Another successful weekend

The handbell day on Saturday went well, although it was almost delayed because a train derailment meant that nearly all the trains from Glasgow to Shettleston were cancelled. Fortunately there was one remaining train at just the right time for all the ringers who needed it, and we managed to start on time.

There were four successful quarters, including firsts of Plain Bob Royal and Plain Bob Major for a couple of people. Jonathan, Nick, Susannah and Jenny, who have been ringing together regularly online, had requested an in-person quarter together and they rang one of Bristol. Tina, Susannah, Angela and Jenny also rang a quarter (actually a third) of Yorkshire to practice for an upcoming (slightly different) ladies band peal.

Unusually, I wasn't in any of the successful quarters. I called another attempt of Plain Bob Royal, and we suffered from a poor choice of composition. I decided to call two singles wrong followed by six homes, thinking that after the first course it would be easy. But we didn't get through the first course, and eventually settled on ringing three homes for practice, which went well. Peter, who conducted the successful Plain Bob Royal, decided that an easy beginning was more important, and chose a composition that started with a home and then kept 3-4 coursing. My other attempt was Cambridge Minor with Jonathan and Timothy, which was going very well until it mysteriously exploded a course from the end. Sometimes that happens in surprise minor.

Apart from the quarters, there were practice sessions in a range of methods from Kent Minor to Yorkshire Major. Everyone went away happy, as far as I know, and it was satisfying to have a good number of people (21) together in person for the first time in a while.

On Sunday morning we rang another peal of Bristol Royal with a slightly different band than last time - Tina and Julia instead of Nick and Matt. I called the same composition, and a lot of the ringing was very good, with just a couple of rough patches. Now that we have a pool of people who are confident with Bristol Royal, I hope we can progress to some of the other surprise royal methods I have been writing about, such as Fermanagh, Remus and Sgurr a'Chaorachain.