Suffolk Guild of Ringers
Saturday 10th January 2026
Richy's Blog
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Thursday 8th January 2026
We have an extensive range of printed publications delivered to us. Dilly
Dallying Daily, Fromage Fortnightly, Mould Monthly, Woman's Weekly and Yoga
Yearly. Well OK, we only get The
Ringing World, but of the others I would recommend that you take a look
at the latest edition
of Woman's Weekly. Partly because the others don't actually exist, at
least as far as I'm aware. But also because they feature an article on three
ringing women - Ringing
Master of the Oxford Diocesan Guild Catherine Lane, Lucy Chandhial of Chingford
and Sue Robinson from Worcestershire. If you can't get a copy you can see the
article on the Bellringers
Facebook page.
No ringing for us ("quelle surprise" I hear you mock),
but I was reminded of how fortunate we are that ringing is a predominantly indoor
pursuit as with Ruthie practicing with her choral colleagues, Josh and I were
outside at Alfie's football training as Storm Goretti was taking hold. So bad
was it that Josh eventually requested that we return to the car to get out of
it and we were closely followed by Alfred as proceedings were brought to a premature
end as the persistent cold, wet conditions only worsened.
Mercifully others in Suffolk were taking advantage of the inside nature of the exercise with a quarter-peal of Cambridge Surprise Major rung on handbells in Hasketon.
I was just glad to get back indoors and read all those publications.
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Wednesday 7th January 2026
I am conscious that I haven't done much ringing this year or indeed in the last fortnight, especially for someone who writes a ringing blog! Since Christmas Day Sunday mornings, weekly sessions and the South-East District Practice have been missed due to various otherwise enjoyable reasons that have unfortunately clashed due to the way everything has fallen. Having finally made some ringing at Ipswich Minster on Monday, the recent normal order was restored this evening as we missed the first Wednesday night Pettistree practice of the year to meet with Ruthie's best friend and her husband Dan for a curry at Shapla in Woodbridge.
The occasion was to celebrate new jobs for them both, their recent move up here and the recent birthday of our bridesmaid and Godmother to Alfie and with busy diaries for both them and us, tonight ended up being the only time we could gather together all in the same place at the same time!
Still, I expect they managed without us at the ground-floor six, with the tower that has led the quarter-peal columns in Suffolk every year since 2006 getting their 2026 totals underway with a 1296 of Caithness Surprise Minor. Currently though, it is sharing the leaderboard with several other towers on one quarter thus far this year, including the Barn Owl Ring in Norton where a 1312 of Yorkshire Surprise Major was also rung today.
In between jobhunting and the like, I did find myself doing my bit for the exercise as I responded to a question on the Grundisburgh Village Facebook page about after-school clubs in the village. Of course ringing isn't an after-school club (at Grundisburgh at least), but having commented in my ramblings before about residents in villages across the county moaning about children not having anything to do when there is a band of ringers on their doorstep crying out for recruits, I felt I ought to make them and others reading the thread about the opportunity for a lifetime activity in their midst.
Meanwhile there is plenty of ringing planned within our borders. Such as the South-East District Surprise Major Practice due to be held at Ipswich Minster on Friday night. Or the North-West District Practice penciled in for 10am-noon on Saturday at Stowmarket which is the first of a programme for this year shared on this website last month but which I didn't come across until today. Much is lined up including their 6-Bell Striking Competition at Bacton in April, hosting the Guild competitions at Wickham Skeith & Gislingham on Saturday 16th May a week after ringing at The Norman Tower in Bury St Edmunds followed by chiming on the glorious sounding eight at St Mary's down the road, an outing to the Braintree area in Essex in August, ADM at Ixworth in October and Quarter-Peal Fortnight in November.
It is part of a busy programme across the Guild in 2026, so God willing I'll have plenty of opportunity to do more ringing than I have done recently.
