It isn’t often that we see so many young ringers together. They tend to be few and far between, mainly in ones and twos in a few isolated towers. Sunday 16th July was a special day for us at Great Gransden because we welcomed a dozen or so young ringers, with their parents/mentors, to meet and ring together.
Some were sporting the Fen Tigers tee shirts. They had recently entered the Riging World National Youth Striking Competition in York and were proudly displaying their logo.
The ringers were supervised by Lesley Boyle and Dee Smith, and were kept busy for 90 minutes ringing Rounds, Plain Hunt, Call Changes and Grandsire Doubles. There were a few “firsts”, some of the youngsters rang the tenor backstroke to Grandsire for the first time and for a couple at least it was the heaviest bell for them to ring so far. Call changes were called “up” and “down” which was a good test for everyone, but there was always collaboration amongst each band to establish the protocol before they started! There was also a test to see how quickly from start they struck an accurate row of rounds. Focus on the job led to a significant improvement on the second attempt.
All the ringing was very good for a mixed ability group and each of them brought buckets of enthusiasm with them, and the ringing finished with a good fall in peal.
Several of the ringers were keen to see the clock and bells and given a brief tour of the tower.
Thank you for coming, Young Ringers, well done, you are always welcome!
Great Gransden Bell Ringers 