www.aylshamtower.org.uk

ST. MICHAEL'S GUILD OF RINGERS
AYLSHAM PARISH CHURCH, NORFOLK.


[This site was last updated on 27th March, 2012.]


Tower Captain: Daniel Phillips T. 01603 279406
Deputy Tower Captain: Lawrence Smith T. 01263 734499
Guild Secretary: Keith Shaw T. 01263 732462
Steeple Keeper: Vacancy

SEE US IN ACTION:- Vist www.youtube.com then search "the way of the bells uea"
(see below for details)

BELL RINGING TIMES FOR APRIL:
Methods of the Month - Primrose Surprise Minor and Stedman Triples

Sundays: 0920 - 1000h. General Ringing for Morning Service
Tuesdays: 1930 - 2100h. General Ringing practice [Not 3rd - Holy Week]
Monday, 23rd: 1000h. Quarter-peal for Feast of St. George

All ringers are most welcome to join our local band for any of our general ringing sessions. Lapsed ringers considering a return to the Exercise are particularly encouraged to come along at these times, which are always friendly and unpressurised occasions. Quarter-peal and Wedding ringing is by invitation, but competent ringers are always being sought for these events and should inform the Secretary if they would like to be involved. Non ringers wishing to learn should contact the Tower Captain, Daniel Phillips, on 01603 279406. Join a tradition dating back 400 years – become a bell ringer.

OUR LAST QUARTER-PEAL:
- - - was on Monday, 27th February, 2012,
1260 changes of DOUBLE OXFORD MINOR
was rung in our tower at ten-o-clock of the morning,
THE RINGERS:

1 Daniel Phillips
2 Anne Bridge
3 David Hoare
4 Keith Shaw
5 Maureen Gardiner
6 Lawrence Smith
Conducted by Lawrence Smith


THE WAY OF THE BELLS
One would feel that a dismal and dark day in a damp rural Norfolk in the middle of January was not the most inspiring setting for the making of a film on bellringers, but this was the challenge faced by a small group of students from the University of East Anglia last month. Driven by a tight schedule and the limited availability of a London-based tutor, the graduates from the University’s School of International Development scanned the internet for a suitable and ‘Tuesday friendly’ subject for their assignment and, almost by chance it seems, alighted upon the web-page of Aylsham Tower( www.aylshamtower.org.uk ), where regular ringing practices are held on that very night.
With the hastily secured agreement of Danny Phillips, the Tower Captain, the fully equipped ‘film crew’ arrived with the minimum of warning to point their cameras and place their microphones for the duration of an evening practice, returning the following morning to take backing footage and encourage several members of St. Michael’s Guild to talk ‘on camera’.
The results of the students’ endeavours may now be viewed by visiting www.youtube.com and searching for “the way of the bells uea”.
Keith L. Shaw
Hon. Secretary, St. Michael’s Guild of Ringers, Aylsham, Norfolk.



SECRETARY'S REPORT FOR 2011
I am pleased to submit the following report on St. Michael’s Guild of Ringers for the year 2011.
The Guild was pleased to welcome three new members at the beginning of the year [Ian Cartwright, Stephen Cockbill, Peter Mayne]. During the year one member resigned, [Geoff Runham], and two failed to renew their membership [Roger Broadest, Betty Taylor]. At the close of the year, Guild membership stood at 28.

Pleasingly it can be reported that the average attendance for both service and practice ringing has increased, the former by nearly 2½% [2.42%] and, for practices, by almost 17% [16.96%], taking these attendances almost back to the record levels of the previous year.

Members met during the year to ring at 4 weddings and special ringing sessions were also arranged to welcome the new year and, in July, to greet the French guests of the Aylsham Twinning Association.

There were 8 successful quarter peals in our tower during the year, three of which were of Grandsire Triples to mark the Festival of Christmas, the switch-on of the town’s festive lights and the 206th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar. There was a quarter of Plain Bob Triples heralding our Patronal Festival at the end of September and of Plain Bob Minor on Easter Sunday.
Members also consolidated learning a method-of-the-month with a Monday morning quarter of Buxton Bob Minor in early March. The Service of Remembrance in 2011 was preceded with a quarter of Reverse Canterbury Pleasure Bob Doubles rung, as has become customary, half-muffled on the back six. Earlier in November, a visiting band rang a quarter of London Surprise Royal.

