Tewkesbury Shield - Saturday 2nd May 2009: photos

Danes (Monday), Seps (Friday) and Swindon (Saturday morning) provided the venues for the practices for this year's Tewkesbury Shield team. The touch for this year's competition was 363 Stedman Caters. Unlike previous UL expeditions to striking competitions all the team members were of good health on the way to the practice and Tewkesbury itself. Having reached Tewkesbury and parked what seemed to be 2 miles away from the Abbey, the UL made their way to the booking in location.

Some members of the team went via the one stop convenience shop where Nick Hartley consumed a large portion of his saturated fat allowance for the day in eating a pack of sausage rolls and then calculating the percentage daily intake he had ingested. The long lost Master's file was in evidence for the first time in years (very useful for Peter who stopped being master nearly a year previous and I'm sure Nick will utilise it fully in the last week of his mastership!). Luckily for the UL, we were drawn third to ring. enough time for people to take advantage of the cheap meal offer at the usual pub (or so we thought). In reality the food turned up 5 minutes before we had to leave the pub to ring! Whilst waiting for the food, articles in the week's edition of Felix (the Imperial College newspaper) were discussed including techniques for not getting lost in mazes (by keeping your hand always on the left wall, but this does not mean you take the quickest route). Heather started the maze and got exasperated when other society members around the table started talking about mathematical construction of mazes. It was Heather's second visit to the Tewkesbury Shield Competition. The first being when she was 3 months old and her Mum judging. The older members of the band could recollect whether the UL competed in the 1990 competition.

We rang the practice and test pieces, and then people got on to the rest of the day's business. Heather rang her first handbell quarter with Mike and Nick around the back of the Abbey. Jenny and Q went for a walk, even managing to temporarily leave Gloucestershire for a short period of time. Various people re-convened in the pub (what a surprise). Nick H purchased a badminton set which led to a game of badminton being played using gravestones as a net. Others sat on the grass, enjoying the sun and drinking cider.

In no time at all it was time for the results. Our expectations were not high. The judges gave the UL some good comments such as the ringing started positively, had some excellent parts, and that it had potential. However, they also said that it didn't always live up to the potential. When it came to the team placings, fourth was a pleasant surprise. After the results cars went off to Oxford, Flitwick (via Cheltenham), Wimbledon and Clapham Junction (via Send). The Wimbledon and Clapham Junction parties (joined by Clara) went to Pizza Express, where (for once) we were not the noisiest group in the restaurant.

Thanks to Nick J for organising, to everyone who rang especially those who helped out at practices (Roger, Rhiannon, Clara and Caroline) and to those who came to support the UL team (Phillip Naylor and Clare's parents).

by Jenny Holden

UL Team:
1. Tessa K Beadman
2. Heather M Forster
3. Clare E F Dyer
4. Jennifer A Holden
5. Peter M Jasper
6. Nicholas J Hartley
7. Nicholas W Jones
8. Quentin S A Jackson
9. Michael J Trimm (C)
10. Rupert H J Littlewood