Lewisham District – June update

Dear all,

Welcome to Summer! Here’s the latest news from your Lewisham District.

Ring for the King

Congratulations to all the towers who rang for the Coronation on the 6^th May Bank Holiday weekend, many of them with new or returning ringers ringing for the first time. Successful quarter peals were recorded at Hayes, St Mary Cray, Foots Cray, Farnborough, Crayford, Chelsfield, Bexley, Bickley, Beckenham and Sidcup, with general ringing at a further eleven towers. Many congratulations to the three ringers who achieved their first Quarter Peal:

• • Oscar Brooks-Wilkins, treble to 1260 Plain Bob Doubles at Farnborough
  • Anthony Bompas, treble to 1260 Doubles (2 methods) at Crayford
  • Daniel Million, tenor behind to 1260 Doubles (3 methods) at Chelsfield

Thank you to all the leaders who have put in the time and effort to recruit and teach their learners over the last few months. Let’s hope to see many of them carrying on with their ringing careers!

Call Change and Striking Competitions

Many congratulations to the Crayford and Eltham bands for winning the Call Change and Striking competitions, which were both held at St Mary Cray on the afternoon of 20^th May. Thanks to Peter & Lana for arranging the refreshments, and to Adam Rebick of Southwark Cathedral who judged for us – in his general comments he said how impressed he’d been with the overall standard of ringing on the day which must bode well for us all. Five teams entered the Call Change competition, and four the Striking. The results were very, very close!! The final top 3’s were:

Summer programme 

Here’s the details for the next couple of upcoming District events:

Friday 9^th June: District Practice, 7–9pm at West Wickham. All welcome, ringing from rounds upwards.

Saturday 1^st July: District Country Meeting, Maidstone.

An opportunity for some “out of District” ringing! Both towers in Maidstone have really super bells – a “musical box” light 8 at St Michael’s, and a magnificent heavy ten at All Saints.

There are good train links to Maidstone, or plenty of parking around each of the towers – though please note that most of the town centre car parks are Pay and Display. There are plenty of pubs and eateries in the town. The walk between the two churches takes about 15 minutes through the town centre, or a few minutes longer along the riverside – be aware that that route does involve a steep hill but it’s a prettier way to go!

Here’s the programme for the day:

1030 – 1200 open ringing at St Michael and All Angels; 8 bells, tenor 6-1-24 in C

1215 Quarterly Business Meeting at St Michael’s

1245 Lunch & transfer to All Saints

1430 – 1600 open ringing at All Saints; 10 bells, tenor 32-0-20 in C#

Please could you remember to bring a pound or two with you so that we can leave a respectable donation at each tower.

There’ll be no event in August; the next District Practice is on Saturday 9^th September, 10.30am at Ash-by-Wrotham.

Firsts and Footnotes

May’s highlights, from BellBoard –

• First Minor and first treble-dodging – Daniel Oates; treble to 1296 Cambridge at Sidcup
• First on eight – Oscar Brooks-Wilkins; treble to 1260 Plain Bob Triples at Farnborough
• 200^th quarter peal – Tom Winter
• Circled the tower to quarter peals – Graham Long (Hayes) and Debra Say (Bexley)

Lovely news comes to us from Tom and Helena of Bromley Parish with the birth of Rufus Tristan Mattingley-Hinks on 8^th May. And finally a very special (perhaps unique?) footnote for a District member – David Macey rang for the Coronation service itself at Westminster Abbey on 6^th May, congratulations David!

That’s all

You can contact us any time by email  . We hope to see you soon. 

Best wishes

Ruth & Nigel