Here is a summary of handbell ringing activity for March 2014, based on performances published on Bell Board. The most notable thing this month was how much handbell ringing was going on in March!  Excellent stuff - more of the same please.   We also noticed in the past couple of roundups that we were noting a lot of people who were leaving the safety zone of the trebles or tenors, so we have given them their own listing this month. 

Some milestones this month:

• Jeremy Spiller has rung 700 peals in hand
• Andrew Browne has rung his first quarter
• E John Wells has rung 500 handbells peals
• Jeff Ladd has reach his 50th handbell peal
• Bernard Groves and Graham John have rung 700 handbell peals together.
• Gary Davies has rung his first handbell quarter. 
• And so has Alice Leetham
• Simon Humphrey has rung 250 handbell peals.

People who went for an inside pair this month:

• Philip Moyse (and congratulations too)
• Marcia Dieppe
• Alison J Lucas
• Ian Redway

Some other items of interest or amusement:

• We thought the Earises were in India, but they sneaked back for a peal of minor (only 14 methods, so they must have been jet-lagged).
• And hey, Barry Hendry, nice to see you back handbell ringing - will there be more?
• Our favourite boy band:  Noonan's Stedman Triples rung silent and non-conducted.  Nice one.
• Couldn't help being amused at this quarter of Kent - a really serious collection of Smiths.
• Good footnote award: Some bands might find ringing Grandsire Triples in hand harder than ringing Kent, but apparently not in Aldershot
• Another good footnote in Hitchin - great effort and we are sure there will be a different footnote next time.....

And now for our featured performance....

It was a tough call this month.  There was a quarter peal studded with firsts and signs of progressive improvement by an Oxford University Society band.  It is great to see active handbell ringing there again, and we look forward to seeing a suitable handbell result from the OUS tour in April.

Also, we are glad to see echoes of Roger Bailey still rebound throughout the handbell world, like the peal rung in Sarajevo (where extraordinarily Roger hadn't rung).  It came with a nice clutch of footnotes, including the fact that is was the 100th handbell peal together for Nick Jones and Mike Trimm.  We have yet to find out if it came about from a suitably Bailey-esque organisational technique.

However, it is not every day someone joins a really quite exclusive club:  those who have rung 1000 handbell peals, so our featured performance is at the famous White House in Aston Rowant with our congratulations to Graham John (who also called it - nice touch):

Oxford Diocesan Guild
Aston Rowant, Oxfordshire

The White House
Wednesday, 12 March 2014 in 2h54 (17)
5040 Bristol Surprise Maximus

Composed by Graham A C John

1–2 Patricia M Newton
3–4 Graham A C John (C)
5–6 Bernard F L Groves
7–8 Graham G Firman
9–10 Katharine J Firman
11–12 Robert H Newton

1000th peal on handbells: 3-4.

(see it on BellBoard here)