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Tuesday 6th January 2026
Recently Membership Secretary Mary Garner forwarded me an email she'd been sent by former Suffolk Guild Secretary Sandra Pereira. Sandra had read my blog entry of a week ago about the first peal of the appropriately named James Peal, very kindly filling us in on the lovely background to his success, witnessing his progress firsthand as she is now down in Hampshire. Apparently he has only been learning a couple of years and is an extremely talented and enthusiastic youngster. Indeed he only rang his first quarter-peal in August and he rang his second peal - and his first on ten - just two days after his first on New Year's Day and seems to be ringing with other young pealringers. All very encouraging and hopefully we'll be seeing more of his ringing exploits in the future! Lovely to hear from Sandra too!
Meanwhile my jobhunting has made some progress as I had my first couple of job interviews today. One of them came back later with a polite "thank you but no thank you" which underlines just how tough this process is, whilst the other one was really nice as the interviewer and I realised we had numerous mutual acquaintances and friends, including a former work colleague of mine and a number of ringers! Whether it will help me get the job or not, ringing and ringers are proving a wonderful icebreaker in these tentative initial conversations.
They were also both by video, something that simply wasn't a thing when I
was last searching for work eighteen years ago. It was great not to have to
leave the house for these on a day when most of yesterday's snow and ice was
still about and causing disruption, with Bramford
and Offton both announcing the cancellation
of their weekly practices due to the conditions via the
SGR Facebook page.
There was some ringing going on in the county though with
a 1300 of Grandsire
Doubles at Great Barton rung to celebrate
the 100th birthday of local ringer Doug Rood's mother Aileen.
Happy Birthday Aileen and congratulations again to James Peal!
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Monday 5th January 2026
Let
it Snow, as
the song goes. The first proper snowfall here in the east of Suffolk for
years was a pleasant surprise for the boys in particular who have long been
bugging me about the lack of the white stuff for many a winter, as if I had
any responsibility for it! Ironically, it also provided a festive backdrop as
I took down our Christmas tree and decorations on this twelfth night.
However, it inevitably caused disruption and uncertainty. BellBoard was noticeably quieter with only two peals recorded from across the whole of the UK, whilst there was nothing from within our borders at all, which is unusual in recent months. Woodbridge have cancelled their weekly Tuesday night practice tomorrow too.
Ipswich Minster's maiden Monday night session of the year went ahead, but as the ringers' WhatsApp group filled up with people saying they wouldn't be coming due to the conditions and of course others (entirely reasonably!) not going due to looking after a one-day old child, I was worried we were going to be quite short. So much so that when offered to join Ruthie, her mother and sister at The Wilford Bridge for dinner following a spot of bridesmaid dress shopping for the latter's wedding planned for later this year, I passed on that to go to the county's heaviest twelve.
Therefore with the boys picked up by their mother, gran and aunt to go to the pub, I made my way into the county town, treated myself to a McDonald's and went ringing for the first time since that first morning of Christmas. The lengthy break from the art certainly hasn't been intentional. I'd like to think I am good at parenthood and raising the boys is the most important thing I'll ever do, but in recent weeks especially ringing has given me something to be useful at in the wider world, whilst my friendships up the tower have been a much needed outlet of support beyond my wonderfully patient family. However, over Christmas everything seems to have happened at the same time as ringing I would've done, from oddly timed football to family trips to weekends away and New Year's Eve falling on a Wednesday when we would've otherwise gone to Pettistree.
Tonight
then, I was particularly glad to get out to participate in the exercise. Despite
the understandable absences we were able to ring Cambridge & Yorkshire Surprise
Maximus and Stedman Cinques, but without me we wouldn't have had the numbers
for Abby Antrobus to have someone standing behind her for
Lincolnshire Surprise Maximus or to ring all three Surprise Max methods
spliced.
A large number of us then retired to the Halberd Inn where Jonathan and Sue were in a celebratory mood after becoming grandparents, before I went Driving Home for Christmas in the snow.
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Sunday 4th January 2026
We're used to new beginnings in the New Year, but Ipswich Minster ringers Lucy & George have taken it to new levels with the ultimate of new beginnings with the birth this morning of their first child.
It was wonderful news to begin our day with as we vacated New Moze Hall after a lovely couple of nights here. Thank you to mother-in-law Kate for a hugely fun weekend which was just the thing to counter what is usually quite a depressing point in the calendar.