There were 4 failed attempts at quarter-peals – one to mark the 70th birthday of the deputy tower captain, one to mark the royal wedding, one for the 1st Aylsham Arts Festival and one on Ascension Morning, though this failure did not diminish the enjoyment of the breakfast at the Black Boys Hotel which followed.

One full peal was rung in our tower during the year, this on 8th January and of 5020 changes of Bristol Surprise Royal by a visiting inter-county band led by Roy LeMarechal from Hampshire. Other ringing visitors welcomed to St. Michael’s were a group from Enfield in April and another from Stanmore in September. Additionally, ringers of the Norwich Diocesan Association were welcomed for a 10-bell practice, in July.
.
Overall in 2011 the steps of our tower were ascended 1093 [915] times to fulfil these many ringing activities – a rise of nearly one fifth (19.45%) over the previous year’s figure.

Many Guild Members have been pleased to support other local ringing events from time to time during the year, including the monthly second-Sunday quarter-peal at Erpingham, although this is currently suspended due to a failed clapper. On two occasions a Guild band was gathered to ring for weddings at Heydon Parish Church.

The introduction of a method of the month from the beginning of the year has presented some interesting challenges to our members, the list having included the Minor methods of Primrose, Norwich Surprise, Oxford and Kent Treble Bob, Double Court, St. Clements and, a surprise to many of us, Grandsire Minor. Although it has not always been possible to attempt the named triples and major methods due to the lack of sufficient numbers of experienced ringers present on practice nights, Oxford Bob and Erin Triples, and Double Norwich, Kent Treble Bob and Cambridge Surprise Major have all featured during the year. Though several standard triples and a few major methods feature occasionally, the practice of methods on nine and ten bells has been but a rare treat during the year.

For the Annual Guild Dinner, postponed from Trafalgar Day to November 2nd, we returned this year to the Market Restaurant by the church gates. The event was enjoyed by 13 members and friends.
At the beginning of December the Guild was again represented at the Christmas Tree Festival held in our church. A splendidly decorated spruce, complete with bell-shaped baubles, ten miniature sallies and lists of change-ringing methods – the whole surmounted with a large gold star – drew praise from many quarters and raised £15.80 in contributions to the Tower Fund. For all this, thanks are due to our member Hilary Shaw

Following the resolution at this meeting last year to acquire a new set of easy-fix bell muffles, the secretary approached suppliers with an initial enquiry which revealed that some considerable work would need to be carried out on the clappers before measurements could be taken and the muffles supplied. This in turn sparked an appeal for members to assemble for a work-day to clean out the bell-chamber, which duly took place in April when six folk assembled and cleared the pits of 10 sack-loads of accumulated rubbish from the past twenty years or so.

This also seemed to be the right time to instigate the inspection of the bells also ordered at last year’s A.G.M. and in June, Andrew Hixon of Taylors bell-hangers of Loughborough, together with Peter Trent, the Diocesan Bells Adviser, carried out this inspection. An opportunity to discuss the subsequent report is provided later in this meeting. Though not an immediate concern of this Guild, it is perhaps apposite to report at this point that repairs were carried out to the chiming mechanism of the tower clock in May.

 
It must be recorded once again, that our ringing endeavours throughout the year have been most competently and cheerfully led by our Tower Captain, Danny Phillips, with the support of his Deputy, Lawrence Smith. We thank them, along with all our loyal members, for their sustained contributions to belfry matters throughout the year.

Finally, your Secretary is of the opinion that this report cannot close without recording the tribute paid to Norwich City Football Club on its magnificent and well-deserved promotion to the Premiership during the year. This truly remarkable feat has been recognised by the acquisition of a new rope for the tenor bell, the sally sporting the Club’s colours of yellow and green. Perhaps it should also be reported that the old tenor rope remains in store ready to be brought back into service should the unthinkable occur at some future date and the Canaries are pushed from their present high and glorious perch.

Keith L. Shaw Guild Secretary