Saturday, 21st September, 2019
On a beautiful late summer’s day the Wimborne Minster ringers went on our annual tower outing accompanied by several of our ringing friends. This year our destination was the Trowbridge area of Wiltshire with a little foray into Somerset. Ben and Rosemary had spotted the potential of this area for an outing when driving through on the way to see their new grand-daughter. We were missing a few of our number for a variety of reasons, from family commitments to being in Zambia teaching IT skills and soap-making! We ranged in age from 15 to quite a bit older.
Our first stop was at the ancient church of St Peter and St Paul’s in Longbridge Deverill. We arrived early after after a drive with splendid views across Salisbury Plain and waited for 10 o’clock in the warm sunshine. Alan began his role as ‘official photographer’ finding the best views of the church and tower. Some of us found the bells here a little tricky with long low ropes and had difficulty hearing calls as the bells were quite loud, so we stayed with plain courses. We enjoyed ringing Stedman Triples and Cambridge Major. We were grateful to Kathy for being our ‘leader’ at this tower.
Our next stop was All Saints’, the imposing 14th century church in the centre of Westbury next to the market-place, its churchyard edged with cottages. With its 35 cwt tenor it is the 3rd heaviest peal of 8 in the world and many thanks go to Hilary for organising us here. We rang call changes, Grandsire Triples and Spliced London, Bristol and Superlative, fully appreciating these beautiful bells.
You can listen to some clips of the ringing at Westbury below:
Stedman Triples
Spliced Surprise Major
We crossed the border into Somerset to visit St George’s church at Beckington with its 16 cwt peal of 8 in its fine Norman tower. As we awaited our turns to ring many of us looked at the beautifully worked collage panels around the church telling the story of the town and the importance of the wool trade in its development. We appreciated Trish organising us at this tower where we rang more Stedman Triples and a variety of Surprise methods.
Back in Wiltshire our next stop was lunch at The Farmhouse Inn in Southwick. Before we left Alan grouped us together for a photograph but doesn’t appear in it himself. No passers-by in the car-park offered to take a photo for us, perhaps being intimidated by the expensive-and-complicated-and-breakable look of his camera. Well fed and watered we continued on to St James in the county town of Trowbridge. This was a 24 cwt 12 and very enjoyable although the ropes are set much more cosily together than we are used to with our 12! One of our number, Eric, grew up in Trowbridge, learning to ring at nearby North Bradley. This is his leading peal-ringing tower, where he rang 21 peals (3 of Maximus, 10 of Cinques, 3 of Royal and 5 of Caters) and we were pleased to see 3 peal boards with his name on them in the tower. Our thanks go to Flick for organising all our ringing there. When we were not ringing we enjoyed standing out on the walkway on the roof which leads from the internal stairs across to the ringing chamber. We could see down into the streets and see people stopping and looking up, listening to the bells. We entertained them with Grandsire Cinques and Cambridge Maximus.
Next was the 19th century Christ Church at Bradford-on-Avon. It was built to accommodate the worshippers of the expanding town who, apparently, objected to going down the hill to worship at Holy Trinity in what they thought was a ‘bad area’! It has beautiful stained glass windows, wall paintings and wood carvings and was built on a hill so its splendid spire can be seen for miles. Here is a 12 cwt ring of 8. Rosemary had agreed to be our organiser in this tower which we appreciated, getting us to ring a touch of Kent Treble Bob amongst other fare.
We remained in Bradford-on-Avon for our final ring of the day which was at the medieval Holy Trinity Church in the centre of the town. As none of us in our car had read the instructions we had been given, telling us to use the footbridge over the water linking the car park with the churchyard, we enjoyed a circuitous walk through the town, admiring the splendid stone buildings and the ancient bridge in the centre spanning the Avon. Eventually we passed the footbridge and our car a few metres away across the water and arrived at the tower where the others were already ringing! Although this was the last ring of the day we were still enthusiastic and keen and were pleased to have Sue organise our final efforts. These were a 29 cwt ring of eight. We did justice to the bells, ringing Grandsire, Stedman and some Bristol and finally went to Il Ponte to do justice to our well-earned meals!
We were very grateful to Ben and Rosemary for arranging such a memorable outing with a wonderful collection of bells in such a beautiful part of the country. Our thanks go to our car drivers with their packed cars (saving the planet and parking) and to all those people who met us and let us into their towers. We enjoyed visiting new towers, revisiting towers we knew, meeting old friends, the challenge of ringing on heavy and unfamiliar bells, the glorious sound of the bells and the wonderful late-summer weather! We had an excellent day.
Gill Richards
Wimborne Minster Bell Ringers 