Our itinerary took us to the mills of Halifax, past reservoirs and over moors to Saddleworth, down to the supertrams of Sheffield, through British Steel to Rotherham, from Barnsley past Grimethorpe Colliery to Pontefract and Wakefield, not forgetting Marsden and Mirfield. In all, four dozen towers were visited, some more than once where peals or quarters were arranged. There was only one case of hunt the incumbent (he had gone out, but entry was eventually made) and no lockouts - the local ringers are to be congratulated on such a good record and Iain on his very efficient organisation.
Our peal successes are appended. At Sheffield it seems that Robin found himself conducting at rather shorter notice than usual; he was however "helped" by some comments on the speed of the performance. The Guild returned for Sunday service ringing when Cambridge and Bristol Max both wafted over the nearby offices of apparently sleepy solicitors, Wake Smith. Before starting at Shelley, tower captain Trevor Tarbatt treated us to a recording of some near-perfect cartwheel ringing - I'm not sure whether this encouraged or depressed us! The reports from Mytholmroyd were of Yorkshire tail ends, blisters and great heat, even after a surgeon's efforts to open a window with a distinctly unsurgical instrument. All Saints Pontefract is noted for its staircase: a double helix; and the bells proved very pleasing with Bernard's safety shot of Middleton's applied to London. At Bradford, Chris Rogers chose a Yorkshire composition for his Stedman - one by Wilf Moreton. On Karen's suggestion, the peal at Ashton under Lyne was arranged to be in memory of her contemporary Nicholas Laffoley who died of a heart attack so tragically young.
The quarter peals were both successful; however the four lost peals deserve a mention. At Rotherham, the conductor's injunction to "get the bad blows right" was misheard by some as "get the back bells right", nevertheless the Stedman Cinques was progressing well until a misplaced bob came after about 1800 changes. We revisited these excellent bells on Friday and achieved perhaps the best ringing of the week under Captain Rogers' firm control - ending with a couple of courses of Stedman which were very musical even without the intended bob at 1. At Whiston, a tower covered in Virginia creeper, Ander Holroyd's testing composition of Bristol proved to be a more than sufficient test of the performers. Similarly, two of the band at Wath upon Dearne swapped after a couple of hours, having decided that they would really have been happier with one of those now obsolete compositions containing singles. Pitman's 5-spliced at Todmorden bit the dust in time for the keen to sample the pleasures of Mirfield, the final tower of the week.
The attempt at Todmorden was also remarkable for the fact that it contained Iain - a reluctant peal ringer. Louise's schedule of pairs of past masters to run the ringing at alternate towers had worked very smoothly, and avoided the rush of having to be first in after being last out. However the Master himself had so far managed to escape such duty. When this was pointed out by Iain, Robert claimed that he had a peal to ring - "Well, I'll ring in the peal", said Iain. His bluff called, Robert proceeded to Wakefield instead where some respectable Yorkshire Max was performed - with two Moretons.
At the bottom of the tower, Wilf Moreton had very kindly turned out to meet us and he revealed that he had attended a Guild Week before any of us - two days of E G Benson's 1938 Hereford week, at the age of 14 - when he had been driven by Frank Haynes and Chris Woolley. After this he decided to go to Oxford! I wonder if Nick Small, our present efficient transport organiser could have arranged smoother motoring.
"Interesting" generally implies lumpy bells, however there were several genuinely interesting towers with splendid bells. Sowerby contains many large peal boards recording, for all to see, the figures of William Sottanstall's compositions. The bells are now a musical Taylor eight from 1954. Handsworth had been the venue for the then youngest peal band to perform in 1934 - and John Gilbert their conductor was there to meet us. This makes the board at Elland seem very recent: Vivian was reminded that a youthful Nutton had conducted a local band peal there in 1967. At Darfield, the description "deceptively spacious" came to mind: the ringing room contained 2 settees, 10 armchairs, 2 dining chairs as well as a sideboard, 2 gas fires, a six-bell chiming mangle by Shaw & Co, a hatstand and 2 small bells and there was still plenty of room to ring a course of Glasgow.
An innovation introduced by Louise was to divide the company into three teams led by Messrs Finch, Sturgess and Windley - Babes, Fogies and Geriatrics - for an ongoing striking competition. One heat took part each day, either 125 Grandsire Triples or a course of cartwheel Cambridge Minor. The venue for the first eight-bell event was Dore, however the clapper of the third had been removed for arthritis treatment - and so on to Norton; but the contagion had spread and the fifth there fell into the category of incipient seizure. The Geriatrics, being more used to such infirmities, bettered the Fogies here, but the overall result at the end of the week gave victory to the Babes.
Were there any disappointments? Well Louise did seem a little down in the mouth when the Frolicking Farmer she had ordered was delivered in a pit glass! Jonathan Shanklin too found a non-Thatcherite turn rather disappointing when our scenic route from Sowerby to Elland was blocked by an unmarked greenhouse. Nothing else springs to mind except Miss Godfrey's penalty for stopping to retuck her unravelling rope at the start of a striking competition. Even Brian Threlfall remarked during the week on the congenial company, "You're a group of people I don't mind having a conversation with". Others took great delight in playing rounders - the teams were most inclusive with nobles and commoners, the fit and unfit, and birthdays spanning six decades.
Our Guild Week Communion Service - 1662 of course - was held in the impressive chancel of Marsden Parish Church. John Wrenbury was the celebrant assisted by Peter Hearn. Following this we rang variously on this fine ten then retired to the Marsden Brewery Tap for refreshment, conducted tours and a plentiful supper. This was rounded off by a course of Bob Minor on four bananas and two samosas. Then came the Guild Week Meeting.
Our President, Chris Johnson, had had to return to Cambridge and so the Master took the chair and dispatched the business in under 40 minutes despite such lengthy matters as the progress of the motto committee. The gathering was remarkable for the presence of Jonathan who usually finds a practice he must visit, but this year it would have entailed a journey by Shank's pony, being a passenger and away from base. The meeting ended with Bernard's glowing vote of thanks to Iain and Louise for such a good week: the smoothly run ringing, the good natured striking competition and the superb accommodation which some thought would spoil us; Bernard however was happy to have gone soft. That said, the Guild returned to base clutching commemorative glasses as mementoes of a delightful week.
Hugh Pettifer
Saddleworth, Manchester. 21 Aug, 1280 Spliced Surprise
Major (CNSY): E C Carter 1, Karen Lebon 2, M Susan Threlfall 3, R A Smith
4, F E Roberts 5, Hilary Muirhead 6, N C Childs (C) 7, J D Shanklin 8.
This page created by Philip Saddleton
Last updated 16 October 1997