Simon and Janet kindly hosted this year’s party in their Wapping apartment. Despite our best efforts, we barely made a dent in the huge amount of food and so Simon enforced a strict ‘you will take a doggy bag’ on everybody as they left.
The excitement all got a bit much for Andrew
David and Simon
Here are a few pictures courtesy of Morag.
Doug and Gill
Elizabeth's dinosaur impression
Thanks again to Simon and Janet for their hospitality.
Andrew, Ed and Alison
Roger, Ed and Kevin
Trishie, Chris and Greg
Apologies to those missing from the photo gallery – a full set can be seen at Morag’s Flickr account.
Janet and Afua
DRC members have recently achieved two notable quarter peals –
On Sunday, 11 December, Gill rang her first inside triples at Stepney in memory of her Mother, Deena. The method was 1288 Grandsire Triples conducted by Roger Booth.
On Sunday, 4 December, Doug rang his first inside doubles – also at Stepney. The method was 1260 Plain Bob Doubles conducted by Andrew Clarke.
Congratulations to both and thanks to the other members of the bands. Full details at campanophile.
Quarter Peal Band for Gills first inside triples. Taken at DRC party later the same day. Band members (L-R) Andrew Clark, Morag Todd, David Giles, MIke Todd, Elizabeth LeMoine, Roger Booth, Gill Harris. Sam Press also rang the tenor, but had gone home as he is a lightweight.
Quater peal band for Doug (L-R) Morag Todd, Michael Todd, Doug James, Andrew Clark, Gill Harris, Elizabeth LeMoine
Bell-ringers often opt to be in odd places: up in dusty belfries balancing on bell frames; in cold, dark and damp spiral staircases climbing wearily in the hope of pulling a rope; outside on a Sunday morning. It should come as no surprise, then, that five of them could be found sleeping rough last Friday night in the grounds of Southwark Cathedral.
For oddity, perhaps; but also for charity: they were there to raise money for the Robes Project, which provides food and shelter to the homeless in south London over the winter months.
As they bedded down on a grassy knoll, beside a cathedral courtyard strewn with boxes, roll mats and tarpaulins, Trish enthused: “I hear the forecast is good”. Cue rain. At first, a patter of raindrops that fell rather tunefully onto the sleeping bags; then a more consistent rainfall, of the type that no amount of body-wriggling and sleeping bag-readjustment could shield them from. Only Katy, who had managed almost to mummify herself, looked protected, although David – famous for his ability to sleep anywhere and at any time on holy ground – thought her efforts quite unnecessary.
All the while, the sounds of London heralded their night’s journey. Fittingly, the bells tolled for them. 10 o’clock, 10:15, 10:30… Midnight…2:30….. How grateful they all were that the steeple-keeper of Southwark (one J. S., one of their own!) had not removed the chimes. One fears for J. S. – Andrew mentioned reprisals more than once….
As the rain persisted, four of them moved into the haven of the cathedral. Poor Morag – just recovered from the ’flu and with a foil sheet that more resembled a silver flag than an insulating body-warmer. Poor Trish – still wearing a skirt. Poor Katy – freezing with only seven layers. Poor Douglas – told by Katy what to do. Only hardy (read unaware) David and brave (read lazy) Andrew stuck it out outside. Their mettle was rewarded by Douglas’ shamefully (read shamefully) wide eyes in the morning.
Bacon rolls scoffed, they gathered in the morning like climbers on a mountain top for a team photo, holding the box of chocolates which Alison had kindly offered them the night before. No summits were reached, but they had raised £… and not a few smiles.
Roll on next year….
Morag, Douglas, David, Andrew, Katy and Trisha survived a night's sleepout in the grounds of Southwark Cathedral, raising money for the Robes winter night shelter for homeless people in Southwark and Lambeth - more info at www.robes.org.uk.
Article by Douglas James
Note – you can still donate to this cause here
For some of us, showing off comes naturally – so when The Docklands Ringers were asked to open the bell tower at St Mary, Rotherhithe to do tower tours and bell ringing demonstrations, we took to it with great enthusiasm.
At 9.30, a group of approximately ten ringers pitched up at Rotherhithe, in the midst of the congregation setting up their stalls for the hordes of visitors who would soon be descending. We had made leaflets, put up posters and Morag Todd even brought her laminator; so when 10.00 arrived, we were 100% ready to do some demonstrations and show people the ropes.
Unfortunately, between 10.00 and 11.00 there was a funeral in the church which meant that we were unable to do any ringing until afterwards. However, we were able to show people the bells and take them up the tower.
Our first visitor was a little boy with a scooter, and his mum. Alison Hammond looked after the scooter while they went and had a look at the bells. Alison says she didn’t play with it, but we didn’t see her for about 15 minutes!
After the funeral ended, we left some time allowing the mourners to disperse before ringing up and then doing a demonstration of change ringing. Some of us take great delight in performing for an audience, so to have a tower full of people watching and then applauding (even after a particularly rough raise!) was fantastic.
For the first demonstration, we had approximately 12 people in the ringing room with us and we raised the back six in peal, followed by a touch of Plain Bob Doubles. This was followed by applause and all of the onlookers seemed very interested.
For most of the day Andrew Larsen, Alison Hammond and Jenni Pinnock stood outside accosting people in the street and thrusting leaflets into their hands, frog-marching them into the tower. However, with a total of 126 visitors across the two sessions – a very well done to them!
There were several other demonstrations throughout the day, but very early on we established that Grandsire Doubles was not for us. However, the Plain Bob Doubles had good rhythm and was greatly accepted by our adoring fans. One lady was even heard to say, “this is the best Open House event I’ve ever been to”.
Between the morning and afternoon sessions, we had a heated debate on the most important subject of the day – lunch – which was a not-so-swift-half in The Mayflower, just across the road from the tower. Mike Todd had three “bags of lunch” and declared it “Magnifique!”. Open House this year was on the same day as The Great River Race and so that made for good lunchtime diversion before getting back to the church for the afternoon session.
The afternoon session was as good as the morning, if not better with a raft more visitors, including Pippa Moss and her family, who thoroughly enjoyed themselves: “We saw the ringing and then went up to look at the bells.”
However, for Pippa’s children, after a long day not even our cacophony could wake them: “We had our 2 and 4 year old with us and the 2 year old was so tired she fell asleep in the bell tower while the ringers played away – nothing would wake her and she had a comfy spot lying on the window seat!”
There was a lot of interest in The Docklands Ringing Centre and in ringing generally, and if you are one of those people, or even if you aren’t – the ringers will be back this Saturday and again the week after with some ‘taster sessions’ allowing people to have a go at one of Britain’s most iconic pastimes.
Taster sessions at St Mary, St Marychurch Street, Rotherhithe, SE16 4JE on Saturday 24th September (10.00-12.30) and again on Saturday 1st October (10.00-12.30). The taster sessions will be followed by an intensive ringing course, in the evenings of the week starting Monday 3rd October.
If you would like further information on any of these sessions please call 0845 6804305 or email info@docklandsringers.co.uk.
The DRC and the Recruitment committee would like to thank all those who took part.
