Suffolk Guild of Ringers
Saturday 25th January 2025
Richy's Blog
If you would like to comment on Richy's blog, please
use The Guild
Facebook page.
Thursday 23rd January 2025
Come Dine
with Me - the show which pits four members of the public against each other
in who can host the best three-course dinner party - is apparently twenty years
old today, a topic that came up on BBC Radio Suffolk whilst I was listening
to the local BBC radio station this morning. It prompted listeners to send in
amusingly named spin-offs from the show, including 'Dave from Aldringham' (no
idea if there is a ringing Dave from Aldringham!) who suggested "'Come Chime
with Me' for Suffolk's bellringers."
That was as close as I got to ringing
today though as Ruthie went out practicing with her choral colleagues as I stayed
at home with the boys, including a happy Josh after he'd been round a schoolfriend's
house straight after school.
Not so at Ixworth where 1344 of York Surprise Major was a first quarter-peal in the method for all the band. Well done to Andrea Alderton, Louise Whitehead, Deborah Blumfield, Lesley Steed, Martin Kirk, David Steed, Joshua Watkins and conductor Stephen Dawson and congratulations to Martin on his wonderful family news!
And I suppose happy anniversary to Come Dine with Me. I'm looking forward to Come Chime with Me though...
Please post any comments on the
facebook page.
Top
Wednesday 22nd January 2025
The Greyhound Inn at Pettistree was open on a Wednesday evening for the first time since New Year's Day following its usual January break.
Completely coincidentally, Ruthie went along to her first practice on the ground-floor six in St Peter and St Paul church next door for the first time since New Year's Day.
In all seriousness though, as I've ended up going out lots recently it's good that my wife had the chance tonight. It enabled her to join a session that was attended by ringers from ten different towers including the local ringers, from as far away as Orford and Theberton and which was preceded by the loss of a quarter-peal attempt of Westminster Surprise Minor, but she got to ring a course of it herself and even managed to avoid ringing in her nemesis Stedman by hiding behind some shelves!
And of course it was rounded off by a drink in the reopened Greyhound Inn.
Please post any comments on the
facebook page.
Top
Tuesday 21st January 2025
A
big focus at Ufford's weekly practice tonight
was handling as those nearer the beginning of their ringing progression look
to take the next step. One was attempting to pull the tenor in to Plain Bob
Minor, so how to adjust their place on the tailend was imparted. Another was
panicking when it came to handstrokes, which was impacting on their control
when trebling to methods, so we focused on them pulling their hands all the
way down at backstroke to avoid the mad scramble to grab the sally that they
were having. Along with getting the tailend round the back of the sally at handstroke,
avoiding taking your hand off the rope any longer than necessary, pulling the
rope straight down at backstroke and other things, these will not necessarily
prevent progression (there are one or two super ringers with an appalling handling
style!), but failure to get them licked early on will make life harder for you.
Lots of ironing out was done this evening and progress made during a productive
session.
Progress was also being made at Offton where Elizabeth Goodchild was ringing her first quarter-peal as she trebled to the 1260 of Plain Bob Triples with a band featuring her mother Caroline. Whenever I see Elizabeth ring she always seems to be enjoying it which is wonderful to witness and it is marvelous that she has achieved this. Well done Elizabeth and Happy Birthday!
She is also the second young ringer in less than a week to ring their first quarter following Edith Wankowska's at Bramford last Wednesday. After a slow few years for the Guild with youngsters it is great to see signs of improvement with that situation.
No doubt helped by excellent handling!
Please post any comments on the
facebook page.
Top
Monday 20th January 2025
Amongst the coverage of preparations for Donald Trump's inauguration later today as President of the USA for the second time, one of the first things I heard on BBC Radio Suffolk whilst I overseeing the boys getting ready for school this morning was an interview with Griff Rhys Jones outside Ipswich Minster yesterday to the backdrop of us ringing Grandsire Cinques, which can be heard at 2 hours, 1 minute and 57 seconds into Wayne Bavin's Breakfast Show.
It
was those same bells I was ringing on this evening as I joined the first weekly
practice in the Minster era along with twenty-three others, a potential recruit
and briefly a deacon at a session that saw us squeeze in plenty including Stedman
Cinques and Surprise Maximus of the Cambridge and Yorkshire varieties before
we retired to the Halberd Inn for refreshment.
Among our number there was David Stanford who earlier in the day had rung 7-8 to a quarter-peal of Little Bob Royal on handbells in Bury St Edmunds as that particular medium of local ringing continues strongly in 2025, but there was nothing further to report from BellBoard within our borders.
God willing not so on Sunday when an extract from the 1260 of Grandsire Triples at Stoke by Nayland in September 2022 is due to be broadcast 'Bells on Sunday' on BBC Radio 4. It's not just Ipswich Minster bells appearing on the airwaves at the moment!
Please post any comments on the
facebook page.
Top
Sunday 19th January 2025
It was the day of the letter M for the Melton branch of the Munnings mob. Minster-making, Mermaid, Manchester City.
Most will be aware that this morning was the morning that after centuries of being 'merely' St Mary-le-Tower church, the home of the county's heaviest ring of bells became Ipswich Minster, one of just thirty-one in the country. It is a momentous event and as such the last few days has been a mass of media with events like yesterday's Bell Ringing Workshop, but the service today was the main show. And what a show! The choir are renowned for their excellence and were magnificent, comedian, actor & local resident Griff Rhys Jones made a lovely speech and the Bishop of St Edmundsbury & Ipswich - and therefore President of the Suffolk Guild - the Right Reverend Martin Seeley was undertaking one of his last official duties before he is due to retire next month, all in a packed church. Or minster as it ended the service being.
