The Isle of Dogs quarter peal band (l to r) Emma, Roger, Andrew, Graham, Rod, Paul.
We have quite a few ringers working their way up the ladder, and it can be quite difficult arranging quarter peal attempts for them. However, as the first few become more experienced it becomes easier and easier, as you have a larger pool of ringers to draw on.
This weekend we had enough ringers to attempt four quarter peals, two on Saturday morning at Walworth, either side of an Ordination service, and then two simultaneous attempts on Sunday evening at Isle of Dogs at Rotherhithe.
The weekend got off with a hiccup as we lost the first attempt for Bob Doubles less than 100 changes from the end. This would have been Paul Harding’s first inside. After the service we went for Grandsire Triples, but this had to be cut short as the ordination service had over-run by about 45 minutes, and four of the band needed to get away to ring for a wedding at Isle of Dogs. But we did ring a very good touch of 336 changes – a quarter of a quarter!
The wedding at Isle of Dogs was also quite unexpected as the bride only rang us up at 8.30 that morning asking us if we could ring. There had been a mix up over the booking and we had not been asked, however she was really keen to have the bells rung for her big day. And if the bride goes to that trouble at 8.30 am on her wedding day what can you do? Fortunately, by the miracle of the internet and the number of ringers we have to call on, we were able to field a team of seven ringers ready to ring out at 2.00pm. The bride and the vicar were very pleased indeed!
On Sunday Emma Roberts rang her first quarter by ringing the treble at Isle of Dogs to Bob Doubles very well indeed, and Melanie Powell rang her first quarter of Grandsire Doubles inside at Rotherhithe, at more or less the same time.
All things considered, quite a successful weekend, and we look forward to ringing more quarters more frequently from now on, especially as we had eighteen different ringers take part in the four attempts, and we have a number of other people waiting in the pipeline to progress and join in. Exciting times.
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