Review of 2018

We've had an amazingly successful year for handbell peals: my total is 11, with only one loss. That's my highest total since 1998, and I'm sure there were more losses in 1998. All the peals were on 8. Tina and I have rung four of Bristol, one of London, one of the Nottingham 8, two of Cambridge, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Rutland spliced, one of Lessness and most recently (today) one of Pudsey, which was my 200th handbell peal. I also sneaked in one of Lincolnshire with a different band.

Our quarter peal total is higher than last year too. We've rung 8 at Albany Quadrant and 4 at Angela's house. They included Jenny's first of spliced surprise in hand; Susannah's first of Kent Minor in hand and first on 8 in hand; Phyllida's first on 8 in hand; and Alex's first of Surprise Major in hand. We also had two numerical landmarks: the 200th quarter at 1 Albany Quadrant, and the 100th handbell quarter with all of me, Tina, Jonathan and Angela in the band.

Finally, we've just rung a quarter on the front six of the set of ten that my dad, Phil Gay, wrote about in the Christmas issue of The Ringing World (he made the clappers and handles himself, and the bells were tuned by Tony Crabtree). They were pleasant to ring, nicely weighted and balanced, with a good tap and not too much resonance. We also tried out the back six, and rang rounds on the ten with the children's help. We hope to ring a peal on them some time next year.