The Ridgman Trophy at Boston 2025
(home advantage not pressed home)


The Ringing Chamber, a daunting but beautiful place

The 37th Ridgman Trophy striking competition took place at St Botolph's BOSTON on Saturday 21st June. The Ridgman is a 10 bell striking competition and welcomes entries from the following guilds/associations

This year the absentees were Norwich DA, Leicester DG and Peterborough DG

The Ridgman Trophy was first competed for in 1988 having been donated by the family of Bill Ridgman - a prominent ringer at Cambridge University and in the the Ely Diocese. Lincolnshire has previously hosted the event at Grantham and Surfleet - and although never having won the Trophy they have been runners up on three occasions, most recently in 2023. Boston was due to host the 2020 event but we all know what happened then!!. Despite knowledge of the "less easy go and idiosyncrasies" of the bells - the organising committee opted for half a course of Yorkshire Surprise Royal as the test piece.

On the day Boston did not disgrace itself - wall to wall sunshine and temperature approaching 32°C. Working with the church - Fr Stephenson (rector) and Adam Kelk (head verger) made everything so much easier in that nothing was impossible and improvement suggestions were plentiful. From our side Jo Pearson, who had started the day before as interim tower captain but finished it as Tower Captain rallied her troops to cater for the masses and direct the bands on the hazardous route from registration in the Blenkin Hall to the Cotton Chapel for the band photograph and then in the direction of the staircase to the ringing room. We are still not sure why two of our band arrived with the previous band!! - presumably too fit as they climbed the 180 steps!! Jo had the easy job of dealing with the bands in the ringing room to make sure they complied with the rules !!

In the run up to the competition Martin Jones assembled a team to oversee the bells - and as ever in ringing, despite travelling long distances declined to accept a contribution even towards fuel costs!

Immediately after the ringing there is always a Ridgman committee meeting with representatives from all competing bands, the outcome of which was

On this occasion - and something I have not witnessed before at the Ridgman - was the request for general ringing after the competition - what climb those stairs again? For many this was the first time, having travelled with their band to be part of the day and in at least one case - coming to The Ridgman to listen to the competition - even though their Guild was not competing. And so we had 45 minutes of general ringing overseen by Phil Grover - who we now say goodbye to - and Heather - as they move to Cheshire.

The first band to ring at 10 o'clock were the defending champions - Bedfordshire, followed by next year's hosts Suffolk. Lincoln were drawn fourth, ringing after Essex. Ely, Cambridge University and Hertfordshire completed the seven competing bands


All assembled in the chancel awaiting the results

The Results

  1. Essex Association of Change Ringers
  2. Hertford County Association of Change Ringers
  3. Cambridge University Guild of Change Ringers
  4. The Lincoln Diocesan Guild of Church Bell Ringers
  5. The Ely Diocesan Association of Church Bell Ringers
  6. The Suffolk Guild of Ringers for the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich
  7. Bedfordshire Association of Church Bell Ringers


Nigel Taylor receives the Ridgman Trophy from
Fr Stephenson - pictured with the judges
Deborah Thorley and Penelope Thorley

Chris Turner who has led the band for a number of years writes

"Coming 4th out of 7 was a very respectable result, but perhaps we all hoped for something a little better; indeed after completing our test piece I, and others, really thought we might be in with a chance of winning the contest for the first time ever.
We gave it our best shot and rang the half course of Yorkshire SR as well as we had ever done, during our two pre contest practices. Yes, we made a slight mistake in the first lead, but every team (that I heard at least) also made a few mistakes. So I entered the chancel to hear the results with more than a glimmer of hope that this might be our year. I am in no way criticising the judges, they undertook a difficult task very well, but yes, I was disappointed our team was called out so early, when the judges read out the placings in reverse order.
Boston bells are tricky to ring well, especially immediately, as striking contests demand. They are all a bit odd struck; the circle is large and you cannot easily communicate with your fellow ringers 'across the dome'. So I take my hat off to the teams that beat us, especially Essex who won. To climb up all those stairs and then ring very well struck Yorkshire on strange and tricky bells is a fantastic achievement.
There is no doubt in my mind that the standard of ringing in this Ridgman contest at the moment is as high as it has ever been over the 37 years it has been running. That can only be a good thing.
I have been in charge of the Lincoln DG team for quite a few years now, so this is an appropriate time to retire from that role. I hope my successor can be the first to lift the trophy!
Thank you everyone for ringing in 'my' teams over these years."


The Lincoln Band

Next year takes us to Suffolk and the recently augmented 10 at Stowmarket, on 13th June 2026. Norfolk (Wyndham) is the venue for 2027 and Essex in 2028.

Keith Butter
Master