Treasure Hunt at St. Mary's, Barton-on-Humber, 2nd April 2011

It had been a fairly unpromising start to the day, with some rain showers in the morning. However by midday, it was looking a lot brighter and I decided that a trip up to Barton-on-Humber was in order, for their Treasure Hunt.

I arrived just before 2:00pm and joined the others in the church hall, where Geoff Bryant was handing out Treasure Hunt sheets. In parallel with this was a picture quiz with 60 pictures of Lincolnshire Guild churches from all over the diocese. You had to guess which village or town the church was in, with an extra point if you could also give the dedication of the church. Also there was a competition to "Name the Rabbit", which was a large easter bunny with chocolate.

I decided to leave the picture quiz for the time being as there was a time limit of 1 hour on the Treasure Hunt. I joined forces with Sue Faull and together we made our way off to look for clues. The first 6 clues were all in the nave of the church, and we mopped those up pretty quickly. The rest were outside the church and we were directed around the village, where we met other ringers similarly scurrying around looking for clues. There were a smattering of Ditloids and Dingbats in the Treasure Hunt sheet as well and we attempted to solve those as we went round the village.

We stepped into the church just as the clock was striking 3:00pm and handed our sheets into Geoff. We then proceeded to pull the bells up for some general ringing. Matthew Jeffery looked after the proceedings and we had a wide range of methods to suit all abilities, from Rounds and Call Changes to touches of Stedman and Little Bob and some half courses of Cambridge and Yorkshire Surprise.

Ringing at St. Mary's, Barton-on-Humber
Ringing at St. Mary's, Barton-on-Humber

The ringing lasted for about an hour and a half and at about 4:30pm, we went back into the church hall for an excellent cold buffet and cups of tea and coffee. When we were suitably refreshed, we marked the results of the Treasure Hunt. There were prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. Sue and I came joint second and won a box of chocolates.

Tea in the Church Hall, Barton-on-Humber

Then the raffle was drawn, with an assortment of prizes available and the results of the "Name the Rabbit" competition was announced. There was a quick 40 question quiz where you had to name the County town of various English counties. Finally the picture quiz was scored with a prize for the winning team.

The afternoon wound up at about 6:00pm with some "Thank-Yous" to the organisers and those who has put in so much effort. It was nice to see a hefty representation from the West Lindsey Branch, with 12 WLB members being present.

Many thanks to the Northern Branch, for an excellent afternoon of activity.

Jonathan Clark (webmaster)