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 structure?
Mixture of blue lines and structure.
Trebles or tenors?
Tenors. Trebles-ringers are strange people.
Quarters or peals?
Quarters. I have rung a whole heap of towerbell peals and even long and record lengths, but handbell peals just seem too long - physically uncomfortable and mentally draining. Also quarters allow more time for cheese and wine.
What is the most unusual place in which you have rung handbells?
The top of St John's College tower in Cambridge for Ascension day.
What is your favourite handbell-ringing anecdote?
I've umpired the record lengths of Minor on handbells. Use your imagination.
Any further comments about handbell ringing in general?
Ringing handbells delights and frustrates me. It is exhilarating when it is going well. Compared with tower bells, the teamwork nature is more tangible and immediate and the social side more close-knit. But it's also (at least for me) so much more difficult. I find it deeply frustrating when I fail to ring as well as I have managed in my own Abel practice. On tower bells I expect to make method mistakes very rarely, and I am able to think about other things, transpose coursing orders, and even construct and enunciate sentences. On handbells, I will make mistakes and am virtually incapable of doing those other things.
Next time: Simon Melen