The committee has met twice so far this year, in the spring at Whitchurch, Hampshire, and again before the Central Council meeting in Stafford. We have not had any tricky method namings or doubtful peals to deal with this year, and so have been able to concentrate on publications and method extension.
Work is under way on a new edition of the Collection of Plain Methods. As a result of two peals last year there are now 729 new plain Major methods - all of them have more than a passing resemblance to Double Oxford. Tony Smith was seen earnestly studying Indian railway timetables to check the spelling of their names, and probably also planning his escape should anyone ring any more.
Other books in progress include a second edition of Treble Dodging Minor Methods and a modernised version of John Fidler's book "Method Splicing: Practical Hints". Many of the methods in the popular first edition of the treble dodging Minor book have now been named, so a new edition will be of great interest to Minor ringers. Two method collections (Plain Methods and Rung Surprise, Delight, Treble Bob and Alliance Methods) are now also available on diskette. We are currently supplying these in a format readable by human beings and have had discussions with the Chairman of the Computer Coordination Committee about alternative formats.
We have produced a paper containing an English-language explanation of the current decisions on Method Extension. It is available from the chairman, Tony Smith, or may be downloaded from the Ringers' Bulletin Board.
Our remaining activities on Method Extension centre around finding acceptable rules to define extension of principles, and considering how the lead-end order of an extension should be related to the lead-end order of its parent - particularly where the parent method does not have Plain Bob lead-ends. Tony Smith and Frank Blagrove have been working on these problems and are producing some interesting findings.
The Ringing World, September 16, 1994, page 919