday was no different with a number that on any other day would be the clear headline act. Only just beyond our borders the longest ever performance on the bells of Great St Mary in Cambridge was rung with a 10300 of Stedman Cinques as part of the celebrations for the three hundredth anniversary year of the Society of Cambridge Youths, by a band that featured Suffolk links with a couple of Pipes and former Bures ringer John Loveless. Down in Winchester, a 5096 of Bristol Surprise Fourteen was rung at the Cathedral with one-time Exning learner Jimmy Yeoman on the second and elsewhere there were more peals of Stedman Cinques at the cathedrals of Worcester and St Paul's in London and also at Wimborne Minster.

There were no peals in our county, but there was a quarter-peal. Well done to Claire Haynes on ringing her first of Grandsire Doubles in the 1280 rung on the 9cwt six of Rushmere St Andrew!

We weren't contributing anything to a busy day of ringing though, not even at the weekly practice at St Mary-le-Tower. For as that was already underway, we were leaving Portman Road after another thrilling match and one of the biggest roars I've ever experienced here, with Ipswich Town beating one of the other four teams in this extraordinary promotion race, Southampton, with just about the final kick of the game. It topped off a lovely afternoon that began with our usual pre-match meal at the Mermaid with mother-in-law and Ufford Ringing Master Kate Eagle and continued onto the Fanzone where we were greeted by Offton ringer Caroline Goodchild working at the club and once I'd taken Alfie to First Aid for a grazed arm, we had a drink with my brother and Norman Tower ringer Chris and Norwich ringer Simon Rudd before a fantastic match in an incredible atmosphere.

Ipswich Town top of the league? It's no April Fool!

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Easter Sunday 31st March 2024

Easter Sunday is a special day and ringing plays a big part. Many towers have stood silent for the last seven days, with practices cancelled. Today, bells across the county broke that silence and rang out to mark the celebratory nature of today following the sombre days that preceded it. At Woodbridge the sound is further enhanced because throughout Lent they have been half-muffled, but this morning they rang out completely open and even better all eight were ringing. It is always lovely to hear all the bells here ringing and it also affords me the opportunity to experience what in my humble opinion is the best view when ringing a bell in Suffolk, looking down the River Deben.

Afterwards, the boys and I joined the service downstairs where the children decorated eggs and butterfly shapes before us adults then enjoyed a glass of Prosecco in St Mary's House ahead of a day where we popped round Ruthie's mother Kate's for more chocolate and then returned home for a roast dinner and some red wine.

Other ringers in the county were busier in the exercise though. The aforementioned Mrs Eagle had already rung in an early morning quarter-peal at Pettistree by the time we saw her and the boys' grandad Ron, whilst former South-East District Ringing Master Jenny Scase celebrated the fiftieth anniversary anniversary of her first peal with a 5050 of Plain Bob Major rung on the third at Henley - the same method, bell and tower that she rang on 31st March 1974 that also marked a notable moment in the county's history, Congratulations Jenny, who has been invaluable to ringing in the Guild, not just as SE RM, but also at Debenham where her energetic running of the practice is wonderful to behold! She has helped many ringers in this corner of the SGR.

However, the headline act in ringing within our borders was a first quarter-peal for Ricky Paterson in the 1260 of Grandsire Doubles rung on the 7cwt front six of the ten at Stowmarket, highlighting one of the benefits of augmenting a heavy eight. Well done Ricky on what I hope is the first of many!

It was a special landmark on a special day.

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Holy Saturday 30th March 2024

We finished our fleeting visit to the North-West of England with a welcome breakfast at the Red Lion across Swinton from our overnight accommodation of the local Premier Inn before we set off back to Suffolk. After our frustrating journey up the M6 yesterday, we decided to try another way back along the more picturesque M62 and then ultimately down the A1(M) and bar a considerable hold-up on the former just outside Huddersfield, it was generally a lot smoother trip than twenty-four hours earlier. It also allowed for new possibilities for our game of spotting football stadiums and towers with bells. Nothing for the footy-mad boys this time, but plenty for Ruthie and me, such as the 12cwt six at Darrington in West Yorkshire which is memorable for no other reason than it being the first tower of the 1995 Rambling Ringers Tour which is fondly remembered holiday of my youth and the 32cwt twelve of Grantham in Lincolnshire that we're yet to ring on but are apparently very nice and hang in a tall, distinctive spire-topped tower that I imagine can be seen for many miles around.

