On Saturday 6th July, four of our younger ringers enjoyed an exhausting but fantastic day in London for the Ringing World National Youth Competition (RWNYC).
The SDGR team, Go Bellistic! was placed joint 7th out of 13 teams in the 8-bell call changes competition at St Olave, Hart Street; Esther rang the 4th, Ben the 5th and James the tenor.
As well as ringing in the competition, everyone had a great time ringing at other churches in the City: St Dunstan in the West, St Vedast Foster Lane, St Magnus the Martyr, Christ Church Spitalfields and St Mary le Bow. The results ceremony was held in the magnificent surroundings of St Paul’s Cathedral, after a photo of all the groups was taken on the steps outside.
As we came out, the bells were being rung by the St Paul’s Cathedral Guild of Ringers – an awe-inspiring end to a memorable day.
All the competitors on the steps of St. Paul’s CathedralWimborne Ringer Lila appeared on the publicity banner for the dayThe Go Bellistic! Team
The Minster bell ringers took their skills to Devon for their annual outing on Saturday with ringing at six churches. An early start was made at St Nicholas Sidmouth where the ten melodious bells cast by the Taylor bellfoundry in 1972 were rung well. Following ringing the nearby cake shop offered a tasty allure.
The centrepiece of the day was Exeter Cathedral which like the Minster has twelve bells although Exeter’s are heavier providing a deeper tone, the largest bell, the tenor, weighing 72 cwt.
Visits followed to St Mark’s Exeter (10 bells), Ottery St Mary (8) one of its famous sons being Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Sidbury (8) and finally Axminster which has ten bells that are untypically loud in the ringing chamber.
Most of the 24 Minster ringers rounded off the day with dinner near Axminster and on Sunday morning were back in action on the Minster ropes for pre Eucharist ringing – and later for Evensong ringing.
Videos of ringing at Sidmouth and Axminster and in the ringing chamber at Exeter Cathedral.
The Minster Fair on June the 10th and once again we had perfect weather for it. The Bellringers provided regular tower tours and a teddy zipwire. Both were again popular – several tours sold out and there was a steady stream of teddies (and other stuffed creatures) being hoisted up to the top of the tower and then descending on the zipwire.
The fair from aboveThe team at the top of the towerBertie (Go Bellistic’s bear) completed his third consecutive year of zipwire adventures.
On Saturday 8th July, ten young ringers from the Salisbury Guild took part in the Ringing World National Youth Contest (RWNYC) day in York, including Ben A, Esther and Lila from Wimborne. We had a great time, ringing at five towers including the magnificent 12 at York Minster. In the competition itself the team rang call changes on six bells. The band was:
Treble Conni (Dorchester branch)
2 Ben (Calne branch)
3 Oscar (Calne branch)
4 Ben (East Dorset branch)
5 Robert (Devizes branch) (C)
Tenor Pippa (East Dorset branch)
There were seventeen call changes teams and Go Bellistic! was placed joint 4th (with Young@Herts), behind Durham & Newcastle, Sussex Young Ringers and Kent Young Ringers. Our best ever result!
The other participants were Esther and Lila, Eddie from Wyke Regis and Abigail from Dorchester.
A big thank you to the Salisbury Guild and to all those ringers who have supported us financially, practically and with their best wishes.
The much-delayed Wimborne band outing took place on Saturday 6th January. The event had first been postponed by Covid and then by the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022.
For those not familiar with ringing in Oxford it presents an opportunity to ring at a significant number of towers, many of which are of great historic or architectural interest and all within walking distance. A number of towers are part of the College buildings and some are existing or former city centre churches.
Our first tower was St Ebbe’s where the very light bells gave us some challenges. We then moved across the road to the completely different surroundings of Christ Church College where the bells are in one of the college towers but are rung for services at the Cathedral which is part of the same complex. These bells are a 12 of a similar weight to Wimborne but very much an old style ring in tuning and surroundings. We rang some successful touches of cinques and surprise maximus and enjoyed seeing some of the Harry Potter locations around the college on the way out.
After lunch we met up again at Magdalen College where the beautiful perpendicular tower contains a fine ring of 10 where we enjoyed more good ringing including some London Royal.
