Saturday 4th October saw one of our biggest handbell days, with a total of 19 ringers attending.  Handbell ringers came from Aberdeen, Dundee, Dunblane, Haddington, and Edinburgh.  There was even a representative from our unoffical Southern Branch in Penrith.  This may be our broadest geographical spread, and in itself shows the growth in handbell ringing in Scotland in the last 6 or 7 years.

Chris Frye's attendance this time allowed us, at last, to collect the entire Frye family, all of whom have now rung at least one quarter peal in Albany Quadrant.  We also welcomed Ian and Barbara Bell for their first handbell day, along with Nigel Booth (making a welcome return to handbell ringing after many years), and Monica Menis, a brand new handbell ringer.

We rang six quarter peals, including Monica's first quarter, and Alex Frye's fist on eight in hand.  While we are always pleased to ring lots of quarter peals, the number rang does not reflect the full range of activities during the day, or the usefulness of what was accomplished.  At the request of several ringers we arranged for an increased number of practice sessions, to allow some of the less confidant ringers to gain steadiness and improve their rhythm.  As we now have a growing number of handbell ringers comfortably ringing Plain Bob and attempting treble bob, these practice sessions will probably have more prominence in future handbell day schedules for a while.  Simon's very detailed schedule also included opportunities for many of us to have a go at calling things - the lack of conducting experience is holding back a number of bands in Scotland. 

In addition to quite a lot of Plain Bob, there were several sessions to practice Kent and other Treble Bob, a Surprise Minor session, a Stedman session, and a special session for the children.  This was quite successful, with Bethany Cater ringing a confidant plain hunt on 6 without much prompting, Dorothy Gay having a go a plain hunt on 8,  Paisley Cater ringing jump changes, and Thomas Gay having a go at Bastow minor from both the tenors and the trebles (this last turned out to be a first for the rest of the band too, so was successful on several fronts).

The day concluded, as ever, with dinner and a chance to have a go at Kent on 14, 12, and 10, and some Surprise Major.  And we finished by practising various sections of the peal attempt scheduled for the next day (and that is another story).

The day was so busy that I barely said more than 'hello' to many of our regular attenders, but it was great to see so many people, and how many have made good progress since the last handbell day in May. 

All quarters rung for the Scottish Association, 1 Albany Quadrant, Glasgow on Saturday 4th October:
1312 Bristol Surprise Major
1–2 Angela H Deakin
3–4 Jonathan S Frye
5–6 Simon J Gay (C)
7–8 Julia R Cater

1280 Kent Treble Bob Major
1–2 Barbara Bell
3–4 Jennifer A Holden
5–6 Robin R Churchill (C)
7–8 Colin P North

1344 Plain Bob Major
1–2 Alex P Frye
3–4 Stephen A Elwell-Sutton
5–6 Julia R Cater
7–8 Simon J Gay (C)
First on 8 in hand: 1-2.

1360 Plain Bob Major
1–2 Judith L Frye
3–4 Tina R Stoecklin
5–6 Ian P Bell (C)
7–8 Nigel Booth

1360 Plain Bob Major
1–2 Angela H Deakin
3–4 Robin R Churchill (C)
5–6 Colin P North
7–8 Christopher J Frye
The house has now circled the Frye family to quarter peals.

1260 Plain Bob Minor
1–2 Kate Le Chevalier
3–4 Monica Menis
5–6 Simon J Gay (C)
First in hand: 3-4.