Monday evening saw the first #bellringing on all 12 of the Cathedral’s bells for the first time since the first lockdown in March 2020.  We had thirteen ringers present, and a CO2 monitor.  All the windows were open, the tower stairs door and we also opened the door that goes out on to the nave roof to make sure there was plenty of air movement.

We started off with some rounds on 12.  Nothing fancy, just a chance to get the back bells up and swinging and to try to get into a steady rhythm.  I rang the treble, which if you’ve ever pulled a treble to twelve bells off, can be quite a feat to ensure that the first backstroke doesn’t drop. Pleased to say that there was no dropping of backstrokes.

Feeling rather pleased with that, we moved on to a bob course of Grandsire Caters.  The first changes on more than eight bells since lockdown started.  It was lovely.  Some good striking, some not quite so good, but no method mistakes and no real disasters.  Started to get a feel for it again now.

Then some plain hunting on eleven.  A few scrappy leads from the odd struck bells, but none the less, good control and an opportunity for the slightly more anxious to count to more than eight.  

We rang some Little Bob Royal which when rather well at the second attempt.  And rang a plain course of Stedman Triples.  We dropped to eight bells to give those ringing the heavier bells a bit of a rest.

Then came what I thought was actually the best bit of ringing of the evening.  Half a course of Cambridge Surprise Royal.  I was surprised at how well it was struck, at how everyone coped with more bells that they’d been used to.  Personally, I found that easier than the previous week’s Cambridge Surprise Major.  I really enjoyed that piece of ringing.

After we’d got the bells down and locked up the Cathedral, a smaller number of us went to the local pub for refreshment.  That’s the first time I had been inside a pub since lockdown began.  I had been outside a pub a couple of times when they first opened, but not packed inside with the locals.  Luckily on a Monday night the pub isn’t usually that busy, but there were a couple of groups of people propping up the bar that we had to manoeuvre through.

It seemed a bit weird to be sitting inside without masks on, as we were drinking (well, blackcurrant and lemonade for me). Fortunately we could sit far enough away from others and we were in a small enough group of people we’d already spent the last hour and an half with.

We will still be limiting the numbers of ringers at our practice night for a little while yet, but I think early signs are good.  I guess I’ll just have to get used to going to the pub again.