The Guild of Clerical Ringers enjoyed a successful week of ringing on its 85th Anniversary Low Week Tour in Mid-Devon. We were joined at various times during the week by ringing friends and overall, we were very pleased with the standard of ringing. We even managed successfully at Thorveton three leads of London Surprise Royal No. 3 before breaking into Little Bob. Less auspicious was the fact that we managed to ring a course of Westminster Surprise Minor at Uplowman, thinking that the second was the treble! The less said probably the better.
Our ringing ranged from rounds and call changes to surprise, and everybody considered they had had plenty of opportunities to try something new. We enjoyed the services of an excellent coach driver from a local coach firm who dropped us at the door of virtually every church (26 in all) where we rang having negotiated first some tricky Devon high-hedged lanes with floods and tractors met all too frequently. While most towers were sixes, we enjoyed a few eights and started the week with the impressive ten at Cullompton. Our accommodation in Bickleigh, near Tiverton, was situated adjacent to the River Exe and provided a delightful setting for the days we were there. Lunchtime pubs provided good beer and food and on most days we concluded in our final tower of the day with an act of worship. A highlight was ringing on a very rural medieval peal of three bells at Loxbeare (rarely rung) where we were photographed by villagers and provided with welcome refreshment.
One of our more recent members joined us for the first time and has commented:
“The concept of spending a week with circa sixteen serving and retired clergy, plus partners and friends, in a small coach, negotiating the sunken lanes of mid Devon, might normally fill one with a sense of horror and foreboding. Not so when the party comprises the exuberant members of the Clerical Guild of Ringers. An enjoyable time was to be had ringing at twenty-six eclectic towers with rings of ten, eight, six and three. For me personally, the opportunity to gain confidence in ringing on higher numbers of bells and to extend my repertoire of surprise minor methods, with repeated opportunities for practice, made for a very satisfying week. Ringing 60 on 3rds Devon style and ringing the 7cwt 15th century tenor of the rarely rung ring of three at Loxbeare, were additional highlights.”
