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Last night, ringing bells for services at St. Giles, I got to join in while ringing Plain Hunt -- for the first time! Both DR and JP were away, so SE was leading the ringing. He assigned me to cover on the tenor while the rest rang Plain Hunt on seven bells. I pointed out that I had not yet done this... and he said that I should try anyway. He took the #7 with the logic that, if I screwed it up, we could easily switch to Plain Hunt on six bells, so that I would only have to follow him.
Since I was only covering, I did not actually switch place with the other bells. I always rang last in each change. However, the bell that I was following would continuously change, which I needed to be aware of. Also, the tenor at St. Giles weighs thirteen hundredweight (which is 1456 pounds for those who don't count in hundredweights, quarters, and stone). So establishing adequate control over the bell is somewhat tricky. Besides being the heaviest bell in the tower, it is also the oldest -- dating back to 1637!
As for the ringing itself, it went quite well! Although I sometimes got my timing a tad off, I never lost track of who I should be following. The "off" moments that did happen were caused by me needing more practice in handling such a gosh-darn heavy bell. Having done this, I hope to do it more in upcoming practices... eventually leading to joining in on the method itself, rather than just covering. Hopefully in the not-too-distant future!
On a totally unrelated topic, since I have been asked privately a couple of times: Does anyone have any clue what it is that I have been counting down for the past couple of weeks? Just curious if anybody figured it out... (If you asked and I told you, you aren't allowed to answer!)
Since I was only covering, I did not actually switch place with the other bells. I always rang last in each change. However, the bell that I was following would continuously change, which I needed to be aware of. Also, the tenor at St. Giles weighs thirteen hundredweight (which is 1456 pounds for those who don't count in hundredweights, quarters, and stone). So establishing adequate control over the bell is somewhat tricky. Besides being the heaviest bell in the tower, it is also the oldest -- dating back to 1637!
As for the ringing itself, it went quite well! Although I sometimes got my timing a tad off, I never lost track of who I should be following. The "off" moments that did happen were caused by me needing more practice in handling such a gosh-darn heavy bell. Having done this, I hope to do it more in upcoming practices... eventually leading to joining in on the method itself, rather than just covering. Hopefully in the not-too-distant future!
On a totally unrelated topic, since I have been asked privately a couple of times: Does anyone have any clue what it is that I have been counting down for the past couple of weeks? Just curious if anybody figured it out... (If you asked and I told you, you aren't allowed to answer!)
