Broadway, St Eadburgha

I visited for the first time on Saturday 13^th June 2009 to join the Four Shires Guild of Bell Ringers for their practice session. The tower is in the middle of the Church with the nave to the West and the Chancel to the East and trancepts North and South. Ringing is from the ground floor so you are right in the middle of things. The ropes are consequently long, the rope guides must be 25' room high and perhaps 40' before they go through the ceiling. This is a heavy set of 6 bells and I rang up bell #4 which took quite a while. My first ring was a touch on Bob Minor on bell #2, I am still trying to learn Bob Minor and these are not the easiest bells to practice on but I managed to get to the end. The rope was a little long for me and I now noticed that the ropes were a little springy all of which added to my challenge. I ended the evening with a touch of Grandsire Doubles. I abandoned learning Grandsire to concentrate on Bob Minor so asked someone to to keep an eye on me and to my surprise I got through a long touch with just a few prompts from my guide. The bells were quite hard work but I really enjoyed the experience.

I visited here for a second time on Saturday 3^rd June 2017 to join the Four Shires Guild of Bell Ringers for their weekly practice session. My bell handling must have improved considerably since my last visit as none of the bells I rang presented any real challenge. My repertoire has certainly expanded and I rang Stedman Doubles, Single Oxford Bob Minor, cover on the tenor, rounds and call changes and ended by ring down bell #3.