It was lovely to see so many of you on the tour yesterday. We had a brilliant day out and I feel a few thankyous are due:

To Hilary for organising the entire day, from booking churches and lunch to organising the ringing. She worked really hard and must have been very tired by the end of the day (the rest of us certainly were).

To Barrowden, Uppingham, Braunston, Oakham, Greetham and Great Casterton churches for the warm welcome we received in each place and the opportunity to ring their bells.

To the experienced and skillful ringers who came along and although there were enough of them to allow them to have some  ringing for themselves they also spent a great deal of time supporting and encouraging the less experienced. Without their greatly valued input the tour could not have been such a success and we all appreciated them very much.

We enjoyed travelling through some very beautiful countryside and it was heartening too to visit churches that were so well kept and with such pristine ringing rooms and bells in such good order. The renovations at Barrowden are spectacular and well worth a visit.

We were joined along the way by several visitors: a tourist in Uppingham, some local ringers, and most surprisingly by Jim Lilley who made a very lengthy journey by train from Shoreham on Sea to come and ring with us, notching up his 3,400th tower at our final ring of the day in Great Casterton! Jim has been ringing since 1944 and after injuring his shoulder 20 years ago he rings with one hand only. It was amazing to watch his relaxed and skilled ringing with one hand, the other placed nonchalantly in his pocket. Thank you for joining us Jim, it was pleasure to meet you.

Finally thank you to all who joined the tour and made the day such an enjoyable day out. It was  very good to see many of the newer ringers in the Branch come along and tackle ringing new bells with confidence and competence and  without you all and your enthusiasm the Branch would have less chance of a bright future.

THANKYOU

There will not be a practice at Warmington tomorrow Friday August 16 th.

Dear Ringers

I’m a few ringers short for this wedding and am wondering if anyone can help.  You would need to be at the tower at 13.00 to ring the bells up and ring before and after the wedding.

Many thanks in advance for your help.

Pauline Davidson

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Dear all,

The date of the Branch tour is rapidly approaching. All the details of the towers and timings can be found in the events section of the petbells web site.

If you would like to join the tour but have not already replied please could you let me know as it greatly helps planning if we know how many people to expect.

If you would like to book lunch at the Blue Ball, Braunston, please have a look at the menu which Hilary has posted earlier and then send me your order. The last date that we can submit orders is Saturday August  10th so I would appreciate your reply by Friday August 9th at the latest. Any orders received after this date will not be processed.

To contact me directly please click here

Thank you for your co-operation and I look forward to seeing many of you soon.

All best wishes

Sylvia

Dear all, a reminder that there is no 8 Bell practice at Castor in August.  The next practice is on Friday 6 September.

Best wishes,

Hilary

I am a few ringers short for this wedding (there are 8 bells but so far I only have 4 ringers).  You would need to be at the tower by 13.00 hrs to ring up and ring before the wedding.

Please let me know if you can help.  Many thanks in advance.

Pauline Davidson

Tower Correspondent

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