The boys were delighted to be back in time for the Gladiators Grand Final (as opposed to the less grand final that I must have missed) and Ruthie was pleased to have enough time to have a cuppa of tea and the opportunity to prepare for singing at Great Bealings this evening, but there was no time for ringing and nor was there any noted on BellBoard from the county we were returning to. Indeed, it was very quiet on BB generally with only three peals rung nationwide, all on handbells, but all in keeping with the numbers on previous Holy Saturdays, even pre-pandemic.

I don't think we missed too much ringing whilst we were travelling down from the North-West therefore.

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Good Friday 29th March 2024

Last Friday we were on the south coast, this Friday we were amongst the dark satanic mills and looming hills of the north-west of England.

Nothing to do with ringing this time, although there is a 25cwt ten, 6cwt and 17cwt eights in Blackburn where we found ourselves on this Good Friday. Instead all five of our household were here to watch Ipswich Town play the Lancashire town's men's football team for what was Alfie and Josh's first away match. The boys have been desperate to watch an away game, but tickets for the Tractor Boys' travelling support have been difficult to come by this season and so when the combination of a bank holiday fixture and late kick-off at a stadium where more away tickets than usual are available due to a smaller percentage of the home seats being filled allowed us the opportunity to get tickets, we felt we had to take that opportunity, despite the distance and logistical challenges!

One of those logistical challenges was when and how to travel there and back. The 5.30pm kick-off for Sky TV meant that it made sense to make the journey during the day, but also that any immediate return home would see us get back very late at night or even in the early hours of the following morning. Not desirable with young children. Some we knew were using the coaches laid on by the club, but those were of course coming straight back after full-time, so we decided against that, even if it would've taken the pressure of getting there off us. With works on the railways disrupting travel on the trains, public transport wasn't something we could rely on. Therefore, we chose to drive ourselves and book an overnight stay nearby for afterwards.

Thus started a long day which began with us leaving at 8am on a journey broken up only with a fuel-stop at Tesco on the edge of Stowmarket and a break for the usual things at Stafford services and accompanied with a game of spot the football stadium for the boys and spot the tower with bells for Ruthie and me. The former was sated with views of the grounds of Coventry City and Walsall, the latter with the familiar sightings of local landmarks like the towers of Elmswell and Woolpit either side of junction 47 of the A14, but also the be-spired tower of Ellington in Cambridgeshire and further spires at Denford in Northamptonshire and Coleshill in the West Midlands, whilst once through Spaghetti Junction, Aston provided a tick for both parties with Villa Park and the 24cwt twelve just yards apart and clearly visible from the motorway.

However, not unexpectedly, our travels were also accompanied with regular stoppages for traffic. Our SatNav suggested that we would arrive at our destination at about 12.30pm, but we finally parked the car outside the Golden Cup about twenty minutes walk from Ewood Park where the footy was being played (not quite the two minutes walk that the young chap obligingly taking payment for parking at the gate claimed it was!) at around 2.30pm.

Nonetheless, that was still in plenty of time for kick-off and gave us enough time to wander down to The Fernhurst where in a rather disorientating experience we were greeted by a pub full of ITFC fans and Greene King beers behind the bar! More refreshment was had in the away fanzone in the drizzle where we met up with some of Joshua's classmates and their parents (although unusually for a Town game these days, no other bellringers!) before watching the Tractor Boys win 1-0 to put them top of the Championship with a performance that wasn't their best and was incredibly nerve-wracking with the hosts having three goals disallowed!

In good cheer we exited and with the grey northern skies now black, travelled thirty miles to the Premier Inn in Swinton on the outskirts of Manchester where after a takeaway our tired family rested their weary heads.

