A notice on the wall of the kitchen in Radyr Scout Hut proclaimed that "Dylan Thomas is not allowed fizzy drinks": this may have explained a lot about his poetry. The high conversational tone of these speculations was lost soon after arrival at the local pub – though for local read "over 15 minutes walk and a steep hill" . At least it served a good pint of Brains.
On Saturday, despite a couple of incapacitated ringers (unusually not due to alcohol) , successful quarter peals were scored of Grandsire Caters at St Johns, Cardiff ("A Fine Ring Of Ten"), of Steadman Triples at Penarth (A comment by one of the local Penarth ringers the next morning: "I heard the bells and panicked that I had forgotten a wedding. Then I listened a bit longer and realised it must be a visiting band!"), of Double Norwich at Radyr ("This Tower Is A Plain Bob Triples Free Zone"), and of Bristol Major at Caerphilly (on the other side of a mountain). Despite the best efforts of the conductors and bands, several QP attempts were lost: Plain bob Triples at Marshfield (the bells apparently sounded very nice from outside… however you couldn't tell from the ringing room!), Grandsire Doubles at Sully (Near the pub where we gathered for lunch… though I'm sure that had nothing to do with losing it!) and Plain bob Minor at Llanedyrn (One car managed to find out the hard way that the new housing estate that the maps label "Llanedyrn" and the older "Llanedyrn Village", which is were the tower is, are two very separate places at least 10 minutes drive apart!).
Saturday evening saw a gathering back at the hall for Chinese Takeaway with over sized Spring Rolls, before another trek to the pub.
I hope everybody enjoyed themselves and have now recovered from their migraines, injured necks, colds, snuffles, mysterious medical conditions, lapses in good judgement, over indulgences and any thing else which I forget to mention; and thank you to Becky, for organising the weekend, Sue, for feeding us, the conductors for conducting, the ringers for ringing, everybody for coming, and anybody else I forgot to mention for whatever it was that I forgot to mention.
- Iain Scott
Photos taken by Iain Scott are available here.