One of the things that came out of the aftermath of Roger Bailey's death and subsequent memorial arrangements was that Marcus Wheel has officially come out of handbell retirement.

Four of us met last night for a pretty lighthearted evening of ringing, which included courses of Cambridge, Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, with some ringing of different pairs by some of the band.  It was a pleasant evening, as these evenings are.

We were without Simon, who keeps us sorted out and pushes us on.  And, in the organisation of the evening I had failed to nominate a 'person in charge'.   Instead, everyone stepped up and made a contribution to helping each other out.

But mostly, it was Angela, who not only did her usual job of keeping the treble straight and steering it through some slightly lost ringers, but also took on the mantle of issuing the 'getting in sync' instructions.  These are very helpful instructions like 'hunting above the treble', 'dodging at the back', and so on.  Obviously her success as a handbell tutor at the most recent Scottish Association training day is starting to pay off.

Next week we are going to try a quarter peal, which will no doubt be a cooperative effort too.