On our travels up north before we passed the 14cwt six of Exning on the far western edge of the SGR, it was nice to hear the words 2 hours 38 minutes and 23 seconds into Wayne Bavin's show on BBC Radio Suffolk of the Right Reverend Martin Seeley the Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich and therefore President of the Guild about Easter. It was a welcome reminder of what this important weekend in the liturgical calendar is really about, but there was no ringing in the county on BellBoard to mark it.

Maybe there will be more ringing in Suffolk next Friday, whatever part of the country its ringers are in.

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Maundy Thursday 28th March 2024

Essex Association Ringing Master Andrew Kelso made national headlines today and even incurred the wrath of Nigel Farage. Many will recall that he judged the Suffolk Guild Striking Competitions with Brian Meads at Polstead and Lavenham in 2019 and he is a very good ringer, but it is in his role as the Medical Director at the NHS Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board that he has been rather unfairly put at the centre of the type of controversy that could probably only have happened in the age of social media. For his 'crime' is to be a doctor warning that eating an entire chocolate Easter egg isn't very healthy and suggesting that people resist the temptation, but it seems he is now the epitome of the figurehead of the 'woke' left!

Hopefully no such headline-making from this blog and today's shouldn't enrage the right wing, left wing or any other wing as what God willing will be a lovely Easter weekend began with Josh winning a hamper in the seasonal raffle at school, me collecting Mason from his mum's and then picking Alfie and his classmate from another classmate's birthday party in Bredfield, whilst Ruthie sang for the Maundy Thursday Eucharist at St Mary-the-Virgin in Woodbridge.

A reminder of what this weekend is actually about rather more than chocolate eggs, whether you eat them whole or not!

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Wednesday 27th March 2024

When I arrived at Pettistree this evening, something had been suggested, as is quite often the case at the practice here. On this occasion it was St Augustine Bob Doubles. Now, despite ringing in a peal of 100 Doubles methods at Iken just over a decade ago (which was very much rung by the seat of my pants!), I'm not well up on the intricacies of this level of ringing with it's variations and different calls, so I'd never heard of it. I assumed it must be fiendishly difficult though judging by the concentrated faces and furrowed brows examining it's line on phones and paper, so I asked to see it too.

It transpires that it is Grandsire Doubles if you called a single at every lead, but of course this wasn't the major issue, although as we discovered in the trio of attempts at this across the session that does give scope for tripping people up. Rather, the trickier bit was applying the calls, which in this case was an Extreme, which is where the bells in first, seconds and fifths stay in place for two blows when it's called. The astute will recognise that this is what happens at a plain leadend of Plain Bob, but when you throw in what happens immediately either side of the leadend it isn't as simple as it sounds!

All of which highlights the rich tapestry of ringing. Not everyone has the opportunity to ring stuff on twelve or even spliced Surprise Minor or Major, but four determined inside ringers with someone who can plain hunt on the treble can give their brain a bit of a workout!

That wasn't all we rang of course, with the usual eclectic range from call-changes for Catherine to a touch of spliced Minor before Hollesley ringer Sam Shannon and Suffolk Guild Chairman Mark Ogden enjoyed a drink in The Greyhound and even serenaded a birthday cake on the adjacent table!

Earlier, either side of Alfie's football training I dropped Ruthie off at St Mary-the-Virgin church in Woodbridge and then picked her up for an extra choir practice in anticipation of what is planned to be a typically busy Easter of singing, all of which meant that as is the norm these days we couldn't ring in the pre-practice quarter-peal attempt of Ipswich Surprise Minor on the aforementioned ground-floor six.

Unusually that was lost, but there was ringing some ringing success in the county today as a 1344 of Plain Bob Major was rung on The Barn Owl Ring in Norton, which notably was the first time that Simon Rudd had double-handed to a QP on towerbells. Well done Simon on what he said was quite a stressful task!

Although presumably not as stressful as ringing St Augustine Bob Doubles.

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Tuesday 26th March 2024

No practice at Ufford as it's Holy Week and so instead my evening was one of hunting for Easter eggs in Tesco and it looks like it was very quiet in Suffolk ringing today generally.

