We had 7 teams compete for the 6 bell trophy on Sat 6^th Sept 2025 TC(a), TC(b), EC(a), EC(b), Ay Puffins,  Ay Ringed Plovers & Scratch (3 from Jsy, Tim from the Guild , plus 2 x TC). The judges were Estella Haynes and Alex Riley

Puffins rang first, Cambridge minor – scored 79%, placed 3rd. A measured and controlled pace. Striking good when adjacent bells were together less so when not. Consistent leading would have helped

EC(b) rang call changes, strong tenor , very clear calls. 6th place with 60%

Ringed Plovers rang plain hunt on 5, very disciplined leading, a few hesitations but rounds and back rounds were very good. The slowest piece of ringing. 5^th place 69%

Scratch team rang spliced – very good piece of ringing. The fastest. Unplaced as scratch

TC(a) rang bob doubles. A few minor inconsistencies but no major faults – 1^st place with 85%

TC(b) rang grandsire doubles, disagreed on the speed and better leading would have helped 70% in 4^th place

EC(a) Plain bob doubles, excellent piece of ringing but making 2nds was weak. Placed 2^nd with 82%

General ringing @ St Annes included Stedman triples, caters & cinques. 8 spliced, DNCBM, Single Oxford bob triples, Kent major, rounds on 12

General ringing at Wells, focused on rounds and plain hunt, also grandsire doubles & cloisters doubles

15 Guernsey ringers took part in the event, 3 from Jersey, Tim Philips represented the Guild, 10 Alderney ringers turned out & together with 2 judges we scored a number of excellent qtr peals over the weekend:

https://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/event.php?id=21674

No Service, no meeting just 100% ringing (& cake). The date for the zoom AGM has been set as Saturday Sept 20^th @ 4pm. A link will be circulated to all towers beforehand

HMMcG

The Alderney Band have just hosted 40 ringers here from UK to help celebrate Helen & Peter’s 45^th wedding anniversary (Sapphire) & 70^th birthdays (Platinum)

https://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/event.php?id=21423

Notable events by local band = peal of Belfast S Major for Helen & Peter, peal of Cambridge S Major for June (first peal of surprise & not going to be her last!), Ines first peal on 12 (Stedman Cinques), Alexis rang not 1 but 2 qtrs of Kent TB Major, & Aileen rang a very confident qtr of mixed Ipswich & Norwich after losing a peal when she had already rung beautifully 720 changes each of Bourne, Hull & Norfolk, Arthur’s qtr peal of treble to bob triples was his first on 8. Some great local practices where we were supported by very friendly visitors.

Photo is of birthday BBQ

Now looking fwd to July 2026 for ‘same again’

Chris & Judith Frye left Alderney on the morning of July 8th after a fortnight of tremendous help & support. They worked hard advancing our repertoire, our styles, our understanding & in addition we had a lot of fun 🙂

https://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/search.php?from=24%2F06%2F2025&to=08%2F07%2F2025&place=Alderney & we had LOADS of extra practices – local band qtr Kent major is within our grasp:-)

Looking forward to the Anniversary Week

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