Author Archives: andrewlarsen

DRC Outing to Bristol

When David Giles left London for the bright lights of Bristol about a year ago, we reckoned that we would at least get a pretty decent away trip to make up for the loss of an enthusiastic, skilled ringer and enthusiastic but hopeless drinker. It took him a while to get organised as he seemed to prefer organising trips to nearby Lundy instead, but eventually he sent out a date and itinerary to us all.

As a native Bristolian who couldn’t wait to leave in 1973 and have rarely been back since, I was slightly curious to see how the city had changed – it could only get better after all.  The towers that David selected were all in the small section of central Bristol that both the Luftwaffe and the town planners had missed. My memories of the area were clouded by huge quantities of keg beer and scuffles with invading Welshies, so I was interested to see a more refined aspect of the town. David certainly came up with a good selection including

10 – 10.45 Pip ‘n’ Jay (8)
11- 11:30 St John on the Wall (6)
11:45 -12:30 Lord Mayor’s Chapel (6, tbc)
LUNCH (Green House pub opposite the cathedral)
2:30 – 3:30 Cathedral (8)
4:00 – 4:45 All Saints (8)
5:00 – 5.45 St James (10)

Most of the attenders piled onto the 08:00 from Paddington while a couple of cars also made the trip. Pip ‘n’ Jay was close enough to Temple Meads station to be but a short walk.  After eventually finding someone to let us in, we enjoyed a few tunes on the ring of eight.

Interesting old peal board at Pip n’ Jay

A pleasant stroll across one of the many waterways and into the mediaeval part led to St Johns on the Wall which, eponymously, is inside one of the few remaining section of the old wall. This is a very attractive church with lots of old galleries, organs and stuff for the non-ringers to play with.

David at St John on the Wall

Strolling up the hill opposite the cathedral took us to our designated lunch spot at the Green House.  The beer was very good, but obviously I’ve forgotten what it was. Food was fine too. Good choice David, and I’m sure he enjoyed the research.

DRC sleeper at Bristol Cathedral – not a ringer of course

So, on to the cathedral which is always a bit daunting for the less experienced ringers.  It was all very non-threatening though with an easy ascent, large clean ringing chamber and easy bells. At least three of the group found the atmosphere slightly too relaxing and partook of a very nice after-lunch nap while their colleagues played them a soothing tune or two.

DRC at Bristol Cathedral – the wakers

Back through the Old Town with Andrew L boring everyone with unlikely tales of the origin of the phrase ‘cash on the nail’ – sounds a bit too like a game show to be convincing. Final tower was All Saints which is not used for public worship but is still in use as a place of learning.  It is allegedly the nearest tower to another tower just the other side of the alley, but I forget its name. The bells here were pretty tricky and definitely best left to the experts.

That was it.  The train party headed off to Temple Meads and London. A big thank you to David for arranging a splendid day out, and thanks also to those who took on the ringing organisation at the various towers. Thanks to Jonathan for a few pics – please send me any interesting ones and I’ll add them  as mine were rubbish as usual.

 

2012 Xmas Party Handbells

The DRC xmas party was once again kindly hosted by Simon and Janet in their Wapping apartment. This year, following a lively discussion over whether it was a furkin or a polypin, a barrel of beer was provided. Ed clearly drank most of it, whatever it was called.

As part of the entertainment, a handbell ensemble played a selection of carols. I’m afraid my rubbish picturetaking doesn’t do it justice, but here’s a picture for the record.

Handbells at Xmas party. From left to right are: Jae Kyung (Leah) Kim, Greg Rose, Paul Burnell, Tom Lawrance (back to the camera), Barbara Caswell, Helen Ireland, Elizabeth LeMoine, Rie Watanabe, Lee Garlick, of St Vedast Handbell Ringers.

If there are more pictures or anecdotes available, I’ll happily add them to the post…….

Stag event at Rotherhithe

One of the more entertaining tasks as DRC webmaster is to deal with the various queries that come in via email that aren’t directed to a specific person or post. So, an enquiry back in December from a Best Man planning a stag event rather intrigued me.

 

Chris coaching the stag team

 

The groom was a ringer, so the best man wanted a ringing theme and wondered whether we could run a taster event for the group. The offer of payment focussed my attention and the DRC committee agreed that a fund raiser was always a good idea. Half a dozen helpers stepped forward and we all assembled on Saturday 8th.

There were 10 in the party and an early start was arranged for obvious reasons. Small groups were given individual coaching while the rest were taken on a tour of the bell tower and given a bit of history about the practice.

Groom judging the staggers ringing competition

 

After joining the helpers in rounds, the lads were put into teams for a striking competition judged by the groom. Not quite sure which team won, but we gave them a bottle of wine as first toast of the day. Andrew L also provided a left over bottle of rum brought back from Cuba several years ago. This was voted ‘worst drink ever’ by the staggers. The author suspects they drank worse before the day was over.

The staggers left for their next event which I think was curling if I heard properly. The DRC retired to the Mayflower to count their windfall. I think everybody enjoyed themselves and, who knows, perhaps we may gain some future recruits. A big thank you to all the helpers for giving up their Saturday morning.

 

Groom and the DRC helpers. Left to Right Elizabeth, Chris, Best Man, Morag, Mike,Andrew L, Andrew C

Automated emailing of new Calendar entries

Following a request made at the DRC AGM, I have changed the web site such that it automatically sends an email to members when somebody adds an entry to the Calendar.

The intention is to make sure that all members are notified when something is coming up. The email will contain sufficient information to stand in its own right, but also has a link to the Calendar on the website in case you want to know more. The email also contains an ‘unsubscribe’ option if you don’t want to receive future emails of this type.

I’m afraid the web-site isn’t clever enough to generate an email if a calendar entry is changed or deleted, so the organisers will need to inform this separately if they want it brought to everyones’ attention (a delete and new post will take care of a change, although it is slightly clumsy).

Hopefully, this will promote more use of the calendar function. Anybody who wants to know how to use it, please contact me or one of the regular users.