Issue 16, April 2002

Contributions for Issue 17 are needed before April 24th, 2002

Address for Strike Notes :
, 51 The Plain, Brailsford, Ashbourne, Derbyshire, DE6 3BZ

District Heats for the Horsley & Arthur Ashby Cups

Four teams entered the method competition. They rang Oxford TB (Duffield), Plain Bob Doubles (Sutton), Kent & Oxford TB (St Peter‘s), and Cambridge S (Cathedral). The judge, Tim Peverett, commented that the heavy six at Winshill was not an easy ring for any of the teams. All rang in similar times, which were equivalent to a peal time of between 3 hours 10 min and 3 hours 15 min. The results were

The judge for call changes, Robin Turner, commented on the healthy state of ringing in the district, eight teams having entered this part of the competition. He also commented that he had heard no really awful ringing. The results were

The teams that will represent the District in the finals are the Cathedral and St Peters for The Horsley Cup, and Overseal, Etwall and Sutton A for The Arthur Ashby Cup.

After the competition an excellent tea was followed by evening ringing at Repton.

Our thanks to the judges, to all the people who contributed to the tea, and especially to Pat McCartney, who did a magnificent job getting the hall ready, and making all the teas and coffees.

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History Corner

In 1968 there were six bells at Ticknall. However, there was so much movement of the spire when the bells were rung that the architect declared that either the spire should be demolished or ringing must stop. The PCC wanted to keep the spire and the ringers, led by Peter Marriott, wanted to keep on ringing! After a huge amount of work, which included recasting some of the old bells and replacing others with some lighter bells which had once formed part of a chime at Hallam Fields, a lighter peal of eight was dedicated on 11 December 1971. The bells were further augmented to ten in 1973.

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Mugginton Renaissance

After almost six months of silence the Mugginton bells are again ringable. Work on the church roof was suspended in January because of the escalating scale of work found necessary and the additional cost involved causing funding and cash flow problems. Promise of a further Lottery English Heritage grant has enabled the resumption of work on the roof. The PCC still has a tremendous fund raising task to face. In the mean time we have managed to rehouse all the furniture and items removed from the church, which had been stored in the ringing chamber, and happily have resumed ringing practices.

Our regular practice night is on Thursday. We have a reasonable repertoire of doubles and minor methods, but with only six ringers and the inevitable absences, our practices are limited in scope. On the third Thursday of each month we are able to have a more useful practice as we are joined by other ringers, mainly from Belper. We would, therefore, be more than pleased to welcome ringers to our practices and appeal to those who can spare the time to join us. Practices start at 7.30 pm.

A word of warning though, we are having to use the tower South door for access and, because of extensive scaffolding, the approach is rather hazardous. Visitors would be well advised to come armed with a torch and to use the bottom gate. We look forward to welcoming a regular flow of visiting ringers on Thursday evenings.

Peter Sutton

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Bell Ringers Flip

This originated in Lancashire and was recommended to be drunk before a peal.

Separate 8 eggs into two large bowls. Beat the egg whites until very stiff. Strain the juice from 2 or 3 oranges and beat into the yolks adding sugar to taste. Into this bowl add a selection of sweet spices, eg, cinnamon, nutmeg and perhaps a pinch of ginger and beat together very well. Now slowly heat two pints of strong beer and when it is hot pour it slowly and from a good height onto the yolks. This should come to a good froth and should now have the whites stirred in before it is drunk, still hot.

I have no reports on the effectiveness of this brew! Maybe some of our local peal ringers might like to do a consumer test and let us know the results? - Can I hear mutterings about ‘a waste of good beer’ ?

Do you have a recipe connected with the exercise? If so, please send it in.

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What's in a Name?

Recently a letter was sent out to all Towers explaining the recommendations that the General Committee accepted on 20th February. and the way that our District intend to implement them. In it’s report the Education Committee made the following points:

• Because of the manner in which Deanery Co-ordinators had been appointed rather than elected, this title should not be used. District and General Committee members have been willing to help out. These people are officers of the Association who have no specified task and, in a few cases, had in the past felt left out when it came to organising and discussing events and programmes.
• Because of the large number of anomalies, a structure based on deaneries was not the best to use for our organisation One deanery has a single church with ringable bells whilst another has fourteen towers with bells. Furthermore there are seven towers which are not in the diocese but which are Association towers, and several cases where most of the towers in a deanery are in one District and a single tower from it in another.
• Each District and each Area within that District had unique circumstances, so the role of the local officer would have to be determined by him or herself together with the District Committee rather than defined by a set of rules.

