Yesterday (Sunday, 5 March) we rang some prelude and communion changes at San Dieguito United Methodist Church (where Andrew is the children’s choir director). We have been talking to the music director for a while about doing this, and yesterday was the day. There were 4 of us (Maggie on the trebles, Jane on 3/4, Randy on 5/6, and Andrew on the tenors). We had a 5 minute countdown for the prelude, and just rang a plain course of Plain Bob major, and some call changes when we finished to round out the time. We then rang some larger, more sonorous bells for communion, again ringing a plain course of Plain Bob major. We had some comments about our ringing, as most of the (~200 member) congregation had never heard change ringing. And we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, and isn’t that the point?

We were 3 today, so rang a bit of minor. Andrew, Maggie, and Randy gathered. We have been working on a quarter peal of Bob Major, called by Andrew, with a very specific composition (calling bobs at wrong, home, and wrong, three times). Since we only had the three of us, we decided to practice that composition on minor. We had a single false start, but then were able to ring to the end on the second attempt! We were thrilled at the accomplishment, and especially Andrew who made all the calls in all the right places. Maggie rang the trebles, Randy rang 3/4, and Andrew rang the tenors.

With that under our belts, we decided to work on St. Clements College Bob, by passing our bells to the left (so Randy on the trebles, Andrew on 3/4, and Maggie on the tenors). We haven’t rung this in a while, and we struggled a bit. But after a few attempts, we were able to ring a plain course. By this time we had been ringing for more than an hour, and decided to reconvene next week.