Tewkesbury Shield Striking Competition Report:
The sun shone all day for the 35th Tewkesbury Shield Competition, held on May 5th. Again this year, there was a Food and Drink Festival taking place in the Abbey which meant that there were many people milling around all day listening to the ringing.
The test piece was a touch of 400 changes of Erin Caters, composed and judged by Michael and Vicky Wilby.
Disaster was only just averted when four members of the first team drawn were still driving to Tewkesbury. Fortunately, this being the local G&B team, there were some eligible ringers already present, and ten ringers were able to climb up the tower to ring. The four late-comers turned up with seconds to spare and the test piece was successfully completed!
In fact, all eight teams completed the test piece and the results were announced by Michael and Vicky in the Abbey hall.
Their comments on the teams are as follows :-
Team 1 (G&B)
Rhythmic with a consensus among the band over the style and speed of the ringing. The occasional row was rushed, making the tenor appear to sound late. Overall, a confident piece of ringing with a good flow.
Team 2 (Lichfield)
The band didn’t seem agreed on speed. At the start, the back bells didn't seem to work well together, but this improved as the ringing went on. The Kings and 798 course ends came up really well. There was quite a big mistake which took a few 6s to recover from, but the piece finished well.
Team 3 (St. Mary Abbots Kensington)
The ringing was settled, and steadily improved as the piece progressed. There was a tendency for changes to be more strung out rather than have any clips, a bit like follow my leader. Nicely presented.
Team 4 (Worcester Cathedral Guild)
Inconsistent both quick and slow patches within rows, and rows of different lengths. One or two bells struggled a bit, collecting quite a few faults. The ringing recovered quickly after a mistake.
Team 5 (Worcestershire and Districts Association)
The ringing was very slow, and it felt as though it might grind to a halt. There were a few trips. Generally it was just a bit too hesitant.
Team 6 (Derby Diocesan Association)
A very nice, rhythmic piece of ringing. If anything, it was slightly ponderous occasionally as though the band knew it was being judged! A couple of trips just took the shine off a very nice piece of ringing.
Even the blackbird in the garden enjoyed it and joined in!
Team 7 (Hereford Diocesan Guild)
This ringing really was too fast, falling over itself. As a consequence it was quite trippy. If they’d taken a bit more time it’d have been a better piece of ringing.
Team 8 (St. Martin’s Guild)
An enjoyable piece or ringing. The best parts of this touch achieved the best ringing of the day. But it lacked polish some small inaccuracies were dotted throughout. We felt this team didn't make the most of the practice and rounds, so were not as well prepared as they could have been the first quarter of the test piece incurred a lot of faults, but it got better and better throughout.
The Judges then gave the positions as follows :-
| Place | Team | Marks |
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| 1 | Derby Diocesan Guild | 84% |
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| 2 | St Mary Abbots Kensington | 80% |
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| 3 | Gloucester and Bristol Diocesan Association | 79% |
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| 4 | St Martin's Guild for the Diocese of Birmingham | 78% |
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| 5 | Lichfield Cathedral | 73% |
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| 6 | Worcester Cathedral Guild | 68% |
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| 7 | Hereford Diocesan Guild | 64% |
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| 8 | Worcestershire and Districts Association | 63% |
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The trophy was presented to Paul Jopp by Councillor Peter Aldridge, Town Mayor of Tewkesbury.
Congratulations to the Derby Diocesan Association for winning the Tewkesbury Shield for the first time. This is only the third time they have taken part, in 2003 they came fourth, and in 2004 second.
Thanks as usual to those who’s commitment to the Tewkesbury Shield from year to year make the competition a success.The 2008 Tewkesbury Shield is due to take place on Saturday May 3rd. Teams wishing to enter should look out for an advert later this year.
Tim Peverett, Christian Peckham, Paul Jopp, Pam Timms, Richard Taylor, Simon Melen. Missing: Frances Haynes, Roy Meads, David Marshall & John Heaton.
Report by David Bagley
