The last fortnight has been hectic for the Alderney band.

We were pleased to welcome back our regular visiting experts – John & June Wells from Reading March 13 – 20th. They come each spring to help us prepare for the inter-island 8 bell striking competition. This year we were already managing to get through the touch ‘unaided’ but their criticisms are always welcome & usually constructive!!

We hosted 8 young ringers (plus 3 adult helpers) from Elizabeth College over the weekend of March 22/23rd. The youngsters regularly ring at College on a set of bell simulators which are the lightest in the Channel Islands with occasional sessions at Town Church where the bells are the heaviest on the Channel Islands. Ringing at both St Anne’s and Wells Bells the youngsters were able to work on their style as our bells are both ‘goldilocks’ peals – not too light & not too heavy. We very much enjoyed their visit and appreciated their enthusiasm on Sunday morning – where all the practice on Saturday paid off and we rang some really good rounds on higher numbers. The hot chocolate in The Georgian afterwards went down very well too

On Monday March 24th a lady ringer from St John’s came to Alderney specifically for 3 days of intensive ringing tuition. This initiative by the Alderney band has already been well received by 2 separate groups of Guernsey ringers & we can now add Jersey to our list of very satisfied customers.

Anyone wishing to boost their repertoire/perfect their style/receive an intro to handbell ringing should email me: [email protected] Ideally a group of 2 or 3 of similar standard wishing to work together will be made very welcome by the Alderney band – solo ‘travellers’ welcome too of course & I will try to attract others to join in – course fee £60, free accommodation

Wow – what a week:

https://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/event.php?id=20629

Jane Le Conte, Aileen Wilson, Helen McGregor and Peter Bevis have just spent an amazing week following the ART Minor Stepping Stones programme. 23 ringers spent a week listening to talks about the structure of surprise minor in general and some of the methods in particular. We had plenty of opportunity to practice and then attempt a quarter peal in various methods of gradually increasing complexity – set our in a clear path.

Evenings were spent on Stedman Triples, DNCBM, Kent TB Major & Yorkshire S Major. Handbell ringing was undertaken of course with 2 ringers scoring their first ever handbell qtr peals

The standout moment of the week was Aileen’s 1/4 peal of London S minor – fabulous 🙂

Next year we hope to be trying some spliced s minor. Experienced s minor ringers might like to join us – let me know & we can discuss