Author: Steve Thomason

Inter-branch Striking Competition

North Bucks v Towcester

Saturday 26 July 2025

This year’s Inter-branch striking competition was held at Pattishall in Northamptonshire, a lovely ring which were re-hung and augmented to 8 in 2023. With a superb bell ringers tea laid on by the Towcester branch everything was set up for a congenial afternoon’s ringing and rivalry.
As per tradition, who goes first or second in each section of ringing is determined by a toss of a coin, so North Bucks started the competition off with Call Changes on 8. Towcester were first to ring both with the Bob minor and the Stedman Triples.
The judge was very kind and encouraging with his remarks which were as follows.


Call Changes
North Bucks, a nervous start, good leading, best ringing was at the end, unfortunately after the 120 rows had been completed. 70½ Faults
Towcester, Good positive rhythm, middle, a bit choppy 35 Faults
Bob Minor
Towcester, deliberate pace, backstroke leads a bit quick. 23½ Faults
North Bucks, a nice structure but nerves again. A good piece trying to get out. 44 Faults
Stedman Triples
Towcester, Cracking! Good positive ringing let down by leading faults. 13½ Faults
North Bucks, nice pace, took a while to settle, the last 60 or so, much better. 30½ Faults


So a 3-0 win for Towcester who were duly presented with the George Holland Memorial Stedman
Triples trophy and the overall competition trophy. Well done to them. North Bucks will look
forward to regaining the trophies next year.
Ted Fawcett

Six Bell Striking Contest, Loughton, 7th June 2025

There was a good turn out for the 6 bell striking competition held at Loughton, with two teams from Padbury, two from Shenley/Loughton and teams representing Lillingston Lovell and Maids Moreton.
With lovely refreshments laid on by the Loughton/Shenley band, there was quite a hubbub in the church room as teams waited for their their go.
Chairman of North Bucks, David Phillipson judged the competition. A variety of ringing was attempted, ranging from call changes to Plain Hunt, Grandsire and St Martins.

The results were as follows

1st Shenley/Loughton A (St Martins) 18 Faults

2nd Shenley/Loughton B (call changes) 46 Faults

3rd Padbury A (Grandsire) 49 Faults

4th Lillingstone Lovell (Grandsire) 57Faults

5th Maids Moreton (Grandsire) 65½ Faults

6th Padbury B (Plain Hunt) 67 Faults

So well done to Shenley /Loughton who retain the trophy and hopefully will go on to represent the branch at the Guild event in October.

Ted Fawcett, Ringing Master.

Find Your Voice in the Tower

Old Wolverton hosted the “Find Your Voice in the Tower” training session on Saturday 15th March 2025, a basic introduction to calling touches of Bob and Grandsire doubles.

The afternoon statred with refreshments and a warm welcome from the team at Old Wolverton followed by Ringing Master Ted Fawcett doing a basic introduction for the three students on why and how calls are made when ringing methods.

It was then into the Ringing room and each student in turn called a 60 of bob doubles supported by a wonderful band of helpers. Having done this successfully, they then had a go at calling a 120 of bob doubles which again went very well.

A break for more refreshments was then taken but there was no let up for the students as they were now coached on calling Grandsire doubles. 120s of Grandsire were then attempted by each of them and before we knew it it was time for downwards and the afternoon came to a close.

Each student came away much more confident in calling touches and encouraged to practice as much as possble in their home towers to explore the wonderful world of Bob calling.

It really does bring a whole new light on ringing methods.

Many thanks to Mick Nimmo and the team at Old Wolverton for suggesting the venue and providing the refreshments and also to all the ringers who supported the event.

Ted Fawcett

St Mary’s Shenley Bells Update

The refit of the bells of St Mary’s Shenley by White’s of Appleton started promptly on Monday 27th January, the bellhangers ably assisted by John Brookman and Alan Marchbank, with support from Ted Fawcett, Becky Fawcett and Paul Randall, a member of the congregation.
    • Day 1 consisted of getting everything off the lorry and hoisted up into the bell chamber.
    • Day 2 was weighing the bells and getting all the fittings attached
    • Day 3, the clappers were fitted and trued up, adjustments made and the test ring was done at 4pm.
The bells ring beautifully as one would expect when it has been done by Whites. We can ring them without restrictions but Whites will return in about three weeks as a slight adjustment has to be done to the frame over the three to allow a slightly longer stay to be put in place.
Many thanks to John and Alan who worked incredibly hard and of course to Whites for their quiet professionalism,
Practices at Shenley are on the 2nd and 4th Mondays of the month. the first service ringing will be on 9th February at 9:30 with the blessing of the bells at the service on 16th February.

St Mary’s Shenley Bells Refurbishment Project

St Mary’s Shenley

St Mary’s Shenley

Monday 21st October 2024 was D Day for the bells of St Mary’s Shenley as it marked the beginning of the dismantling of the fixtures and fittings for refurbishment by Whites of Appleton. Preparation work in the ringing room began the day before but it was an early start on the 21st to expose the ringing room trap door, not seen for 116 years.When it was uncovered it was discovered that it was held in place by no less than 64 flathead screws so their were some very sore arms when the final screw was withdrawn.
The bellhanger James Haseldine and apprentice Jack organised the team of willing helpers in attacking all the components that needed to be unbolted and disassembled and by the end of day one all the wheels and one headstock had been lowered to the chancel floor.
The bolts in five of the headstocks were rusted on so day two began with these bolts being cut off and the remaining headstocks lowered to the floor.
When the refitting occurs, hopefully in the early spring, the bells will be on ball bearings as opposed to the old plain bearings so hopefully they will go like a dream and be good for another 100 years.
The reason this project began was, when we returned to ringing after Covid we suspected that not everything was as it should be with the bells. We arranged a free survey with Whites which highlighted a small number of problems but most significantly wear on the the 5th’s gudgeon. When this was properly exposed in the dismantling, James remarked there was a lot of wear on this component and it didn’t have much more life in it. If it had been left there may have been a catastrophic failure in the not too distant future, which doesn’t bear thinking about.
Many thanks to James and Jack from Whites for their professionalism and patience. Also a big thankyou to the the team of helpers who worked in some very cramped and dirty conditions to get the job done so efficiently, John Brookman, Simon Head, Ted Fawcett, Becky Fawcett, Lorraine Brookman and Paul Randall (a member of St Mary’s congregation). Paul also filmed the removal process and has put together a very interesting short video of the two days which can be found on the Watling Valley Parish website.

Bob Doubles taster session at Old Wolverton, Saturday 19th October 2024

Three students and 10 helpers met at Old Wolverton on a beautiful sunny afternoon for an introduction to hunting the treble to a method and Bob doubles. After introductions over refreshments each student was given the opportunity to ring the treble to a plain course of bob doubles to assess how they could make the most of the session. This was followed by a short theory talk on why methods are rung, some terminology and the basic structure of Bob doubles. Then each student was given the opportunity to ring either the method from a number of different bells or hunting the treble to the method, each time surrounded by an enthusiastic band of helpers.
Each student made good progress and after an end of course debrief and an opportunity to ask questions they were able to take away with them not only some worksheets to help with a greater understanding of bob doubles but also an increased confidence to keep practicing the method back at their home towers.
Many thanks to Mick Nimmo and the team at Old Wolverton for provding the bells and the refreshments and also to all the helpers who came along. We wouldn’t have been able to do it without you.
Ted Fawcett
Ringing Master