Sunshine greeted us at Frittenden where we had to disappear into the ringing room for practice, practice, practice.
Neil sat outside with his clipboard and Ben recorded the ringing for even more evaluation later. The test piece and variations were rung several times, trying to make the best band placements.
Benenden was our next tower; a cooler atmosphere greeted us here as we quickly ate our lunch before going to the ringing room. Rounds & Call changes on 12 for the Young Ringers here followed by Plain Hunt 11 several times, Stedman Triples on the back eight and Grandsire Caters. Then we piled into various cars and made our way to Appledore in the rain to continue a variety of methods and call changes. A spot of 2-man ringing on the 7th kept us amused, especially as one stayed seated! The fascinating church and tower of Brookland was our last tower and the most advanced ringing of the day: a variety of spliced Doubles methods, Plain Hunt, PB and Grandsire Minor followed by Original. Some Call Changes (called the wrong?/right? way!!), Bastow for Jane and then a course of Cambridge preceded the lower.
There was plenty of room in this fascinating wooden “cage” structure to hide behind the beams, do a spot of unseen (almost) dancing and capture a Golden Retriever who exploded into the ringing room during the Cambridge.. a couple of eyebrows were raised but the ringing suffered not! Were the ropes too long?.. or did Neil have to avail himself of a chair here because he is just too tall????
Jennifer Thomas 4th June 2019