Bells played their part too as we rang beforehand and then as the service processed to the Cornhill round the corner afterwards, with a couple of courses of Grandsire Cinques bookending the Minster-making.
With our subsequent plans this afternoon, the later ringing afterwards presented challenges which were solved by the later ringing beforehand. That allowed the boys and me to catch the first train of the day from Melton into Ipswich and a walk across the town centre that highlighted the abundance of churches, towers and bells we have in the town, albeit not all ringable. St Nicholas which was once the HQ of the Diocese is currently empty and the tower where a ring of five hangs is in scaffolding. Round the corner St Peter's was visible down the street named after it, but of course only has a 7cwt five hung for chiming with the treble of the original six removed in 1983 and recast as the trebles of the then newly augmented eight at Offton. St Stephen's is now a concert venue with the three long unringable, as now for over a year has been nearby St Lawrence where work continues to assure the flintwork on the tower is safe. And of course finally Ipswich Minster.
Training
it in also meant we could make our way to meet Ruthie for our pre-match meal
at
The Mermaid after she'd been collected from her morning of music in Woodbridge,
without having to worry about what to do with the motorcar. Although that also
meant more miles for the boys it also enabled us to take in another of the town's
ring of bells as we passed the six of St Matthew's.
Food
and drink consumed, we then walked to the
Fanzone to meet Norwich
ringer Simon Rudd (fresh from ringing
a peal yesterday
at
Great Yarmouth dedicated from one minster to another!) and then into the
stadium to watch the Tractor Boys take on a team that despite their relative
difficulties this season are still the reigning the club world champions, Premier
League champions for the last four years (last time they didn't win the English
title we were a poverty stricken mid-table League One side) who are led by the
best manager of modern times and some real superstars of the biggest sport on
the planet. Not surprising therefore that
we were beaten and beaten well by our multi-million pound megastar visitors,
but whilst the result was miserable, watching some of these players was mesmerising.
Meanwhile there was ringing going on in Suffolk beyond Ipswich Minster. Congratulations to Sally Crouch and conductor Joshua Watkins on ringing their one hundredth quarter-peal together in the 1260 of St Nicholas College Bob Minor at Hartest in a performance that also saw them and Pat Lees ring their first in the method and Deborah Blumfield her first blows in it altogether. Well done Sally, Joshua, Pat and Deborah! Then three miles away at Glemsford, the same band also rang a QP of two Doubles methods, whilst nationwide celebrations continued of the tercentenary of the first peal on twelve on the precise anniversary. That included a 5060 of Grandsire Cinques at Trowbridge in Wiltshire with former Reydon learner Philip Moyse on the eleventh and one-time Bardwell ringer Louis Suggett conducting it, a day after a truly magnificent performance in conducting a 5009 of Stedman Cinques at St Paul's Cathedral. Although more peals are rung there nowadays, there still aren't a huge number of people who have rung one on these famous bells, let alone called one, so very well done Louis!
Marvelous stuff to report on a marvelous day (maybe football result aside!) with a capital M!
Please post any comments on the
facebook page.
Top
Saturday 18th January 2025
This morning Alfie saved a penalty. The first he has ever faced in a match. It was a momentous moment for him and us and I reminder why Saturday mornings are not a time I can really commit to ringing. I wouldn't have wanted to miss it and I think it made it even more special to him that we were there to see it.
Therefore we weren't sorry to be late to today's Bell Ringing Workshop at St Mary-le-Tower, but we were nonetheless really pleased to eventually make a substantial amount of what was a hugely successful occasion. This was a part of a weekend to mark the making of Ipswich's civic church into a Minister, which is due to happen tomorrow, but actually for us ringers the greatest point of interest was the new training bells installed this week. They are aren't fully ready as the electrics need to be plumbed in - as it were - but they were there, the ropes hanging down into this famous old ringing chamber. And they were usable and were very much used today. We'd missed one tour but still got there in time for some handbell ringing and to see two further tours which included former South-East District Ringing Master Jonathan Williamson giving a fantastic talk which was entertaining and informative but not too heavy on the technical side. That was followed by some rounds on twelve and Plain Hunt on Eleven (the clapper on the second has now been sorted thanks to Neil Thomas from Matthew Higby & Company) and then trips up to the bells with George & Lucy Heath-Collins where the heaviest bell in Suffolk was turned over for them, whilst visitors - and Alfred - were given a go on the training bells. Ruthie and Alfie enjoyed their first trip up to the bells, dozens of visitors discovered ringing and many potential recruits left their email address. This seems to have been an extremely successful event and well done to all involved in arranging and running it.
St Mary-le-Tower wasn't the only place in the county where ringing was happening though. In fact it was rather busy elsewhere too as four quarter-peals and a peal were rung. Well done to Juliet Griffiths on ringing her first QP of Surprise in the Cambridge Minor at Campsea Ashe and on ringing her most quarters in a day, with her also ringing in the 1260 of five Doubles methods at Benhall, 1320 of two Minor methods at Marlesford and finally six Minor methods at Bredfield.
