PEAL RECORDER’S REPORT

The 2000 peal total is 104, slightly lower than the previous year. Tower bell peals increased by 5 and handbell peals decreased by 9.

Tower Bell Peals

The tower bell peal total for 2000 is 96. Out of the 96 peals rung, 74 were rung at 48 different towers/campaniles within the Guild. Peals of Royal and Minor have decreased whilst peals of Major showed a slight increase after the large drop in 1999.

The table below gives a broader view of where peals are being rung within the Guild and what sort of ringing is occurring in different Districts (this does of course depend on what bells exist in each District!).

The number of peals rung outside the Guild (22) is a deceivingly high proportion of the final total due to the nine peals rung in a single day at Pig-le-tower, Somerset in April. The band involved rang the standard eight Surprise Major methods with the addition of a peal of 8 Spliced Surprise Major to beat the record of eight peals in a day - a total of 45,856 changes rung in 15 hours 59 minutes by the same band in the same day. Due to this effort Pig-le-Tower has knocked Bishopstoke from the leading tower list. Am I hearing cries for campaniles to be analysed under a different heading?! Bishopstoke has been top of this list for 15 years, in 1984 Brighstone, I.O.W was the leading tower with 9 peals (Bishopstoke rang 5).

There has been an increase in the number of peals rung on Campaniles. There have been peals on the new Hartley Campanile at Southampton University, Roger Barber’s new ring at Hawkley and a first peal of Maximus on the Hillbrow Campanile at Liss. Outside the Guild there have been peals on Martin Hough’s Beehive Campanile in Swanage and of course a few peals at Pig-le-Tower, Somerset.

Three noteworthy peals have been rung at Winchester Cathedral during the year. In January the first peal of Pudsey Surprise Fourteen was rung, followed in April by a peal of Wessex Surprise Major, the first peal rung on the back eight bells at the Cathedral. Lastly a peal of Plain Bob Sextuples was rung in December, once again a first peal in the method.

Lyme Regis was visited again this year when in March some of our Guild members spent 9 hours 30 minutes ringing another record breaking long length peal, 17,040 Bristol Surprise Royal. This beat the previous record of 15,120 changes set on January 28 1978 at Daventry.

The first peal was rung on the rehung bells at Odiham in February and there have been two peals rung on the newly augmented bells at Hurstbourne Priors, the second peal on the bells was rung by a Guild band. In August the Guild rang eight peals to celebrate the 100th birthday of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.

Bishopstoke expanded on its success of last year and rang a local band peal of Glasgow Surprise Major. Hursley ladies band must also deserve a mention for ringing two peals, one of Cambridge Surprise Major at Brockenhurst and the other of Grandsire Triples at their home tower.

Congratulations must go to our Guild Master who rang his 2000th peal in September, followed by his 2000th peal on tower bells in December.

Rachael Seamons rang her first peal as conductor at Hawkley in October and fourteen people scored their first peal during the year, a great increase on the six people listed last year. Let’s hope that we continue to see these names in our peal columns over the forthcoming years. They are James E G Matyear, Kimberley D Thompson, James M D Lewis, Roger M Smith, Sheila Padley, Matthew D Watts, Tom J A Bishop, Stephen R Jolliffe, Mary E Gilbert, Hazel M Matthews, Ruth Martin, Peter J M Faircloth, Edward P D Colliss and Diana H Bishop.

The peal rung at Wonston on October 21st 2000 is subject to acceptance by the Guild at the AGM in June 2001.The proposal to accept this peal has the support of the Executive Committee.

Handbell Peals

Handbell peals have seen a bit of a decline this year down to 8 from last year’s total of 17 but credit must be given to Tom and Margaret Chapman and John Croft for ringing a few peals for the Guild and therefore giving me something to write about! All 8 peals were of Major, the trio were joined by six other ringers throughout the year to ring peals of Kent Treble Bob, Oxford Treble Bob and Plain Bob. All 8 peals were rung within the Guild.

Ceri J Dodd