Guild 8 bell striking competition

Guild 8 Bell Striking Competition

Guild 8 Bell Striking Competition - 2nd October 2010

What a nice day for Striking Competition. Even though there was a bit of a chill in the air, the sun shone and made for a lovely evening. The venue for this year's inter-branch striking competition was St Peter & Paul, Ingoldmells.

St Peter & Paul, Ingoldmells

There were only 4 teams this year, these having been drawn sometime in advance. They were in order of ringing...

Central Branch

West Lindsey Branch

Southern Branch

Eastern Branch

The event started at 4:30pm, with drinks, sandwiches and cakes being served throughout the event in the hall opposite the church. This allowed teams and visitors to more or less eat whenever it was convenient, rather than right at the end when everyone was finished. The competition proper started at 5:00pm and was completed shortly after 6:00pm. Teams were allowed 3 minutes for a practice session, before standing. The usual practice of ringing the treble hand and back twice was employed to signal that the team was ready to commence the test piece, which was a course of Cambridge Surprise Major in all cases. After the last team had rung, everyone adjourned to the church hall and awaited the judges.


Tea is served in the church hall	The Henry Law James Shield

After everyone had eaten, Alan Payne started the proceeding, by asking Dot Mason to do the 100 club draw. He then introduced the judges. This was a husband and wife team, Keith and Marilyn Brown from Deeping St. Nicholas in the Elloe Deaneries.


Alan Payne gets things underway	The Judges, Keith and Marilyn Brown

Keith and Marilyn had both scored each team and the number of faults scored from each of them were added together and divided by 2 to obtain an average. The results were announced in reverse order.

Team 4 - Eastern Branch

Position	Faults	Peal time
4th	60.5	3h 15m

Observations - The team rang a bit faster in the practice piece, but it was felt that they may have been struggling with the speed of the bells. The test piece failed to settle into a good rhythm and there were a number of crashes in the 5th lead of the Cambridge.

Team 3 - Southern Branch

Position	Faults	Peal time
3rd	49.5	3h 17m

Observations - The practice started slow and there were quite a few trips, but it quickened up later on. The test piece started slow and people had to hold up. The leading was a little erratic and it was felt that the band needed to relax a little.

Team 2 - West Lindsey Branch

Position	Faults	Peal time
2nd	43	3h 8m

Observations - There were a few trips on the practice piece, but when it came to the test piece the ringing was good. The standard of the ringing improved over the course of the test piece.

Team 1 - Central Branch

Position	Faults	Peal time
1st	33.5	3h 14m

Observations - There was a good pace throughout the practice and test piece. There were some occasional trips in the test piece and it was felt that perhaps the band was trying too hard.

The Presentation

So the Central Branch won the The Henry Law James Shield. Marilyn Brown presented the sheild to the secretary of the Central Branch, Mrs. Dot Mason.


Marilyn Brown presents the Henry Law James Shield to Mrs Dot Mason	The winning band Back row - Jonathan Clark, Graham Colborne, Mick Stracey, David Fox Front row - Sylvia Taylor, Fiona Dawson, Dot Mason, Sandra Underwood, Phil Mason