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| St Peter's Ringers and Friends |
Another successful outing for the St Peter’s ringers has drawn to an end with everyone exhausted but having had a wonderful day. This year we decided to visit half a dozen Suffolk towers. A very early start was needed to make the first tower for nine o’clock. Most met at the vicarage to join the minibus driven by Maria but we went our own way as my family were coming along for the ride.
First stop was to pick up Jenny and to drop off the food for the evening’s BBQ, then off onto the A12. All made it to the lovely church at Henley just in time, all that is except for John Harpole who got lost! My young family found a great play area in the village and all the rest of us got stuck into the ringing, having been met by the Church Warden. Nothing too adventurous to start, with Alan calling some call changes on the eight bells. We soon got into method ringing but it was not long before we had to move onto our next destination.
Mr Whightman let us into the next church which was a short drive away in Otley. This was a ground floor ring of six bells. It was lovely that the children could see what we were up to! We rang some Grandsire and Stedman and I had set the challenge for us to ring some Ipswich (rather appropriate I thought!) and we rang a good plain course with only me making a slip. I must learn to count up to two! The Church warden was very keen to show us the unusual full immersion baptistery which was fascinating to see. However we could not hang around too long as the next church was waiting for us.
Off to the market town of Framlingham. The town was busy and the minibus pulled into the church grounds and parked right outside. Not sure if that was the done thing but Don and Alison who met us were very kind and let the minibus stay. We drove off to park in the castle car park. There was a lot of room in the ringing chamber and we soon had the bells up and going. Call changes and plain hunt were interspersed with Plain Bob Triples and an attempt at Yorkshire S. Major which collapsed as Yorkshire had been displaced by Ipswich in my memory! A touch or Erin came round just before we had to lower the 7 and 8 and leave for lunch. Most headed for a pub lunch but my family had an eagerly awaited picnic in the grounds of the castle. We were joined by Alan and we had a good kick about with a blow-up beach ball!
It was soon time to head off down the A1120 to Stonham Aspal where we were to ring next. St Mary and St Lambert’s Church has 10 bells, two more than many of us are used to, so this was to be a nice challenge. We were met by Roy who warned us that the bells were heavy going but Ian eased us in with some call changes, then plain hunt on nine, then we managed a reasonable Grandsire Caters. My biggest achievement of the day was to almost get through a plain course of Stedman Caters which I have never done before. Striking left much to be desired though as I don’t leave enough space over the heavier bells. More practice needed, I think! I then left the ringing to set up for our group photo outside the church.
It was then a short trip to Earl Stonham, our penultimate ring. The church is quite imposing from the outside but inside it is nice and light, even with its impressive hammer beam roof. The ancient paintings above the chancel arch were particularly interesting. The ringing room was up a flight of stairs but open to the church with a low glass panel preventing an unwanted, rapid descent! Lots of doubles were rung on the six bells to give Jenny confidence with her plain hunting and she did very well. Those who could then rang spliced London and Cambridge to finish before we headed off to our final Church.
We arrived at Stowmarket in good time. A parking space was found for the minibus near the church but we had to park in the ASDA car park which was a short walk away. By the time I arrived at the church the eight bells were up and ringing nicely. The Stowmarket ringers are obviously a very dedicated bunch as testified by the many trophies for competition wins mounted on the wall of the ringing chamber. A great ring was had by all but by the end of our allotted time I think we were all exhausted and ready to get back to Essex for the wonderful BBQ hosted by Jenny and Roy.
Many thanks to all those who met us and showed us great hospitality at all the churches we visited. Also thanks to Maria and Paul who drove the mini bus. Biggest thanks are due to Jenny and Roy who hosted the BBQ and who allowed us to take over their lovely house and garden. I am certainly looking forward to the outing next year, wherever that may be.
More Photos can be found in the gallery section of the web site.
Mark Robbins July 2010
