A GRAND DAY OUT

By Mel and Lindsay from Hurstpierpoint

Saturday the 19th of June was the date of our first bell ringing outing and as we are new ringers we had not had the pleasure of attending one before. It was beautifully arranged by our skip Dennis Elliott and was executed in the same calm organised manner in which he keeps us under control whist ringing the bells in our tower in Hurst. We were all told not to be late 7.45am was the allocated time of departure for ringers and non ringers who were joining us. The coach would wait for no one! It was clear that outing veterans arrive 30 minutes before the coach leaves, those of us who were on time appeared to be late!

Nigel was to be our coach driver for the day and he soon had us speeding up the M23 towards our first destination, St Mary Virgin at Chieveley, where we received a cup of coffee and a very warm welcome (we were all very warm, in fact, as the heating on the coach had gone into overdrive and roasted us - quite literally!). We were called to climb the wooden spiral staircase to the tower for the first of the day's ringing sessions. Dennis informed us that we were to be ringing rounds and all new bell ringers were to grab hold, we duly did and all eight bells rang with us new ringers feeling proud as the sound drifted from the tower to the surrounding countryside. Gone were all our nerves and we pulled together, new and old hands alike, to ring.

We gingerly got back onto the coach having taken a few layers of clothing off. Luckily, nifty Nigel had rectified the dodgy air conditioning. St Mary Virgin at Kintbury was very pretty with a lovely painted ceiling. All non ringers got off the coach and had a look around the church and then found a baker's which sold Lardy Cake. This proved to be very popular and the bakers soon sold out! It become obvious when we were all seated back on the coach that one person in particular had managed to secure a large quantity of the said cake. We won't mention any names as I think this person knows who he is! Peter then proceeded to squirrel it away at the back of the luggage rack. Oops sorry Peter!

Our final stop of the morning was to be our lunch break, in Hungerford, and the church of St Lawrence, nestled alongside the Kennet and Avon canal. These bells proved to be the nicest of the morning, and we all enjoyed ringing them very much. Our very competent band of professional ringers rang various methods and it sounded really rather lovely. Some of us naively thought that "make your own arrangements for lunch" meant bring a packed lunch. It soon became clear that to some of the old hands this in fact translated to head to the nearest pub. The rest of us sat by the canal with our sarnies and admired the passing narrow boats and swing bridge.

We were told to meet in Hungerford high street at 2pm sharp for our trip on the coach to St Michaels at Lambourn. This also proved to be another really lovely church and some excellent ringing was achieved by both novices and professionals alike. The ever efficient Dennis ushered all the ringers off the coach as the schedule was tight.

The penultimate stop was St Mary's at Speen, which had a complement of only six bells. These, however, were strangely spaced causing Mel to lead from the No.2 bell. An interesting an unexpected method followed. We were joined here by some more very good ringers who were all able to ring perfectly straight away, something us novices aspire to being able to do!

Our last church of the day was St Nicholas in Newbury, which had 10 bells. This was obviously a great thrill, and the experienced ringers amongst us became very animated. The less experienced looked pensive, their anxiety rising as Caters were mentioned. We all had a go at ringing rounds and Lindsay came into her own again being able to ring one of the heavy bells at the back. Then the professionals took over and treated us to Grandsire Caters which sounded wonderful and was a perfect end to our bell ringing.

Our day was not yet over as we motored onto The Spring for a lovely three course meal and a welcome drink or two. All now relaxed and exhausted from a very long, tiring, but enjoyable day, most of us fell into a sleepy state and let Nigel have some peace and quiet on our homeward journey.

All in all a splendid first outing for us new bell ringers and expertly organised by Dennis and Sue - A TRULY GRAND DAY OUT.

Thank you to the following for their contributions to the day:-

Joyce and David for their words of encouragement, steadying influence and David's cheeky smile.
John for trying to show us women ringers at their best, only to be let down!
Maureen for having a go!
Michelle and Tony for their courage in ringing any bell offered to them.

Chris for his witty comments and comic timing.
Dennis for his kindness and unwavering confidence in his band.