During half term week, we enjoyed a day out to Zeals in the Mere branch and two towers in the Bath and Wells Diocesan Association. At Zeals there was plenty of space on the balcony for parents and helpers to drink cups of tea, while the young ringers rang call changes, plain hunt, Plain Bob Doubles and Grandsire Doubles. We were then able to eat our packed lunches in the parish room before setting off for the towers outside our guild.
At Nunney, we admired the moated, medieval castle (dating from the 1370s but besieged and damaged by the Parliamentarians during the English Civil War), before squeezing into the ‘compact’ ringing room. Here, we rang lots of call changes, confidently called by Amelia and Rebecca, plus some plain courses of Grandsire Triples.
After a group photo in front of the castle, we moved on to Marston Bigot. The church is in a picturesque, rural location with only sheep, horses and cows for neighbours. At the top of an ornate, cast-iron, spiral staircase, we found a spacious ringing room. The bells were light (tenor 7cwt) and easy to ring, meaning that everyone was able to ring anywhere in the circle. Ava called some changes here and we rang a long piece with all eight young ringers ringing together. More Grandsire Triples was rung and we finished with some Plain Bob Triples, before everyone went their separate ways and headed home.
Many thanks to Georgina at Zeals, to Mary (Nunney and Marston Bigot), to all the helpers and to our guild master, Vicki Rowse, who collected the keys and opened up for us at our afternoon towers; this used to be her “patch” before she moved to the Salisbury Guild.
If you know of any young ringers who would like to join us at our Saturday afternoon practices and on our school holiday outings, please ask their parents/guardians to get in touch with Hilary: email hidden; JavaScript is required.
