National Call Change Competition – Lord Mayor’s Chapel, Bristol, June 1st 2024

How is started….

Back in December 2023, I came across a post on the Central Council Facebook page, advertising a National Call Change competition in Bristol. My interest was immediately piqued, having at the time recently dipped my toe into the world of call change ringing with Owen Borlase.

I grew up a “method ringer” in Hampshire, but on moving to Cornwall, realised it would likely be in my future at some point to have a go at this highly skilled form of change ringing. I was lucky enough to be invited into a Call Change peal with Owen in August 2023, and from that moment I felt hooked. The concentration required was above and beyond anything I’d had to do before. The precision of the changes and striking is without doubt an artform in itself. In my youth I rang in many Peals of Surprise and complex methods, but accurate Call Change ringing, for me personally, tops them all in the rewards it gives back when rung well!

Once I entered a team, it dawned on me I did not actually have a team to ring with – a problem indeed. However, I knew of a few ringers who had rung Call Changes previously and whom I knew would approach the task at hand with enthusiasm and commitment.

I approached Hayley Young, Andrew Hoddinott, Bob Woods and Julian Trick, and was fortunate enough they said yes to join me! At a Guild 12 bell practice in early February, I met Matthew Rodliffe. Matthew attended the practice with the aim to call jump changes on 12; which he did most successfully and much to everyone in the rooms absolute delight. I hadn’t given much thought to whom I would ask to conduct for the competition, and half figured it would fall on me to do. However, on meeting Matthew I knew immediately I had found my conductor. Matthew was brought on board and we were a team!

We began practicing in March with less than 10 weeks until the competition would take place…

 

How it was going….

The competition peal piece was to be a rise, 60 on 3rds and lower. I spent time watching high quality Devon-style ringing on Youtube to try and get a better idea of the standard required and how to achieve this.

On March 24^th, a Sunday afternoon we met at St Erme for our first practice. You could sense the nerves in the air, and due to work commitments we were missing Hayley from our first meet up, but we’re grateful as a team to Eric Bannister and Martin Spittle for standing in to assist us when we struggled to meet as a complete team. I do have a recording of our first practices together, and reflecting back on them now it’s amazing to hear how far we have come and improved.

We met again on the 14^th April, this time at St Clement and under the watchful guidance of Owen, who was able to give advice to help us. Owen did mark us at one point and concluded that we would have accrued over 100 faults at our current standard. Even not knowing a great deal I about Call Change competitions, I knew that this didn’t sound ideal!

We tried to really focus on our rise and lowers, as this seemed to be what we were finding most tricky; understandable when rising and lowering seems to be something not often done in many towers. It is now something I have started doing every practice and Sunday at Kenwyn to make sure it is a skill learnt by all.

On Wednesday 8^th May, Bob arranged for us to ring at Helston on the front 6 for Flora Day – a great privilege indeed, and Bob has received lots of positive feedback from our ringing for the occasion.

Back to St Erme on the 20^th May and a difficult practice for me personally, feeling unwell and struggling to sum up enough energy to ring well, it left me feeling deflated and concerned on letting the side down. Of course, the team being who they are, rallied around me to pick me back up.

Our final session together before the competition came the evening prior! Friday 31^st May we were hosted at Stithians and Gwennap. We had decided as a team it would be beneficial to visit two towers which we had not rung at previously as a team, as the format of the competition meant we would not have the opportunity to practice at the Lord Mayor’s Chapel prior to our test piece. Owen joined us once again for a morale boost.

Bob had arranged competition tshirts for us which we were able to try for size, and we came away from our ringing at Stithians feeling overwhelmingly positive. Although nerves perhaps set in again at Gwennap, we still felt we were ringing well and it was noted there had been a big improvement in our performance since our first practice together.  A quick pint after the practice, along with a team photo and it was now or never.

 

How it went…..

We journeyed to Bristol early on the morning of June 1^st, keen to avoid any traffic exiting the South West at the end of half term! The draw was scheduled to take place at midday in Bristol and we arrived in good time, even having time for a coffee.

As the teams arrived ready for the draw to take place, the judges, Chris Kippin and Owen Borlase vacated to their judging position (later revealed to be a student flat with a window next to the louvres!) It was going to be a long and busy day for them, with 13 teams to listen to.

We already knew we were going to be in the second group of ringing that afternoon, but once the draw was completed we were now aware we were going to be ringing last at 4.50pm! A long day ahead of us, but the organisers of the competition had taken the time to organise open ringing at three other towers within a 15 minute walk.

As a team we felt we wanted to relax as much as possible, so only committed ourselves to ringing at Redcliffe, as a few of the team had not rung there previously, and it really is a tower not to be missed should you ever get the opportunity to go there. After some lunch and lovely rounds and Call Change ringing on 12, we returned for refreshments at Swoon Gelato just two doors down from the Chapel, lovely to sit on the green outside, although not really possible to hear the bells from this position due to the tower being at the rear of the chapel with a busy road in the way!

We did venture back to listen to a couple of teams and were very impressed with the level of ringing we heard – excellent Call Change ringing is always hypnotic and such a pleasure to listen to!

At last, our time had come. We met as instructed 10 minutes prior to our slot at the front of the Chapel, and said goodbye to our wonderful supporters who had come to a long way to be there with us.

Ascending the tower was a nerve-wracking moment, when the reality of the hard work on the last few weeks really came to the forefront of my mind. An overwhelming sense of responsibility for bringing us all there fell on me. As we settled ourselves into the tower, I think we all felt a relief that we were at last there and ready to ring.

A wonderful rise, the best we’ve ever done, started us off. Our top ringing was trickier, with odd struckness prevalent in some bells, but this was overcome by the team brilliantly, with a good fall at the end of the piece. It’s always difficult to go into a competition without being able to have a period of practice prior to your test piece, but our previous evenings ring had helped with this so we didn’t feel overwhelmed by ringing on an unfamiliar set of bells. At the end of the fall, a rush of adrenaline that we had done it! I think I almost put my foot through the floor, unable to contain my pride in my team mates. They came when they didn’t have to. They committed. They worked hard. And they’d done it.

Results

1^st          Kingsteignton (11)
2^nd         St Paul’s Birmingham (21)
3^rd          Bristol (26)
4^th          Bow (30 ¾)
5^th          Exeter (36 ¾)
6^th          Cheltenham (37 ½)
7^th          Tiverton (40 ¾)
8^th          South Brent (42 ½)
9^th          Bath & Wells (42 ¾)
10^th       Stroud Valleys (47)
11^th        Cornwall – Kernow Callies (52)
12^th       Broadhempston (55 ¾)
13^th       Alton (91 ¾)

A team from Cornwall, entered into this National Call Change Competition for the first time, came away with 52 faults and finishing in 11^th place. We are beyond delighted with our result! We halved our number of faults in just 4 practices. The top teams are absolutely incredible at what they do. They have years of experience and ring together regularly refining their art. We have less than 10 weeks of experience together, with only 5 practice sessions. We have come so far, and I can only imagine how much further we might go, now that we have a whole 12 months to keep up our practice together. We are a team, and one that I feel incredibly lucky to be a part of.

Team

1. Matthew Rodliffe (c)
2. Julian Trick
3. Robert Woods
4. Hayley Young
5. Jemma Hoare
6. Andrew Hoddinott

Do consider entering your own team for 2025 – it really was a great and friendly experience, and certainly for myself, a massive education!

Happy ringing!

Jemma 🙂