God willing April ought to be busier, not least on Saturday 6th when Stowmarket is due to host the Guild's AGM Day. If you would like to ring in a quarter-peal before proceedings then please fill in the form on this website or contact Neal Dodge by email or via 07941 505 831 and if you would like the hot tea then please contact Jo Beever by email or 07773 392 979 before next Tuesday. Meanwhile, open ringing on the county's newest ten is planned from 2-3.30pm, followed by Evensong in the church, whilst the business meeting itself is due to be held at 6pm after the tea in the Church Hall. Please do come along and support it if you can. As usual I'm not going to make the meeting out to be exciting, but the easy, instant communication almost all the members and officers now enjoy, the taking of reports as read (unless of course something needs raising from them) and proposing and seconding ahead of the day of those up for election should mean that we no longer get a repeat of the marathon slogs that these once were many years ago. I hope as many members as possible are able to join in to participate in the democracy of the organisation that they pay a subscription to. Above all, it is a reason to get friends together.

Normally the first Saturday of the month would be a South-East District event, but sensibly they are moving theirs this month. Indeed, although I usually tell SE members to keep the first Saturday clear if possible as that will always be when their district ringing will be on, it is the first of three SE events that are penciled in for a different Saturday, with the (SE) Striking Competition moved to 11th May on account of a large proportion (I can think of nine or ten at least) of those involved potentially being at Portman Road for Ipswich Town men's team's last home match of their league season and the outing in July planned for North-East Essex slated for the 13th. This month there are also a trio of SE events lined up, including on the eve of the AGM when a Surprise Major Practice is planned to be held at Henley, whilst precisely three weeks later the intention is to revisit the 8cwt eight for another Kaleidoscope Practice and the Saturday before it is hoped to hold a practice on the easy-going six at Clopton from 10.30am-12.30pm.

The only other event noted on What's On for next month is the South-West District Practice intended to be held from 7-8.30pm on Saturday 27th at St Gregory in Sudbury, hoping to follow-up another apparently well-attended practice held at Kersey last Saturday whilst we had been in Portsmouth for the National 12-bell Striking Contest eliminator. On 15th June the plan is for the final of the contest to be held at Chilcompton in Somerset and its rural nature means that there are fewer amenities to hand. Therefore, they are asking that if anyone is planning on attending that they let them know by filling in a form that can be found on the event's website, along with a form for anyone who would like to help them host it by volunteering.

All being well then, not all days in the coming weeks need be as quiet as today!

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Monday 25th March 2024

Holy Week is traditionally a week when many church bells go silent. Various towers find something else to do, such as transferring their practice to a mini-ring or running a handbell session. St Mary-le-Tower's ringers usually use the opportunity to have the annual spring-clean of the famous old ringing chamber, but I've never actually gone along, even when I was Ringing Master here. In a house frequented by three boys who often cause a mess almost as soon as we've tidied, cleaning at home is quite the chore, so making a near twenty-mile round trip to specifically clean somewhere else after a day at work was hard to justify when money was tighter and/or it required leaving the Ruthie at home with the boys. Additionally, I am frankly rubbish at cleaning and so I've long suspected I would be more in the way than of any help.

However, I do recognise the need for it to be done and for people to go along to do it and so when the important St Mary-le-Tower Society of Change Ringers AGM was cannily arranged for this evening, it would have been churlish not to head into Ipswich early to offer my help clutching a cloth and some disinfectant like someone unsure what drink to bring to a party. What greeted me as I arrived with Rosemary Caudle and her feather duster was a huge number of people already busying themselves in just about every conceivable nook and cranny of the room with polish and dusters, with people up ladders and climbing over the window seats. As I'd imagine, I was more a hindrance than a help and it justified my decision not to specially make the journey in previous years as I spent much of the time wandering around looking for things to do. That said, I did help to hang some of the pictures back up and it is wonderful to see how as a collective we care for our ringing chamber and that some do this every year! Like many reading this, I have been to hundreds of ringing chambers nationwide and by no means are all as fortunate to have such dedication to their upkeep.

