This year’s Easter Tour to Ludlow was blessed with warm, sunny weather. The meeting point, Smithfield Car Park was easy to find however the hall itself along with its free parking was covertly hidden amongst two other buildings and a used tyre garage. On entry it was found to be well equipped and conveinetienly portioned into several sections, allowing the snorers of the group to be shut-off from everyone else. Showers were also present, although the power of the spray they produced left a lot to be desired.
Thursday night saw the advance party meeting at another rather well hidden venue, namely the Charlton Arms. Unfortunately due to my lack of map and generally poor sense of direction, I arrived just in time to be informed the bar was shut. A trundle back to the hall, saw some very civilized tea/coffee/whiskey drinking and toast easting, where the rather old TV was used to watch some late night snooker.
With the arrival of Friday morning, breakfast was expertly made and delivered by the catering offers and in some cases taken on the patio, which offered a picturesque hillside view to the right but a rather less inviting scrap yard in the foreground. With everyone assembled we journeyed to Stanton Lacy, the first tower of the day, where some additional members of the society were already waiting. Unfortunately this proved to be a lockout. At first the vicar explained (by phone) that the tower correspondent was ill, but ultimately I think it was found he had mixed up his dates or perhaps was the vicar covering up for something more sinister?? However, the increasingly warm sun was enjoyed by all, along with the occasionally tuneful singsong coming from some nest-building birds in the churchyard trees.
The first ring of the tour was achieved at Stokesay, a nice 6-bell tower adjacent to a castle. Our arrival coincided with a coach-load of tourists (who had presumably come to see the castle rather than hear us ring), but the standard of ringing was high, so maybe we should have charged them. The tower before lunch, Wistanstow, was another nice ring of bells, but the heights of the ropes were somewhat odd. Obviously the locals are all rather short (most ringers were off the sallys on the majority of ropes), but people leaned, bent and generally contorted themselves into appropriate positions to enable another high standard session. At this point Gail became temporary schoolteacher, as she gave an extremely accomplished talk about ringing to some local schoolchildren.
Onto the local pub, where with a couple of pints and some lunch everyone was ready for the afternoon session, which was to include Clungunford and Bromfield. Unfortunately the latter of these was another lockout, as it had the some correspondent as Stanton Lacy; however ringing was achieved at Clungunford. Percy, who had joined us just before lunch treated us to a display of his accomplished parking skills, by coming to a dramatic halt in the road, reversing abruptly much to the annoyance of the car behind him and after several attempts ending up on the grass verge at an interesting angle. With no ringing at Bromfield, the group made their way back to the hall and onto the pub, this time the Church Inn, which boasted seven real ales. With 6 hours to pass by at least one of these was successfully finished off by the group, along with food and some pint glass purchasing/stealing. Percy regaled most of the group with some good, some not so good jokes and limericks and Ross seemed determined to tell everyone his ‘Brit in America’ joke.
Saturday morning was again gloriously sunny. The hall was in use today so we shoved our belongings into the garage, during which we were treated to a slightly shocking looking Malcolm sporting a rather fetching wig from a mannequin he’d found in a cupboard. With Kimbolton the first tower of the day canceling it seemed at first that we would have a late start. However, with some quick thinking on the part of Paul and Gail a replacement was found. Having moved Malc’s lovely pair (pear) off the back seat and having completed a lovely game of musical cars, we arrived at Canon Pyon. Getting to the tower required navigating some rural, unclassified roads. This was okay until you met some crazy local tearing towards you in the opposite direction, but thankfully I think everyone survived.
The only 10 of the tour was the next tower, St Peter and St Paul Leominster, where we were joined by a few more of the society. Ringing ranged from call changes to surprise royal and I thought the lower at the end was of particularly good quality. We were tempted to stop and get the car washed by the local fire service (they were offering a cheap deal) but with time tight it was decided to go straight to the final tower of the morning, a fine 8 at Kingsland. Another good session took place, which included some London (which seems to take for ever if you’re not ringing) and concluded with a rather sublime touch of Stedman. The group then proceeded to Eardisland, both the location of the next tower and the lunchtime pub, The Swan. After some re-arrangement of garden furniture the group of now 30 or so ringers sat down for a well-earned rest. Paul took advantage of the weather to try and get some sunbathing in but was continually hampered by the tickling antics of some of the younger members of the group.
Eardisland tower, which was visible from the pub garden, was another ring of 8. Of particular note here was the lowering, where Malcolm decided to catch in reverse rounds. Not so bad for me on the tenor, but some interesting noises came from the front end! The final tower of the day was the 6 at Eye. The usual varied stuff was rung, including Bob Minor, Stedman and Norwich, which was topped off with a lovely piece of flapjack distributed by Poppy. With the prospect of a well prepared meal we all shot off back to the hall; however with half an hour to spare before the meeting a large group decided to nip off and get a pint in. A rather short meeting was ably conducted by Ross, followed by phase two at the pub.
Returning to the hall a scrumptious feast of chili, rice, potatoes and chips was consumed, beneath the bathing glow of some Christmas lights which surely should have been taken down by now! Additionally an interesting looking bag full of red liquid was passed round which we all hope was wine rather than the contents of someone’s colostomy bag. With the conclusion of dinner it was time once again for the pub, the landlord must have been raking it in! An interesting game of ‘throw items of pub property into the ceiling fan and see what happens’ took part, with the rather more sensible members of the group pointing out that it was perhaps not so clever given that ‘Big Brother’ was watching from downstairs.
With people tiring and throwable items getting increasingly thin on the ground the group drifted back to the hall just short of midnight. Most went straight to bed, except for a few who played word unassociation; basically say a word that bears no relation to the previous one. Well it certainly cured my insomnia just listening!
Sunday morning saw everyone mucking in to clean and tidy the hall, with the majority then traveling to Stanton Lacy for a quick grab. Following this 8 people continued onto Stoke St. Milborough for a quarter peal of three spliced, which they got apparently with little help from the awkward bells. The remainder of the group did their own thing in and about Ludlow until we all rendezvoused at The Sun Inn, Corfton for the final pub lunch of the tour, definitely worth it for the size of the chip portions alone! With the Aber mascot, Idris successfully rescued from the evil Cardiff clan the group disbanded mid-afternoon and went their separate ways. So another Easter tour had passed smoothly, with the extremely pleasant weather adding to the enjoyment. Thanks to everyone involved in the planning and running of the tour, especially Ross and Gail and to Andy and Martyn for the meal. Let’s hope the weather is just as good for Lowestoft.
Daniel Knight
Stoke St, Milborough, Shropshire. 25 April. 1250 Spliced Surprise Major (C N Y): J.Robert Jervis 1,Ross E Hartley 2, Rona Shaw 3, Rhiannon Meredith 4, Jeanette Lord 5, Peter Giles 6, Stephen Penney 7, Malcolm Murphy (C) 8.First Quarter of Spliced Surprise - 2. Rung to celebrate the recent marriage of Alison Briggs and Anthony Young.
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