Ringing for the Queen’s Jubilee
As we approach the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee weekend there have been discussions about how ringers can mark the occasion. As with previous Jubilees there are a variety of events taking place across several days. Whilst the weekend provides a wealth of opportunities for ringing The Central Council of Church Bellringers (CCCBR), in collaboration with the Royal Household, have suggested the focus of the weekend’s ringing be around the time of The Service of Thanksgiving which is taking place at St Pauls Cathedral on Friday 3rd June. The service commences at 11:30 am. A second time, suggested by a letter in a national newspaper, has also gained some interest. It is proposed that bells be rung 19:52-20:22 on Sunday 5th June. his is perhaps more convenient and will allow us to watch The Service of Thanksgiving (or do something entirely different) on the Friday.
Whilst there seems to be no coalescing around a single time it is perhaps important to consider what would be most convenient for your parish or town/village. At Ladock we are not ringing for either of these two options but on Thursday for the opening of the village festivities and on the Sunday before our village street party. It is also a good idea to let your neighbours know when you are ringing to mark the occasion. As with all the notable things we rang or tolled for in 2021 I would again request that you record your performances in some way, either by Bellboard, Facebook (bellringing in Cornwall) or sending an email directly to me (all links and e-mail address below). These can then be collated for the performance report in 2023.
What to Ring?
While the most important thing is to mark the occasion with bells in some way there are often appropriate methods or performance lengths that can be rung. Whist this is perhaps of no relevance to the non-ringer, it can be nice to ring something specific. Listed below are a suggestion of methods and compositions. Unfortunately, 1270 (or 1370 for that matter) changes are not easy to get for stages above Doubles. I have been given two 70-change call change touches for 5 and 7 bells by Eric Bannister and Phil Tremain respectively.
6-Bells, based on 60 on thirds:
Row (62) 135426 next call 2-6
63 135462 1-3
64 315462 5-4
65 314562 6-2
66 314526 5-2
67 314256 4-2
68 312456 3-1
69 132456 3-2
70 123456
For 7-Bells,
Phil’s 70-Queens can be found on the link below as it is possibly too long for inclusion here.
8 bells
In addition Phil has also sent a mammoth ‘Queens Hunter 500’. This is quite an undertaking, so good luck. (Link also below). These two call change touches can be found on the Guild website under the Call Change Ring Tab.
For simple change ringing
options one can call 7 leads of Plain hunt on 5, or 5 leads of Plain hunt on 7 to give 70 changes.
For method ringing
Doubles
options the following may be useful.
70 Changes Doubles
2345 Grandsire
2534
s 4325 Plain Bob
3542
– 3524 (Plain bob bob)
5432
4253
2345
Two leads of Grandsire doubles, ending with a single.
Change to Plain Bob with a bob with 4th at 4-blows behind two leads later.
70 changes of Triples
is more straight forward and can be reached by a plain course of Grandsire Triples.
If you are feeling more adventurous 70 changes of Stedman Triples can be called as follows:
2314567
3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 3124567
190 Grandsire Doubles (+ 9 extents to make a quarter peal length 1270)
2345
– 5324 3
s 3452 3
– 4532 2
– 2543 3
– 5423 2
s 4352 3
– 2345 3
550 Cambridge Minor (+ 720 to make 1270).
Two rows are required to be removed from a normal minor length to reach 550 changes. By starting on the snap with a normal finish 1270 can be reached
550
B W I H 32456 (snap)
– 25436
– 2 -s 23456
Major
The normal way of creating an unusual number of changes of Surprise Major is to utilise a shorter, 30 change per lead, ‘Alliance’ method. In this case replacing 5 leads of a Surprise method to reach 1270 changes. As previously mentioned, it is
difficult to reach 1270 without variablehunt trebles or very strange starts. If you want something specific, please contact me and I will endeavour to source something suitable.
There are a number of relevant methods and Doubles variations available, however in most cases these methods are not straightforward, and the variations are pretty tricky too. Again, if you are looking for something bespoke or need some compositions for these methods get in touch and I will see what I can find.
Doubles:
Platinum Place Doubles
Queen Elizabeth II (Blaisdon Bob with a That’ll do Nicely Bob)
The Longest Reign (New Bob with a Chicken (!) Extreme)
Platinum Anniversary (Poyle Bob with a Minster Bob)
Minor:
Platinum Delight Minor (bespoke comp required)
Queen Elizabeth II Treble Place Minor
Queen Elizabeth II Surprise Minor
Triples:
Platinum Bob
Major:
Platinum Surprise
Queen Elizabeth II Delight
Queen Elizabeth II Treble Bob
Jonathan Young
ringingperformances@tdgr.org
Latest CCCBR advice can be found here:
Bellboard for submissions https://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/
70 call changes on 7 bells (by Phil Tremain), also available on FB (bellringing in Cornwall)
https://tdgr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/queen70-1.pdf
500 Queen Hunter (by Phil Tremain)
https://tdgr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/500-queens-hunter.pdf
Doubles Variations
https://www.varlib.org/index.htm
Methods
https://complib.org/
Compiled by Jonathan Young (Ringing Performance Sec)