I was also pleased to see the new pealboard in the flesh following its collection from Southampton over the weekend. It records the 5042 of Yorkshire Surprise Maximus we rang here last May for King Charles III's coronation and the intention for the vicar Reverend Tom Mumford to bless it at a service on Bell Sunday on 12th May was one of the items discussed after the spring-clean at the meeting chaired by Tom tonight in the 'Stables' at the Halberd Inn.

Much else was also discussed of course. Former regular on the 34cwt twelve Adrian Knights was remembered, with Ralph Earey perceptively commenting that Arnie would've appreciated having a ringers meeting in the pub! New bandmembers were elected, a revised constitution was robustly but politely and civilly debated, an update on the training bells project given and Peter Davies was deservedly given thanks and a gift for the invaluable work he does quietly and without fuss. Most notable was that Colin Salter has felt that he has had to step down as Ringing Master after twelve months. Circumstances, responsibilities and demands change rapidly when your Colin's age as most of us can testify, so it is entirely understandable, but it is a pity as he was doing much good, including the recent focus on Bristol Surprise Maximus , which I hope we can continue. Fortunately for us, David Potts is happy to step back into the role he only left last year, albeit just until the next AGM and he will be ably backed up by Ian Culham as Tower Captain and the good team of officers we are blessed to have here at the heaviest ring of bells in Suffolk.

Elsewhere, it was noticeable as it usually is every Holy Week how many quarters and peals were rung on private rings and handbells rather than church bells and that included within our borders where the only ringing noted on BellBoard was at Moats Tye where a QP was rung in hand of a 1376 of Plain Bob Major composed and conducted by Brian Whiting.

It is another excellent way for ringers to spend this Holy Week.

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Sunday 24th March 2024

A long journey when going away can seem quite an adventure with the anticipation of getting to your holiday at the other end and especially after yesterday's daylong frivolities, excitement and yes, beer, today could've been quite a long chore as we attempted to make that long journey back.

However, having decided to turn this into a family weekend away, this bright and sunny Sunday was the perfect way to recover from Saturday's excesses, beginning with a leisurely breakfast and then a swim with Kate and the boys in the pool at Langstone Quays Resort. Bags packed, we departed our lovely accommodation of the last couple of nights, paid a visit to Ron's daughter Rosie and her family at their home and then headed back to Portsmouth.

Our ultimate destination was the Royal Navy Submarine Museum, a fascinating place that included a tour of a decommissioned submarine (which as you would expect is a cosy experience which would probably be the most inappropriate place to do handbell ringing!) and was reached from the Dockyard via a boat trip that allowed views of the city skyline which included the distinctive shape of the Cathedral Church of St Thomas of Canterbury where we were twenty-four hours earlier.

Eventually we did set off home after a lovely day of being a tourist and although it didn't involve any ringing we returned to a county where there was quite a bit of ringing, with four quarter-peals rung. Happy Birthday to Erika Clarke and well done to her on ringing her first QP of Grandsire Triples in the 1288 at Southwold, whilst a 1282 of Cambridge Surprise Royal was rung at The Norman Tower and 1260s of Minor and Doubles were rung at Rougham and Troston respectively.

Nice to read about those at the end of a Sunday that turned out better than it could've done!

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Saturday 23rd March 2024

If at any point leading up to Ipswich's entry today into the National 12-bell Striking Contest in the eliminator at Portsmouth Cathedral anyone had asked me if I would be pleased if we got all twelve ringers together, were drawn to ring first, produced a reasonably good half-course of Cambridge Surprise Maximus and didn't finish last, then I - and I suspect most of our band - would have emphatically said yes!

After we'd enjoyed a nice breakfast in the restaurant at Langstone Quays Resort overlooking a beautiful sunny scene across to the UK mainland and had very kindly been dropped off by Kate, Ron and the boys on their way to a day at the Dockyard, we were pleased to gradually meet up with nine others from the band, with the twelfth James Smith reassuringly messaging us via the band WhatsApp group to inform us that despite his train out of Waterloo breaking down, he was on his way. Having suffered the blow of an injured Amanda Richmond for our third entry in a row, it felt a bit of a win already to get everyone down there!