Although following a flurry of packing and eating up leftover food we had finished our stay here and we weren't too far from home, we continued our family trip with a visit to the famous and fascinating Tiptree Jam Museum and Tearooms, a bit of retail therapy for some of our party at the nearby Perrywood garden centre and Poplar Nurseries in Marks Tey before eventually getting back to our abode.
None of which left any time for ringing for the second Sunday in a row, but again Suffolk's ringers were picking up the slack, including at Halesworth where a quarter-peal of Plain Bob Triples was rung on the 18cwt ground-floor eight.
Well done to them on that success and congratulations to Lucy & George on their new beginnings!
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Saturday 3rd January 2026
A thread started by Norwich City fan but friend of Suffolk ringing and general
good egg Sue Marsden on the
Bellringers Facebook page
last night asking who alive today has the earliest first peal date was already
generating copious amounts of responses when I awoke this morning to that glorious
Essex countryside surrounding
New Moze Hall, with Daphne Pegg coming up in the conversation. Although
no longer ringing, Daphne is still going strong at 96 and rang
her first peal
on 29th November 1946 at Burgh, conjuring up
an idyllic scene that has probably altered little at this isolated church. Although
hopefully the 8cwt six rung from the porch were hopefully easier going eighty
years ago! Incredibly though, she was pipped to the post by 101-year old Lucile
Corby who rang her first peal on handbells in Enfield (ironically in Suffolk
Road!) on 28th April 1945 and then rang her first towerbell peal a few days
later on the original VE Day at Edmonton. As an aside, according to the wonderful
Pealbase, John Thomas on the sixth rang
his first peal
in 1899. Amazing ringing history.
No ringing for us though, including
missing the South-East District Practice at Hollesley this afternoon. However,
it sounds like they had a super turnout, whilst others in the county were also
busy in the exercise, including
the first Guild
peal of 2026 as Philip Erith was remembered with a peal at
Grundisburgh composed and conducted by
twice Past SGR Ringing Master Stephen Pettman who he taught to ring. That wasn't
the only peal rung within our borders on this bright but freezing Saturday,
with a 5040 rung
in hand in Bacton for the Ely Diocesan
Association, whilst
the quarter-peal
of Plain Bob at Woolpit was Chris Graham's
first of Minor. Well done Chris!
Pity
as it was to miss the first SE event of the year, we were having a fun and interesting
day as we made the short journey from our fantastic base in Great Oakley to
Colchester where we took in a visit to
the castle
that included a bell cast by Richard Bowler in 1591 for
East Bergholt, a cuppa and cake at
Roots & Grooves Cafe,
a spot of shopping and a meal at
The Camulodunum
before wandering past
the 21cwt eight at
St Peter's on the way to the
Charter
Hall to watch Shrek The Musical. It was lovely to see the children so excited
to watch this and as is usually the case with these productions there was much
to entertain us adults too, including star of TV
Danny John-Jules
starring as Donkey!
Meanwhile it has been a super start to the year for women's ringing as following on from Eleanor Linford's exploits at St Paul's Cathedral on New Year's Day she was today part of the first all-female band to ring David Pipe's classic 11-part of six Maximus methods spliced in the 5016 at Melbourne in Derbyshire, which also included Suffolk resident Liz Orme. This is something that most and probably all of the band will have done as individuals, but along with Eleanor's ringing of a 61cwt bell to a peal on Thursday it further undermines the once traditional perception of women in an art that in the past would attribute their husband's name to their performances and wouldn't allow them membership of societies like the College Youths or even to attend their annual dinner.
Appropriate too on a day when Daphne Pegg and Lucile Corby's peal-ringing
was being celebrated!
Friday 2nd January 2026
Someone on the radio described today as being "simultaneously like a Monday and a Friday". Even in my current circumstances I thought it summed it up perfectly as many returned to work before then almost instantly finishing for the weekend.
Ruthie
and I both skipped the work bit as once we'd picked Mason up we joined mother-in-law
and Ufford Ringing Master Kate Eagle and others from my wife's family at
New Moze Hall at Great Oakley in Essex. This huge property is to be our
home for the next couple of days and my wife and I were fortunate to be allocated
a room in the attic with a balcony. It is a bit too chilly to take advantage
of that, but we do at least have a stunning view over the countryside surrounding
this isolated old house. And there was plenty of space to enjoy a sociable evening
of food, drink, the hot tub and - once my eldest son had worked out how we turn
it on - TV.
