Winchester District Newsletter – June 2023

District Striking Competition – Cheriton – Saturday 24^th June:
With so many new ringers in the District we have adjusted the rules of the District Striking Competition to make it more inclusive. The rounds and call changes competition has been renamed the rounds and/or call change competition. Teams do not now necessarily need to ring any call changes. They may just ring five minutes of rounds instead. The method ringing competition remains 120 changes of a doubles or minor method. The new rules can be viewed here: 2023 Competition rules

The competition will take place at Cheriton, with ringing from 4pm, or earlier if a large number of teams enter. Tichborne bells will be available between 5pm and 6pm for those that wish to ring there. From 6pm there will be a barbecue at the Garden House in Haig Road, New Alresford, where the results will be announced, followed by a short business meeting to elect new members and deal with any urgent notified business. The Stoney Hills bells will also be available for ringing.

The new rules mean that most bands in the District should be able to enter. Please let Micki Nadal emnad@btinternet.com know by Sunday 18^th June if you wish to enter one or more teams. The draw will take place in advance, and teams will be notified of their slot beforehand. Teams who advise that they need to ring for weddings can be drawn to arrive later.

There will be a raffle at the barbecue and this and any surplus from the barbecue will be donated to the project to re-install the six bells at Ropley. The cost of the barbecue will be £7.50 per person, including drinks, payable on the day. To help with catering, please advise by Wednesday 21^st June if you wish to eat: https://forms.gle/68ViJRZ5YpqMNcME6

If you would like to donate a prize for the raffle, please contact Roger Booth r.g.booth@gmail.com

Guild Inter-District 8 Bell striking competition – Saturday 10^th June
The Winchester District has not entered the last two Guild inter-District competitions, so the District Officers are keen that this year the District does enter a team. To be fair to everyone we are inviting everyone who is interested in ringing to put their name forward and the District Ringing Masters will then select a team to represent the District. The District can enter two teams, so up to 16 ringers from across the District can be involved.

If you would like to ring, please let us know by 3^rd June using this form:
https://forms.gle/ZAvwQGKZF3QzZziT8

The competition is being held at Saint Andrew, Hurstbourne Priors (8 Bells, Tenor: 14-3-9) The draw is at 10:00, with competition ringing from 10.30 till 12:30. The test piece is 224 changes of Triples or Major, or at least seven minutes of call changes with the 3^rd, 5^th and 7^th called to lead. Each team will have four minutes of practice before their test piece.
 

Following up all our new ringers
The effort to recruit and train new ringers to ring rounds in time for the Coronation produced spectacular results. Almost all towers in the District rang on Coronation day. However, we don’t just want to stop there, or lose the interest and enthusiasm of our new ringers. Over the next six months the District is planning to arrange some regular training sessions for the new ringers.

This ‘ringing school’ will teach ringing up and down, and focus on developing foundation skills such as bell control and listening skills (improvers’ level) and first steps in method ringing (intermediate level), with people signing up for a course of 6 – 8 two hour lessons spread out over several months,

We’ve therefore put together a short questionnaire to find out what times suit people best. Whether you would like to come as a student or a helper, please complete the questionnaire, so that we can start to fix up some of these sessions. Thank you. https://forms.gle/5zsgpLfriHsFjkzu7
 
Handbell taster session – Wednesday 17^th May – St Mary Easton
On 17^th May in preparation for our handbell workshop on 30^th September, twelve ringers from Easton, Cheriton, North Stoneham and Sherfield English attended a taster session at St Mary’s Easton, led by The Kings Worthy handbell ringers. Two sets of handbells were used and we worked through some simple exercises to help everyone familiarise themselves with techniques and reading music from staff notation, before ringing some tunes. The Easton ringers provided tea and cake at half time, and everyone enjoyed themselves.

The Easton ringers have been loaned an unused set of handbells from Bishops Sutton and further practices are planned. Similarly, a set of handbells from Bishopstoke are being loaned to North Stoneham, where the local clergy and Bishops Bells from Bishops Waltham are enthusiastically supporting a project to form a new local tune ringing team.