Wisbech District Outing June 25th
2016

First tower: New Buckenham
Thirteen people joined in the
annual outing, including some welcome support from the Ely District. It was a
pity some of the regular participants were unable to come, but we had an
enjoyable day ringing at five towers which were new to most of the band. Thanks
to Prue Lester and Anne Carpenter for their hard work in arranging the route
and the towers. All Prue’s arrangements ran very smoothly.

Font cover at Banham
The pre-lunch towers were New
Buckenham and Banham, two very different towers. The lovely easy going eight at
New Buckenham were much appreciated and a good course of Grandsire Triples was
a pleasure to ring. There was plenty of rounds and call changes, together with
Plain Bob Doubles and three cover bells. This gave everyone a chance to ring
several times on eight bells. Banham was very different. When we arrived it was
a hive of industry with cleaning volunteers all over the place. The entrance to
the ringing chamber is tucked away behind the organ and the chamber itself is
obviously used as a repository for, among other things, a netball hoop and a
walking frame. The bells aren’t rung as much and were more challenging, but a
good selection of rounds, call changes, Plain Bob Doubles and Grandsire
Doubles, with a plain course of Bob Minor, proved perfectly possible.
After a good lunch, either at
Kenninghall or North Lopham, we arrived at Bressingham to find the church in
the middle of a fete, with craft stalls backing up to the ringing chamber.
These bells are quite long draft, but Grandsire Doubles , Stedman Doubles and
Reverse Canterbury were rung, together with Bob Doubles. We then moved on to
North Lopham, an interesting 8. As the tenor was being rung up, the heavy
wooden spider crashed down and frightened everyone. It was hauled up but
promptly crashed again and became a dead spider, in two pathetic pieces.
Nothing to do with us! We managed another course of Grandsire Triples, a rare
opportunity for most of us these days, together with rounds, call changes, Bob
Doubles with three covering bells again.

Ringing at Bressingham,
fete in progress
The final church was
Garboldisham, which was also in the
middle of a fete. A band was playing, which was a bit worrying, but everyone
had worked out the timings and we were able to stagger up the stairs for
ringing. Some people were diverted by the tea and cakes on offer downstairs,
but the hardy and dedicated ones among us went straight up. They are not nice
stairs!! The bells were interesting, but not impossible. We managed call
changes and two courses of Plain Bob Doubles before the remnants of the original band decided to call it a
day.
Thanks to Brian Hullah, Gary
Bainbridge and Geoff Grayton for sharing the calling in most of the churches
and to Anne Carpenter at the churches she attended. Geoff has unfortunately
lost his glasses somewhere along the route, so if anyone has any knowledge of
them please contact him (Geoff did find his glasses when he got home)..
We started home and ran into one
of the worst thunderstorms for some time, even in a summer of storms. Thunder and lightning and
torrential rain crashed around my car from soon after Garboldisham until I was
home. In the forest, it was very difficult to see the flooded parts of the road
and we learned later that some of our villages had flooded areas. I hope
everyone got home safely.
Thanks to Geoff Grayton for the photos.
Pam Wakeling