Strike Notes 83...

... is now on the website.

Contents for the Central & Southern District newletter:

p1 Mastering Ringing

p3 Melbourne Bus Outing

p4 Canon Frederick Ross

p5 Welcome to New Members

p6 Aunt Sally

p7 Sports Results

p8 Forthcoming Events

8 bell Striking Competition Results

Here are the results of the 8 bell competition held today at Belper. The judge was Philip Hudson from Wollaton.

Position	Team	Method	Faults	Rang
1	Peak	Grandsire Triples	45	2nd
2	Southern Dandy	Yorkshire S Major	48	4th
3	Central	Grandsire Triples	59	6th
4	Southern Beano	Plain Bob Triples	60	1st
5	Chesterfield A	Yorkshire S Major	69	3rd
6	Chesterfield B	Little Bob Major	99	5th

The ringing was recorded and some excerpts will appear soon.

Ringing World online this week

With another national postal strike looming, and having been putting up with regional strikes for over a month now, the Ringing World is continuing to explore options for making the publication available through the web, to reduce our reliance on Royal Mail. As a one-off trial, today's issue is available in full online by following the link from www.ringingworld.co.uk. We would be interested in receiving feedback on this facility - please send comments to online@ringingworld.co.uk

Canon Frederick Ross

It is with deep regret that I am passing on the sad news that Frederick Ross, a past President of our Association, died on Monday September 28th. His funeral will be at Bamburgh at noon on Monday October 5th. There will be open ringing prior to his funeral and a peal will be attempted immediately after the service.

Fred joined the Association in 1968 and held the post of General Secretary from 1969 to 1980. He then became President from 1981 until 1998. Fred rang 681 peals for our Association, out of a total of 1168. This 1000th peal, in 1994, was rung at Melbourne. With a little planning, Rosemary, his wife, also accomplished her 100th peal at the same time.

W W Worthington Memorial Trophy Results

Here are the results of the W W Worthington Memorial Trophy striking competition held at Saint Mary the Virgin, Nottingham. Well done to the two DDA teams.

Place	Team	Faults	Peal Speed
1	St Martin's Guild, Birmingham	210	3h 34
2	Nottingham	270	3h 18
3	Rest of Derbyshire	307	3h 41
4	Liverpool	308	3h 31
5	Peak District, Derbyshire	405	3h 26

The test piece was 351 Stedman Caters and the judges were Chris Poole and Simon Bond. The 2010 competition will be held on Saturday 25 September at Derby Cathedral.

A full report, photos and recording will follow.

6 Bell Results...

Imagine, if you will, a beautifully sunny afternoon in a country churchyard, with six bells ringing across the fields. This is how it was in central Derbyshire on the afternoon of May 9^th – only it was better than that as the bells were ringing in two churches in adjacent villages. The occasion was the finals of the two Derbyshire six bell striking contests. The Horsley Cup is competed for by teams ringing methods and the Arthur Ashby Cup is for those ringing call changes. The call change teams must include at least three ringers who have not rung a peal at the time of the District heat. This year there were six teams in each final; all these teams had succeeded in qualifying in the District heats, which had been held earlier in the year. It was particularly pleasing to see several teams which had never appeared in the finals before, especially in the Arthur Ashby Cup contest.

The ringing for the Arthur Ashby Cup took place at Denby and was judged by Graham Nabb of Kineton in Warwickshire. John Thorpe arranged the draw at Denby and marshalled the ringers so the contest ran smoothly. The Horsley Cup contest took place at Horsley (where else?) and the judge was Susan Marshall, a well-known former Derbyshire ringer. Here Sue’s father, David, oversaw the proceedings.

Cups of tea were available all afternoon in Horsley Village Hall and at 5.00p.m. everyone converged on the hall to enjoy the array of sandwiches, rolls, quiches, pizza, samosas, fruit and cakes which awaited them. During the afternoon the young Horsley ringers, who had helped with the preparation of the tea, had organised a raffle. This made £37, which was divided between the Horsley bell rope fund and the Derby Diocesan Association Bell Repair Fund.

