Several things apring to mind abou this year's summer tour; excellent weather, excellend pub(s) and excellent countryside.
The tour officially started on Wednesday evening, but a number of WC students gathered a day early and visited a number of local 'sites' as well as doing a bit of rowing on some water somewhere. The official tour then started with ringing at the 10 (St Peter), sudbury, which by the end of the slot at 9pm, had attracted a good crowd of WC's and a high standard of ringing was achieved.
We then went back to our base in Lavenham before setting off to sample the local pub opposite - 'the cock'. well - what a revelation! A lanlord who served excellent beer - Theakston's "O P" amongst others, food at anytime we wanted and a closing time as flexible as cooked spaghetti!
Thursday morning and the sun was shining! Our first tower was only about a mile away at Long Melford. The 15xwt 8 were not bad although we rang here before a funeral which slightly marred the experience! On then to the 6 at Cavendish, a beautiful village featured on the front of the OS map for the area.
Lunch was next on the agenda before ringing on the 6 at Hartest. Here we rang one of the special methods of the tour - Malcolm Surprise Minor!
After this a break from ringing and a trip to Gifford's Hall Vineyard where we were treated to a guided tour of the wine making facilities as well as being given he opportunity to sample the local produce. This was no Rougemont Castle vineyard. the wine was of a very high quality but with a price to match - about a fiver a bottle. According to the vineyard, there are a range of fine English wines produced around the country but not in bulk quantity. Regrettably most of the English population think of the crap "Concorde" or Rougemont Castle when English win is mentioned.
this was the first treat of the day. the second was an evening trip to East Bergolt. Bikes were abandoned (except for Patric whi hadn't had enough cycling for one day!) and we took to our cars to visit this unusual ring where we watched the locals ring a 27cwt ring of 5 by hand - literally! The tower for these bells was never completed, so the bells were hung in a frame in a shelter at ground level within the churchyard. The bells are rung full circle by pushing them over the balance wuth their hands, applying some assistance to the headstocks as they swing round and then stopping the bells as they reach the vertical position. Ear defenders are worn but call changes are rung by using hand siignals to alter the change. It was certainly an enlightening experience!
Friday started (after a suitable continental breakfast) with a fairly hefty ride (10 miles) over to Stoke-by-Nayland. However we had superb weather for yet another day (not a cloud in the sky) and the journey was quite pleasant using quiet country lanes. Most arrived a tad early for this tower (plenty of time had been wisely been allowed) and so some sought out an open pub in this lovely village whilst others made serious attempts at solving the crossword set by Helen, with clues and solutions relating to local sites and local history.
The tower at Stoke was rather awe-inspiring, a very substantial structure which seemed rather stark and dominating the local landscape. The bells themselves (22cwt, 8) were OK but not some that I would rush back to. Anyway we rang some reasonable 8-spliced amongst other things. This was the only tower before lunch this day and we then moved off to a brilliant pub in Nayland where, in true WC style (and, I must admit, one of my favourite aspects of a summer tour) we sat outside in the garden consuming beer in the sunshine until it was time (or after time!) to ring.
regrettably, however, jusrt as we pulled into the pub, Martin's bike seemed 'to explode' and the deraileur mechanish unhitched itself from its position and shot through the spokes of the back wheel causing considerable bending and twisting! Pat & Time did an excellent repair job and prolonged its life for another 2 towers until the bike gave up the ghost. Poor Martin was left to walk home from Polstead - but it was not a bad walk through Suffolk fields and country lanes in the afternoon sun.
As is traditional on Summer tours, after arriving back on Friday, most dashed off to the leisure centre at Sudbury to have a swin, but mainly to gett a good shower to wash off the dust and sweat of the day. In the evening we joined the local ringers practice night at Lavenham (two minutes walk from the hall) where some very fine ringing was to be had. The bells were excellent with a sonorous sound (21cwt 8 in Db). Indeed upon our arival at the usual pub the landlors commented that the ringing had been particularly good tonight, which he thought was due to the locals showing off because we were around! That evening the landlord surpassed himself as he finally stopped serving beer sometime between 2 and 3am on Saturday morning!
I suppose every silver lining has a cloud and as a result of the night before, ringing at Lavenham the next morning suffered somewhat, and we did not do as well as the locals had (with our help) the previous evening. Still, the sun continued shining and it was a glorious day. Before moving on, I negotiated what I considered to be an excellent deal - Martim by now bikeless, agreed to share my bike for the day and I would travel by car for the rest! - At least I might get to the tours on time!
Hadleigh was our second tower of the day, but we were a few missing until the last touch. Why? Well Malcolm (with Puff), Roger Lawson and Anthony Cotton were thirsty on route and so decided to stop for the usual refreshment. No harm done - bu then whilst cycling on to Hadleigh they heard a foreign sound - Church bells!, but only 7. On further investigation they found ringing for a wedding was taking place and the locals were more than keen to have their help - thus providing an extra grab for some - or so they thought! - until after lunch we arrived to ring at Kersey and 'Oh - we rang here this morning!' exclaimed Malcolm & his merry men. So, not an exrta grab after all but at least they had helped out at the wedding.
The final tower of the day, Edwardstone (6) was Malcolm's 2000th tower and, in honour, his delight minor was well and truly rung! The, by now, traditional evening dish was, as expected, an excellent dish prepared by Pay & Karen. We had a different table layout this time. Rather than the long table down th hall they were arranged in a large oblong as such:
---- | | | | ----this provided for a more convivial atmostphere and I think we should consider this layoout for other tours. The lock-in at 'The Cock' was not so late on Saturday evening - the landlord has busy days on Sunday lunchtime. However, it was late enough for Simon Rice to consume more beer than his body could retain!
Sunday sadly saw the bikes being disassembled and packed away into cars before ringing at the other tower in Sudbury on Sunday morning. However, one last treat was in store - the afternoon tower of Bury St Edmunds. The tower is seperate from the main cathedral but contains a most excellent 27cwt ring of 10. The ringing here was quite admirable and has to have been one of the ringing highlights of the tour.
Everybody then disbursed back to their various parts, with the next official tour being the Dinner touw in February. Many thanks to Helen, Pat & Karen for their excellent organisation and food respectively.
Chris Mundy
A further tour report titled "You can't bring that on 'ere mate" was written by Malcolm Murphy and published in the Ringing World.