Meanwhile the peal was at The Norman Tower and was part of a wider celebration of the tercentenary of the first peal on twelve, which was rung on the now gone ring at St Bride's, Fleet Street in London on 19th January 1724 (apparently before the moving of New Year's Day from 25th March to the 1st January) which was a 5060 of Grandsire Cinques, which was what was rung in Bury St Edmunds today amongst an unusual number of peals in this method in the modern age of spliced Maximus and Particles, with lots of performances dedicated to that groundbreaking success of three hundred years ago.
That was a momentous day in ringing history, but not as momentous as today was for Alfie!
Please post any comments on the
facebook page.
Top
Friday 17th January 2025
This
is the start of St Mary-le-Tower's big weekend. Or
Ipswich Minster,
as it is due to become officially on Sunday. As such it was very much making
the news - with the BBC at least - as the event
featured on their
news website and in a report on
Sarah Lilley's show on
Radio Suffolk. Parts of both reports were also dedicated to the installation
of the training bells and indeed former Guild Ringing Master Amanda Richmond
- who along with Jonathan Williamson has driven this project from the beginning
- is interviewed about four minutes into the piece on the wireless which begins
an hour and forty minutes into Sarah's programme.
As alluded to in yesterday's blog there is also the possibility of something about it featuring in a future edition of The Ringing World and this week's edition arrived today packed with lots of interesting stuff, including an article about the one hundredth peal on the 28cwt six at Hoar Cross in Staffordshire, a ring of bells on which I rang one of those one hundred peals when I rang the treble to a 5040 of Stedman Doubles in 2001 when organiser and conductor Richard Grimmett brought the entire band in his people-carrier! Suffolk connections this week are tenuous, with Southwold pupil Peter Blythe mentioned as the teacher of Norfolk nonagenarian Michael Gooderham, Lord Suffolk featuring in a page about the celebrations for the twenty-fifth anniversary of the restoration of the bells of Charlton in Gloucestershire (which is also due to include a world record attempt for the greatest number of ringers through a tower in twelve hours on 10th May!) and a piece about the composition of the first ever peal rung on twelve was written by former ringer at the aforementioned heaviest twelve in the county Mark Liebenrood.
Meanwhile more potential future content for the RW was being generated within our borders with a trio of quarter-peals. One was at Bredfield which remembered local ringer Mike Tyler. I was very sorry to hear of his passing recently as I enjoyed chatting with him and although for a long time he wasn't in the best of health he always supported ringing at Woodbridge if he could. RIP Mike. I'm sure he would have been pleased to see Trevor Boyd ringing his first QP in the 1260 of Grandsire Doubles - well done Trevor! Well done also to Chris Graham on ringing his first quarter inside in the Plain Bob Doubles at Tostock, whilst there was a 1280 of Kent Treble Bob Royal rung on handbells in Hasketon.
No ringing for us though with the day mainly taken up by work for me and going to the funeral of the husband of one of her choral colleagues for Ruthie, but God willing we shall do some ringing over this big weekend in Ipswich.
Please post any comments on the
facebook page.
Top
Thursday 16th January 2025
Thursday is a strange day for football but now Ipswich Town's men are in the Premier League, tonight was just the latest day of the week that we have found ourselves down at Portman Road to watch the Tractor Boys play. Although the result was a disappointing 2-0 loss to our visitors Brighton & Hove Albion, it was still a fun night out with the family and as we don't normally do any ringing on the fourth day of the working week we weren't missing any, albeit Ruthie had to forsake her choral practicing.
Still, we did spend time in the company of ringers with dinner at The Mermaid with Ufford Ringing Master Kate Eagle, a drink was had with my brother and Norman Tower ringer Chris in the Fanzone before kick-off and we met with Simon Rudd at half-time as he impressively made it having begun the day in France!
Meanwhile,
across town at St Mary-le-Tower, the six new training bells are now installed,
hopefully ready for their first outing during the 'Bell Ringing Workshop' as
part of the Minster
Making weekend on Saturday and this evening we received photos of them,
whilst there is also the potential of something on it all in a forthcoming edition
of The Ringing World, so
watch this space!
It was a positive note to end a strange day for football.
Please post any comments on the
facebook page.
Top
Wednesday 15th January 2025
It was a day of quarter-peal achievements in Suffolk.
Congratulations to Edith Wankowska on making her debut in the medium when she trebled to the 1260 of Plain Bob Doubles at Bramford in what is hopefully the first of many and well done to Gavin Edwards on ringing his first of Norwich Surprise Minor in the 1320 at Pettistree before the weekly practice there.
The session that followed was one I could join at a relatively leisurely (or
at least what constitutes leisurely in our household after a day at work and
school!) pace with Alfie not going to football training as he had hurt his ankle.
That allowed me to join in with a typically eclectic range of methods from Grandsire
Doubles to Cambridge Surprise Minor for Vince to reinforce what he'd done at
Ufford last night to as much Stedman Doubles as we could squeeze in at the end
before ringing down. And there can't be too many six-bell practices nationwide
that will have rung
Westminster Surprise Minor as well as we rang it this evening. Meanwhile,
Mary Garner was showing everyone her photo in the
East Anglian Daily Times which was unfortunately placed alongside the headline
'Driver arrested' but of course referred to the article below about the £23,000
impressively raised for the refurbishment of the parish rooms!
With the Greyhound Inn still closed for its traditional January break though, there was no opportunity to round the night off with a drink in this lovely ancient tavern. Or to toast today's quarter-peal achievements.
