A Fun Web Site for the Bellringers in North West Suffolk

What a fantastic week for our District! Well done EVERYONE, not just the peal ringers but all of you who have taken part in the many quarter peals and also those others of you who regularly attend practices with commitment to make sure that as many people as possible get the chance to progress.

I'm incredibly proud of the achievements of the week and it's also very heartening that everyone has entered into the spirit of Peal Week and supported our Guild and its excellent Ringing Master...

Last time I congratulated Alison Evans on her first quarter - now I am congratulating her on her first peal! She has been learning to ring at Buxhall and has made fantastic progress. She rang the treble to a peal of doubles conducted by Lesley, with a band made up of NW district members, most of whom are not regular peal ringers. It was a first inside for Carl Wilby, another new member who regularly rings with us at Bardwell on Sundays, and first for the Suffolk Guild for Dr Abby!! Massive we...

Another good practice at Ixworth and great to have Sue, Steve and Barry along. There was a bit of talk about the forthcoming Dedication service on Sunday April 18th at 3pm. I know it's only a week after the Guild AGM which will also be held at Ixworth (on 10 April), but that's just the way things have worked out, and I hope it won't put anyone off coming to Ixworth two weeks running! We'd love lots of people to be there and feel it's a small way of saying thank you to the many people who have...

A good practice at Ixworth tonight. I think after a year with 8 bells we are finally getting used to them!! Although we don't have a strong band or indeed that many ringers, it is rare for us not to ring on the 8. It would be lovely for more of our district ringers to come and visit from time to time...we could really do with a few extras! It's a friendly practice and there's always a box of chocs on the go.

Our next District practice is Plain Bob Doubles at Bardwell using the simulato...

oh dear I haven't blogged for a while. Anyway despite the weather things have got off to a good start in our District, with the young uns enthusiastically ringing quarters when the rest of us are too wimpish to drive out in the ice and snow. No doubt they will put in an excellent performance at the Striking Competition at Pakenham in June!

Thanks to everyone who came to our meeting on Saturday. There was some nice ringing on the lovely cathedral bells. If you enjoyed it why not visit t...

A very busy few weeks lately, particularly the last few days what with my very own l'il chap's big birthday on the 26th...well done Louis, not just on all your own personal ringing achievements but for being so encouraging to the rest of us. I am sure our collective progress as a district has a lot to do with having you around. OK, enough of that. Well done to Alex who is continuing to go from strength to strength, conducting a quarter of mixed doubles this afternoon at Gt Barton. We had a ni...

I've got a feeling this may be a long one as I havent written anything for ages. We had a brilliant trip out to Essex yesterday - our annual District Outing. The weather was foul but it didn't stop us enjoying the lovely bells at Toppesfield, Wethersfield, Finchingfield, Steeple Bumpstead and Helions Bumpstead. We all had a good laugh when we realised the chap who unlocked for us at SB was one of the judges from our Guild Striking Competition!! Mandy has to be congratulated on her excellent c...

Unfortuantely the peal of Bristol didn't go ahead because a member of the band was taken ill, so good luck for next time - hopefully it will be soon!

It's been a busy weekend of ringing. Special congratulations to Alex Tatlow on conducting his first quarter peal today - Grandsire Doubles at Great Barton. We rang a good quarter of Grandsire Triples at Ixworth on Saturday evening, and this morning I found myself ringing the much-maligned Shipping Forecast Singles for service at Euston! I...

It's a big day tomorrow for Gordon and Janet - a peal of Bristol atthe Folly! Good luck, I know you can do it. With it being half term Louis took the opportunity yesterday to do something he'd been wanting to do for a ages - a 3 bell quarter! WHY?? Anyway he enjoyed it , along with Alex and Tom, so well done guys. We had a go at Stedman at Bardwell afterwards but failed, although it was deemed by all to be good practice.

