Three years after our last attempt at Grandsire Caters, today I called a quarter in Ringing Room. It took us a little while to get into it (actually it took us a little while even to get started, because we met with seven people of whom two were expecting to ring Little Bob Maximus), but after two or three false starts we rang it quite well.

I called this composition, which is what I have called a few times in the tower. I think I got it from the Ringing World Diary originally.

1259 Grandsire Caters

1 2 3 4 5  23456789
-------------------
-     - -  23456978
        s  63452
s     s    23465
- - -      42365
- - -      34265
-   - -    43265879
- - -      24365
- - -      32465
-   - s    43265978
- - -      24365
- - -      32465
-   - -    23465879
- - -      42365
- - -     (34265)
-------------------

When calling Grandsire Caters or Cinques, it's important to know how long each course is. Usually most of the courses are shorter than a plain course because the bobs advance the observation bells through the circle of work. In this composition, every course is five leads except the second course, which is six leads, and the last course, which is only four leads (the quarter comes round at handstroke a lead before the course end).

I rang 5-6, because after the first couple of courses they are fixed in 5th and 6th places (but reversed) at the course ends. Other options would be 7-8, because the 7th is fixed at the course ends, or the tenors (but another member of the band had requested them). Some people like calling Grandsire from the treble, in the tower, so calling from 1-2 on handbells could be another reasonable option.

The first three courses needed some preparation, especially the second course because it wouldn't be a good idea to count up to five in order to work out when to call the single. Instead I noted that the 6th goes into the hunt at that single, and I also learnt that it does 6-7 up at the s4 in the third course.

After that, the composition settles into a regular and traditional pattern, with the back bells switching between the tittums (course end 978) and handstroke home (course end 879) positions. The courses with bobs at 1,2,3 are all the same for 5-6, and the 1,3,4 and 1,3,s4 courses are the same as each other.

To check that I was getting the calls in the right place, I used a combination of following the work of one of my bells, and listening (because I don't look at the screen much in Ringing Room) to the position of the treble. I managed without any calling errors, although it took quite a lot of concentration. The rest of the band rang well, with no serious mistakes or swaps. All in all, a satisfying performance.