VE Day 75th Anniversary – 8th May 2020

Celebrations today have not gone quite as intended.  Many ringers across the country should have been involved in local celebrations at their own churches.  Various ringing events had been advertised throughout the day for most towers.  Some had planned to ring peals, quarter peals, or even to simply chime the bells to mark the 75^th anniversary of the VE day.  The global pandemic that we are currently facing has temporarily turned our world upside down, including the celebrations for this bank holiday weekend.  This did not stop celebrations altogether.  Socially distanced street parties took place in the safety of our own front gardens with cream teas and bunting.

Our chairman and secretary rang handbells at 7pm as this was the time they should have been ringing in their own tower.  With both ringing 4-in-hand, rounds and call changes on 8 bells and an attempt of Plain Hunt Major were rung from the safety of their home.  A short video of this attempt is available to view via: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1AhixhXSElLGF1VZ7EWomXIZN0Yd6aQmD

Other events that took place on this day include the completion of a fundraising event by our youngest member, Will Carter.  Starting on Monday and ending on Friday, he ran the distance of a half marathon (as part of his daily exercise).  A school friend of his, Matthew, did the same. Due to social distancing, they were unable to run this event together.  Their combined efforts resulted in a “marathon in a week” and between them, they raised £343 for the NHS.  Well done Will and Matthew.

 

Bell ringing is on hold until further notice.  Although this may be disappointing for some ringers at the moment, it is an essential temporary sacrifice that we are all making so that one day we will all be able to ring together again.

Further information about the coronavirus, and the impact it has on bell ringers, is available to view on the CCCBR website: https://cccbr.org.uk/coronavirus/

 

Accounts for year 2019

Attached is the balance sheet for the financial year ending 31st December 2019.

Accounts 2019.pdf

CANCELLED MEETINGS

The following Framland meetings have been cancelled:

4^th April – Tilton on the Hill

2^nd May – AGM Bottesford

6^th June – Saltby

11^th July – Annual Outing

Fingers crossed, we will be back up and running again for the August meeting.

CANCELLED – Meeting 4th April 2020

It is with regret that the next Framland meeting due to be held on 4th April 2020 at Tilton on the Hill has been cancelled due to the Coronavirus.

There is some guidance on the CCCBR website advising towers to cease ringing following the most recent government announcements.  See link for further information:  https://cccbr.org.uk/2020/03/16/coronavirus-covid-19-update/

Please keep checking the website for current information regarding meetings.  It is likely that several more meetings will be cancelled, including the AGM in May.  These will be announced each month depending on the status and government advice of the coronavirus at the time.

Striking Competition 2019

The Framland Annual Striking Competition was held at Stathern on Saturday 7^th December 2019.  We initially thought we were low on numbers for the competition this year, but more ringers arrived and we were soon able to draw teams out of the hat to make up three teams of 5 ringers.  Each team had a practice followed by the judged piece of 120 call changes.

Once the competition pieces had been completed, it didn’t take long for the ringers to dive into the mince pies, festive nibbles and hot drinks.  These were very welcome on a cold evening.  It also gave us an opportunity to chat with our friends – something that we don’t always get chance to do at a regular monthly meeting.  However, we noticed that time was ticking on and so it was time for our judge, Mary, to announce the results of the competition.

Mary summarised the ringing across all three teams stating that there were few faults and overall a good standard.  As we were competing on 5 bells, it is easy to pick out the faults, i.e. if you are too quick or slow, it is noticeable.  The first team to participate kept the ringing moving.  It was at a reasonably fast pace.  There were a few slips where it was a bit quick or a bit slow but nothing major.  The second team tended to ring some of the backstroke leads in too quickly and where there were gaps, they were noticeably wide.  The third team to ring perhaps were not as confident as the other teams and tended to make more mistakes towards the end of the judged piece but perfectly good ringing for Sunday services.  The judge also commented that as names are drawn out of the hat on the day, you are not always used to ringing with the other team members which does make a difference.

