The Ringing World of 6th November 2015 included a one page feature on Anthony J Fennemore and the peal rung at Leckhampstead to commemorate the centenary of his death .
Anthony was a ringer at Maids Moreton, killed during the Battle of Loos. To find out more about him then visit his commemoration page.
With thanks to Martin Petchey for forwarding the RW article.
On Saturday October 17th the North Bucks Branch held their annual training day, learning about ringing doubles variations, an area that can often be overlooked at tower practices. Personally this was a new experience as I am used to ringing triples and major methods. It felt very different.
The training consisted of two sessions. The morning session was held at Downs Barn, followed by Woughton in the afternoon. There was a varied mix of ringers at both sessions. I found the sessions very enlightening and educational. It was the first time I had ever combined doubles methods with bobs and singles of another method. Nevertheless I started to quickly understand it as the more experienced ringers explained how and why this happens. To my surprise it worked. There was a deserved break in the middle of the day for lunch, as the morning ringing proved quite tiring both physically and mentally.
I would like to thank all of the helpers on the course as their instruction proved very helpful and it made me more interested in the many doubles methods and variations that exist, and keen to try some of them out on practice nights.
Lydia Bates
Simpson, Milton Keynes
St Thomas the Apostle
Saturday, 14 November 2015 (7–1–7)
1260 Doubles (11 M/V)
Antelope, Litchurch, St Jude, St Laurence, St Austell, St Stephen, St David, St Mary, St Crispin, St Cecilia, Laverstoke
1 Brian Baldwin
2 Gary Reading
3 Ann Birch
4 Martin Petchey
5 Simon J O Head (C)
6 Paul Crombleholme
Most m/v 2, 3, 4; for North Bucks Branch quarter-peal week by participants in a recent Branch course on Doubles Variations.
Course Material
The following course material is now available:
For a list of doubles variations why not try here? You have been warned – it is long.
Terry Page
Held at All Saints’ Marsworth – Saturday 17th October 2015
Tutor: Pip Penney
Six Teachers and two Mentors met, representing Barnes, Caterham, Fulham, Great Brickhill, Linslade, Wokingham and Woughton on the Green Towers.
Having been a Tower Captain for 40 years and just spent two years teaching a new band in a local tower, virtually from scratch, I have held ART at arms length for some time now with a slightly arrogant attitude of “what can they teach me that I do not already know”. I am pleased to say that this was quickly dispelled with Pip giving a comprehensive and interesting presentation covering Foundation Skills, Building a Band, Plain Hunt and Plain Bob skills development, topped off with sound advice on Running a Good Practice. Okay “so I knew it all” but it certainly reminded me of a number of things I was not actually doing and should be.
I am pleased I went and I gained a lot from finding out that all the teaching problems I have are replicated across many towers and there are things you can do to stimulate interest, and get them to progress incrementally with little bits of valuable fun. The practical exercises were excellent, some helpful books were available, and the tips and advice of fellow participants all added value to the day.
I presented myself as a Teacher with a Mentor that I taught to ring 35 years ago. All I have to do now is to complete the theory tests and paperwork process that is slightly daunting and I might just make it to accreditation.
Many thanks to Pip and to Richard Booth for all the practical support to the day, especially rescuing my iPad that I left behind in my rush to get home for the rugby.
Brian Baldwin, Tower Captain, Woughton on the Green, Milton Keynes
On Saturday, the Woughton-on-the-Green band representing the Branch came third in the ODG 6-bell striking competition – losing only to more experienced bands from Thatcham (near Newbury) and High Wycombe.
Woughton had earned their place in the finals by winning the local heat at Whaddon in June.
Woughton scored a fantastic 87.5 per cent; but narrowly lost out as the winners scored 92.5 per cent.
Their success has been featured in OneMK.
The first results of the Branch Tower Census have been published and can be found under Recruitment Resources.
Every tower with 5 or more bells completed a census return. Many thanks to all the tower correspondents and captains for their time in bringing together the numbers and their comments and suggestions.
Can you believe it has now been 3½ years since the Big Ring Pull project delivered it’s recruitment drive in Middleton Hall Milton Keynes. The BRP was a great success we still have two towers where the bells were silent before the BRP that are now regularly rung and 20 of the 42 people who attended the intensive 2 week training course in Newport Pagnell have continued to ring and are progressing well with their ringing development.
With membership now beginning to fall, it’s time for us to concentrate ourselves on recruitment, training and retention once again. As membership is only one part of the story we are conducting a tower census and the results of this will be shared at the Autumn Meeting.
A quartet of officers (Linda, Lesley, Shelia and Patricia) has been looking into best practices and learnings from across the ringing community in respect of recruitment, training and retention. What this research has demonstrated is that we need to need to develop a constant yet flexible self-sustainable model for recruitment training and retention that appeals to a 21st Century society.
We have some initial ideas that we would like to share and develop with you, so please join us at this year’s Autumn Meeting on the 26th September at Bradwell Memorial Hall.
We’re looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible there.
In the meantime why don’t you have a look at the recruitment resources we’re pulling together on the website?
