On Saturday we had the annual Scottish Association training day, at which I was running a Bristol group at Dunblane. At Angela's suggestion I took the mini-bells, and although we didn't have time to do any ringing during the day, we did get them out in the pub after dinner.

They're ideal for pub ringing - we sat in one corner, and I doubt whether the bells could be heard from the other end of the lounge, over the conversation and general pub noise. We rang some Kent and some Oxford with Ian and Barbara Bell, who have recently moved to Edinburgh, and Peter Kirton from St Andrews; we hope to get them all along to a handbell day this year. We rang some Little Bob with Colin North and Jenny Holden from Aberdeen, who are already handbell day regulars. We rang some Plain Bob Minor and some Kent Minor with Alex Frye, who should be able to try Cambridge at the next handbell day. And as it had been a Bristol day, we rang three leads of Bristol with Chris Frye. As he is the only member of his family who hasn't rung a quarter at 1 Albany Quadrant, we are also hoping to entice him to a handbell day.

So we're continuing to revive the old tradition of handbell ringing at association events, and we're continuing to discover new Scottish handbell ringers. The mini-bells attracted a lot of interest. I'm going to try to find time to make another set soon, to see if I can perfect the process and find out how long it takes now that I know what I'm doing.