The York Colleges Guild of Bellringers
YCG Spring Outing 2010 - Manchester
Group Photo at St Peter's, Ashton-under-Lyne.
On March 6th 2010, a group of 8 excited YCG members, varying in states of wake, met at York railway station and leapt onto a train to Manchester for this year's Spring Outing. Alice Longden, our outing organiser for the day, claims she made the sun come out; in any case we had gorgeous weather all day, putting everyone in a great mood. The journey passed quickly; far too over excited, the conversation was peppered with laughter and inappropriateness. A bag of fizzy sweets that were being passed around prompted Sam Collard to exclaim at Helen Rickerby that she had "stolen my cherry! Both my cherries!" At Leeds, we were joined by James Ramsbottom, a member of LUSCR, and our own Helen Green.Our first excitement in Manchester was a ride on the tramline to Victoria (including several photos from Alice Longden of tram tickets!). We walked from here to our first destination, Manchester Cathedral, a 10 bell tower, met with exuberance by all ringers. After a bizarre incident involving steps and an umbrella, we were met outside by Matthew Greenaway, a former YCG member who now rings in Cardiff, and then in the tower by 4 ringers from Edinburgh, including James Sanderson. The first ring of the day went to called changes, my first on 10 bells - slightly intimidating but I survived it well, unflattering photos and all! Afterwards, the more experienced members rang a course of Stedman Caters and some Plain and Little Caters, prompting the comment "Visiting ringers don't usually strike the bells that well." We must have done something right!
Moving on, we walked to Sacred Trinity church in Salford, with 8 bells. Small things pleased us in this tower: a sign was seen that said "Please do not poke the bellringers, they are concentrating very hard"! Naturally, pictures of this were taken, as well as one of an apparently headless Helen Beaumont! As in the Cathedral, called changes were rung, alongside a variety of Plain and Surprise methods. On leaving the tower, a loose sign naming the church was seen, that (in true first year student style), one nameless member wondered whether we ought to take home as a souvenir!
A bunch of now hungry and thirsty ringers charged back the way we had come, past Victoria station and on to a lovely pub called 'The Marble Arches'. Here we all scoffed a variety of dinners, including fish and chips, chicken sandwiches and risottos. Fed and watered (some with beer of course!), we were rushed to our next destination via a train to Ashton-under-Lyne.
Group photo at The Marble Arches
Our third tower of the afternoon was St Peter's, another 8 bell tower, which sat on an island surrounded by traffic. The views from the tower were clear and lovely; several members wondered what it was like to ring during a sunset. Here, (a lovely touch of) 8 spliced was rung, along with Plain Bob for those who were improving and, as always, more called changes.
Finally, apart from Charlotte Elkington, who was very eager to run on, we all stumbled off to our final tower of the day, St Michael and All Angels, also in Ashton. This 12 bell tower was a difficult one for me, another challenge, but unfortunately I was too tired to ring well there! Everyone else, however, rose to the occasion and rang rounds on 12 and a nicely-struck bob course of Grandsire Caters, as well as the usual called changes. We retired to the pub for an hour before catching our trains home; we all sat around weary, but happy! Jokes and beer continued to flow, including the bag of fizzy sweets.
After some photos and a spot of impromptu ceilidhing (which was filmed!) on the platform at Ashton, we all staggered, exhausted, onto the train that would take us to Stalybridge, and with a change there, back to York. Unlike the first train journey, this was filled with a few sleeping ringers, including Alice Longden, who insisted on swearing at those who took photos of her!
Exhaustion from the day's ringing didn't stop YCG members looking forward to the curry that awaited us on our return to York. On the walk from the railway station to the curry house, there were several umbrella related innuendos, resulting in Helen Rickerby crying "I don't want to be an umbrella kebab!" Naturally this was followed by Alice Longden wondering who was "banging my bum".
Collard and his umbrella strike again. Fortunately you can't see the victim.
At the restaurant, we were met by other YCG members who hadn't been able to join us on the outing. The rest of the evening went by with chatter and laughter, enjoyed by all. One highlight was blatant eavesdropping upon the speech of a stag do's best man! The stag party's equal in volume, we all went home exhausted but happy.
A thoroughly successful outing!
Helen Rickerby and Helen Beaumont