Members of Docklands were involved in three quarter peals rung on 3 June 2012 to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the Thames Procession. All details can be found on Bell Board:

——  Waterloo at noon ——   Rotherhithe at 4.30pm ——   Stepney at 8pm ——

Special mention is due to Andrew Smith ringing his first ever quarter (well done!), Alison Hammond, ringing her second (well done!),  Andrew Clark conducting his first of Triples (fantastic!), Kevin Turner ringing his first quarter of Grandsire Triples (well done!) and Greg Rose covering on Stepney’s Tenor for the first time (way to go!). Andrew Clark, Ed Bucknall and Elizabeth LeMoine rang in all three bands.

We’d like to thank visitors who helped to make up our bands. Graham Slade, Tower Captain at Hurst in Berkshire pitched up at Waterloo to join the practice whilst waiting for the Thames Procession to begin. He willingly joined the quarter peal band instead (relieving Trisha for more pressing duties!). John Moore and Iain Davey from Balcombe and Crawley respecitvely, last minute recruits roped in at Friday’s Camberwell practice, enabled us to ring Triples at Rotherhithe. Their bonus was access to Rotherhithe steeple for great views of the dispersing procession vessels.  Sebastian Lucas, Liam Sims and Tom Lawrance, members of the Foster Lane Band coming from other performances elsewhere, enabled us to ring Triples at Stepney. Thanks to all for helping out!

Well done to everyone for contributing to the celebrations and for a perfect 3 out of 3!

There’s nothing like becoming Tower Captain to highlight one’s ringing shortcomings. Imagine my delight when offered a place on a training event geared towards developing and honing some basic conducting skills of which I am wanting. This was offered by Michael Uphill – in fact, it was his last appearance as Surrey Training Officer.

It was a good morning and thoroughly instructive. The Surrey website now features Michael’s article on the Devon Short Peal in which he describes his very good reasons for including it in his training curriculum. His article is followed by a student ‘review’ (well, he did ask).

www.surreybellringers.org.uk/news/using-call-changes-improve-striking

So, go on. Ask me to conduct a Devon Short Peal.

The recruitment committee are looking for help from DRC members to run the upcoming Bermondsey Open Day on Sunday, April 15th

Assistance is needed to distribute leaflets, set up the camera-monitoring equipment, help on the day with crowd management, demo ringing etc.

Please get in touch with Morag if you can assist.

Thanks

The renowned Essex Ringing Course is coming up in April (Thurs 12 – Sat 14). This is a residential course with an excellent reputation and a wide range of training opportunities offered. It is open to anyone and the closing date for applications is 17 February (course fee for adults: £45). Have a look at their pdf (link below) to get more information. If there’s anything you’re unsure about, feel free to discuss with your tower captain, ringing master or tutor.

http://www.eacr.org.uk/files/documents/course/brochure_2012.pdf

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.