Finally the moment all had been waiting for arrived: the pronouncements on the ringing and results of the contests. Graham started by making constructive comments on the ringing of each of the call change teams. He said the standard of ringing had been high. He placed the teams in the following order:

6^th: Hayfield 59.5 faults

5^th: Hartington 53 faults

4^th: Duffield 51 faults

3^rd: Netherseal 41.5 faults

2^nd: Old Brampton 17.5 faults

1^st Ashford in the Water 14.5 faults

Graham presented the cup to Linda Pelc, who said how pleased she was Ashford had won as some of the ringers were hoping to ring a peal in the next year and would no longer be eligible to enter.

Then Susan gave her verdict on the method ringing contest: she had had some excitement as during the ringing someone in the vicinity had started to use some very loud machinery and she had had to leave her car and find somewhere a little quieter to do the judging – the Vicarage lawn – it was lucky that it was a dry day! Sue also remarked on the high standard of ringing. She placed the bands as follows (no peal times as her dad had never brought her a watch):

6^th Mugginton 161 points

5^th St Peter’s Derby 167 points

4^th Old Whittington 183 points

3^rd Tideswell 207 points

2^nd Darley Dale 210 points

1^st Derby Cathedral 237 points

Sue presented the Horsley Cup to John Heaton. This is the fourth consecutive year that the cup has been won by the Cathedral – several teams have won it three years running, but this is the first time a team has won it four times consecutively.

You can listen to the top two teams - would you like to judge?!

The accompanying photograph shows the Derby Cathedral team (with supporters) and the two judges:

l-r: Roger Lawson, Edward & Anthony Cotton, Pam Timms (holding the Horsley Cup), Jennifer, Christian & Cameron Peckham, Stuart & John Heaton, Pat Halls, Graham Nabb and Susan Marshall.

Below - the Ashford in the Water team.

l-r: Ian Sterritt, Clive Thrower, John Thorpe, Linda Pelc, Alex Pykett, Ian Pykett.

Photos of the other 4 bands from the Horsley Cup:

Tideswell (3rd)	Old Whittington (4th)
St Peter, Derby (5th)	Mugginton (6th)

Words by Pat Halls

Photos by Roger

Sound & mixing by Anthony

Derby win again!

Well done to the Derbyshire band who won the Tewkesbury Shield for the second time. Looks like a comfortable win...

1st Derby Diocesan Association 85% 2nd St Martin's Guild 81% 3rd Gloucester and Bristol Association 72% 4th University of London Society 69% 5th Worcester and Districts Association 64% 6th Oxford Diocesan Guild 59% 7th Coventry Cathedral Society 55% A full report will appear in due course.....

The band this year represented all 4 districts:

Central: Paul Jopp

Chesterfield: John Fisher

Peak: Duncan & Sally Walker, Richard Taylor

Southern: Christian Peckham, John Heaton, Pam Timms, Pat Halls, Tim Peverett

[Update: Sally rang instead of Simon Humphrey, as he had flu]

[Update 2: added the photos]

New Annual Report & AGM update

The new Annual Report is now on the website. For members not at the AGM, your printed copy is on it's way. New this year is the guide to and conditions attached to Grants And Loans.

There were three rule changes proposed and after some debate, two changes were defeated. The members voted to have a Child Protection Officer appointed by the committee.

The General Committee stays the same, except Rod Pearson (Derby Cathedral) has been elected a Vice President and Chris Gilbert is now the Public Relations Officer.

The bell consultants have completed one inspection this year. This was at the one bell tower at Darley Abbey. Mike also mentioned a Sound Control Seminar to be held at Duffield in September. This was to run by the Central Council - more details nearer the time.

Lastly, it was great to see so many new members from Belper being elected. These are new recruits that have been taught in the last year. Simon Westman (Chesterfield District) collected his certificate for his first peal.

Latest issue of Strike Notes is now...

... available on the website. Issue 81 has been published just in time for the AGM. Also issue 80 has been discovered and is now published!

Strike Notes is the newsletter for the Central & Southern Districts, put together by Elizabeth Heaton.

500 as conductor!

