For one reason and another, we seem to have an ever-increasing number of different combinations of people coming to ring more or less regularly. There's our "core four", of course. Despite trying to coordinate Seph with the core four in order to do some 10-bell ringing, we've slipped back into a pattern of 6-bell ringing with Seph and without Jonathan and Angela. Nick is coming about once a month for 10-bell ringing, and more recently we've started a different 8-bell band with Marcus, while Angela is spending some time finishing her MSc.

We organise our sessions around projects, rather than just getting together for general ringing. We like having a focus, and we like extending our repertoire. So usually we have a quarter peal project on the go, and something more difficult that we're practising, which will eventually become the next quarter peal project. A typical evening session consists of a quarter peal (attempt), followed by refreshments, followed by practice. Depending on which band is here, there's often a bit of SACR business too. Anyway, the increasing number of bands means an increasing number of projects:

• With Jonathan and Angela, the main project is a peal of 8-spliced. We can't arrange peal attempts very often, so meanwhile we're keeping in practice by ringing quarters of 8-spliced with different compositions. We've just started getting to grips with Glasgow, so that will become the next quarter peal project when we think we've spent enough time on 8-spliced.
• With Seph, the current project is a quarter of Beverley, which we've lost once so far. After that we'll bring in Surfleet, Berwick and Hexham, and aim for a quarter of 4-spliced. After our quarter peal attempts, we practise Cambridge with Seph on an inside pair.
• With Nick, we've been working our way through Cambridge, Yorkshire and Lincolnshire Royal. Next time he comes we'll go for a peal of Cambridge. After our last quarter, of Lincolnshire, we had a go at Littleport as a step towards Bristol. This led to a discussion about whether, on 10, London might be easier than Bristol, which would be the opposite of our experience on 8. If we get our peal of Cambridge, the next quarter peal project might be spliced Cambridge, Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, and we'll keep working on Littleport or maybe London.
• Marcus is keen on working back up to his former repertoire, so we've arranged a quarter of 4-spliced Surprise Major (CYNR) for next week, and maybe we'll practise some Bristol afterwards.

Meanwhile, this Saturday is the SACR AGM and striking competition, so we'll take some handbells along and see who wants to do some ringing in between our competition touches.