At Lincoln College the former church of All Saints is now the college library but the light ring of 8 remain and are available for ringing. We managed to just about fill the ringing chamber and everyone was able to say that they had rung in a library.
From here it was a short walk in the rain to St Mary Magdalene, a light 10 where amongst general ringing we managed two separate touches of caters, one by a ladies band and one by the gentlemen!
Our final tower was at Carfax which is all that remains of the former church – apparently demolished in the early 19th Century for traffic improvements. Although our energy was flagging we managed some good ringing on this surprisingly heavy six to conclude our day before stopping on the way home for a welcome pub supper.
Our thanks should go to Katie Child who organised the event for us using her local knowledge as an Oxford graduate and also to our escort from the Oxford Society who accompanied us throughout the day.
The first ever Wimborne Minster Family Fun day took place in September, in order to raise funds for Minster Makes Music.
The original plan was for a Saturday in July, but it was postponed due to Covid restrictions, and fortunately the warm, sunny weather was worthy of a July day.
The event was formally opened by the Mayor, commentary was provided by Radio Wimborne, and a Marching band and a piper performed during the morning. The Green was covered in stalls selling books, jigsaws, pottery, and bric a brac, and a Climbing Wall.
Originally, it was suggested that the Andrew the Rector could abseil down the Bell Tower, on the annual church Fun Day. However, when Elf and Safety were consulted, the plan was given a thumbs down. How much better (ringers Rob and Hilary reasoned) to set up a zip wire and encourage people to bring their teddies along, and let them fly down from tower to green. They sourced pre-tested teddy harnesses (in a variety of sizes), from the Ringers at St Mary’s Church Lytchett Matravers, and spent a cheerful Saturday morning, a fortnight in advance, checking that the zip wire worked. Secure harnesses for the 2 tower-top volunteers were essential – the parapet suddenly seems very flimsy when you are dangling teddies over it, and (rather than expect humans to repeatedly run up the tower with armfuls of teddies), the band devised a bucket and pulley system to allow the brave ursids to ascend.
In order to run the zip wire for 4 hours, and provide a series of Tower Tours, serious manpower was required, and in the event, 12 members of the Minster Band shared the efforts.
Demand for the zipwire was unexpectedly strong – the biggest surprise was the number of adults who brought along teddies, and enjoyed themselves just as much as the kids.
The Departure Lounge
With commentary from Radio Wimborne, the first 4 “flights” of teddies were processed in the first hour. At first we fumbled the teddies into their harnesses and the certificates blew around in the breeze, there were difficulties getting the teddies out of the bucket at the top of the tower, and a couple of people accidentally missed their teddy’s flight and so we had to send them up for a second time. But once we got the hang of it, it was quite honestly a brilliant day, and a privilege to meet so many nice teddy-owners.
Some of the parents asked anxiously whether the teddies got very nervous (it seemed they only did during the bucket ride – they all looked pretty happy on the wire). None of the kids were concerned, they knew their teddies were brave!
Between 10 and 2, we flew teddies, rabbits, a sparkly dog, an orangutan and a Barbie. Also a couple of creatures of ambiguous species. Before we even started flights, we already had a dozen bears queueing patiently for their turn. Once down, each teddy was presented with a certificate of bravery and a solemn handshake.
Bertie the Bear, with his Certificate of Bravery
We have various notes to self for next year:
– Bring a thermos and lots of sandwiches. You will not get a break. – Allow for 12 bears an hour. All the harnessing and hauling and flying and certificate writing takes time.
– Make some really small harnesses. Small teddies are very common, and Barbies and their like are exceedingly slim!
– Be prepared to re-fly teddies if their owners accidentally blink or get distracted.
Meanwhile, back in the ringing chamber…
The Ringers ran half-hourly Tower Tours, and a lot of the customers seem to have been originally attracted by the teddy zipwire. A table of teddies is more intriguing than a table simply advertising tower tours! The customers were enthusiastic and appreciative, and some were obviously really amazed to see people actually ringing. A couple put their names down to start learning to ring.
And the Rector?
He got his adrenaline rush by ascending the Climbing Wall with commentary from Radio Wimborne, and later he flew his teddy. I don’t think he was disappointed with the day!
Wimborne Minster Bell Ringers 
