It sounds almost unbelievable, but on Thursday we had the first lost handbell peal of the year. And it's not as if we've just been ringing easy things: my total of nine peals includes four of Bristol, one of London, and one of the Nottingham Eight.

We had arranged for Julia to come for a peal this week, but we only decided at the last minute what to ring: spliced London, Bristol, Cambridge and Yorkshire. I found this composition by Don Morrison:

5,184 Spliced Surprise Major (4 methods)
Donald F Morrison (no. 7435)

23456  M  B  W  H
----------------------------------
56234  2     -     L.B.C.L
63542     -        CY.CY
46532  3     -     L.CYYLC.LLC.Y.B
52364  -     -  2  L.C.BB.B.
43265  -       [-] L.CL.
----------------------------------
Six part, omitting [-] from alternate parts.

Contains 1,728 London, 1,536 Cambridge and 960 each Bristol and Yorkshire, 
with 132 changes of method.

It's not particularly designed as a handbell composition, but 5-6 do the same work in each part, which helps (and I was calling it from 5-6). In this style of composition, I like to call the bobs Home in parts 2, 4 and 6, so they come when 5-6 are the right way around, which feels familiar.

So what went wrong? The ringing was generally good, but I found myself repeatedly making mistakes in the Cambridge and Yorkshire in the third course, which should have been a nice easy section. In the fifth part I got very lost, and then the composition went completely out of my head and I miscalled it. Never mind, we'll go for it again when we can.