On 24 May 1995 a peal of Stedman Cinques was rung on twelve bells at St Mary-le-Bow by the Ancient Society of College Youths in which bells other than the tenor took turns at lying behind. The peal was reported as "variable cover" (RW p.689).
The peal did not meet the Central Council Conditions required for peals on different numbers of bell which say that peals of Cinques on twelve bells are rung with the tenor as cover (Decision (D) B.2) and in accordance with Decision (D) E. it is for Council to decide whether or not to include such a performance in the Peals Analysis.
The Council meeting at Shrewsbury last year decided not to include this performance in the Analysis. However, the meeting also passed a motion, proposed by representatives of the ASCY, "that the Methods Committee be asked to consider, and advise the Council's 1997 meeting, appropriate changes to the Decisions so as to permit peals in which the cover bell varies."
The Committee has met twice to consider the matter and will be reporting back to the Council in Cambridge this year. This article summarises the work we have done so far; it is in 4 sections which explain the procedural aspects of changing the decision, the background to our proposals, then give the proposed new decisions in full and finally a commentary explaining the changes.
Although the motion only asked the Committee to "advise" Council, we plan to propose a motion on behalf of the Council, to change the Decision on Peal Ringing. This is for two reasons. The first is procedural; the meeting needs a motion to debate. The second is so that, if the meeting does decide that it wants to recognise variable cover peals, it does not have to wait another year before putting the decision into effect. However, we must emphasise several points:
there is, as yet, no agreement in principle that "variable cover" is a desirable development which is worth recognising;
the fact that the Methods Committee is proposing the motion does not mean that they support the principle, let alone the detail, of the proposition;
if Council decides that it wants to recognise some forms of "variable cover", then there are choices concerning just what would be recognised ((D) B.6, 7, 8 and 9 below);
the methods used would still have to be valid at the "variable cover stage".
The motion placed no restriction on which cover bells might be allowed to vary and so we have tried to consider all the ways in which a cover bell might vary.
"Variable cover" performances at a particular stage are fundamentally different from performances rung without a cover or with the tenor as cover at the same stage. The principal similarity is that the requirements on the methods used are the same.
The present Decisions take truth for granted but that is not good enough for variable cover. There are a variety of possible definitions of truth for variable cover, broadly depending on whether we consider a peal of Variable Cover Triples, for example, to be more like a peal of Triples or more like a peal of Major. If the former, then some transformation is needed from 8-bell rows to 7-bell rows before checking. If the latter, then we will check the 8-bell rows including the cover. Although the latter approach may seem more natural it may lead to the conclusion that we are talking about a peal of Major with the concomitant upheaval to our concept of a method.
The most acceptable way of treating "variable cover" is probably the use of methods valid at a particular stage to generate rows at the next higher stage.
That the decision on peal ringing be amended to read as follows:-
Decision (D) B.
Peals of Minimus shall be rung on tower bells only.
Peals of Minimus, Doubles, Minor and Triples shall be rung on four, five, six and seven bells respectively, or on five, six, seven and eight bells with the tenor as cover, and shall consist of at least 5040 changes rung in any combination of the following, each starting from rounds:-
(a) Extents, in which each of the possible rows at that stage occurs once and only once.
(b) Round blocks of two or more extents in which each of the possible rows at that stage occurs the same number of times.
Peals of Major, Caters, Royal, etc. shall be rung on eight, nine, ten, etc. bells respectively, or on nine, ten, eleven, etc. bells with the tenor as cover, and shall consist of at least 5000 true changes.
Peals of "Minimus and Doubles", "Doubles and Minor" and "Minor and Triples" shall be rung on five, six and seven bells respectively, with the tenor as cover when ringing the lower stage, and shall consist of at least 5040 changes rung in any combination of round blocks as permitted in 2 above.
Peals of "Triples and Major", "Major and Caters", "Caters and Royal", etc. shall be rung on eight, nine, ten, etc. bells respectively, with the tenor as cover when ringing the lower stage, and shall consist of at least 5000 true changes. The truth is determined by treating all the rows as being at the higher stage.
Peals of "Variable Cover Minimus", "Variable Cover Doubles" and "Variable Cover Minor" shall be rung on five, six and seven bells respectively and shall consist of at least 5040 changes rung in any combination of the following, including at least one of (a) or (b), each starting from rounds:-
(a) Variable cover extents, in which each of the possible rows at the next higher stage occurs once and only once.
(b) Round blocks of two or more variable cover extents in which each of the possible rows at the next higher stage occurs the same number of times.
(c) Round blocks with the tenor as cover as permitted in 2 above.
Peals of "Variable Cover Triples", "Variable Cover Major", "Variable Cover Caters", etc. shall be rung on eight, nine, ten, etc. bells respectively, with a cover bell which is not always the tenor, and shall consist of at least 5000 true changes. The truth is determined by treating all the rows as being at the next higher stage.
Peals of "Variable Cover Minimus and Doubles", "Variable Cover Doubles and Minor" and "Variable Cover Minor and Triples" shall be rung on five, six and seven bells respectively and shall consist of at least 5040 changes rung in any combination of the following, including at least one of (a), (b) or (c), each starting from rounds:-
(a) Mixed stage extents, with a cover bell when ringing the lower stage, in which each of the possible rows at the higher stage occurs once and only once.
(b) Round blocks of two or more mixed stage extents, with a cover bell when ringing the lower stage, in which each of the possible rows at the higher stage occurs the same number of times.
(c) Variable cover round blocks at the lower stage as permitted in 6 (a) and (b) above.
(d) Round blocks, with the tenor as cover when ringing the lower stage, as permitted in 2 above.
Peals of "Variable Cover Triples and Major", "Variable Cover Major and Caters", "Variable Cover Caters and Royal", etc. shall be rung on eight, nine, ten, etc. bells respectively, with a cover bell which is not always the tenor when ringing the lower stage, and shall consist of at least 5000 true changes. The truth is determined by treating all the rows as being at the higher stage.
Reports of variable cover peals shall state the number of different cover bells and the number of changes of cover bell.
Decision (D) C.2
Peals consisting of extents and/or round blocks shall only be called Spliced if each extent or round block is spliced.
Decision (D) C.4
last sentence:
In peals consisting of extents and/or round blocks the methods rung in each extent and/or round block shall be listed separately.
Decision (D) D.
add at the end of the first paragraph:
Variable cover records shall be kept separately.
B.1 - B.5 reordered so that requirement for peals of Minimus to be rung on tower bells comes before requirements for peals at higher stages.
B.2 (old B.1) make meaning of truth of round blocks explicit.
B.5 (old B.4) make meaning of truth explicit.
B.6 Variable cover at stages up to Minor must include at least one variable cover round block and may also include round blocks with the tenor as cover.
B.8 Variable cover at mixed stages up to Minor and Triples either include a variable cover round block at the lower stage or a mixed stage round block and may also include round blocks which would be permitted in an non-variable cover peal.
B. 10 similar reporting requirement to that for peals of "Spliced".
C.2 and C.4 rewording so they also apply to variable cover extents and round blocks.
D. Variable cover records to be kept separately so, for instance, 16800 Cambridge Surprise Variable Cover Major (Middleton's with 3 cover bells) would not supersede the non-variable cover record.
ANTHONY P. SMITH
Chairman, Methods Committee
The Ringing World, April 11, 1997, pages 376 to 377