Mid-Devon Tower Talk - Autumn 2024

Joint practice with southwest branch August

For quite some time we have been holding joint practices each August with the South West Branch. The thinking is that holiday time can be difficult to raise enough ringers so a joint approach is a good idea.

This time it was Mid-Devon's turn to organise it and for various reasons it was not possible to ring at Buckfast Abbey as we had hoped. We decided to use the ruined church at Buckfastleigh instead. We need not have worried that this might not be as

popular. We had an excellent turn-out especially from less experienced ringers who were pleased to experience a new tower. The bells go well but the glass wall in one side of the tower does not help on a warm summer's evening. At the same time we managed a full evening of ringing particularly for the less experienced. We did finish a little early to cool off in the ruined church and take a photo.  https://photos.app.goo.gl/gdFPdRZ1s4p3tVCV7 
Many thanks to all for the excellent support

Training morning – Plain Hunt and Plain Bob – Ilsington

Our training mornings have been very popular; this one was no exception and it was good to have such an excellent response. Of course, these mornings cannot happen without the support of willing helpers and we are very grateful for all those who came to help. It was also good that some of the participants who were there for the plain bob aspect were able to be helpers for the Plain Hunt section. After about one hour we had a short break for refreshments thanks to Nigel Birt our branch secretary. Then it was back up the tower for a final session. It was obvious by now that quite a bit of progress had already been made and people were looking much more confident and trying more advanced ringing, for example moving on from plain hunt to ringing the treble to a method. The general atmosphere was one of support and good humour – we know we can't always get it right but it was clear that everyone was trying very hard.

At the end of the morning when we gathered outside for the group photo and there were many comments about how useful it had been. Ilsington are a lovely ring of bells and we are very grateful to the local ringers for making the arrangements for our visit. It was good to have the Guild Ringing Master (Peter Bill) with us and we send grateful thanks to all the students for their hard work and to the helpers for their patience and willingness to ring yet another session of plain hunting!! We know that to see the sort of progress being made makes it all worth while.

Thanks to Nigel Birt for this group photo.  https://photos.app.goo.gl/DzryfyykjfZ5R3mP8 

Branch 8 bell practice – Teignmouth St James

Despite the perennial problem of parking there was a very good turnout for this practice. A good variety of methods (and several sessions of Call Changes) were achieved. Ground floor rings can be challenging for less experienced ringers but with a little support all managed well. Some of the more experienced ringers were also able to move slightly out of their comfort zone with things like Cloister Triples!

We always have a warm welcome in Teignmouth and, of course, this was no exception. Many thanks to them for allowing us to join them and to all the visitors for their support.

We were also able to ring some special ringing in memory of David Robertson, a former Assistant Ringing Master of the branch whose funeral was a few days later.  https://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/view.php?id=1771316 

St Marychurch Open Tower

Conversation with Fr. Nick Debney (our vicar ) - "We have discussed in our new Social committee, and we are going to open the Tower for the afternoon very soon, can the ringers help out?". Well, I'm glad to say that at fairly short notice, they could!
The congregation had provided several volunteers to escort visitors up the tower and the whole thing had been coordinated by Jason Watkins from the Servers.

An interesting display was put on in the church and refreshments including soup and a roll had been laid on. We were delighted that Ian Avery was able to bring along the Frank Mack ring and that was set up in the base of the tower where it was a popular feature, especially with some of the younger visitors. Groups were assembled of about 10 and two escorts. Once a group had got to the top the next group was sent up to the ringing room where they were a captive audience for Wena Mansley and her enthusiastic helpers. She used a model bell to demonstrate how a bell works and then (once the group had come down past the bells – didn't want to deafen them!) there was a quick demonstration of rounds on the back six bells.

More and more groups kept appearing until we had to double up the numbers to make sure everyone could get up before time caught up with us. The very patient helpers heard the talk quite a few times and Wena was almost hoarse by the end of the afternoon. We are extremely grateful to Wena and her "staff" for all the hard work. In the end over 200 visitors climbed the tower and almost 400 visited the exhibition downstairs. Altogether a fantastic afternoon. The New Social Committee was delighted by the response, and we don't think it will be the last time this sort of event is held.

Branch Outing to Cornwall

The area just the other side of the Tamar has a lot of very narrow lanes! This was brought home to us on our branch outing in early October. Our first tower was Calstock and several people got there quite early so we soon had the bells ringing to a variety of methods and quite a few spells of call changes for the less experienced. A pattern that continued throughout the day.

Kevan then gave us a warm welcome to St Dominick making the second ground floor ring. We then moved on to the superb 8 at Pillaton. Many thought this was the best ring of the day. Some stayed here for lunch at the pub (The Weary Fryer) which is only feet away from the tower. Others moved on to Callington where we rang straight after lunch. Another good 8 much enjoyed. Not too far away was our third and final 6. Lezant are another ground floor ring and a very pleasant six.

Our final tower was the quite heavy 8 at Lifton. Again they were much enjoyed and several ringers were delighted to ring the tenor which actually goes pretty well for it's 21 cwt. From here the A30 was an obvious route home and before we went many people mentioned what a good tour it had been with some excellent rings of bells and very welcoming local ringers to whom we give our sincere thanks.   Group photo at https://photos.app.goo.gl/oECjBqJ9d88iNeeD7 

10 bell practice St Marychurch

Quite an easy one for me – home territory. We were delighted to welcome almost a complete team from Teignmouth who had cancelled their own practice to attend. Several were ringing here for the first time and there were quite a few ringing on 10 for the first time. Quite a tower-full but a pleasure to see everyone. We managed a variety of basic methods including Plain hunt on 9 and Plain Bob Caters with several ringers trying Cloister Caters for the first time.

A very enjoyable evening showed the importance of these branch practices where ringers can combine to increase the possibilities of what can be rung. Thanks to everyone for working so hard to push boundaries.