It's been a busy weekend with the our Annual meeting on saturday - see Mandy's report. We went for a peal at pakenham in the morning to mark the retirement of the vicar Revd Ian Hooper but sadly it went a bit awry so we ended up ringing a nice brisk quarter of Annable's London and Norwich instead. Talking of peals, the Folly has been busy recently with lots of peals - one of Yorkshire rung on Friday.

I must thank everyone who contributed to the event at Ixworth in the afternoon an...

I keep adding comments but my blog never seems to get updated! Is it my computer? i have had a really brilliant evening at the Dedication of our bells at Bardwell. Thanks to everyone who came and supported tonight, or who supported us along the way. I cannot believe how much help I have had from all the lovely ringers in our Guild. Thank you everyone!!!!

I've been down the Norman Tower a couple of times while the Ixworth tower steps were being repaired. it's nice to see everyone there again and especially nice going to the pub afterwards.

After the summer lull, ringing is getting going again and it's good to see all the quarters being rung and also to hear about all the different practcies going on in different parts of the district. I hear that Rickinghall practice is going from strength to strength. Please think about going along ther...

It seems like we haven't done much ringing in August. I did post some blogs but they didn't make it onto the website for some reason. Everything'sbeen pretty quiet round here this summer. Even Dr Abby seems to have had the summer off solving people's problems. We had a good practice at Elveden last week and there also seems to have been quite a few weddings this year which have kept everyone busy. I'd be interested to know the going rate for weddings in our district. Because of the restoratio...

We rang 8 for the Sunday service at Bardwell this Sunday! It was great - 8 local ringers!! Thanks to Alistair, Danny, Edith, Louis, Jan, Nick and David!!

Ringing in the summer holidays seems to tail off a bit but I hope we will all get back into the swing of things in September with our usual practice at Elveden on the 1st wednesday of september (2nd I think).

We had a  chance to give the new bells at Bardwell an airing this afternoon, with a visit to Suffolk by Mark Regan and his family. I still feel it's all so unfinished with so many things left to do,  'make do' ropes and the simulator still to set up  - not  to mention a bit of apprehension as the bells rang out in a village where they have not really been heard for decades, so I was a bit nervous to start off with, but it was a great afternoon, finished off with delicious ...

Back ringing in Suffolk after a week sampling the delights of Somerset. The Ixworth practice was reasonably well attended tonight and it was great to see Sue and Steve there, with new peal board! Thanks Steve!

Don't forget it's your chance to have a go on the new Guild mini ring on Saturday at Pakenham. Do let Sal Burrows know if you can come along, as she would greatly appreciate your support

The new treble went in today at Bardwell!! The end is in sight. I will post some photos on here and on the Guild website. This evening we rang a quarter of Stedman triples at Elveden - first for David Steed - well done! We rang in memory of Henry Ivings and also of Doris Cross, sister in law of Jim Paul, one of the well known Elveden ringers of the past.

It was fab to welcome some enthusiastic ringers and others to Bardwell Church on Saturday where they got a sneak preview of the back 5 after listening to a fascinating talk by Peter Hayward of Hayward Mills, followed by a lively debate!  Everyone seemed positive! It was also a busy weekend for weddings in this area, well done to everyone who's been ringing to make these days special !

We rang a peal last night at Lakenheath, the 60th anniversary of the first peal at that tower. It was really enjoyable and the bells seemed to get better & better as we went on. it was great to feel relaxed ringing lots of methods I know as usually I feel really nervous all the time and make mistakes!! No-one made any mistakes. see campanophile for the details.

Johnathon White has made a great contribution to ringing in the Lakenheath area and it's really sad that he has now moved a...

Had a great day on Saturday in London when we looked in at the the 12 bell final at St Paul's. There was great atmosphere and wonderful to hear the bells. It was also great to bump into a few Suffolk mates!

On Sunday we rang a quarter at Rougham to celebrate Abby's graduation from Durham University as PhD. So she's now Dr Abby. See Recent Peals and 1/4s page.