Cambridge District

of the Ely Diocesan Association of Church Bell Ringers

Calendar

Next Meeting

The Cambridge District Inter-tower 6 Bell Striking Competition will take place on Saturday 10 June at Little Eversden. The draw will be at 10.30 with ringing continuing until all teams have rung.

This year there will be two classes in the competition - teams competing for the traditional trophy, and a Fun Class for anyone who wants to come along for some fun and to improve their ringing. Teams can ring 120 rows of rounds, call changes or any method. Trophy Class Bands must ring either call changes with a minimum of 12 calls or method. Bands in the Fun Class do not have to be from a single tower and ringers may ring for more than one team. See the full rules here.

So, whatever your current standard of ringing, why not form a band and come along for an enjoyable morning's ringing?

News

The District runs regular training events at St Clements in Cambridge. The next event is on Saturday, 27 May 2.30-4.00pm. This session is ideal for people working towards LtR Level 3. It will be very heavily practical, focused on Plain Hunt on 5 and 6. There will also be chances to practice covering. Let Dave Richards know, by email at education@cambridgeringing.info if you'd like to attend. We'll also need tutors, so if anyone would like to volunteer as a 'safe pair of hands', Dave would love to hear from you too! Suggested donation to St Clements running costs - £4.

The next training event after that will be on Saturday 24th June 2.30-4.00pm when Tom Ridgman will be running a short course on Steeple Keeping and Belfry Maintenance. It will be a course for new and existing steeple keepers to discuss best practices and challenges in maintaining a ring of bells. It will include some practical experience of rope splicing. Participants are welcome to bring examples (preferably pictures rather than complete bits!) of problems they are facing in their own tower. Spaces will be limited for this event - do let education@cambridgeringing.info know if you'd like to come.

From July onward we will be aiming to offer regular call change practice sessions on third Saturdays and plain hunt/covering sessions on fourth Saturdays, still at St Clements.

Now that the dust has largely settled on the Coronation it's possible to sum up the ringing that took place in the Cambridge District. As far as the committee are aware, there were 55 performances in 37 (of 46) towers that appear in the Cambridge District in the Annual Report, ringing everything from rounds to Cambridge Surprise Maximus. Bells were also chimed at Weston Colville which isn't currently listed as a Cambridge District tower, though there are plans afoot that may change that…

This is really impressive, as was the number of relatively new ringers who took part. The District Committee would like to congratulate and thank everyone who made this possible.

The Meldreth & Melbourn Church Tower Bell Ringers voted at their 2023 AGM to hold their practice at Melbourn on the 1st Wednesday of each month (at Meldreth otherwise). This will start in May on a six month trial basis. All practice times are now 7.45-9.00pm.

Ringing at Melbourn is currently restricted to the back six while awaiting awaiting new fittings for the front two bells.

We are excited to announce the revival of the Perry Person practice night support scheme. For many years Geoff Perryman ran a practice night support scheme that identified helpers and sent them off to practices on a weekly basis. Geoff did this all by phone, but technology has moved on and the new scheme will now operate through a web based app (called 'AutoPerry'). There is a page containing more information, but the key thing is that volunteers are needed. That is YOU! Please register at https://autoperry.cambridgeringing.info/ (or via the link in the menu) and give it a try. Without you, this will never work!

The first Gipson Trophy event of the new season took place on Friday 17 March, seeing an away win for Cherry Hinton against Little Shelford/Meldreth in a close competition. The next event involves Great Shelford away to Linton on Wednesday, 22 March.

German television recently filmed a short video at Thriplow featuring Becca Glazier and some of her 'Ring for the King' learners. It's mostly in German, but you'll get the general idea.

We are sorry to have to report the death of Roger Kendrick. Roger rang for some years at Trumpington and rang many peals there and at other towers in the area. He was a district ringing master and helped to teach ringers. He also helped to rehang Oakington bells. His funeral is on Friday 24th February at 11.00 am in Whipsnade Church.

An outline Program of District Events in 2023 is now available. While quite a lot of details are still to be confirmed, this does at least give some idea when each month's events will take place so you can get them into you diaries. More details will be added as they are confirmed, and we'll announce individual events here, and by email and on social media in the normal way.

The schedule for the 2023 Gipson Trophy 'competition' has now been published. Four teams have entered (representing 5 towers): Cherry Hinton, Great Shelford, Linton, and Little Shelford and Meldreth combined. The schedule and results to date are available on the website, as are the guidelines for the events. The first match is on 17 March at Little Shelford, who will be playing Cherry Hinton.

A local band rang a quarter-peal of Plain Bob Triples at Ickleton on Sunday, 5 February to mark 60 years membership of Ely DA by Ickleton tower captain David Lilley.

The Cambridge Annual District Meeting took place Saturday 14th January 2023 at Linton.

Stephen Burr stepped down as President of the District after four years in the post, and Tom Ridgman took over the role. Graham Louth joined the committee as joint Ringing Master, Richard Pargeter joined the committee as Practice Night Support Officer, and Barry Johnson joined as a committee member. The remainder of the committee were re-elected. 14 new members of the Association were elected and welcomed by the President.

Becca Glazier has created a very nice poster which we hope you might want to display in your tower - it shows the benefits of joining the EDA. And remember that new members can join at any monthly meeting, including the ADM this week. You can download the poster here.

We are sorry to have to report that John White, a ringer at Fulbourn, has passed away. John joined the EDA in 1984 and is credited with 20 peals for the association and rang many quarter peals. He was a dedicated Sunday Service ringer at Fulbourn until recently when limited mobility prevented him from climbing up to the ringing room. His funeral was held on Monday 13th February.

We are sorry to have to report the death of Geoff Reed, a ringer at Swaffam Bulbeck, on Thursday 29th September 2022. His funeral was held on 3rd November.

A history of the Association - EDA History - 'The First Hundred Years' has now been published as part of the 125 year anniversary celebrations. Every Association tower with members will receive a free copy, but if you want to purchase a personal copy should contact the treasurer, Nicholas Small, using smallsatgirvian@gmail.com or at 12 Cambridge Road, Waterbeach, Cambridge CB25 9NJ. The price is £10, including UK second class postage. Payment by cheque to "Ely DACBR", or email Nicholas for electronic payment details.

125th Anniversary of the Ely DA - mugs, badges, keyrings and garments are now available with a special logo celebrating 125 years of the Ely DA.

China mugs £7 each; porcelain mugs £10 each; enamel keyrings and badges £4 each. Mugs, keyrings and badges are available at district meetings, or contact for collection or delivery - postage can be arranged if required, at extra cost. Printed t-shirts and embroidered polo shirts, sweatshirts and fleeces are available to order from Expertees (now P&M Custom Clothing) at the Ely DA webshop.

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