Birmingham, 5th July 2025 …
… a Test Match at Edgbaston (England vs India – India won), Black Sabbath’s final show (at Villa Park) AND the Ringing World National Youth Contest, all on the same day; no wonder the city was busy!
The West Midlands Railway trains looked very smart in their maroon and orange livery, but they were having issues with getting all the doors closed. Consequently, many of our group of nine young ringers arrived at St Barnabas church in Erdington with rather less time to spare than we had planned. Undaunted, the band ascended to the tower, had their practice time and embarked on the test piece (120 rows of call changes on six, to include Queens and Kings and with at least three bells leading). There was an unfortunate incident very early on but all credit to the band for getting it back together and for completing the majority of the piece very well indeed.
After a team photo, we made our way to St Martin’s in the city centre, with all train doors behaving correctly. We had a chance to try handbell ringing before we went upstairs to ring rounds on the 16 bells (tenor 39cwt). This was a novel experience for everyone! We had been urged in advance to practise holding bells on the balance; the practice clearly paid off as everyone acquitted themselves well. Bobby rang the tenor and made such a good job of it that the steward supervising him sat down and watched the Test Match on his phone instead!
Outside, we had a short chat with Will Bosworth (editor of The Ringing World) who had temporarily abandoned his lunch to come over and say hello. Will did much of his early ringing in the Blandford area and still has a close connection with the Salisbury Guild.
Just time for a quick sandwich and then we were off on a mile-long walk to St Paul’s in the Jewellery Quarter, the only surviving Georgian church in the city. The ten bells went well but were light (tenor 12cwt) so the smallest ones had to be treated with care. Well done to Esther for ringing the treble and to Ava for bravely ringing the sixth which had a cracked stay (nothing to do with us). Whilst at St Paul’s there was also the opportunity to try our hand at two mini-rings; the Charmborough Ring and the Lichfield Diocesan Mobile Belfry.
Back to the city centre to catch the number 50 bus out to Moseley where we rang with the Guildford Young Ringers and the Surrey Strikers on the ground-floor ten at St Mary’s and the six at St Anne’s. The refreshments on offer at St Mary’s were much appreciated by young ringers, parents and supporters alike as we were beginning to flag by this time. There was space in a minibus for some of our group to return to St Martin’s, while the rest of us took the bus; it’s a novelty having buses come along every 5 minutes!
Everybody managed to squeeze into St Martin’s for the results and presentations. The winners of our category (Advanced Call Changes on Six) were The Three Spires from the Lichfield and Walsall area. There were 17 teams in the category. We scored 6.5/10, despite our shaky start, and came joint 9th (with the Cornish Pasties) with two more teams below us. Everyone received a medal depicting a bull and 16 little bells.
The judges’ comments were emailed through later; with 37 teams across five categories, we would have been there for quite a while if it had all been read out!
“We were delighted to judge the Advanced Call Change competition at Erdington – it was a pleasure to listen to 17 enthusiastic and talented teams. With such a high standard across the board, it made for a very close competition!
We were lucky to have had a chance to ring the bells before the competition, and we noticed that the ropes were very long, and that the bells were a little heavier than we would have expected for a call change competition. As a general piece of advice for all bands, we’d encourage you to listen closely to what happens when the bigger and littler bells are more mixed up in the change – this is where strong rhythm and listening really make a difference.
We were very impressed with the high quality of the ringing that we heard. It takes courage and focus to ring competitively, and every single team rose to this challenge admirably. Everyone should be very proud of their performance at this challenging tower.
Team C – Go Bellistic! – 6-bell
This team had a very confident start, but with a slight hiccup early on. They recovered brilliantly, and their perseverance is to be commended. The ringing was generally steady throughout. We noticed that this team would often go into a change very strongly at handstroke, but this strength wasn’t always maintained at backstroke. We’d suggest focusing on matching the strength of backstrokes to handstrokes to keep the rhythm consistent. Well done to this team, a strong effort that they should be proud of!”
The competition band was:
- Esther (Wimborne)
- Ava (Wyke Regis)
- Rebecca (Ringwood)
- Daniel (Holt)
- Amelia (Wyke Regis)
- Bobby – Conductor (Beaminster)
Next year’s event will be in Nottingham on 4th July 2026. We hope that some young ringers who have participated before but who couldn’t make it this year will be able to join us, along with some of those who have recently joined our group.
“It was enjoyable getting to know some other young ringers and chat to them about ringing. We had the chance to ring rounds on 16 at St Martin’s, rounds and call changes on 10 at St Paul’s, plain bob doubles and grandsire doubles at St Anne’s and call changes on 10 at St Mary’s. I have never rung at any of these towers and St Martin’s was one I have always dreamed of ringing at. It was a very enjoyable day and I will definitely come back to do more young ringers contests.”
– Daniel
“The day in Birmingham was so much fun! It was amazing to be surrounded by lots of other young ringers, and it was great to be able to meet new people. St Martin’s was a fantastic experience, and it was so lovely to be able to ring on 16 bells. It was tremendous day which I will remember – the atmosphere, talent and friendliness of the whole event made it a very special day.”
– Esther