Please post any comments on the
facebook page.
Top
Tuesday 14th January 2025
After
Ufford's weekly practice this evening, Alan
McBurnie suggested a drink in the pub. However, with the
White Lion seemingly packed out
for a quiz night we decided to retire to
The Coach & Horses
for what still turned out to be a pleasant post-ringing drink with Mr McB, mother-in-law &
Ringing Master Kate Eagle and Bredfield ringer Vince Buckman. I really enjoy
a good pub quiz, but I don't imagine it would've been overly conducive to catching
up.
Still, it seemed apt today. On occasion I have wondered if one could pitch a ringing themed round to non-ringing quizzers, but what you could ask stumped me to an extent. What you do when you pass the treble on the way up in seconds in Plain Bob Doubles or who was ringing the fourth to the 1280 of spliced Surprise Major at Sheldwich in Kent in July 2018 didn't seem overly fair or engaging questions for the general public! However, this afternoon on BBC Radio 2, Henrik Hansen from Maidstone showed the way forward as he asked the questions in a competition seemingly devised by presenter OJ Borg. The general gist seems to be that OJ invites a listener to come on to ask questions about a subject unfamiliar to him, once he has done as much research as he can over the period of a song. Therefore, about 1 hour and 28 minutes into the show Henrik is introduced and then from 1 hour 31 minutes and 11 seconds he pitched a trio of questions, all of which OJ got wrong but which I thought were quite clever inasmuch as I believe a layman could work out the answers. Well worth a listen.
Many thanks to my resident spotter of ringing and ringers on TV and radio Ralph Earey who originally brought my attention to this unexpected bit of ringing PR, but by this evening there was lots of excited chatter from ringers on social media about the piece, by which point I was at a productive session on the 13cwt eight at the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Amongst talking about stands for mobile phones in the ringing circle for those looking to follow a line in something unfamiliar, Alan's presence enabled us to ring Surprise Minor of the Cambridge & Ipswich varieties for Margaret Weeks and Vince to treble to, as well as some Grandsire Triples for the latter to try inside and Plain Hunt on Five and call-changes on eight for another Hollesley learner Mary Leaming. An example of how just one single extra ringer of Alan's calibre can make a difference to a practice such as this where without him we wouldn't have managed Surprise Minor, at least not with someone standing behind Margaret and Vince.
Earlier
in the day I had been on another lunchtime walk that took me to Melton St Audrey's
where a hospital once stood and a chapel now stands abandoned with a single
bell hung in a turret which could only be viewed from afar, so I was glad to
get in some actual ringing a mile away later in the day. Meanwhile at the same
time they were practicing at Offton where they
preceded the session with
a quarter-peal of
Cambridge Surprise Major, which is great to see but may not be prime material
for a quiz topic.
Please post any comments on the
facebook page.
Top
Monday 13th January 2025
This is the start of a potentially a big, historic and exciting week for St Mary-le-Tower and there was definitely a different feel about the weekly practice this evening.
That wasn't entirely down to what is planned to change here in the coming days. The new ropes had been put on eleven and twelve and offered some entertainment and with the clapper of the second which is usually rung in the twelve still playing up, Ringing Master David Potts chose to focus on ten-bell ringing apart from some rounds on twelve for Neil Thomas from Matthew Higby & Company Ltd to help him hear for himself the problem with the clapper. It was also the first time I had heard it and I can definitely tell why we can't practically ring it at the moment as it is extremely late at backstroke and quite quiet.
Norwich ringer Neil's presence with his work colleague Julian Ferrar (who had a good catch-up with my mother Sally when he recalled her from their days ringing in Northamptonshire) wasn't for our clapper troubles though, but rather for one of the big changes occurring this week, that of the installation of the new training bells. There were plenty of signs of the work they had done today, which mainly involved get the materials in which included a couple of planks of wood leaning up downstairs, and the training bells themselves and their ropes and their Ipswich Town blue & white sallies (in contrast to the Norwich City yellow & green at the Mancroft Ringing Discovery Centre!) resting around the ringing chamber before the serious work of constructing everything is due to take place over the next couple of days. It was strange to think as I glanced around this evening that this was the last time this famous old ringing chamber will look like this, largely unchanged bar the occasional added pealboard for decades.
God
willing it'll all be set up by this weekend when it is planned for the church
to become Ipswich Minster with a number of events. That includes the 'minster-making'
service on Sunday where we have been requested to ring beforehand at the slightly
later time of 9.45-10.30am and then afterwards too, whilst we ringers are slated
to give a 'Bell Ringing Masterclass' on Saturday from 10.15am to 1.30pm and
preparation for our contributions to that were part of an anticipatory buzz
tonight that continued on into the Halberd
Inn.
Meanwhile a quarter-peal of Kent Treble Bob Major was rung on handbells in Moats Tye as handbell quarters in Suffolk got underway for 2025 at the start of a potentially big, historic and exciting week for St Mary-le-Tower and also the county around it.
Please post any comments on the
facebook page.
Top
Sunday 12th January 2025
Excluding lockdowns and the Second World War, the latest that the Guild has rung it's first peal in a calendar year is on the 23rd February in 1963, presumably due to the big freeze of that winter. I thought it unlikely that it would be that long before the first of 2025, but even so it is unusual in recent years for us to be this far into the New Year without at least one peal on the board for the SGR.