No ringing for us though, but back in Suffolk another quarter-peal was rung as a 1260 of Buxton Bob Minor was rung on the 5cwt gallery-ring six of Tostock. Well done to Serena & Mark Steggles and Simon Veal on ringing their first in the method on this Monday-esque Friday.
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New Year's Day 2026
As mentioned in yesterday's rambling blog entry there were numerous towers in the county ringing 2026 in and I was delighted to read of a couple of other places doing likewise. And quite notable ones at that, with the entirely unique five at East Bergholt welcoming the New Year and Fornham St Martin doing so for the first time.
The latter was later also the scene of one of the first quarter-peals in Suffolk for this year, with the 1260 of St Alkmund Bob Triples accompanied within our borders by the same number of changes of Somersham Bob Minor on the back six at Horringer. Well done to Max Thomson on ringing behind to a QP of Triples for the first time in the former and to Martin Kirk, David Steed, Dee Smith, Sally Crouch, Louise Whitehead, Deborah Blumfield and conductor Stephen Dawson on ringing their first blows in the method, whilst in the latter well done to Sally, Stephen and David again and also Andrea Alderton, North-West District Ringing Master Joshua Watkins and Josephine Beever on ringing their first blows in the method too.
Meanwhile Josephine was part of a group of Suffolk ringers who have been quarter-pealing in Kent this week with a 1296 of Grandsire Caters at Ash next Sandwich on Saturday and at Bekesbourne on Monday a 1320 of Kent Treble Bob Minor which was Josephine's sixtieth and Adrian Edwards's one hundred and twentieth in the medium of 2025. Congratulations Josephine and Adrian!
That was a great end to last year for them both, whilst beyond our borders it was a great start to this year for many peal-ringers with David Pipe's 'Particles' composition rung at York Minster with a band featuring former Exning learner Jimmy Yeoman, whilst at St Paul's Cathedral the 61cwt tenor became the heaviest bell rung single-handed by a woman as Eleanor Linford rang it to 5009 of Stedman Cinques. Phenomenal efforts all round.
Whilst not expecting to achieve anything like these, one of my ringing ambitions for 2026 is to improve on my peal totals. I managed eleven last year with a couple called off and a couple more lost, so hopefully it is achievable. Of course my current circumstances make it harder to plan peal-ringing too far ahead, especially during the week, but it also opens up opportunities for some potential last minute filling in! There is the extra motivation that my next peal for the Guild would be my 500th!
More generally from a ringing perspective I hope that both Ruthie and I are able to support ringing locally on practice nights and on Sundays (albeit the latter is pretty much impossible most weeks for my wife due to her choral duties) and also get along to more South-East District events. On a similar note we hope to be able to enjoy the SGR AGM planned for the South-West District on Saturday 11th April and the striking competitions pencilled in for Wickham Skeith and Gislingham in the North-West District on Saturday 16th May, but there is so much lined up that I pray we and many others can support, so please keep an eye on What's On and join as much as you can. People put a lot of time and effort into these events and they can be so useful and enjoyable, so it is always a big pity if not many turn up.
Beyond ringing though and apart from the obvious aim of getting back into paid employment as soon as possible, my main hope for this year is good health and happiness for our family and friends and that I can enjoy even more time together with Ruthie and the boys, such as on Rambling Ringers which is intended to go not too far away in Hertfordshire and West Essex this summer. And of course in watching Ipswich Town play.
That
was something we were able to get underway straight away this year as feeling
hungover and tired after last night's celebrations we had a rare dry afternoon
at Portman Road to watch the men's senior team move into second in the league
with
a win over Oxford United and take a stunning red sky. We still managed our
usual pre-match meal at
The Mermaid, but this time surrounded by teapots and met up in the
FanZone and at halftime
with former St Mary-le-Tower Ringing
Master Simon Rudd, although our sobriety was a considerable shock to him!
Nonetheless it was a lovely way to start a year rung in so memorably at East Bergholt and Fornham St Martin.
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The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of The Suffolk Guild of Ringers.