You know the rest...
Last week we reached a point of conflicting projects.
- The 23-spliced project, which was originally supposed to follow our success with 8-spliced last summer.
- The Horton's Four project, which we embarked on after ringing it in the tower in December.
We have had some success with quarters of Horton's Four, and last week we went for a half peal (it's quite neat; you just add a bob Home in the LG.L course and then ring the rest of the peal):
2688 Spliced Surprise Major (4 methods) Roderick R Horton 23456 M B W H --------------------------------------------- 45236 - - LG.L. (32654) - - L.G. (65243) 2 - GG.BG.FBF. 42635 3 2 - GG.GB.BG.BFF.F.FB. 23645 3 2 L.B.B.G.B.L 46532 - - L.G.F (63425) - BFBB. (723465) I/B/V/W G.F.L.FF. 273564 V/W GB.L.F (742365) I/V/V LL.BL.GL. 275463 F/I/B/B/F/3H BG.F.F.GB.B.G.F.F. 742653 M/M/W/W L.GL.G.B.L 352764 V/I/F/3V/W G.GG.BF.FFL.GL.F.L.B 23456 V/H G.FL. --------------------------------------------- 768 Glasgow, 672 Belfast (F), 640 Bristol, 608 London
We rang well until the tenors stopped coursing, and then it all went haywire - some combination of fatigue, nerves, and the undeniable fact that I ring less well if the tenors are split. It was good progress, but we need another step change in our ringing level if we're going to be able to get the peal.
Of course we could keep practising until we manage to ring Horton's Four, and then move on to 23-spliced. But there's another factor: the 30th anniversary of the first handbell peal of 23-spliced is on 2nd October this year, and I would love to ring a peal for it. It seems unlikely that we can score Horton's Four and have time to practise 23-spliced, all before October, so we decided to pause the Horton's Four and switch to 23-spliced.
The first step in the 23-spliced training programme is a 7-part quarter of 8-spliced, which we attempted a couple of times but never quite managed; never mind. The next step is a quarter of Glasgow, which we have rung more than once. After that comes a quarter of spliced with Glasgow, Wembley and Jersey, so that's what we went for on Monday. For reasons that made sense to me at the time, that quarter also includes Norwich, but the band rebelled and we substituted Belfast (it's false with Bristol):
1344 Spliced Surprise Major (6m)
S.J.Gay
2345678
----------------------
Wembley- 6423857
Jersey 3547682
Yorkshire 7852364
Glasgow 8276543
Lincolnshire- 2643857
Belfast- 4263857
----------------------
7 part
We rang the first four parts and then broke down. After a break for refreshments, we rang the last three parts. Wembley and Jersey are the same above the treble, which is both helpful and confusing; the danger is mixing up the work below the treble. We did alright in the Glasgow and Belfast, but it's a long time since we last rang Lincolnshire. After that we rang a course of Double Dublin, which is a simple variation of Bristol but requires care.
The next step is a quarter of Preston, which is principle should be helped by all the Glasgow we've been ringing. To keep on schedule, next Monday we're going to try the quarter of spliced again and follow it with the Preston.