Nonetheless, I had a sneaking suspicion that the 'drought' wouldn't last longer than the second Sunday of January when one would expect the monthly attempt at Aldeburgh to happen and so it was today with a 5008 of Double Norwich Court Bob Major which was also conductor Alan Mayle's 250th peal on the 11cwt eight. Congratulations Alan!
The Munnings peal totals for 2025 remain at zero though, with no time this afternoon to squeeze in three hours or so of ringing as we were at Portman Road for Ipswich Town's first match this season in the famous FA Cup. It all felt unusually relaxing as we comfortably beat Bristol Rovers from two divisions below 3-0, but much else was familiar including the pre-match meal at The Mermaid with mother-in-law and former South-East District Ringing Master Kate Eagle and meeting with Norwich ringer Simon Rudd just before kick-off and at halftime.
And I did do some ringing this morning, first at St Mary-le-Tower and then after refreshment at Costa Coffee at Grundisburgh. At the former we were ringing on the back ten whilst we await a diagnosis on the clapper for the second of the twelve and saw me call some call-changes on ten and then ring in a touch of Grandsire Caters. At the latter the numbers were lower but repertoire similar as we rang call-changes on six and Grandsire Doubles, as well as Plain Bob Doubles.
Meanwhile a 1320 of Plain Bob Minor was rung on the 15cwt six at Rougham and was the sixteenth quarter-peal in Suffolk thus far this year.
Peals have a spot of catching up to do!
Please post any comments on the
facebook page.
Top
Saturday 11th January 2025
On TWTD which I regularly frequent for Ipswich Town news and discussion, someone announced that they were in London for a challenge. That challenge was that whichever team scored the first goal of the 3pm kick-offs this afternoon, the (presumably young, footloose and fancy-free) member of the forum would travel up to the place that team came from to go out on the town tonight. For those interested and equally those not interested, it transpired to be Stoke with their fourth minute opener in Sunderland.
If bellringers were to undertake a similar challenge on the basis of where the first peal was scored today then they would be boozing in Reading this evening. For that was where the first peal of this bitterly cold Saturday was rung, with a 5040 of seven Treble Dodging Minor methods rung on handbells which was also the first rung at the address. Indeed it was the first of six 5040s of seven Treble Dodging Minor methods in the same house today, as a peal was rung in every "pealable" room.
No such ringing activity for us though. Or much activity at all to speak of bar leisurely knocking around the house doing necessary chores, watching footy on the TV and briefly popping out to the shops as Alfie's match this morning was called off due to a frozen pitch.
Elsewhere ringing was happening in Suffolk though with the North-West District holding their first event of the year at Stowmarket and then the Shepherd & Dog in Onehouse and not far away at Bardwell a quarter-peal of Plain & Little Bob spliced was rung in what was Max Thomson's first of Major. Well done Max!
Now, off to Reading for that night out...
Please post any comments on the
facebook page.
Top
Friday 10th January 2025
It was a rock 'n' roll Friday. Oh no it wasn't! Oh yes it was! Four quarter-peals in the county, the arrival of The Ringing World and an evening of pantomime.
Well done to Andrea Alderton, David Steed, Maureen Gardiner, David Howe, Stephen Dawson and conductor Lesley Steed on ringing their first QP of Cotswold Treble Bob Minor in the 1272 at Tostock, whilst there was also a 1250 of Cambridge Surprise Major at Horham, 1296 of Plain Bob Major at Helmingham and 1260 of Grandsire Triples at Debenham on a busy day of ringing within our borders.
Not so for us, although
the first edition of the
RW following it's bumper festive issue and it's subsequent three week hiatus
over Christmas and New Year brought lots of typically interesting ringing content
into our home. Although apart from the peal and quarter reports, there was nothing
Suffolk related bar a letter from Woodbridge Ringing Master Bruce Wakefield
which brings up some interesting points on ART.
And
we did go out with a ringer to watch the actual rock 'n' roll part of our day
as we joined Ruthie's mother Kate and other family members in watching the
New Wolsey Theatre's RnR panto
performance of
Sleeping Beauty.
Most entertaining it was too, especially when my former work colleague Pete
was reluctantly dragged up on stage to make a balloon sword!
It was all very rock 'n' roll.
Please post any comments on the
facebook page.
Top
Thursday 9th January 2025
Another
nice day, another lunchtime walk. This time I stumbled across a Christmas tree
farm (there is no method named Christmas Tree, but now probably isn't the time
to challenge the county's ringers to come up with one!), but no church towers.
Nor did I travel to one, but I did do some ringing as I undertook something else I want to do more of in 2025 - ringing my eBells. Ruthie wasn't out as long as she usually is singing and these days the boys are up later so I didn't have any time entirely to myself free of distractions this evening as I normally get on a Thursday, so I tried a bit in the dining room whilst the boys watched TV in the living room. And I was soon reminded of why I try to do this on my own as partway through a decent attempt at a course of Yorkshire Surprise Major I was called upon to settle a disagreement between Alfie and Josh.
Eventually I did manage a course to the backdrop of the occasional interruption from the other room, but it is unlikely that I'll be bothering Josh Watkins's excellent annual quarter-peal analysis with handbells this year or any year soon! I did enjoy reading his report of Suffolk's QP ringing in 2024 today though. Compared to the previous year the story seems to be of fewer ringers ringing more. However, of course 2023 was a very special year with a flurry of activity and endeavour involving lots of members for the Guild's centenary celebrations, including thirty first quarter-pealers and so it would've been very impressive to beat those numbers. Taking that unusual twelve months out though, 2024 has continued the upward trajectory since coming out of the lockdowns in every aspect with most numbers almost back up to pre-pandemic levels. Encouraging signs as quarter-peals are such a valuable way to progress and engage ringers.
