As usual this is based on data from BellBoard.
Personal milestones:
- 400th handbell peal for Clive Smith
- 250th handbell peal for David Kemp
- 100th handbell peal for Anthony Mann
- John Croft has completed the Surprise Royal alphabet for handbell peals
Some conducting firsts:
- First quarter of major as conductor in hand by Martin Turner
- First peal of Spliced Surprise in hand as conductor by Stephen Mitchell
- First quarter in hand as conductor by Jenny Holden
- First quarter on 8 handbells as conductor by Andrew Sparling
- First peal of Surprise as conductor by Cherril Spiller
- Jonathan Agg joins the ranks of people who have called peals of the Standard 41 Surprise Minor in hand
Various firsts and firsts in method:
- First quarter on 10 in hand by Sam Shead
- First peal in hand by Ian Staves
- First quarter in hand by Malcolm Sargeant, Ellie Sargeant, David Sworder, Jean Nixon, Louise Booth
- First quarter on 8 handbells by Louise Booth
- First quarter of Surprise by Emma Stanford
- First quarter on 10 handbells by James Hodkin and Maureen Hanney
-
First quarter on 8 handbells by Helena Mattingley
- First quarter of London in hand by Kris Fowler, Cally Perry and Elaine Hansen
- First treble dodging quarter in hand by Courtney Spoerer
- First quarter of Kent Maximus in hand by Peter Bennett
- First quarters in hand for many years by Sue Bassett, Richard Horne and Stephen Crawley
Bands making good progress together:
- First quarter of Oxford T B Major in hand by a whole band from the OUS
- First peal of Surprise Minor in hand by a whole band. These are experienced Surprise Major ringers, but Surprise Minor is tricky stuff, so it's worth noting
The Perrins family have rung two new Minor methods: Wollstonecraft Treble Bob and Greenwich Treble Bob
There have been a few concentrated bursts of handbell ringing:
A few peals stood out for technical difficulty:
- Spliced Plain Minor (210m)
- Spliced Doubles (90m/v)
- Spliced Surprise Maximus (4m)
- Spliced Surprise Major (6m) including Glasgow and Belfast
- Spliced Surprise Major (14m)
For this month's featured performance I'm going to indulge in some personal nostalgia. I did a lot of ringing with this band, in various combinations, in London during the 1990s, usually also including Roger Bailey. Congratulations on your wedding, Lesley and Peter.
St Olave's Society
Beachampton, Bucks
The Leys, 14 Main Street
Sunday, 25 May 2014 in 2h22 (13E)
5152 Yorkshire Surprise Major
Composed by Peter J Sanderson
1–2 Lesley J Belcher
3–4 Richard A Pearce
5–6 Ruth Blackwell
7–8 Michael J Trimm (C)
Rung to celebrate the marriage of Lesley Belcher and Peter Maddox.