The York Colleges Guild of Bellringers
NUA (Northern Universities Association) Striking Competition 3rd-5th November 2006 - Warwick
(l-r) (back row) Karen Owen, Charlotte Elkington, Matt Greenaway, James Knowles, Kevin Atkinson, Jenni Shields, David Denbigh
(front row) Nicola Hibbert, Arthur Reeves, Allen Eccles
Once the clocks have gone back and we're well into the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, student ringers everywhere turn their minds to the sadistic pleasures of a cold, hard floor, a lack of sleep and a temporary lapse in bodily hygiene. What, I hear you cry, could possibly induce anyone to that level of suffering? The Northern Universities Striking Competition has a lot to answer for...
In true YCG style, the weekend got off to a cracking start with the Sat Nav failing to get the two cars from campus to Char's house in Fulford. Once everything was crammed into the boot (sadly Arthur wouldn't fit) and everyone was as comfy as possible, off we went into the darkness, over the kerb and a few pedestrians en route. All seemed to be going well until Car 2 gleefully announced that they were at Sherwood Forest. Very nice, but sadly not on the correct road. Whilst Car 1 had successfully managed to go down the M1, Car 2 had spotted a sign for The South and had followed it down the A1. With a bit of Char's magic navigation we eventually regrouped at Leicester Forest East and carried on to arrive at the pub in one piece (just).
A number of pints later we proceeded to the Scout Hut where we were 'sleeping'. Nicola quickly worked out which side her bread was buttered and decamped to the comfy room by the bar with the Bristol ringers and all the other sensible people. Being tough Yorkies, we stayed in the sports hall concrete floor, breeze block walls, corrugated iron roof, you get the drift. We would probably have survived the night had it not been for Kevin, a plug socket and the LUSCR kettle, a combination which fused the electrics in our half of the building. 'Cold' doesn't begin to cover it, and that was with everyone wearing every item of clothing they'd brought.
Having thawed out in the morning we armed ourselves with the LUSCR walkie talkies and piled back into the cars (now affectionately nicknamed Bob and Single). The first tower was Berkswell, an interesting ring of 6 around the organ in a five foot wide gap. The long draft and the fact that some of them were in a straight line made things 'interesting'. Unfortunately, Matt put his back out whilst ringing the tenor and didn't ring for the rest of the day. As we'd managed to be at the front of the queue, we made a speedy exit and went on to Allesley, an 8 bell tower on the north west edge of Coventry. We hacked through some Little Bob Major while Jenni had her first ever go on 8 to great success.
Then, after a few false starts and several trips around the same roundabout (all deliberate and planned, of course) we went on to Stoke, a 13 hundredweight 8. While we were waiting for everyone to have a ring we played a quick game of Frisbee, although it was cut short when I tried to take out some of the opposition with a short, sharp blow to the head. We adjourned to the pub over the road for lunch where we were met by David Denbigh who had come along with the Manchester ringers.
With Nicola rather than Tim Tom-Tom (the Sat Nav) navigating, we went on to Wolston and Lillington. Lillington were a peculiar 8 with several of the bells very odd struck and a dubious tenor that was quite difficult to keep up as Allen quickly discovered. A quick zoom up the road brought us to Cubbington for the striking competition. Listening to the teams before us, the conclusion was that we probably wouldn't come last, hopefully. Matt being out of action, Nicola stepped into his place. The rest of us waiting outside were suitably impressed and seconded the feeling that we probably weren't bottom of the heap.
The band for the striking competition was as follows:
120 Plain Bob Minor
- Arthur Reeves
- Charlotte Elkington
- Nicola Hibbert
- James Knowles
- Allen Eccles
- Kevin Atkinson (C)
After the striking competition, waiting with baited breath for the results we drove on to Warwick St Michael's for the last grab of the day and one of the few nice rings of the weekend. Last duty done, all that was left was a visit to Tesco to stock up on some much needed alcohol (the only way to keep out the cold of the scout hut) along with extra layers of warm clothes and cake.
By the time we got back to the hut tea was nearly (?!) ready and the bar opened soon after. Finally it was time for the dreaded results and miracle of miracles York was declared the winner with 22 faults as the highest scoring band (13.5 faults) was the scratch band from Birmingham and so couldn't win. As the trophy had been 'lost' by the Birmingham ringers, we were awarded a highly decorative commemorative plate stolen from a student kitchen and adorned with permanent marker pen!
After the boat race (Kevin, James, David and Matt came a very respectable third), at long last the Ceilidh started and everyone took to the floor with gusto. Some people got rather closer to the floor than others due to the general sweatiness and slipperiness of the hall. The band was good, despite the rather peculiar broom dance, and if nothing else the dancing certainly warmed the hall up. Sadly though it did mean that the roof dripped sweaty water for the rest of the night. Nice.
A warmer night was had by all with Matt and Arthur decamping into the comfy room where Arthur was only too happy to prostrate himself at Nicola's feet. The more hardy members of the group braved the showers whereas the rest of decided to remain smelly. Luckily, Sunday was a nice leisurely start as we didn't need to be in Coventry until 11am for ringing at the Cathedral. Everyone had a decent go on 12 and then we went up to the viewing gallery to watch the next band firing out!
After a quick whip around the Cathedral (a building not to everyone's taste) we piled back into the cars, now bursting at the seams due to the addition of David Denbigh, and set off for home. A pub and a pee stop later we arrived back in York: tired, smelly, slightly on the stiff side but nevertheless triumphant.
Roll on next year in Nottingham!
Karen Owen
(l-r) Karen, Kevin, Allen, Matt, Nicola, Charlotte
Nicola
Kevin and Arthur
The striking competition band: (l-r) Arthur, Charlotte, Nicola, James, Allen, Kevin
People looking very silly
Well, what a trophy!