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Christmas will soon be with us, but the bells of St James, Somerton, rang out for all to hear on October 21. The village was probably surprised by the quality of the ringing, and wondered how the local team had suddenly acquired such advanced skills. But these were experts gathered from all round the Banbury area for a meeting of the Oxford Diocesan Guild of Church Bellringers. This meeting occurs twice a year, each parish taking its turn to welcome the guild members. The afternoon's proceedings started at 3pm with an hour of ringing consisting of several methods with names such as Grandsire Triples, Bob Doubles and Stedman. Method ringing varies the order in which the bells are rung in patterns, according to a set sequence. Somerton's team are hoping to progress to method ringing, but are currently at the simpler level of rounds (the bells are continuously rung in the same order) and call changes (pairs of bells switch places at a given command from the tower captain). The tower captain is the leader of the team, and in Somerton he is Neil Clare. At 4pm a special Ringers Service was held in the church, officiated by Rev Noel James, who recalled that his first service on moving to the Benefice seven years ago was in fact, the previous Ringers Service hosted by Somerton. Unfortunately our recently rewired electrics let us down, as the fuse box refused to deliver juice to the organ. But ringers are also good singers, and as the hymns were to well known tunes, we sang a cappella with gusto. After the service the congregation moved on to the village hall, here the tables were set for a delightful buffet provided by Noel and Molly. The catering work also involved Rosemary Arnold with Eric and Daphne Gill from Lower Heyford. The ringers wish to extend their thanks to these kind-hearted people for making the afternoon such a success. The consumption of food and wine led on to the formal part of the meeting, which included the presentation of certificates to new members of the guild. To qualify you must reach a standard that enables you to be part of the team ringing for Sunday services. We are pleased that the two newest members of the Somerton team, James and Matthew Niekrascz were awarded their certificates. By the time the agenda business had been completed it was into evening, and the keen campanologists returned to the tower for a finally half-hour medley on our eight bells. We hope the village enjoyed what was heard, and if you want to join the team, please come along to the church on a practice night (Thursday at 8pm). by D. Reed, Somerton ringer, November 2000 | TOP | |
DING
DONG
MERRILY ON HIGH