Author Archives: Elizabeth

Christmas 2011 – some notable firsts

St. Dunstan’s current band began ringing for Sunday morning services in November 2007. Since then the band has been growing and improving its skills at a steady pace. In early days we weren’t able to muster a band every Sunday, but now we rarely miss one. The Sundays when we ring more than 6 bells are becoming more frequent, too. It’s all very encouraging.

However, because our band – like much of London’s population – comes from elsewhere, we are often too short of band members to ring at Christmas, as ringers journey elsewhere in the UK or the world to celebrate with family.

This year for the first time we were able to ring six bells on Christmas morning – and, some other ‘firsts’ complement this notable achievement.

On Christmas Eve Elizabeth rang ‘Joy to the World’ on the Ellecombe chimes, along with her usual Rounds, Queens and Tittums, the first time she has employed the Ellecombe’s most obvious capability of ringing tunes. But the Ellecombe being a softer-sounding and less satisfying substitute for the ‘real thing’ we were very pleased to accept an offer of help from Bermondsey ringers on Christmas morning.

With insufficient numbers south of the river too, Bermondsey offered to join forces with us, enabling a band of seven to gather at Stepney Christmas morning. Alison Hammond, Andrew Larsen, Simon Fraser, Roger Booth and Drew Booth joined Ed Bucknall and Elizabeth to ring rounds and called changes on the front 6 bells. For many of the newer ringers of both bands it was their first time ringing on Christmas morning.

A big day for several of us then, but one with even more significance for Drew Booth, aged just 10. Drew has been learning to ring for just a few months under the tutelage of his father at Bermondsey, a much lighter set of bells than Stepney’s. On Christmas morning not only did Drew ring for the first time at Stepney (under his father’s watchful eye and with his assistance), he also rang our treble – though our lightest bell, at 6-2-0 (728 lbs or 331 kilos), it’s the heaviest bell he’s rung yet.

Well done, Drew and thank you to all the ringers who travelled from south of the river to help St. Dunstan’s bells ring out on Christmas morning 2011.

Christmas Carol Service Ringing Challenge

In previous years, the Docklands Ringers have prided themselves for being able to cover multiple and nearly simultaneous carol service ringing gigs at the various Docklands Towers with some keen organisation by tower captains and enthusiasm by ringers. They then quite naturally reward themselves for a job well done with a festive drink at a local atmospheric Thames-side pub.

This year the challenge is two-fold. A huge contingent of our ringers are being spirited away to a ringing outing on Lundy on the very weekend when all the carol services will take place. We are a depleted team, but – can we do it anyway? Andrew Clark, this year’s organiser and like another noted Christmas list maker, has made a list and checked it twice. He thinks we can. If we can count on ALL of the remaining ringers we might JUST pull it off.

Are you one of the ringers not flitting off to Lundy? If so, get in touch NOW to pledge your support. We have services on the evening of Sunday 18 December at 5 Docklands churches. Some start at 6 and some at 6.30, so we need ringers for 5.15 and 5.45. Andrew will deploy you to where you’re most needed and then we’ll all agree to meet somewhere nice to celebrate the fact that Docklands Ringers can save the carol-service day despite Lundy outing decimation! Don’t let this year be the year we fail to do it!

Docklands church carol services need you. Pledge your support NOW: contact Andrew or Elizabeth by any means. We look forward to ringing and toasting our accomplishment with you on Sunday 18 December! Help us fight the odds to triumph in another cross-Docklands service provision victory!

Ringers are Striking

It’s not about appearances or industrial action: the training session held at Camberwell on Saturday morning 14 May was dedicated to improving striking by sharpening listening skills.

The exercise was preceded by the circulation of John Harrison’s excellent recordings ‘Listen to Ringing’ and ‘Listen to Ringing Live’, CDs published by the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers. Almost everyone present that morning had had access to the disks and most had spent some time going through the listening exercises.

Because none of us rings very regularly at Camberwell, our chosen location simulated (more than our home towers would have) the ‘unfamiliarity’ that is usual when ringers gather for a striking competition.

Andrew Clark introduced us to the basics of a striking competition from the perspectives of both ringers and judges. This was because while half of us would be ringing, the other half would be judging. He also produced sufficient notepads and pens for everyone! What a star.

With more than a dozen ringers, we were able to form several 6-bell bands of varying combinations including, as near as possible and to give those ringers an extra bit of practice, the two Stepney bands entered in the Middlesex North and East District 6-bell Striking Competition at Tottenham the following day.

While one ringer acted as Marshall, those who were not ringing trooped downstairs to sit in the church yard and mark the ringing. The fact that the exercise engaged everyone throughout the morning was one of the best aspects of the day, and the judging was a challenge to experienced and novice ringers alike.

Listening skills definitely appeared to sharpen as the morning progressed, and both ringers and judges grew better at their jobs. Judges compared notes with their colleagues as a gauge of how accurate their marking was (always making allowances for a certain amount of subjectivity). They also fed back to the bands with constructive observations.

Another of the morning’s star performers was Jenni Pinnock, who is still not that experienced in call changes and who had never before rung at Camberwell. Jenni rang very well under challenging circumstances in two call change bands.

Over the course of the morning both bands were able to ring two sets of call changes each. Then we rearranged and, with the help of visitor Margaret Rueger, there were also two methods bands: Plain Bob Doubles and Plain Bob Major, which was the Stepney ‘A’ Band test piece.

Present were Tom P, Jenni P, Morag T, Mike T, Elizabeth L, Gill H, David G, Alison H, Trisha S, Greg R, Andrew C, Doug J, Kevin T, Sam P. Tom and David conducted the two call-change bands. I think Andrew conducted the Bob Minor and I think David conducted the Bob Doubles but correct me if I am wrong

Everyone agreed it was a good session and something that could profitably be repeated. The training committee have scheduled an 8-bell training session for 10 September, which will also encompass more listening, judging and… improved striking. So put the date in your diaries! And, if you haven’t yet had John Harrison’s listening exercises on CD, let Elizabeth know.

Photos courtesy of Trisha Shannon!