Master's Quarter Peal Tour 2006 - Winchester Area, 6th - 8th January

Photos by Stephen Penney, Tim Joiner & Gail Evans

This report is being written more than 27 months after the event. Luckily several people had the good sense to take photographs and Ive found the toursheet to jog my memory, however there are bound to be parts of this that Ive either forgotten or made up

The Masters Quarter Peal Tour 2005/6 was held in Gails local area (sort of) of Winchester. The hall was compact but snug, which was just as well as it rained more or less incessantly all weekend. It also scored bonus points for being just across the road from the pub.

Saturday morning dawned and everyone was glad that the quarters werent until 10am. There was a last minute change of plan with one of the towers, so instead of ringing at Sparsholt, the Plain Bob Minor band went off to Micheldever. This proved to be Tim Joiners first quarter inside and was scored very respectably on a tricky ground floor ring. The other band, ringing Grandsire Triples at Twyford, were also successful, resulting in Sues first triples and Pats first in method as conductor.

Whilst the spares found a pub, another quarter was rung. Pete and Minimes first Stedman Triples at Bishopstoke. I seem to recall that Percy threw up outside the church here, but that could have been anywhere

We had a great lunch at the Flower Pots Inn, Cheriton, where we drank lots of excellent beer from the micro-brewery and Percy and Dave pretended to be chavs.

Two more quarters were attempted in the afternoon. It was clear after a couple of leads that Bristol Surprise Major at New Alresford just wasnt going to happen, so we rang Plain Bob Major instead. Percy bumped into a well known London ringer and train enthusiast in the car park, which was the other side of a level crossing for a steam railway, so that was another bit of excitement. Unfortunately, Grandsire Doubles at Cheriton was lost after a wardrobe malfunction. Fortunately it was only Pennys rope getting caught on her belt rather than anything of Janet Jackson proportions

I cant remember what we had for dinner, but I do remember that lots of beer and Baileys was drunk. A friend from SUGCR (Southampton) came to visit and caused lots of speculation and we found out that Petes great-great grandmother had invented the 99 Flake ice cream.

Sunday morning came too soon, as often happens on Welsh Colleges tours, and we went ringing on the twelve at Winchester cathedral before going our separate ways. With four quarters scored out of five attempts it was a fantastic way to mark Gails year as Master, and a fitting way for Welsh Colleges to remember Jonathan Hughes for whom all the quarters were rung.

- Rhiannon Meredith


Twyford, St Mary the Virgin. Saturday 7th January in 40 minutes. 1260 Grandsire Triples: Sue Rainsbury 1, Karen Williams 2, Patrick Wheeler (C) 3, David Powell 4, Rebecca Shipley 5, James P Mort 6, Stephen W Penney 7, H Lyndon Hatfield 8. 1st Triples: 1, 1st in Method as conductor.

Micheldever, St Mary the Virgin. Saturday 7th January 2006 in 46 minutes. 1260 Plain Bob Minor: Rona Shaw 1, Tim Joiner 2, Gail Evans 3, Rhiannon Meredith 4, Peter Hampson 5, Martyn Owen (C) 6. 1st inside: 2

Bishopstoke, St Mary. Saturday 7th January 2006 in 43 minutes. 1260 Stedman Triples: Karen Williams 1, Peter Hampson 2, Rona Shaw 3, Rebecca Shipley 4, James P Mort 5, Martyn Owen 6, Stephen W Penney (C) 7, David Powell 8. 1st Stedman: 2 and 5.

New Alresford, St John the Baptist. Saturday 7th January 2006 in 45 minutes. 1344 Plain Bob Major: Karen Williams 1, Rhiannon Meredith 2, Rebecca Shipley 3, Peter Hampson 4, Patrick Wheeler 5, Martyn Owen 6, Stephen W Penney (C) 7, Matthew Tosh 8. 18th Birthday Compliment to Charlotte Sluter January 4th. Commissioned in aid of church funds.

All of the above are rung in memory of Jonathan P Hughes.