Have you really missed it?

Monday evening saw the, albeit tentative, return to #bellringing practice nights. We are limiting attendance at the moment and monitoring CO2 flow and still wearing masks for the time being.

We had ten in attendance but only concentrated on eight bell methods so we didn’t have to get the two back bells up. For at least one person it was their first ring, other than tolling for appropriate events, in 18 months.

We started off easy with a touch of Grandsire Triples, followed by a plain course of Plain Bob Major. Then we started to get a bit more adventurous with a course odcStedman Triples and then a course of Cambridge Surprise Major. We then rang a touch of Stedman Triples and another course of Cambridge Surprise Major. 

C moved the monitor to a couple of different places to see if there was much difference in the readings. We found the worst area of the room and left it there. The highest reading was about 700. The desired maximum indoor levels are between 800-1000ppm so we were well within range having both windows and the stairs door open. There is also the option to have the Nave roof door open to increase ventilation if we need to.

It was great to ring proper changes, recall how methods work and use all the visual clues that you get from rope movement, other people and the natural rhythm of the bells that you don’t get with virtual #bellringing. I suppose I have missed some decent ringing.

Ordinarily several of us would go for a drink after ringing but we needed to get back to make a phone call. I didn’t really fancy going to the pub anyway, not sure I’m up for that yet but I’m not a massive pub frequenter. I haven’t missed going to the pub at all.

Next week we should have a few more people and plan to ring the back bells up so it will be interesting to see how we get on with that as far as physically ringing as well as trying to remember the methods. We’re still going to keep things restricted for now and keep monitoring and wearing masks.

It was good to get out of the house for a bit.