Young Ringers' Festival, 15th July 2017
St Wulfrum's, Grantham

The day started out at St Wulfram's, Grantham. As I walked towards the entrance of the Church I was greeted by amongst others, Chris Turner, the Guild Master, Barry Jones, the Southern Branch Ringing Master and his Deputy David Braunston.

David left to get the remaining bells up and after a few minutes we went up the tower. Alistair Cherry looked after the ringing, with plenty of Rounds and Call Changes on 10 and 12 and some Plain Hunting on 9 and 11.

Ringing at St Wulfram's
Ringing at St Wulfram's

Chris Turner addressed the assembled ringers, thanking those who had made the day possible by ensuring towers were open for ringing and also those who had come along to help and ferry the young ringers about and of course the young ringers themselves. Chris had to leave at this point, but he hoped everyone would have an enjoyable day.

St Bartholomew, Sproxton
Ringing at Sproxton

Once ringing at St Wulfram's was over we made out way out to Sproxton which are a ground floor ring of 8. Hannah Watts from Welton and Claire Barker from Ingoldmells took charge of the ringing which included Rounds and some Plain Hunt and some Plain Bob.

Ringing at Sproxton
Ringing at Sproxton

From the church we made our way to Sproxton Village Hall where we enjoyed a picnic lunch. The weather being a little bit uncooperative we had our lunch in the hall.

Sproxton Village Hall
Lunch at Sproxton Village Hall

After lunch we had some games with 3 teams, these being named "Grandsire", "Stedman" and "Plain Bob". Games included the "3 legged race" and the "Egg and Spoon" race, but since we had no eggs it was a cherry tomato and spoon race. The winning team was "Stedman" who were presented with their Gold medals with Silver and Bronze medals for the other teams.

Three Legged Race
Slalom
More Games
The Winners

After the games we travelled back up to Saltby, which are a ground floor ring of 10, for some more ringing. We managed various ringing including a plain course of Bob Major.

St Peter, Saltby
Ringing at Saltby
Ringing at Saltby
Ringing at Saltby

After ringing the bells down we set off back into Grantham, to Grantham Bowling where the youngsters and adults enjoyed a game of ten pin bowling before settling down for a meal in the restaurant.

Bowling at Grantham
Bowling at Grantham
Bowling at Grantham
Meal at Grantham Bowling

Jonathan Clark