Three of us, my wife Sheila, Sally Mew and I meet on most Wednesdays. We usually ring Plain Bob Minor and have rung many quarter peals over the last couple of years and I have conducted most of them. However, in order to expand our learning and experience I encouraged...

Yesterday we finally did it: the classic 41 Surprise Minor. We've been going for it, on and off, all year, and sometimes it seemed as if we would never be able to get it. But yesterday, after at least half a dozen false starts (one of them lasting almost an...

Last night we had a casual handbell session with Josy, which we organised completely at the last minute (the idea of organising anything at the last minute is an immense novelty in our household).

It was a good thing to do because Simon was getting antsy for lack of handbell...

Our regular band was one short last night, so we rang a quarter peal of minor and named a method.  It is a six-bell version of something we have been ringing on 8 in the tower, and is a perfectly straightforward method on paper.

However, in handbells, the many places...

Yesterday we had a Thomas-only session where we thoroughly rehearsed Plain Bob Minor lead by lead, one lead at a time.  It might be a bit of a cheat, but I rather think the key to learning ringing is to grab hold of any crutch to help you get a...

I have been doing some analysis of the most popular handbell methods, as measured by numbers of peals. The data comes from Andrew Craddock’s excellent www.pealbase.co.uk. PealBase goes back to 1954 at the moment, and in order to consider complete years, I have stopped at 2010. So that’s 57...

After the last Scottish Handbell Day, we had a bit of a rest from our labours, but managed to meet with Josy for some more ringing practice last week.

Josy had a great handbell day.  Not only did she ring her first quarter peal (Plain Bob Minor of course), but...

Last night was our last opportunity to have a practice with Josy before her official quarter peal attempt on the Handbell Day (Josy is our new-ish learner: since about March).  We have been practising long touches of Plain Bob to work her stamina up for a quarter, and we decided...