First
peal of Surprise in hand for the Guild.
Tuesday 5 July 2005.
By the end
of July 2004 Andrew, David, Matt and Ian had rung a couple of
peals of Oxford Treble Bob Major and decided it would be fun to
have a go at Yorkshire Surprise. The first few practices consisted
of trying to ring a plain course which took a long time to get to
grips with! Once we had mastered the plain course on our own bells
Matt and David realised they had to do all that learning again if
we were to ring a touch. After much more practice we attempted a
quarter peal and finally scored one on 28 October. A few more more
quarters were rung soon after this, and at about this time we
discovered that the 30th anniversary of the first ECG peal of
Surprise was only a month away!
L-R: Andrew,
David, Matt, Ian
Ever on the
lookout for a challenge it was decided to go for a peal on the
anniversary, which if scored would be the first peal of Surprise
on handbells for the ECG. We got into serious practice and rang
several long quarters - parts of the 3 part composition we
intended to ring. We all recognised this as a long shot, out of
the group only Matt had rung a peal of surprise in hand before,
and that on the tenors, now he was tasked with ringing 5-6,
calling the peal and keeping the rest of the band on the straight
and narrow! Although we had been ringing together regularly, none
of us had rung more than ten handbell peals at this time.
We met in
the Harrison Building on a Tuesday evening in mid December and
attempted the peal, we started well, however after just over an
hour the ringing broke down and the peal was lost. After this
setback we decided to put the project on the back burner for a
bit, and in the spring we concentrated on ringing simpler methods
on 10 bells, scoring peals of Little Bob and Kent Treble Bob Royal
and Grandsire Caters. In June we decided to return to the
challenge, and soon got back in training. The next attempt for the
peal started well and the first two parts were rung without
serious incident, however only courses from the end a serious
mistake developed which resulted in the peal being lost after just
over 2 hours. Another attempt the following week was abandoned
after an hour due to the heat. All the time the method was
becoming more familiar and each time the ringing seemed more
confident.
The peal was
eventually scored in fine style on Tuesday 5 July. The ringing
started at a rather brisk pace, but a comment from the conductor got
it back in check. Following this the rhythm developed and the
ringing was for the most part controlled and accurate. Although
there were still minor trips, most were immediately
self-corrected. Rounds came up cleanly (and in the right place!!!)
a little after 8 pm. There was a great sense of relief, which
lasted until Matt suggested brightly "So when shall we do
that again?"
This
certainly represents a considerable achievement for the Devon
Guild and also for the ECG, as well as a personal success for
those who took part. What will they tackle next?
Guild of Devonshire Ringers
(Exeter Colleges Guild)
Exeter, Devon, Harrison Building, Exeter University
Tuesday 5 July 2005 in 2h 18 (15 in C)
5088 Yorkshire S Major
Comp: D F Morrison
1-2 Andrew P Digby
3-4 David G Maynard
5-6 Matthew J Hilling (C)
7-8 Ian L C Campbell
First of Surprise in hand for the Guild and for all except 5-6.
First of Surprise in hand as conductor.
Silver wedding anniversary compliment to Mike and Mary Mears.
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