Traditionally there is no ringing during Holy Week and although many towers continue to ring nowadays, the majority take the week off. We take the opportunity to hold our annual ringers’ meeting, which is an important event in the calendar when we approve our finances, receive reports and elect tower officers.
The meeting was held at Nutbells in Little Gransden on the 28th of March, courtesey of Phillip & Sheila George, with the comfort of a log fire whilst the wind and rain howled outside!
After the opening formalities the tower report was received. This year it was written by ringers involved with different aspects of the tower. David Prest wrote the main body of the report outlining all our activities. Sheila George commented on practice night ringing and Tricia Williams reported on behalf of the Wednesday tied bell group. Finally, Phillip gave a resume of work carried out in the tower and the condition of the bells.
The tower finances were discussed and accounts approved before we moved on to the election of officers. This year the officers were re-elected. Tower Captain: Sheila George, Deputy Tower Captain: David Prest, Secretary and Steeple Keeper: Phillip George. Once elected, the names of the new officers are given to the pariochial church council (PCC) to be ratified.
Although there was no ‘open’ practice this week we still held a tied bell practice, this time using the simulator for listening skills exercises. We silenced the treble and assigned it as the tenor for everyone to take turns and ring it to Rounds on six or Grandsire Triples. Scores ranged from 6.4 to 8.4 which was very good, especially as some had not rung the sim before.
Sim ringers at tied bell practice with the laptop in the background running the simulation app.
On Easter Sunday there were eight present to ring for the 10.00am service and we had some very good call changes. This is a special day and it was a joy to have a full house.
The weekend was also the time when the clocks were put forward to Britich Summer Time. Josh made the adjustment under the suopervision of the steeple-keeper, and his dad videoed the event. Follow this link to check it out!
This year is turning out to be busy as usual. We have an outing at the end of April and a few extra ringing sessions coming up including visitors and weddings. We want to organise an exchange practice with Ramsey, and we talked about an autumn outing, possibly to the bell foundry at Loughborough.
Keep following us for meore details of our activities as we go through the year.
Great Gransden Bell Ringers 