Handbell ringers often choose compositions that are designed for handbells, which usually means that a particular pair of bells rings a limited range of positions. For example, 3-4 might be coursing all (or almost all) the time; or perhaps 5-6 might ring only the coursing and 5-6 positions, and never...

Sometimes you are really ready for a handbell session:  you have done your homework, you managed somehow to leave work on time, you feel fed, relaxed and focused.  When does that ever happen?

Certainly not last night: one of those slightly crazed evenings where nothing quite went to plan, and...

Having dedicated September to mastering Bristol Surprise Major, our regular band is now focussed on getting to grips with London.  We have limped to the end of a plain course a few times, but last night we attempted our first quarter.

Unsurprisingly, it didn’t go.  It didn’t go about six...

Last night was altogether more successful.  First, our son rang his first plain course of Plain Bob from the trebles.   Then we knocked off another quarter of Bristol, and then a plain course of London.

Not exactly ‘knocked off’:  it was the hardest composition we had rung thus far, no...