Saturday 14th April 2018 Warnham Sussex
The weather on 12th & 13th had been dull and on the cool side, but the day of the SEECON dawned a gorgeous warm and sunny day. The host County, Sussex, put on an amazing spread of cakes to match the weather. The Master of the Sussex Association greeted everyone in the church, the team captains made the draw (we drew 3rd of 5) and the contest began. Handbell ringing (Callum got the bug) was tutored in the churchyard while the teams practised and performed and the Bell Meadow Mini Ring was available just a 5-10 minute walk away. Dan and Barnaby rang 2 quarter peals on handbells ( 1 while waiting for lunch!)…
We were absolutely thrilled with the performance by our Kent Team, and I think they were, too, judging by the smiles of joy on their faces as they came out of the tower. It had been very difficult to decide whether to ring R & CC (160 rows) or Plain Hunt 7 (168 changes). The adults decided in favour of Plain Hunt which flowed mostly very well and came very nicely into rounds each time. On the day they rang considerably better than they had in any practice, and were the only team not to ring R&CC.
Once the teams had all rung we made our way down the footpath to the school for our Fish (or Sausage or Pie etc) and Chip lunch and then the nerve-wracking announcement of the RESULTS:
5th: Young@Herts 4th: Guidford 3rd: Essex Oh… the tension…..
2nd: Kent, (and Dan was commended for his ringing of the 7)
and we were pipped at the post by Sussex in first place!
Certificates were presented to each team member and reserve, more photos were taken and then we went off to afternoon ringing at Rusper and Horsham.
Kent Young Ringers (Team)SEECON 2018:
1: Stephanie Runting(L) 2: Rebecca Hall(R) 3: Isabel Hopper (R) 4: Matthew Heasman (M)
5: Adam Moore (C) 6: Barnaby Larter (C) 7: Dan Jarvis (T) (cond) 8: Ellen Jones (R)
Many Congratulations to them all!
Lots of photos are on the KYR Facebook page and the team’s competition piece is on the KCACR FB page.
You can listen to the Sussex entry on the Bellringers FB page.
Next year’s SEECON 2019 will be hosted by Kent.
All the 12 youngsters who were with us for this residential outing were a total delight, a credit to their families and the Association. Would we repeat the experience??? …..YES!!!!!!
Jen Thomas April 2018