STRIKING COMPETITIONS COMMITTEE

This year the Winchester District hosted the tower contests at New and Old Alresford on the 18th May, the 8-bell Inter-District was again held on the morning of the AGM and we also had a 10-bell Inter-District on the 7th September.

The six bell competition at Old Alresford was judged by Alex Byrne, Chairman of the National 12-bell Committee, who expressed his enjoyment of judging such events (I must remember to ask him again!) and provided us with the results below. He also commented that all the touches were of a high quality, especially with some odd-struckness in the bells adding to the challenge.

The eight bell competition at New Alresford was judged by our own Mark Esbester and Michael Church, who expressed their dislike of judging such events! When Mark had come to terms with losing the six bell contest he was able to give us their results:

The Master presented the eight bell cup and certificates to the band captains but as the Basingstoke band had had to return for a wedding, the six bell cup was later presented at the AGM - in Basingstoke!

All Saints, Basingstoke welcomed us for the eight bell Inter-District where again, we saw most of the districts taking part. Our judge was John Harrison from Wokingham who spent the morning in his car in the car park but at least supplied with McDonald’s tea - the town centre location providing a small consolation for the lack of many vantage points. After providing the bands with some detailed comments he announced his verdict as:

The Past Master, Gilian Davis, congratulated the winning band and thanked the judge and organisers for their efforts. The presentation was performed at the AGM itself where Mark Esbester received the shield on behalf of the Portsmouth band.

Finally, the ten bell Inter-District at North Stoneham on 7th September. I must thank John Colliss for taking back the reins and running events on the day and providing me with a few notes for this account. Tim Collins travelled from Dorset to ring a peal at Fawley in the morning and judge this event in the afternoon - he also persuaded 2 of his fellow pealers to judge independently and all got the same result. After naming everyone as winners for turning up and ringing well on a difficult ten Tim was finally persuaded to provide the rankings as below:

Bob Cater acted as MC and congratulated Portsmouth for a clean sweep of this year’s Inter-District honours and Terry Collins thanked all those involved.

Andrew Byford