Freshers’ Tour 2021

With the Freshers’ outnumbered approximately 1:6, the tour began in leafy Richmond-Upon-Thames. The presence of an open balcony to the ringing chamber ensured our ringing was admired by the those below, and with the added benefit of shouting down tea orders to the kitchen.

After finishing at Richmond, we headed onwards to Mortlake, with Asher (and his mobile phone) demonstrating themselves worthy as our escort service for the day. All faith was put in him as we bundled onto a bus which had been decreed as the correct one to get us to Mortlake. One would be
well-advised to purchase Ash a brightly coloured umbrella or lollipop for the next outing!

After an abortive attempt at singing The Wheels on the Bus, we arrived at Mortlake. Sam ran this practice, with a number of courses of ‘Granny Ts’, ‘Steady Ds’ and ‘Bobby Ts’ rung. At this point, we got Wood- which was a welcome addition.

On next to the pub, where Sam had to bow out for work; those orders won’t take themselves you know! During the hour wait for food, the freshers were fully inducted into the alcohol-consumption habits of the society. An honourable mention must go to Peter who devoured a whole kilogram of
chicken wings and numerous pints of beer in a single day!

Barnes followed, after a muddy walk along the Thames towpath for those unfortunate enough not to get the bus. By this point, food and alcohol weighed us down, and after a particularly bad attempt at Steady Ts, the ringing was declared ‘appalling’ by Sean; displease the President at your peril! This perked us back to our senses, and all ringing thereafter was to our normal standards…

Another bus journey directed by Ash got us to the 10-bell tower at Fulham- an interesting treat at the end of a long day. Since few of us had rung on 10 in the last 18 months, it was decided to start off easy with some Called Changes- affectionally known at ‘Tiddly, Tiddly, Tiddly, Pom’ by Peter. After getting to grips with the bells and being told to ‘listen to our tiddlies’ by Peter, we rang an assortment of 9 and 10 bell methods.

Predictably, the pub followed, with many more pints consumed. For those who stayed on later than I did- I sneaked off at 1815- it was possible they spent more time in the pub than ringing, which isn’t a bad thing per se!

Overall, good food, good(ish) ringing and good fun was had.