The York Colleges Guild of Bellringers
YCG Spring Outing 2008 - West Yorkshire
At 8:30am on a particularly bitter March morning, a disparate group of ringers known collectively as the YCG stood ready to hit West Yorkshire. An air of mystery hung over the band, desperate to find out both the identity of the YUSU President-elect decided the night before, as well as exactly what was in the cake tin Helen was cradling. The latter realisation hit David Roberts and myself rather hard- we were going to have to be polite to Helen for a whole half-day, at least until the tin was opened.
We bundled into the convoy of cars assembled to deliver us to the West Riding and began leafing through methods. An assortment of six and eight bell towers meant that everyone had something to learn, relearn and learn properly before arriving at our first stop, Barwick In Elmet. A difficult fifth bell proved my personal downfall, as well as a lack of knowledge of Stedman Doubles, though to my recollection other peoples’ efforts were more successful. The next tower, a ring of eight in Guiseley, allowed the band to try some of the spliced compositions they had been working on.
Otley’s eight bell tower sounded nice, were relatively easy to control, and many went away with a smile. That is, once they had dealt with the slight inconvenience of the ‘Yorkshire Knob-end’ where a tailend usually sufficed. There was some good ringing, though only after the original hurdle had been overcome and fears put aside. Lunch was spent in The Junction Inn attempting the local ales, giving time for some to reflect on the day so far and others to do some shopping.
One such acquisition, a collection of Disney themed songs, was the accompaniment to our drive onwards to Helen’s home tower in Ilkley. With Lilah singing ‘Colours of the Wind’ as we got out, Helen finally revealed to the group the content of the cake tin- a batch of freshly baked brownies. Ilkley’s tower was generally regarded as having some of the best bells rung that day, the only complaint being of the concrete ceiling. As we sped on to Addingham for the final ring of the day, the weather took a turn for the worse, as did the sound of the bells. The best description comes from Lilah, who compared the flighty ring of six as sounding like a calypso drum at best.
By this stage we were all rather tired and the tone was being increasingly lowered- one group of individuals labelling the ringing master ‘Ginger’ by placing a hastily written sign in the back of his car. We had a little while to get ready before for eating a delicious curry followed by the usual debate on how much we all owed. Naturally the evening didn’t end there, and various pubs of York were blessed with our custom as the night progressed, the final cohort of ringers safely tucked up in bed by 3am at the latest. Thanks are due to Helen for organising such a successful outing in a lovely area, and to all those who offered lifts to people.
Roy Scivyer