Adding to 2025's figures was today's 1296 at Horringer of Ickworth Bob Major, a first in the method. Well done to all the band.
A nice day for ringing as well as walking.
Please post any comments on the
facebook page.
Top
Wednesday 8th January 2025
If he were still alive, Elvis Presley would've been ninety years old today. Cue regular playing of his hits on the radio throughout the day.
Tomorrow
is the seventieth anniversary of the birth of Pettistree Ringing Master Mike
Whitby. Cue a box of chocolates very kindly brought along by him to this evening's
practice on the ground floor six, a rendition
of 'Happy Birthday ' in the ringing chamber and presentation of a card to him
from us ringers who are extremely grateful for all he has done for ringing here
since the bells were restored and local band started in the mid-1980s.
Despite me almost forgetting to run in to a bob in a 120 of Plain Bob Doubles, the ringing was generally of a high standard and the repertoire eclectic with Surprise Minor of the Cambridge, London and Norwich varieties rung, as well as a touch of Doubles & Minor spliced. We were unable to top it off with a drink in the Greyhound Inn as that is currently closed as it traditionally is over a large part of January, but it was preceded by the first quarter-peal of 2025 at the tower that usually leads the county's QP lists by some distance every year.
Meanwhile, somewhere else within our borders where the first quarter of the year was being rung today was Elveden and as has become the norm it was something impressive as a 1344 of Belfast Surprise Major was being rung as ringing across the country continued through the snow.
Nothing rung for Elvis though.
Please post any comments on the
facebook page.
Top
Tuesday 7th January 2025
I haven't made any New Year's resolutions as such, but I would like to do more walking generally. My work has long seen me stuck indoors all day but without even the walk to the office anymore and miles of open countryside on our doorstep I was conscious of the missed opportunity to get out of the house and do my physical and mental health the world of good.
Therefore today's lovely sunny weather and the boys return to school was enough to encourage me out on my lunchbreak for a wonderful wander. Within minutes of stepping out the door I was in forests, fields and country lanes enjoying views of both Melton Old and New churches and Bromeswell. Only six bells between them and none of them hung for change-ringing, but there is still something I find uplifting about spotting a church tower when out and about, especially from a different angle.
If
I had time I would have happily have continued on to another tower, that of
the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in
Ufford, but I did make it eventually, albeit by car as I went along to the weekly
practice.
It was worthwhile finally getting there too with a productive session that saw Mary Leaming improving at Plain Hunt on Five and call-changes on eight was also rung with each member of the band changing a pair (that didn't involve them) in turn, although a work call for Ringing Master Kate brought it to a premature end.
There will have been other practices running tonight, there was nothing else mentioned on BellBoard from Suffolk on this bright winter day though.
Perhaps other ringers in the county have been busy walking too.
Please post any comments on the
facebook page.
Top
Monday 6th January 2025
There
was a very disconcerting noise emanating from
St Mary-le-Tower at it's weekly practice this evening. Some may even
say dreadful. It wasn't the standard of ringing however, although of course
not everything went, as you expect at most practices. Rather, before I had arrived
to immediately stand behind George Heath-Collins to a touch of Erin Cinques
they were pulling off for as I walked through the door, the clapper on the second
to the twelve had started to strike late, if at all. What exactly is the matter
with it couldn't be definitively identified, so whilst it will hopefully be
sorted quickly for tonight we had to use the sharp second normally used for
ringing on the front eight. Not a particularly pleasant sound, but actually
it was fortunate it hadn't happened to any of the other bells instead or else
it would've sounded even worse!
Still, it was a pity especially for our visitor from Cirencester Sarah Ewbank was particularly useful as someone who could help us to pick up Lincolnshire Surprise Maximus again, but at least we were able to ring twelve, which enabled us to ring some Stedman Cinques and Little Bob Maximus with varying degrees of success before retiring to the Halberd Inn.
Meanwhile, well done to Maureen Gardiner and the conductor Stephen Dawson on ringing their first quarter-peal of Rising Brook Bob Minor in the 1260 at Woolpit on Saturday. I imagine it didn't sound disconcerting, unlike St Mary-le-Tower bells this evening!
Please post any comments on the
facebook page.
Top
Sunday 5th January 2025
Christmas summons up visions of snow covered countryside, despite it hardly ever snowing on 25th December in living memory. Well today Suffolk got it's white Christmas on the final day of this winter's festival.
It was all gone from Melton by the time we looked out of the window for the first time this morning, but by the point that the boys and I had dropped Mason off at work, Ruthie at St Mary the Virgin's in Woodbridge for her choral duties and we were on our way into Ipswich for me to ring at St Mary-le-Tower there was definite white stuff in the fields and hedgerows of the countryside. However, that had been washed away by our return journey by the constant rain that pretty much stayed with us throughout this grey day.
By then I had contributed to some Grandsire Cinques, Stedman Caters and even Yorkshire Surprise Maximus on the county's heaviest twelve before George & Lucy Heath-Collins were presented with a framed certificate of the quarter-peal we rang on their wedding day by Stephen Cheek and many of us retired to Costa Coffee for refreshment.