Congratulations to our President, Pat Halls, who conducted her 500th peal today! I believe that Pat is the first lady ever to reach this total. Pat called her first peal 50 ½ years ago on 30th August 1958, being the first resident lady to call a peal for the Association. 429 of the peals have been for the DDA.

Details on Campanophile.

Melbourne in the 12 bell final!

The Melbourne band are through to the final for the 4th time! Drawn from the local area, the band practice monthly at Melbourne, and have done so since 1996. This year, numerous practice sessions were held at a variety of locations and seem to have paid off. Coming 3rd, 1% behind the joint winners was a great result!

Melbourne join the Ancient Society of College Youths, Birmingham, Leeds, St Paul's Cathedral, Society of Royal Cumberland Youths, Southwark, Stockton-on-Tees and York to go to the final at St Pauls Cathedral, London on 4th July.

Rotherham:
Place	Team	Marks	Peal Speed
1	Ancient Society of College Youths	82%	3h 37
1	Stockton-on-Tees	82%	3h 22
3	Melbourne	81%	3h 29
4	Bristol	68%	3h 34
5	Exeter	53%	3h 19

The Derbyshire ringers were: Tim Peverett (Breaston), Duncan Walker (Hayfield), Simon Melen (Ticknall), Simon Humphrey (Darley Dale), Paul Jopp (Duffield), Anthony Cotton, Pam Timms, Christian Peckham (all Derby Cathedral).

More information about the competition can be found on the 12 bell web site.

Southern District 6 bell heats

Here are the results of the Southern District Heats held at Sawley today.

Arthur Ashby Cup (Call Change) heat:

Netherseale: 80%

Long Eaton & Sawley: 78%

Derby Cathedral Hornets: 77%

Horsley Cup (Method) heat:

Derby Cathedral Wasps: 90% - Cambridge S Minor (2h34 peal speed)

St Peters: 78% - ? (2h43 peal speed)

Overseale: 71% - St Simons (2h41 peal speed)

Long Eaton & Sawley: 70% - Plain B Doubles (2h38 peal speed)

Derby Cathedral Bees: 66% - Cambridge S Minor (3h peal speed)

Congratulations to Netherseale, Derby Cathedral Wasps & St Peters who will be going to the final in May.

New bell consultant reports

Reports from the bell consultants during 2008 have been put onto the website for the following towers:

Belper

Crich

Dinting Vale 

Heath

Killamarsh

Old Brampton 

Stoney Middleton 

The reports show how much effort our two bell consultants put into their work. Visit the website for information about the free service.

ALL SAINTS, ASHOVER

With immediate effect all Bellringing at Ashover is suspended until further notice, due to recent severe rainwater penetration into the spire, belfry, clockroom and ringing chamber.   This may be the result of last year's earthquake, and the water is now affecting some of the wooden fittings, namely sliders and pulley blocks.    A fund raising scheme "Save Our Spire" was launched in October 2008 to raise £150,000 for necessary repairs to the tower and spire pointing and stonework.   Updated information will be supplied when available.   Philip Mehew Tower Captain of All Saints, Ashover

District ADMs

January is the season for Annual District Meetings. As the officers change, the website gets updated and email gets forwarded to the new committee members.

Central & Chesterfield done, Southern & Peak in the next 2 weeks.

Strike Notes 79...

... is now on the web site.

Contents include:

Situations Vacant (1)

Situations Vacant (2)

Arnold and Walter

Bells for Stedman's Church

Central Quarter Peal Week

Southern Quarter Peal Day

Aunt Sally

Sports Results

Forthcoming Events

Annual Dinner 2009

Have you brought your dinner ticket yet?

The guest speaker is Stephanie Warboys. She rang 94 peals for the DDA between 1981 and 1984.  In 2005, Stef became the first lady master of the College Youths, one of the top two London based societies. The College Youths had been the preserve of male ringers from it inception in 1637 until the society elected to change the rules in 1998. A keen 12 bell ringer, Stef has rung in 19 of the33 twelve bell finals and been in the winning team 6 times.

Details are now on the web site.