Guild 6-Bell Striking Competition Finals at Butterwick and Wrangle
8th September 2012
8th September 2012
Striking competitions, on 6 bells, in "The Guild" are split into two with each branch having already held internal competitions to determine which teams should go forward to the relevant competitions; the top two teams in each branch going to The Cup and the next two going forward to compete for The Plate.
The John Freeman Cup
And so it was, that on Saturday 8th September, a group of 54 ringers, from 9 towers and 6 Guild branches, together with friends and supporters, met at Butterwick to take part in a competition to determine which band could, on the day, produce the best striking on 6 bells.
Proceedings got off to a slow start with the lack of judges holding up the start but after 20 minutes or so everything got off to a flying start, and with Dot Mason rousing subsequent bands we had little option but to slowly catch up and even get ahead of the game.
During the day, we were treated to some excellent 6 bell ringing, and for those of us scheduled to ring quite late, some excellent tea, sandwiches and cake! Ringing ranged from call changes, including a piece rung in the "Devon Style" with no hand stroke gaps - a strange style to hear in Lincoln but commented on by the judges as being a pleasant "Change".
Being new to the area and having heard the reputations of a couple of specialist 6 bell bands, I was a bit daunted to see the Cathedral�s St Hugh�s band neatly squeezed between Bourne and Messingham and it was, perhaps, no surprise to see these three bands, ringing last, produce the best ringing of the day with, this year, Bourne coming out first, followed by Messingham and then Lincoln Cathedral St Hughs a very close third.
The judges for the day, Phillip and Heather Grover, provided a nicely detailed account of their thoughts on the ringing with generally positive footnotes for each team to consider for next year.
The final results can be seen below, well done Bourne!
Andrew Blacklock
The Edward Colley Plate
Just 4.5 miles down the road the competition for the Plate took place at Wrangle. This is another ground floor six where we enjoyed some welcome refreshments from the catering crew. Luckily for us our judge, Michael Foulds from Derby, was early which enabled the first team to start promptly.
However, things quickly went awry as the team ringing second advised that one of their members was going to be slightly late arriving - a whole 40 minutes late! Unfortunately the team member (who will remain anonymous!) had misread the location of the competition and had driven to Wragby rather than Wrangle - a mere 31 miles further north. Luckily he discovered his mistake and had turned round and started making his way to Wrangle. In the meantime, the running order was shuffled and after a short delay, proceedings recommended.
We had a good afternoon�s ringing which saw the majority of the teams ring call changes and a couple bands braving doubles. Well done to all teams for an excellent afternoon of ringing. However, special congratulations must go to Grimsby as no-one can remember the last time a team from Northern Branch won the Plate!
Alan Payne then thanked all of our judges with some closing remarks and a bottle of plonk each!
Sandra Underwood
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Created: 23 October 2012 (jc)
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