Roger Bailey QP Weekend 2015

On the Society’s second Roger Bailey ringing weekend, five quarter peals were successfully scored and dedicated to his memory.

The weekend started on Friday evening, with 2 attempts in the City. An Imperial band attempt of Bristol Major at Garlickhythe unfortunately came to grief about halfway through but Superlative Major at Cripplegate was scored in good style.

On Saturday, the Master had planned a well thought out quarter peal schedule that allowed plenty of time for a typical UL member to navigate between destinations. Unfortunately despite this, the planned Plain Bob Triples at Battersea on Saturday morning required a rethink when it turned out one ringer would not make it and we had not managed to contact the other absentee. Eventually, Rupert turned up and we rang a successful Quarter of Plain Bob Doubles, Harry’s first inside!

Meanwhile the other morning quarters began more auspiciously. 4-Spliced Major at Pimlico was successful, being the most methods to a quarter for David Phillips. Unfortunately a complicated composition of Yorkshire Major at Chelsea Old Church was lost just 3 leads from the end.

After a morning of SW ringing, all the bands headed to South Kensington for lunch and a drink in preparation for ringing at the Queen’s Tower. A slap-up breakfast for some in Cafe Floris or a wait in the cold for the Hoop and Toy to open before a pint and quick pub lunch for others set us up for the afternoons ringing. Always an experience, for first timers and seasoned veterans alike, ringing at the Queen’s Tower provided a bit of a challenge. A couple of good touches of Stedman Caters were rung as well as some interesting Grandsire Caters and some called changes. The 7th proved as difficult as ever and Richard found the 8th rather harder to pull off than he expected!

A bit of swift band rearrangement led to afternoon attempts of Stedman Caters at Kensington, Plain Bob Triples at Garlickhythe and 8-spliced at St Magnus. Of these only the St Magnus QP was successful although some good ringing was enjoyed by all.

In addition to the UL ringing in London, Oxford ringers also arranged to ring a quarter peal for Roger, scoring Grandsire Triples at St Giles.

A convivial and civilised pubbage session followed in the Crosse Keys, broken only by the unexpected eruption of “BOGIES!” from Richard partway through the evening which was never really explained. It’s a good thing we were in a private room at the back!

Well done to everyone who scored a first of some kind and thanks especially to Rosemary for doing an excellent job of organising the weekend and coping with last minute drop-outs!

By Mariko Whyte