Catching Up

March was a very busy time for us as St Barnabas.

We had our annual Dinner, at the Axe and Compass in Heath and Reach. Twenty one ringers and their families went along and we were very well looked after by the staff. The food was great and everyone was in a chatty and cheerful mood. At the end of the evening the bar bill was paid by the tower social fund and a large tip was left for the staff that had worked so hard to make our evening really special.We all enjoyed it so much we forgot to take any photos! Shame on us.

Holy week was soon upon us and the normal Tuesday practice was replaced with tower cleaning. Heather is a hard task master when it comes to cleaning. she has an uncanny knack of spotting every cobweb. Nick, Mark and Simon bravely went up to the bells and had a good hoover. A few nuts and bolts were tightened up whilst they were there and a big discussion about pigeons and how to keep them out kept them busy for a while.

Chris bravely climbed the ladder in the ringing room to knock the cobwebs down from the ceiling. Several other of us were busy cleaning pictures and windows in the ringing room while Jan C went out onto the staircase and cleared away any evidence of spiders from the entrance.

Lovely to see so many of our young adults getting to grips with dusters and brooms. Superstars one and all.

Thursday nights band decided to have some fun. We all met at the Brett house and got out the hand bells. Several pieces of music had come to light that we had previously thought lost. So it was fun having a go at something different. After much eating of pizza, we had a go at some change ringing. Plain hunt was managed by most of the band, but Plain Bob proved to be a bit tricky.

The local striking contest was held at Westoning and this year Linslade made our presence felt very keenly. in this day and age, where bell ringing is in decline and more and more towers are falling silent, Nick encouraged every one from our tower to have a go. And So, we turned up on a cold wet afternoon with no less than three teams.

Sadly we were not the winners in any category and failed to come home with trophies, but we all enjoyed the afternoon entertainment and much eating of tea and cake. This also a afforded us a rare opportunity to get a band photo. Although there are one or two key people missing it's still a good representation of our Sunday service band.

Our Surprise major practice finished off the month with some good ringing, including Belfast.

Watch out team, Sammi is already starting to look at Glasgow.

Check out our gallery for more photos.