Elsewhere within our borders meanwhile, a 1282 of Yorkshire Surprise Royal was rung at The Norman Tower for the Plough Sunday Evensong and at Halesworth a 1280 of Plain Bob Major was rung upon the 18cwt ground floor eight.
Meanwhile, if you're planning your holidays, it might be worth contacting Stephen Pettman (his details can be found on the Grundisburgh page on this website) for further details about his Italian ringing trip that he is planning for October. These are fascinating trips and the hospitality is phenomenal, so I can highly recommend it to you.
No more ringing for me though as we spent our afternoon round Ruthie's sister's watching Ipswich Town's 2-2 draw at Fulham on the TV, before returning home to take our decorations down on this twelfth night of a (sort of) white Christmas.
Please post any comments on the
facebook page.
Top
Saturday 4th January 2025
Getting along to South-East District events has become increasingly challenging to get along to over the last year or two, frustratingly so for us as a couple who would like to get to every one if possible and indeed for Ruthie who used to be District Secretary and thus appreciates how much time and effort goes into organising these. Mainly it is down to football, especially Alfie's matches on Saturday mornings, sometimes organised at short notice and which we like to support him with and where he can't get to under his own steam. In our blessed position to have the hottest tickets in town at Portman Road and especially at this exciting time for the Superblues, when a home fixture falls on the afternoon of a first Saturday it typically prevents us getting to any post lunch SE occasions and depending on location evening ones too. Although annoyingly (from the sods law nature of it rather than the wonderful reason behind it!) with Alfred's team's game cancelled and ITFC's game against Bournemouth moved to the following day, we were still unable to get to the ADM held at Framlingham last month as we were in Brighton where my wife was being bridesmaid for her best friend Fergie. We can't expect the District to organise its events around us of course and to be fair they try to schedule them at different times to allow as many members as possible to get along to at least some of them (some work on Saturdays for example or have other commitments), but ultimately it is harder to logistically make as many of these monthly treats as we used to, as hard as we try.
However, with no match for AJM and his teammates this morning and the Tractor Boys not due to play until tomorrow, we had a completely free day to make it to the first South-East District event of 2025, held this afternoon at Orford. Well, not completely free as with our household and their various activities it's almost impossible to get a completely free Saturday. Our arrival at this 10cwt eight was delayed by needing to pick Mason up from work and then an unexpected SOS meant that rather than then just heading straight from ours to the coast we had to negotiate the multiple traffic lights and one-way system of Woodbridge town centre for Mrs Munnings to drop some important choral paperwork off at church before we eventually undertook our journey out to ringing.
Despite getting there a bit later then we would've liked, we still managed to contribute to a session which seemed quite a useful one, with the highlight being how pleased Tracey Scase was with her course of Bristol Surprise Major, as was Gavin Edwards with his Little Bob Major and Claire Haynes with her Cambridge Surprise Major (still in boot protecting her injury!). All of which highlights the benefit of these occasions if supported properly, as it allows ringers to ring stuff with a strong band and people standing behind that is possible with the pooling of a district's talents. Well done to all concerned and to Secretary Liz Christian on ensuring those there were supplied with tea and biscuits.
With
Ruthie and her mother Kate ringing in the quarter-peal afterwards, the boys
and I decided to hang around for them in
The King's Head which backs
onto the churchyard and with Pippa Moss waiting for Mike Whitby and thinking
along similar lines, we enjoyed a pleasant forty-five minutes or so by a window
looking out at the church. Although - despite the otherwise perfectly hospitable
barman speaking in not entirely complimentary tones about listening to them
in the summer - we couldn't hear them at all inside the ancient tavern and it
was striking just how quiet and intrusive these bells are outside. And ultimately
my wife and mother-in-law, conductor Hal and tenor ringer Mike joined us in
contributing further to their business with some more drinks following their
efforts.
Their 1250 of Yorkshire Surprise Major wasn't the only QP rung within our borders as a 1280 of Bristol Surprise Major was rung at Hitcham and an apparently extremely cold 1296 of Beverley, Cambridge & Surfleet Surprise Minor was rung on the 11cwt ground floor six of Barham!
On a busy day of ringing in the county, we were just delighted to have the time to join in!
Please post any comments on the
facebook page.
Top
Friday 3rd January 2025
It's been a quiet start to 2025 for ringing in the county from a BellBoard perspective. Three days in and only two performances can be found on an otherwise busy site - Woodbridge ringers ringing the New Year in and the date touch at Offton. Mind you, our household weren't helping things today, with the closest we got being seeing Grundisburgh ringer Ruth Symington in a group photo accompanying an article about Suffolk Singers on p19 of Woodbridge Talk, one of the free monthly magazines delivered to us.
Meanwhile,
this is due to be a big month at St Mary-le-Tower
as it is lined up to officially become
Ipswich Minster on
Sunday 19th at the end of a weekend of events to celebrate this historic moment,
including a 'Bell Ringing Workshop' the day before. And in the week leading
up to that the installation of the new
Training Bells is scheduled
to be done by Matthew Higby & Company.
God willing these will have a huge positive impact for ringing and ringers locally,
for the Guild and beyond, so this final step is an exciting development.
Hopefully it will help ringing in the county pick up the pace in 2025!
Please post any comments on the
facebook page.
