Here's the latest, gathered from BellBoard. Some quarters:
- First quarter in hand: Gabriel Bradley
- First quarter as conductor: Emma Stanford
- First quarter as conductor in hand: Andy Mead (doubles - unusual) and Daniel Vernon
- First quarter on an inside pair: Karen Maughan
- First quarter of Minor in hand: Peter Kirton, at a new Scottish venue
- First quarter on 8 in hand: David Richards
- First quarter of Yorkshire in hand: John Harrison
- A quarter of Plain Bob Minor on new pairs: Richard Smith and Fran Rogers
- First quarter of major in hand: Derek Williams, Christopher Jarman, Gerald McIlhone, and first quarter of major in hand as conductor for Peter Bill
- Most methods in hand for Maureen Hanney, and most methods inside for Ian Redway
- First quarter on 1-2 on 8 for Robin McKinley-Dickinson, and first on an inside pair on 8 for Gary Davies
- First quarter of minor in hand: Kathryn Nye
The Middlesex Handbell Day included a first quarter of major in hand for Martin Clode and a first quarter of treble bob major for Rebecca Gingell.
http://www.bb.ringingworld.co.uk/view.php?id=452491
http://www.bb.ringingworld.co.uk/view.php?id=452490
http://www.bb.ringingworld.co.uk/view.php?id=452122
A new band is pleased with progressing to Plain Bob Major:
http://www.bb.ringingworld.co.uk/view.php?id=450743
We would love to know more about the bell ringing day at Seven Fields Primary School, Swindon, which included a quarter.
Now on to peals.
- First handbell peal for George Salter, and it's Stedman Triples.
- First peal of Stedman Caters in hand for Alistair Cherry, with what looks like a good composition for handbells.
- A peal and another one of plain minor - tricky stuff.
- A peal of 7 delight minor and a peal of multi-doubles.
- A peal of Cambridge Maximus at 9G Highbury Crescent, Islington doesn't claim any firsts but seems a step beyond the usual repertoire for the band.
- Two maximus methods have been pealed on handbells for the first time: Azura Delight, which looks nice and combines features of Zanussi and Phobos, and Backnang Surprise, which is a bit more Yorkshire-ish.
- Norman Smith's 23-spliced has been rung again.
- Norman Smith's series of 9-27 spliced seems to be gaining popularity: two separate bands are ringing it.
- The ODG rang two peals of spliced royal on the same day with separate bands.
- The 200th peal has been scored at Woodcote House, Londonthorpe, Lincolnshire.
The featured performance this month is the Cambridge University Guild dinner touch. I believe that the tradition of the dinner touch started in the 1960s, when there was a band of students ringing peals of Stedman Caters and Cinques - the likes of Andrew Hudson, Clarke Walters and Hadley Hunter. The dinner touch was the so-called "Z course": 120 Stedman Cinques, called 1, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19. As time went by, the same touch was always rung, although usually there wasn't a band who could naturally ring it; intensive practice was required throughout the academic year, and the result was a whole series of CUG members whose handbell repertoire was Plain Bob Minor and that particular touch of Stedman Cinques. I rang in it four times, from 1988 to 1991, which was a significant factor in developing what little twelve-bell ability I have. A few years ago there was a rather controversial break with tradition when the dinner touch was a three lead touch of Spliced Surprise Maximus (Phobos, Bristol, Phobos). This year they have again defied tradition by ringing some of the methods from David Pipe's celebrated "quark peal". I wasn't at the dinner but I'm sure it was a great performance.
Cambridge University Guild
Cambridge, Cambridgeshire
Lucy Cavendish College, Warburton Hall
Saturday, 14 March 2015 (17 in A)
172 Spliced Maximus (3 Methods)
96 Strange Differential, 48 Top, 28 Charm Differential; 7 changes of method
1-2 Imogen R Diver (Girton)
3-4 Rebecca C Harwin (Jesus)
5-6 James R A Dann (Corpus Christi)
7-8 Oliver P Bardsley (Pembroke)
9-10 Robert K Flockton (Queens') (C)
11-12 Max L D Drinkwater (Jesus)
The first public performance of quark methods on handbells.