On Thursday the handbell band in Beeston, Nottingham, rang a quarter of Numbers Royal. Recall that this is Christian Peckham's idea of ringing blocks of plain hunting at the front or back, while the bells at the other end of the change dodge in pairs. Every block of plain hunting is rung until the bells involved reverse their order, which is the same thing as saying it's rung until the handbell pairs come back together, and then the method changes to a different block of hunting.

We rang a quarter of Numbers Royal in Glasgow, which I composed by using a computer search based on a cyclic plan with Ten (plain hunting on 10, i.e. Original) in alternate positions to break up the dodging. In that blog post I also described a composition of Numbers Maximus by Christian, and slightly regretted not having tried to produce something by hand myself.

The composition for the Beeston quarter is by Adam Wilmott. It's based on the original 5-part touch with the calling 4, 5, 6, 7. Here is the composition - maybe a little easier to call than mine.

1256 Spliced Royal (5m)
Adam Wilmott (complib 142576)

             1234567890
-----------------------
4,5,6,7      9012345678
4,5,6,7      7890123456
4,5,6,7      5678901234
4,5,6,7      3456789012
8,5,8        4312789056
4,5,6,7      5643127890
4,5,6,7      9056431278
4,5,6,7      7890564312
4,5,6,7      1278905643
8,5,8        2143905678
4,5,6,7      7821439056
4,5,6,7      5678214390
4,5,6,7      9056782143
4,5,6,7      4390567821
8,4,5,4,8    3421567890
-----------------------
4 part.

I happened to be  looking at BellBoard just as the quarter was published, and saw that it had a footnote as the first quarter of 4567s (which is how they refer to it). The only member of the band whose email address I could find was Tim Peverett, so I emailed him, and he replied immediately to say that the footnote was being amended. It now notes the first quarter of 4567s in England!

Interview Banner

Where are you based?

Oxford

When and where did you learn to ring handbells?

Cambridge, late 1980s, mostly with Simon Gay.

Who has influenced your handbell ringing?

Simon Gay originally and then a big long gap before some collective enthusiasm in Oxford with mutual influence.

Blue lines, place notation or...

Pip Dillistone's first handbell peal was Bristol Maximus, which rapidly shot to the top position on BellBoard.

Where are you based?

Bournemouth, Dorset

When and where did you learn to ring handbells?

In Southampton, around 2016. Philip Moyes, Oliver Chaloner and myself taught ourselves essentially from scratch.

Who has influenced...

Where are you based?

Northallerton, North Yorkshire

When and where did you learn to ring handbells?

I started in North Yorkshire with Plain Bob Minor/ Major and progressed beyond that when I went to London University.

Who has influenced your handbell ringing?

Probably too many to mention. Chris Rowson first...