Author Archives: andrewlarsen

DRC hold Open Day at Rotherhithe

The DRC held an Open Day at Rotherhithe on Sunday, September 23rd taking advantage of the many Open House events also taking place in Rotherhithe village.

Members provided visitors a good sight of the bells from the viewing platform above, ringing demonstrations in the ringing tower, and plenty of exercise going up and down the tower staircase.

Andrew Clark showing visitors the bells

Despite some dreadful weather, over 100 visitors spent time with us.  The visitors included Open House circuit tourists, and local people who  were dragged in from their normal business by our touts on the street.

Claudia displaying some impressive umbrella control while accosting passers-by

Several visitors were sufficiently interested to leave an email address and we will follow up to see if we can pick up some recruits.

It was nice to see old friends including Afua and the Pinnocks, and Shelagh Norman and Chris Goldsmith from Greenwich who responded to an earlier appeal for helpers on the day. So, thanks to everybody for making such a successful day, and we’re already looking forward to next year.

 

Andrew demanding to see a visitor’s wallet before he will provide any information

St Mary’s Church Rotherhithe Bell Tower open to the public Sunday, September 23rd 2012

11am -1pm & 2-4 pm

St Mary’s Church

St Marychurch Street

SE16 4JX

Nearest pubic transport Rotherhithe Overground or C10 381 buses.

Step inside a historic bell tower. Meet the ringers and see them in action.
View the bells in motion (no unaccompanied children, please). Find out
about other towers in the area where bells are rung. Sign up for a lesson.
If you are unable to join us on Sunday but would like more information
about ringing in the Docklands area, contact us:
info@docklandsringers.co.uk or 0845 680 4305

 The DRC are opening Rotherhithe Bell Tower on Sunday, September 23rd 2012 for tower tours and ringing demonstrations. Several other buildings in Rotherhithe vilage are opening as part of Open House London 2012 including Sands Studios and the Brunel Museum.

View or download flyer here

For more information on Rotherhithe tower including history and directions, click here

 

 

Header for web-site

I’ve added a banner to the web-site.  It’s like the main picture on your Facebook page and provides a common header to all pages.  I used the picture we took for the service at St Dunstan-in-the-West, but I would like a better one.

As with Facebook, the banner is a cropped version of a full-size picture.  Any suggestions ? Please send a regular picture and I will crop it to size. If there are lots of pictures, I will implement a ‘banner of the month’ scheme !

Stepney band rings at St Dunstan-in-the-West

Morag has been associated with Sion College for many years, so when she arranged the Founders Day Service at St Dunstan-in-the-West on July 5th, it seemed only reasonable to arrange for a band drawn largely from St Dunstan’s in Stepney to ring before the service.

St Dunstan has recently had a new set of bells installed, so there was a high degree of interest from DRC members in attending. Entering the ringing chamber, you are immediately confronted by an enormous aluminium fire ladder protruding into the centre of the ringing circle.  Dickon soon encouraged a few of the stronger (or easily bullied) members into manhandling it out of the way so that ringing could commence.

DRC band at St Dunstan’s-in-the-West. From left – Mike Todd, Joe Taylor, Jonathan Slack, Ben Meyer, Andrew Larsen, Greg Rose, Elizabeth LeMoine, Janet Archibald, Dickon Love

The 10 bells are fairly light, but ring and sound very nicely. Jonathan called some rounds on 10, and some Steadman triples – all nicely struck.

Morag has also provided a link to a site that showcases the new bells and their installation

http://london.lovesguide.com/dunstan-in-the-west.htm

 

 

 

Bermondsey Band Come Second in Surrey Striking Contest

Picking between competing in a striking contest and watching the first British contestant in the mens’ doubles for seventy years is never an easy choice, but Elizabeth picked a band happy to travel to Colliers Wood for the annual Surrey Striking Competition. Despite a preference for non-competitive ringing, our social instincts won the day. A few of us had already spent the morning on a training session for bob doubles so we decided to truly alienate our partners for the day.

Our record in these events is mixed to put it kindly, but we consider ourselves willing travellers – even to zone three on occasion.

Colliers Wood was a new tower for most of us, and we were initially drawn fifth out of five bands, but swapped with the last band who were waiting for a late-arriving contestant. Listening to the first band, we had a few concerns as the bells definitely sounded a bit ‘light’. When it came to our turn, Elizabeth cunningly called a few changes so that we had a quick try on leading. This was Elizabeth’s first go at conducting in a competition, so we had practiced the routine on the previous Tuesday and Elizabeth had practiced shouting loudly. Both appeared to have paid off as we finished second out of five bands to an excellent Croydon effort. A scratch team of experts and beginners entered at the last minute and actually had the fewest faults, but were not placed as the official winners because of some reason that I can’t remember.

DRC Band in Surrey Striking Competition 2012. From left – Mike Todd, Elizabeth LeMoine, Joe Taylor, Alison Hammond, Andrew Larsen, Morag Todd

 

The best part about going second is that you are then free to drink the polypin of beer considerately provided by the organisers (as evidenced in our team photo). The childrens’ party that had been going in the adjoining hall then sent over their leftover food.  I’ve never seen sushi at a childrens’ party before, but then I’ve never been to Colliers Wood before either and standards are obviously rather different there to where I grew up (Bristol – a bit more faggots and peas).

So, the editor dashed off home to repair matrimonial damages, while the rest of the band chatted with our Surrey hosts. Many thanks to Surrey for their organisation and hospitality; thanks to Elizabeth for her conducting. See you next year !