Always looking for opportunities, a gap in the diary when key ringers were available allowed us to organise a Grandsire Doubles workshop on Saturday 11th November 2023. It had been on the cards for a while and we were pleased to be able to ‘tick this one off’.
We ring Grandsire on practice nights but our band alone is not quite strong enough to move forward with it. Friends from St Neots and Caxton came along for an hour or so to give David and Sheila Prest some concentrated ringing to consolidate bobs and singles. Each rang four extents and we managed to end the session by ringing Morrison’s 240. It was a really good afternoon with much progress being made.
With nine of us all told we were able to take turns in sitting out, or standing behind, conducting and ringing the tenor.
As it was Remembrance Day we didn’t want to practice with half muffed bells in case we fired out in any of the touches. On one or two occasions we did have to start again and this justified our choice of ringing on silenced bells using simulated sound.
After the practice Sheila and David invited us to their house to enjoy tea and cake by the fireside. The apres-ring is always very pleasant, a time to relax after the hard work!
A lovely afternoon was had by all and special thanks go to Catherina, Dave, Ruth and Elinor for supporting us.
After tea we took off the clapper stays and fitted the muffles ready for ringing half muffled on Sunday the 12th
Great Gransden Bell Ringers 