They also decided that large groups of towers, sometimes following deanery boundaries, would be too unwieldy. Seven groups of towers were identified that should form the Areas of the new Reps. It was decided not to name the areas after any of the towers because the areas will be subject to review from time to time and to do so would imply less flexibility.

The four elected committee members have agreed to what is in effect a change in their job description, but there are seven Areas and only four Reps so we will need to elect three more. We hope to be able to complete this process at the April meeting.

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Maintenance Tip

To check if an independent clapper needs to be re-tightened, pull the clapper ball onto the lip of the bell and then try to push it round the rim. If the clapper is loose you will see the retaining nut on the top of the headstock move. If the clapper is very loose, or if you are in doubt, replace the thick leather washer that goes between the clapper crown staple and the inside of the bell. Make sure the ball of the clapper is centralised between the strike points on the bell with the weight of rope lifted out of the way. Make sure the clapper swings in a plane parallel to the wheel.

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Gordon

Pat and Gordon Halls missed the March meeting and striking contest at Hartshorne - something that is almost unheard of. The meeting was told of Gordon's illness and that the outlook is not too good. Everyone at the meeting signed a card for him and when it was delivered the next day he said that it’s message was important to him, and that message was ‘Gordon, we love you‘.

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GET MOVING!

Derby Community Transport operates a fleet of minibuses for the use and benefit of local groups. I have registered a group under the name "Bellringers of Derby". This means that members of the group can hire a self-drive minibus to provide cheap group transport.

I have booked a twelve seat bus to provide transport to the AGM at Creswell on April 20th. If I can find eleven passengers the cost for the round trip would be about £3 each, if you intend to go, please let me know, I will allocate seats on a first-come-first-served basis and I can pick people up on the way north, or if you wish to drive to Derby I could pick up passengers at the park and ride car park at the Meteor Centre.

If you wish to hire one or more of the minibuses yourself, you may do so. There are two which carry eleven passengers, and one which can take seventeen. Drivers with a category D1 qualification on their driving license can apply to drive non-accessible vehicles (without wheelchair access). They will then be assessed and their insurance status checked. The charge for this is a one-off payment of £5.50 (as at April 1st 2001), I suppose that it may be subject to review at 1st April 2002. If you are interested, the number for bookings and information is (01332) 380738, or you can contact me.

Alec Humphrey

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OK Interests

The number of entries for the anagram competition was very disappointing. I declare the winner to be Rex North from Brailsford with "KENT STORIES". Possibles no-one found are "I reset knots", "In set stroke" or "Tie 'n' strokes" (OK, this last one is cheating a bit). Thanks to those who did enter but the kudos goes to Rex.
SH

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Diary Dates: April 2002 - May 2002

April 13th – District Training Morning at Brailsford. Plain Bob Minor from 10:00 to 12:30. Contact Gill Hughes
April 13th – District Ringing Meeting at Worthington (3) Leics., from 6:30 – 7:00. Melbourne (12) 7:30 – 9:00. Why don’t you give this meeting a visit?
April 15th – Six bell practice at Brailsford at 7:30. Methods – April Day Doubles, Oxford TB & Cambridge S Minor.
April 20th – Annual General Meeting at Creswell. (See ’Get Moving’ below).
April 27th – Surprise Major practice at Belper from 2:30 to 4:30 ending with a drink and discussion. Methods – Cambridge, Lincolnshire & London.
May 11th – Horsley and Arthur Ashby Cup finals.
May 18th – District Meeting: Appleby Magna 6:00 – 7:00 & Netherseal 7:30 – 9:00
May 20th – Six Bell practice at Brailsford at 7:30. Methods – May Day Doubles, KentTB, Cambridge Surprise Minor
May 25th – Surprise Major practice at Belper from 2:30 to 4:30 ending with a drink and discussion. Methods – Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Ashtead.

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Go to Derby Diocesan Association of Church Bell Ringers