STRIKING COMPETITIONS COMMITTEE

The Portsmouth District hosted all four of the Guild’s Striking Competitions this year. The 6 and 8-bell competitions followed the usual Friday night - Saturday afternoon/ evening format on 15th and 16th May and the 10-bell Inter-District took place on Saturday 12th September in the late afternoon. Wickham hosted the 6-bell tower competition, Upham the 8-bell Inter-District, Bishops Waltham the 8-bell tower and Portsmouth Cathedral the 10-bell Inter District.

The weather produced a beautiful spring evening at Wickham allowing the Judges, John Couperthwaite and Mike Pidd who come from that part of NE Hampshire which is in the Guildford Guild, to sit and listen comfortably in reclining chairs in a nearby garden. The Competition got underway at seven and finished nine teams later at 8.45pm with a short comfort break along the way. Both Judges assessed the ringing in their own differing ways and came up with one result. After the ringing everyone gathered in the Church where John did all the talking (Mike did not want to be blamed for anything). They were pleased to be invited saying that this was a good way of maintaining links between neighbouring Guilds. They were impressed with the general standard of ringing and the turnout for a Friday evening, wondering what our secret was and perhaps the Guildford Guild should follow suit to create more interest in their own six-bell competition. At one point the Judges were getting worried because all the ringing was very similar in standard and character, but after the break things changed dramatically and the number of faults returned to what John described as a more normal distribution. The treble and fourth bells seemed to be the worst offenders for odd struckness, at times causing marked differences between handstroke and backstroke rows. John gave fairly detailed and helpful comments on each test piece (120 Doubles/Minor or three and a half minutes call changes) and the following results:-

The Guild Master made the presentations and thanked the Judges for their time and expertise. Special mention must be made of the Selborne band, who were not only entering a Guild Competition for the first time, but were an all female band with four of the ringers aged between ten and fourteen - very impressive. There seemed to be a separate competition between the Hawkley and Selborne bands with the former only just winning this particular contest.

The following day the weather was equally kind and the Judges were able to hide away in the churchyard at Upham and at Bishops Waltham. There was a strong “Ringing World” connection with these two competitions as the Judges were Tina Stoecklin the Editor and Howard Egglestone who is one of the Directors, as is Michael Church who is on this Committee, rang in the competition and had arranged the Judges. Also Andrew Craddock was a competing Director. All six mainland Districts and the Isle of Wight competed for the Inter-District Shield, being set the longer than usual touch of 252 changes in any Triples method(s). The ringing started soon after 2.00pm with no draw being necessary as the teams rang in the order in which they became complete. An excellent tea followed in Upham village hall provided by the Bishops Waltham ringers and the all important judges remarks came next. Both judges marked each touch and the final positions worked out between them. Howard explained the marking scheme and said that the ringing was of sufficiently good standard to mark fairly “hard”. Upham bells are very unforgiving with the treble and tenor in particular causing problems. The first two teams to ring performed at two very different speeds allowing Howard to talk about the merits or otherwise of quick and slow ringing and how it affected the touch and consequently the faults. Detailed comments were made on all seven touches regarding the speed, leading, covering, rhythm, method choice etc and Tina announced the final positions in reverse order, which included a tie for second and third place. The Guild Master presented the Shield, thanked the Judges and the tea providers, and invited all concerned to move off to Bishops Waltham for the 8-bell tower competition.

Four teams gathered at Bishops Waltham to ring 224 changes in any Triples or Major method(s). All chose Grandsire Triples. This time Tina did the talking and used several superlatives when describing the ringing, which had to be marked even harder than at Upham. The bells seemed very odd struck and all teams benefited from the practice time and made good use of the “free” rounds at the beginning of the test piece. All teams improved as the touch went on, but Hursley settled very early and were clear winners with a superbly stylish performance. Tina mentioned in the afternoon at Upham that she had recently visited Legoland at Windsor and had heard some rather poor ringing on a “front seven” coming from a Lego church tower at a Lego wedding. Having spoken to a Legoland person, she suggested that she would supply a tape of some good ringing for the wedding. Thus the wining team of this competition have the privilege of their ringing being heard and hopefully appreciated by a wider audience.

Four teams also gathered at Portsmouth for the Inter-District 10-bell competition. The Judges, Julian Morgan and Sally Schupke from the Guildford area, were hidden away in comfort across the road from the Cathedral in Canon Jane Hedges’ (a local ringer) house only disturbed now and again by passing buses. I wonder how many ringers remember Julian from his days at Winchester College in the early 1970s? The teams rang in the order in which they became complete and were set to ring any touch of 269 or 270 Grandsire Caters. As it happened all teams chose the same touch of 270, which was coincidentally the same one that Julian had drawn up to help with the judging. After the ringing, tea and cakes were enjoyed in Cathedral House followed by Julian and Sally’s deliberations. It was an honour to be asked they said and how much they had enjoyed the good standard of ringing, the bells and their luxurious accommodation during the competition. Julian remarked upon the great differences in speed between the touches and how this affected the ringing and the number of faults. His general and well-considered comments on each piece of ringing were much appreciated by all. Sally announced the number of faults for each team and Michael Church who was acting as master of ceremonies announced the winners. There is no cup or shield for this competition, which is theoretically held every other year, but this did not detract from a very pleasant afternoon. If some kind of trophy were to be forthcoming I wonder if it would attract more teams.

Thanks must go to all those who made these successful Guild activities happen. This year we have had a lot of really good ringing listened to by excellent judges. I would like to make special mention of the hard work of District Ringing Masters who arrange the teams and practices for the Inter-District events.

John Colliss