We had a fabulous weekend in Nottingham(Saturday) and Loughborough(Sunday); the icing on the cake was being second in the 6-bell method category. We were really thrilled with that!
A few thoughts from some of our team:
Esmé: an amazing experience: full of fun activities, lovely people and great churches. Extremely well-organised. A great chance to meet new people, spend time with friends and ring at new churches in different places.
George: I enjoyed the Peals & Wheels mini-ring, time to chill in the hotel, playing games (and doing homework) on the train, having fun with the KYR and playing Roblox. It was also fun ringing on the 12 bells at Taylor’s Bell Foundry.
Mario: I got to ring at a lot of very good towers which allowed me to gain experience on different bells and weights, as well as ringing things I usually don’t ring. Apart from the ringing, it was a travel experience too as I got to see a city I had never been to. I also got to meet and talk to new people I shared interests with, so overall it was a very rewarding experience for my first RWNYC.
Oscar (Team Captain): I thought this RWNYC weekend was absolutely amazing and possibly my best one so far; there were so many great parts about the day from the different open towers to handbells to being able to play the organ at St Mary’s! It is very hard to pick one favourite bit of the weekend but for me it was the handbells and ringing our test piece because I felt it was the best we had ever rung as a team(and it was!). I also enjoyed ringing at all the different towers on Saturday – especially getting to ring the tenor at St Mary’s – and in Loughborough on Sunday and I thought that this year was slightly better than last year as there weren’t as many teams in each tower and people got more rings. And of course there were great parts of the weekend aside from the ringing like convincing Jen to let us play on the playground 😂 Overall, I thought it was a great weekend and can’t wait for next year.
Daniel: I had a brilliant weekend competing in the RWNYC (Ringing World National Youth Contest) in Nottingham as a team member of the Kent Young Ringers.
On Friday, my team and I had a smooth train journey from London St Pancras International to Nottingham and settled down into our Premier Inn hotel.
After fuelling myself with a veggie breakfast, I was looking forward to the excitement that awaited me for the rest of the day.
Our first destination of the day was the sweet little ring of 6 at Bramcote where the rest of my team and I rang our (quite satisfactory) test piece for the 6 bell method category.
We then enjoyed tower bells, hand bells, and a mini-ring at Beeston (as well as food). My highlight at this tower though, was having a lovely and fascinating conversation with one of the volunteers about how they were engaging with the ART learning the ropes scheme.
The Kent Young Ringers then progressed onto the two rings of 12 in Nottingham and I fulfilled my aim of ringing the 11th at St Mary’s Nottingham. Whilst tenor bells are obviously popular to ring on, I also enjoy ringing bells with other unique, interesting qualities. The 11th at St Mary’s is a good example because it is a listed bell cast in 1595.
Then it was the results ceremony. The grand venue of St Mary’s suited the occasion and made the ceremony very atmospheric. It was a welcome surprise when it was announced that my team came second in our 6 bell method category. This was followed by a pleasant performance on the organ by a fellow team member, eating pizza, and listening to the superb clock chimes at Nottingham Council House when ‘Little John’ struck 9pm. Throughout the day, I was very happy to see familiar faces from outside of Kent.
The next morning, we headed off to spend some time ringing the gorgeous 10 at Loughborough All Saints; having fun on the miniature 12 at the Loughborough Bell Foundry; and enjoying a nice afternoon in Queen’s Park. Afterwards, we had a smooth return journey towards London and Kent.
Overall, it was fantastic to see people enjoying themselves and being well supported by our mascot ‘Oscar’. I am grateful for the amount of effort that was put into such a large event (it certainly paid off), and the time I spent with the rest of my team. Thank you for making my final RWNYC a good one, and I’m sure you’ll see me volunteering at the RWNYC in the future.