A very Autumnal morning greeted the 6 teams on 22nd September at Upchurch, the venue for this year’s 6-bell Striking Competition. Luckily the rain held off most of the morning, but there was plenty to eat & drink in the church where it was warm(er) and dry.
The ringing was underway by 10am with the judge Henry Coggill, Master of the Ancient Society of College Youths, sat in his car in the village hall car park listening intently.
By midday all the teams had completed their test pieces, and soon after Henry joined us in the church to deliver the results as shown in the table below:
| Place | District | Represented by | Rang | Faults | Comments |
| 1st | Tonbridge | Hadlow | 1st | 26 | Well structured, worked well together as a team. |
| 2nd | Ashford | Ashford | 6th | 49 | Brisk, but calmed down but a number of rushed changes. |
| 3rd | Canterbury | St. Dunstan, Canterbury | 3rd | 58 | Very determined piece which settled and had some nice stretches of ringing. |
| 4th | Maidstone | Aylesford | 5th | 64 | The ringing showed promise. Quite a mixture of speed throughout. |
| 5th | Rochester | Milton Regis | 2nd | 85 | Very purposeful, a bit rushed but some nice stretches of ringing. |
| 6th | Lewisham | Eltham | 4th | 92 | Good overall structure with some consistent leading. |
Well done to the Tonbridge District, represented by the band from Hadlow. The photo below shows Phil Jarvis receiving the trophy from Henry:
Many thanks to Henry from coming to judge for us, and thanks to the ringers at Upchurch for hosting & providing refreshments throughout the morning.