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OS: SP074384
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From Churches |
Childswickham, St Mary the Virgin
The Childswickham parish church of St Mary the Virgin is located in the south of the village with the churchyard almost surrounded by fields. Where the lane ends at the church gate there is a car park.
The ringing room is reached by climbing a ladder that leads through a trap door. The walls are painted white but there are only a couple of small windows.
2012-09-28 [ expand ]
I visited for the first time on Friday 28th September 2012 to attempt a Quarter Peal. Our goal was to ring a mixture of Little Bob Minor and Plain Bob Minor. We started with Little Bob but failed twice, each time we were about 20minutes into the Little Bob segment. A couple of us found the rope sight tricky so we were'nt sure of the order that the treble, #5 and #6 were ringing. This wasn't normally a problem but, speaking for myself, after a bob my lack of familiarity with the method meant I was completely reliant on the treble to figure out what to do next. While we failed to get the QP I felt that the practice at an unfamiliar method was valuable.
As an inexperienced ringer the lesson I will take from this experience is to either ring familiar methods in unknown towers or ring unfamiliar methods in known towers.
2014-01-24 [ expand ]
My second visit on Friday 24th January 2014 was for another Quarter Peal attempt. Our goal was to ring a mixture of doubles methods with each affected ringer calling a section. We started with 300 of Stedman Doubles followed by 240 of Grandsire Doubles, another 240 of Grandsire Doubles, 240 of Plain Doubles, finishing with another 240 of Plain Doubles. After a false start halfway through the Stedman our second attempt was successful and is recorded on Campanophile.
This was a first for me, I had not ever called anything in a quarter peal. It was a little stressful but quite satisfying.
2017-09-09 [ expand ]
My next visit on Saturday 9th September 2017 for the weekly Four Shires practice. There were only nine of us at the practice and we were limited in what we could ring. I rang the tenor up and #3 down. In between I rang various bells for Plain Hunt, Plain Bob Doubles as well as rounds & call changes.
The Bells
The tower has a ring of 6 bells with a tenor weighing 11-3-26 in F#. Dove's Guide includes details of the bells at St Mary the Virgin. No information on the bells history or inscriptions was to be found in the tower.
The Worcestershire & Districts Change Ringing Association have additional information on St Mary the Virgin, Childswickham.