Mary gave her final scores as follows:  Team 1 came 1^st with 6 ¼ faults, team 2 came 2^nd with 8 faults and team 3 came 3^rd with 11 ½ faults.  Congratulations to team 1 who were then presented with the Frith Shield (and then encouraged to pose for the compulsory photograph).

We finished the evening with more ringing (and more mince pies).  We wish to thank Mary for judging the competition and thank all of those taking part.

The Framland will meet again on Saturday 1^st February 2020 at Hoby (weather permitting).  Until then, the Society of Framland Ringers wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

First Peal Congratulations

The Society of Framland Ringers are delighted that one of our members completed his first peal on Saturday 7^th December 2019.  He rang inside to Grandsire Triples at Washingborough for the Lincoln Diocesan Guild.  Full details of the peal can be found on the Ringing World BellBoard https://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/view.php?id=1313769.

Well done Will – pictured below with the rest of his band.

Monthly Meeting Calendar 2020

The calendar of meetings for 2020 is now available to view.  You can use the Google calendar here and link to your own Google calendars.

Alternatively, view, download or print the pdf here Calendar 2020.

Outing to Lincolnshire 2019

Saturday 13^th July 2019 – The Society of Framland Ringers held their annual outing in Lincolnshire visiting three towers.

Navenby, St. Peter (6) 13-0-12

Caythorpe, St. Vincent (8) 10-3-3

Silk Willoughby, St. Denis (6) 9-3-18

The outing consisted of 15 members, 2 visitors from Hampshire and 2 dogs.  We arrived at the first tower (Navenby) to be met by the church warden with teas and coffees, a very welcome start to the outing.  A few ringers were a little apprehensive getting into the tower once they saw the ladder to get into the ringing chamber, however, once that hurdle had been crossed, we had a very enjoyable ring.  It started with a very good “ring up” on these beautiful bells.  We rang the usual methods to cater for all abilities of our members and enjoyed by all.

The second tower was at Caythorpe.  This was the only 8 bell tower on this outing.  Some found it a little difficult to hurdle the large pipes across the doorway, but once we made it into the tower, it was worth the extra effort.  We were able to ring Cambridge Surprise Major which was appreciated by those of us who do not have the opportunity to ring it very often.  The good old favourites were also rung; Grandsire Triples, Stedman, Plain Bob Major as well as call changes.  The bells here were very loud in the ringing room, so a little extra concentration was needed to hear the bobs and singles.  The ropes for bells 7 and 8 were extremely close to the clock casing.  This was not an issue for myself, but for the ringers over 6 feet tall, had little head room under the clock casing and a few knuckles were scraped along the way.  The biggest issue was during the ringing down when our very tall ringing master managed to hook the tail end over a bolt on the clock casing forcing him to ring down on the sally only, as the tail end was stuck.  No damage was done and everyone remained safe.

The final tower of the day was at Silk Willoughby, another 6 bell tower.  Much to the delight of some of our members, no ladder required to enter the ringing chamber.  By this time, some ringers were getting tired, so numbers were dwindling.  We still managed a good range of doubles and minor methods on these very pleasant bells.  Keeping with tradition, we thanked the outing organiser for such a lovely afternoon.  We had the right number of towers spaced appropriately based on the number of ringers attending.  The compulsory group photo was attempted.  Unfortunately, afterwards we discovered the photographer had his finger over the lens.  We tried to get a few more group photos, but many had already headed off to the pub and have been missed off.

The outing ended with a meal at Woodys Bar and Lakeview Restaurant just outside of Grantham.  We enjoyed good food and good company in a beautiful location.

Thank you to everyone for making the outing such a lovely day.

Safeguarding Policy Updated May 2019

The Society of Framland Ringers follows the recommended guidelines “for maintaining safer environment for children in the belfry” as set out by the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers (CCCBR).

The Current Safeguarding Policy is available to view via Safeguarding policy revised 20190504

Accounts for year 2018

Attached is the balance sheet for the financial year ending 31st December 2018.  Members will be able to view the detailed accounts at the Annual General Meeting on the 4th May at Wymondham.

Accounts 2018.pdf