Middle Littleton, Worcs, 25th Apr, 1260 Plain Bob Minor: Roger Hunt 1, Tom Sandham 2, David Roskelly 3, Matthew Kemble 4, Claire Penny 5, Martin Penny (C) 6. For Shakespeare's birthday and St George's Day.
Offenham, Worcs, 5th May, 1272 Plain Bob Minimus: Stefanie Whittle 1, Martin Penny 2, Claire Penny 3, Matthew Kemble (C) 4. 1st Q of Minimus for 1, 3 & 4. (Ahhhhh, what some people will do to get noticed, but I'm told it's all part of a plan. I was threatened with inclusion in this, but ‘unfortunately' my wife took me off to France…. Ed)
Salford Priors, Warks, 2nd June, 1288 June A Major: Sandra Parker 1, Peter Quinn 2, James Ingham 3, Karen French 4, Robert Reeves 5, Richard Lewis-Skeath 6, John Nicholls 7, Chris Mew (C) 8. Rung to mark the forthcoming 70th anniversary of the D Day landings.
Wellesbourne, Warks, 9th June, 1260, Stedman Triples: Chris Mew (C) 1, Mark Sayers 2, James Ingham 3, Karen French 4, John Nicholls 5, Michael Haynes 6, Mike Chester 7, Peter Quinn 8.
Offenham, Worcs, 15th June, 1320 Mixed Doubles (Grandsire, St Martin's, St Simon's, Plain & April Day): Roland Merrick 1, Claire Penny 2, Chris Povey 3, Martin Penny 4, Matthew Kemble (C) 5, Stefanie Whittle 6.
Harbury, Warks, 23rd June, 1280 Cambridge S Major: Chris Mew (C) 1, Julie Doyle 2, John Gwynne 3, F Sage 4, Robert Reeves 5, Michael Danes 6, John Nicholls 7, Peter Quinn 8. Rung in memory of John Banham, ringer at St Peter's, Leamington, prior to his funeral of 27th June.
Evesham, Worcs, 3rd July, 1260 Plain Bob Royal: Chris Povey 1, Claire Penny 2, Freda Cleaver 3, Roger Hunt 4, Nicholas Allsopp 5, Martin Penny 6, Matthew Kemble 7, Paul Smith 8, John Nicholls 9, Richard Lewis-Skeath (C) 10. A birthday compliment to Chris Povey — 65 today! First Q of Royal: 2 & 7. First Royal as conductor.
Offenham, Worcs, 5th July, 1260 Plain Bob Doubles: Bob Topp 1, Robert Hall 2, Tom Sandham 3, Claire Penny 4 Matthew Kemble (C) 5, Martin Penny 6. 1st Q on treble: 1. For the Offenham Flower Festival.
(Please let me have details of quarters. I cannot guarantee to see them on Campanophile, Bellboard, or wherever. I do some, but probably not all. Ed)
Pebworth.Things are now happening here with the replacement of the cracked headstock. An assessment of the two quotations received was undertaken, which showed that John Taylor & Co should be engaged to undertake the work. The PCC is at present applying for a faculty and will soon be applying for grants for this work. As soon as the faculty is received, Taylors will fabricate the new stock and will fit it soon after. The tenor will once again be ringing in, probably, September, after which the ring can be used as a 10 again — a lay-off of nearly 2 years.
Moreton-in-Marsh.Ringing is still suspended here, due to work on the top of the spire. Hopefully this can be completed soon and ringing can restart.
Taylors will soon be undertaking refurbishment work at Stow-on-the-Wold. The work is essentially to clappers and pulleys. The bells will be lifted slightly to enable the bearings to be dismantled. These will be checked over and re-assembled with new seals and grease. In addition the tie-bolts in the pitch pine bellframe will be tightened to stiffen it up. Even though it's a mighty frame, the mighty ring of bells gives it some exercise!
Lower Quinton bells may still be out of action due to a piece of masonry falling from inside the spire, making the spire unsafe in that area. The lump of masonry broke the wheel of the 3rd (?) bell. Nothing can be done to the wheel to make the bells ringable again until the problem with the spire is attended to. I understand there may be an ‘internal problem' in progressing the work. Let's hope this does not develop into another long-term unringable situation as happened at Pebworth. Does anyone have an update?
Adlestrop:finance to allow this project to go ahead might soon appear. There are encouraging noises in this respect from that direction, but nothing is ever firm until the ink is dry on the paper… The proposal is to discard the tenor and use the treble, 3rd and 4th as the back three (retuned) of a lighter ring of 5, or possibly 6. Let's hope something can happen there.