On Saturday 21st April, 4 teams from across the Rochester District gathered at St. Dunstan, Frinsted for the annual call change competition. It was a lovely sunny day so everyone could enjoy the sunshine whilst also enjoying the tea, cakes and ringing!
Stephanie Rueff and Richard Barclay had agreed to judge for us and found a nice shady spot in the corner of the churchyard.
Once all teams had rung and we’d had our quarterly business meeting, the judges joined us and the results were as follows:
| Place | Rang | Tower | Faults | Comments |
| 1st | 2nd | Milton Regis | 11 | Slow, but didn’t cause any issues. Steady pace throughout. Often a clip at the first blow after the change. Small kerfuffle at around 120. Sped up at the end. Used all of their practice and whole pulls of rounds at the start. |
| 2nd | 1st | Tunstall | 17½ | Started off quite well, good trebling. Clips often in 2nds place in the row. Took 1 or 2 blows to settle down after each change. Good tenor beat. Sped up at the end. Lots of rounds in this piece, perhaps be a bit more adventurous. |
| 3rd | 4th | Rochester Cathedral | 22½ | Clearly wanted to get to the pub before last orders! Fastest of all teams, but the bells can be rung fast and well. A bit inconsistent with clippy faults throughout and different speeds as well. Tenor was pushing the band on. |
| 4th | 3rd | Bredgar | 25 | Jittery start, but improved throughout. Most faults picked up in the first 70 changes, much less in the 2nd half. More concentration on open handstroke leads needed. Did settle down at times but then a clip would unsettle them again. |
A representative from the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place teams then came up to collect their certificate from the judges – and the trophy will follow to Milton Regis once it has made its way out of the previous winners’ house! Well done to all teams who took part – it was especially encouraging to see people taking part in a competition for the first time – hopefully it won’t be the last time they do either.
Many thanks must also go to Richard & Steph who came straight from running in the morning to be our judges, and were off point to point racing soon afterwards!
A couple of photos of the winning band & certificates being collected are below.
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- 1st place certificate for Milton Regis
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- 2nd place certificate for Tunstall
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- 3rd place certificate for Rochester Cathedral
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- The winning band from Milton Regis