Top
Thursday 2nd January 2025
Guild Handbell & Mini-Ring Trustee Brian Whiting is probably Suffolk's most prolific composer currently, along with Stephen Pettman. It's not just quantity, but clearly quality too, with his compositions regularly used by many different conductors around the world and it hasn't been surprising to see them popping up in recent days. However, in the first forty-eight hours of 2025 it stood out to me that already three of his compositions have been successfully rung and put up on BellBoard, amongst the leading composers this year thus far. One was conducted by Brian himself yesterday at his home tower of Offton on the same day as a 5040 of Yorkshire Surprise Royal composed by him was rung at Ledbury in Herefordshire rung for the Yorkshire Association, whilst there was a 1312 in four Surprise Major methods spliced of his rung at Leicester, St Mary de Castro today. As far as I can tell, thus far this year his numbers are just short of John Warboys and more than the most famous like Alan Reading or David or Rod Pipe. An example of some of the ringing talent within our borders.
None of that talent was ringing anything that made it onto BB on a much brighter, sunnier day and neither Ruthie nor I were contributing to the exercise at all as I returned to work after nearly three lovely weeks of holiday. The time off spent with family and without deadlines and the like has been wonderful, but as I now work from home the first day back isn't anywhere near the depressing shock to the system that it once was, with my wife and the boys only in another bit of the house whilst I caught up with emails and the few independent schools who are back at the moment.
Mrs Munnings had a day off both work and singing with her choirs having a break and so her efforts seemed primarily focused on helping building Josh's model Wembley Stadium (a very long-term project!) as I had a rare evening sofa slumping and others were ringing Brian Whiting compositions.
Please post any comments on the
facebook page.
Top
New Year's Day 2025
A perfect New Year's Day is a leisurely start, a walk in the countryside and a spot of ringing. Well, as the late Meatloaf once sung, two out of three ain't bad.
The leisurely start was achieved by most in our household after the early hours finish overnight, with Alfie the only one getting up before 11am.
I hope to get more walking in over 2025, but one today was always going to be challenging with needing to drag a pair of reluctant young boys along with us, but with my pulling of the curtains back being accompanied by the window being absolutely pelted with sideways rain and the sound of powerful winds, even I felt staying indoors for as long as possible would be more sensible.
We did get out of the house eventually when we went to Pettistree for the first practice on the ground-floor six of this year, albeit it was held this afternoon rather than in the evening as it usually is, perhaps sensing after days of overindulgence and particularly last night that we might all be nodding off between 7.30 and 9pm! It was just the ticket as daylight was disappearing and a great way to blow away the cobwebs. It was obviously needed too, as my first bit of ringing was calling a touch of Norwich Surprise Minor from the fifth which didn't come round as I missed two and three swapping over! Nonetheless things got better as we rang Stedman Doubles, Grandsire Doubles and a touch of spliced Doubles & Minor that began with Stedman, Plain Bob Minor and then London Surprise and was really well struck. That certainly got us up and running again! All followed by a drink in the busy ancient candlelit Greyhound Inn next door with a large crowd of us ringers. Lovely also to catch-up with folk and meet Gavin's partner William as we heard about ringing in the New Year last night at Great Bromley in Essex with Suffolk representation and at Aldeburgh to join Debenham, Sproughton and Woodbridge in places I knew were ringing at midnight as 2024 turned into 2025.
There was more ringing done in the county today with a date touch of Double Norwich Court Bob Major at Offton, whilst further afield there were typical Bank Holiday 'big' peals at St Paul's Cathedral and York Minster and the New Year's Day quarter-peal at Westminster Abbey by a 'provincial' band saw Worcester Cathedral ringers ringing a 1289 of Stedman Caters.
God willing it is the start of a good year for ringing here and beyond. Although for better or worse one cannot expect everything to go to plan, hopefully that will include most immediately the South-East District practice at Orford on Saturday and further into the future the Suffolk Guild AGM in what I think should be the South-east District on Saturday 26th April and the SGR Striking Competitions in the what I believe would be the North-east District on Saturday 17th May, whilst district competitions are also planned for the SE on 7th June and the return of the North-West District's on 13th September at Horringer and their outings on 5th July for the former and 9th August for the latter and their ADMs on 11th October and 6th December respectively. There is so much lined up, not least from the NE and SW when they reveal more detail about their plans for 2025. And hopefully there will be a Guild entry to the Ridgman Trophy penciled in for 21st June at Boston in Lincolnshire, a competition the SGR have had great success in over recent years.
Personally I am looking forward to hopefully helping expand our Surprise Maximus repertoire at St Mary-le-Tower which began towards the end of last year, all being well doing more Surprise Major and the Rambling Ringers Tour planned for Herefordshire that we hope to join in the summer and I would like to be able to ring more peals than I managed last year.
That will be challenging with Alfie's and possibly even Josh's footballing endeavours which will quite rightly come first and which Ruthie and I love witnessing, as well as helping ensure Mason can continue his studies and work, plus it doesn't seem fair to leave my wife alone with the parenting duties whilst I go gallivanting off ringing lots of peals! First and foremost therefore, the happiness and health of my family and friends is my main hope for 2025, so any quarter-pealing or peal-ringing I manage will just have to fit in around that somehow! Also though, it would be lovely for Ipswich Town to avoid relegation from the Premier League, although after the last couple of glorious years with them I feel a bit greedy asking for more success!
Whatever the year ahead may or may not hold in store for us, I'm fairly happy with the way it's started today!
Please post any comments on the
facebook page.
Top
The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of The Suffolk Guild of Ringers.