Secretary's Report 2019
Our district meetings in 2019 have followed a similar pattern to those in recent years, but some changes are planned for 2020 to include a couple of morning meetings.
We started in February with ringing on the 10 bells at Soham. There was a good attendance, with a wide range of experience, so we rang everything from call changes to Stedman Caters. The highlight for several ringers was lowering all 10 bells in peal. The March meeting was something of a cliff-hanger because ringing was planned at Willingham and Oakington, on the second Saturday to avoid clashing with the ART conference on the first Saturday. The Willingham clappers were being refurbished during February, but then extra work was needed and they were only replaced the evening before the meeting. And it was a pleasure to ring on the re-bushed clappers as the bells were struck more cleanly and sounded much better. The ART conference itself was significant as the Learning the Ropes Achievement Award was awarded to Jimmy Yeoman, from Burwell and Exning, and the Award for Inspirational Leadership was awarded to Lesley Boyle, our District Ringing Master.
In April, Nick Carver arranged an excellent outing to Norfolk, which was enjoyed by twenty five ringers. We visited an interesting set of 5 towers, which included 2 eights, 3 round towers, 4 ground floor rings, and ended with an anti-clockwise upstairs ring. The ringing was arranged to suit everyone there, with lots of called changes; methods included surprise major and minor with Little Bob and Kent Treble Bob especially for those who were following the ‘Beyond Bob Minor’ course at the Stretham REC.
As usual, our District striking competition was held as the May meeting, at Wilburton this year. There was a record turn-out of 10 teams in total, 7 for the Call Change section and 3 for the Method section. The judges, Colin and Vicki Chapman from Chelmsford, found that the sound of the bells had to compete with rain, hail and a talkative goose. They noted that all the bands had initial problems with striking the 3rd and 4th bells, one being quick and the other slow, and that some of the call change bands rang quite slowly. The Call Change section was won by the band from Cottenham, followed by Isleham. Next were the Stretham band, just one fault ahead of the scratch band, which included 3 Burwell ringers, with Longstanton one fault behind the scratch band. The bands placed 6th and 7th were Oakington and Over. In the Method section, all three bands rang Plain Bob Doubles, and the judges commented that the ringing all sounded good. The Over band were placed first, followed by the bands from Cottenham and Isleham. The Cottenham ringers won the prize for the quiz on London districts which was running during the evening. The Ely DA AGM and inter-district 8-bell striking contest was held later in the month in the Huntingdon District. Three of the four Ely DA districts entered a band for the striking competition at Hemingford Grey. All three bands rang Grandsire Triples and the judges placed the Huntingdon band first, followed by Ely and then Cambridge. There was general ringing during the afternoon at Hemingford Abbots and Fenstanton, with ringing, service, tea and meeting at St Ives, followed by more ringing at Houghton. At the AGM, Dee Smith who is already our District Education Officer, was elected as Recruitment and Training Officer for the whole Association.
June was the first of the summer months which saw rather erratic attendance at our district meetings, probably due to holidays and other commitments. Ringing in June started at Burwell, with lots of call changes of various kinds, as well as major, triples and minor methods, and then moved to Bottisham for the second part of the meeting. In July, we started at Stretham, again with a good combination of call changes and methods, and this time we managed to ring College Green Minor, but Lesley, who had suggested it, was not able to be there. Then we moved to Wicken where it took a little while for ringers to get used to the bells and then we rang some successful courses of doubles methods.
In August, we started by borrowing Great Wilbraham from the Cambridge District, as the tenor was out of action at Swaffham Prior. Visitors from Derby and Hitchin joined our local ringers there, but were unable to stay for ringing at Swaffham Bulbeck so the remaining five ringers rang a quarter of mixed doubles. September was planned as one of our occasional visits to the far west of the district, with ringing at Lolworth (3, 5 cwt, in a straight line), Conington (4, 11 cwt) and Swavesey (8, 14 cwt). The bells at Lolworth are not rung very often, and proved quite a challenge, so we rang a bit of plain hunt, gave everyone a go at rounds, and moved on to Conington where we had been assured that the church is always open. But when we arrived, the church was locked. The tower contact came to help us, though as far as she knew the key was in the vestry where it was always kept. A neighbour had kept a key in the past, and knocking on their door resulted in the return of a key which had been missing for the last five years. With the benefit of mobile phones, we retrieved those ringers who had already set off for Swavesey and rang minimus methods and also whole pull plain hunt on 3 with a cover. Then we finally made it to Swavesey where a welcome cup of tea awaited us, and also some more ringers so we were able to ring all 8 bells.
Our October meeting started at Sutton, where only the front five bells are ringable, and then went on to Haddenham. We focussed on doubles methods for this meeting, with the addition of London surprise minor at Haddenham. In November we rang at Fordham and Isleham and were successful in ringing Yorkshire and Superlative surprise major at Fordham We finished the year in December at Histon, well known for being a cosy tower suitable for a winter’s afternoon. The meeting started slowly when we had enough to ring Plain Bob Doubles, and we progressed during the afternoon to Plain Bob Triples and London Surprise Major.
In addition to the monthly District meetings, Dee Smith, as Education Officer, arranged 5 and 6 bell practices at Stretham in most months. These were designed around the continuing development of our Ringing Remembers recruits, and have included sessions on plain hunt and ringing up and down in peal. Also at the Stretham REC, Jimmy Yeoman arranged and ran a ‘Beyond Bob Minor’ course, leading up to Cambridge Surprise Minor, which has increased the repertoire of all those who attended it. The ringers at St Mary’s, Ely, continue with an 8-bell practice on the second Friday of the month, and welcome visitors to this practice in particular. An Association 10-bell practice has been held at Soham on the third Monday of each month. Thanks to Alan Winter and the local ringers for arranging these practices which are much appreciated; we have rung call changes on 10 and plain hunt caters in most months this year.
And finally, I would like to thank everyone who has made this a successful year for the district: to the ringing masters for making the ringing enjoyable and useful for us all; to the district officers and committee members for their hard work and enthusiasm; to all the incumbents for use of their bells; to the local ringers for welcoming us to their towers; and to our district ringers and visitors for turning up and supporting the district events.
Janet Garnett