23/6/25 & we have just come to the end of 10 days of ringing on Alderney with a group of novices from Singapore, England & Scotland. We were VERY grateful for Jane Le Conte’s assistance & support & together with the Alderney band we have rung bob doubles, St Simon’s doubles, Stedman doubles & bob minor. We have examined the theory on grandsire doubles, watched video recordings of our ringing & examined our Hawkear results. Practised raising & lowering in peal. Mostly we rang at Wells but with some extra sessions, standard practices and Service Ringing at St Anne’s – not a minute has been wasted:-)

A total of 6 quarter peals were scored:

https://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/search.php?from=16%2F06%2F2025&place=Alderney+

Standout qtr had a footnote of ‘1st as (c) and 1st inside’ for the SAME ringer!!! , others were ‘just’ first (c), first inside for doubles and first inside for minor 🙂

Fabulous time witnessing great progress. Next year we will be embarking on Stepping Stones Level 1 from June 1 – 5th, email me for details

The Alderney band is riding high! Last night at practice we achieved 3 leads of Kent TB Major:

https://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/view.php?id=1858553

What a result for an isolated local band 🙂

Well done all

On Monday evening May 12th His Excellency The Lt Governor joined the bellringers for their weekly practice. He came up the belfry specifically to award those of us who had rung for the Coronation of King Charles III on May 6th 2023 with their Coronation medals.

His Excellency explained that the medals were being awarded in recognition of the enormous effort various folk had made in volunteering on the day & whose combined contribution had done so much to make the event so very special. The casting of the medals had been done in secret, it being very much the case that the medals were in recognition of effort undertaken when there had been no expectation of reward

Medal recipients absent from the photo: Jane Trought, Logan Lord, Martin Jacques & Pam Sargent

Photo, left to right: Nor James, Gail Norwood, June Banister, His Excellency The Lt Governor, Jeremy Penrose-Stupart, Heather Winder, Aileen Wilson, Sally Vos, Donald Hughes, Helen McGregor, Peter Bevis

Justin, Louise, Ines, Helen , Peter and Steve have just completed an excellent trip to Vernet-le-Bain. We were part of a group of 22 ringers in total – all great friends.

The bells – 5cwt 10, were fully available and we made excellent use of them – lots of ‘firsts’, both in tower & hand. Some sightseeing, some swimming, lots of eating & games – a great trip

https://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/event.php?id=20976

Justin, Louise, Ines, Helen , Peter and Steve have just completed an excellent trip to Vernet-le-Bain. We were part of a group of 22 ringers in total – all great friends.

The bells – 5cwt 10, were fully available and we made excellent use of them – lots of ‘firsts’, both in tower & hand. Some sightseeing, some swimming, lots of eating & games – a great trip

https://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/event.php?id=20976

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

Alderney ringers Helen & Peter have just been enjoying a spectacular week in Tulloch with the Cumberlands. Peter’s hips rang their first tower bell peal (London S Major) & although Helen’s peal of Orion Maximus (the principle NOT the surprise) was stood up due to one ringer feeling unwell – she did go on the ring a very successful quarter peal of Orion Maximus

https://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/event.php?id=20560

Alderney band very much looking forward to hosting Elizabeth College at the weekend 🙂 – weather looking dreadful tho:-(

Just completed a great weekend on Jersey……practice @ St Marks on Friday night then training all day Saturday @ St John’s. Justin & Louise in the Vestry with handbells and playing cards – an opportunity for theory & fun practical demos – & me running sessions on handling , raising & lowering on muffled bells on the ground floor ring.

Service ringing on Sunday plus coffee ‘back at the ranch’ gave more chances to plot future fun with old and new friends

Many thanks Jersey

Helen McGregor – Alderney