School holidays – might be a good time to arrange a quarter peal – and so it was! Josh often rings tenor behind to Doubles during practices on a Thursdays. He is working towards achieving his Level 3 certificate in the Learning the Ropes scheme which requires him to ring two, one on the tenor to Doubles and one on the treble. We had a chat and he agreed that he would like to ring a quarter and I suggested that one on the tenor would be a good start point.
Gransden tenor would be too heavy for a quarter, at 13 1/2cwt, so we sleected Holywell as the tower for his first attempt. Sheila, me, Elinor and Becca arrived at 10.00am on Tuesday the 6th of August, and local ringer and tower captain, Roger, met us at the tower. Josh and his mum had arrived before us and were waiting in the porch.
The usual pre-ring pleasantaries were exchanged and once we had ‘settled’ we rang up the bells in peal. We tried the bells in Rounds before setting off into the quarter peal. Josh did a steady job on the tenor. The touch came round in 45 minutes and he admitted that he was quite tired at the end.
But, he did a great job and as conductor I didn’t have to say very much to him. I rang the fifth so that I could advise him if necessary. I told him when we were half way and asked if he was ok, and a nod confirmed that he was.
Well done, Josh, you did a good job. It was smiles and congratulations all round when the bells stood after 45 minutes.
Great Gransden Bell Ringers 