Author: Keith Milner

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CCTV Install

Today we installed a CCTV camera into the belfry. The camera will be useful when training new band members.. This is a temporary installation to work out the best location for the camera, and to test the camera operation.

The CCTV camera has a night-vision mode which should allow us to use it without turning on the light in the belfry. The power for the camera is carried from the ringing room, so we can turn it on and off downstairs.

As a temporary measure, the camera is screwed into a piece of wood propped in the corner of the room. The camera is pointing at the 3 bell.

Temporary CCTV installation in belfry

The camera is connected to the ground floor using the spare Cat 6 cable we installed when we were wiring up the simulator. This connects into a video balun and a video converter box to convert the CVBS signal into VGA suitable for the screen we have. A power injector is also connected tot he Cat 6 cable to feed power up to the camera. We have a VGA switch to allow us to switch between the camera and the laptop we use for the simulator.

Image from the CCTV camera during daytime

The camera gives a pretty clear image in daytime, but we need to test how it performs in the dark. We also need to experiment with positions and viewing angles.

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Wedding 30 Aug 2019

We rang for a wedding today. This was the first wedding that many of the newer band members had rung for. We had 8 ringers and rang rounds and call changes. Ringing were Graham, Sue, Owen, Keith, Duncan, Jeremy, Stephanie and Wendy.

The previous day, Stephanie, Duncan and Keith had visited the tower to ring the bells up.

Bells up at St. Nicholas Church
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Simulator practice 23 Aug 2019

Tonight we did some practice in the simulator whilst Graham worked with Louise on rope handling. Stephanie and Keith both practiced plain hunt on 5.

Afterwards Louise practiced rounds on the simulator, and Graham had a go at a 12 bell method.

It was a useful session and we ended with a debrief at The Castle.

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Ringing Practice 19 Aug 2019

We started the evening ringing up and then ringing rounds and call changes. We rang the second half of 60 on thirds.

During the evening we rang Whitfield, Cloister, and another training method invented by Graham which was named “Again” as in “Go again!”.

“Again” training method

We then rang the back six down in peal.

Attending were Graham, Sue, Duncan, Louise, Stephanie, Jeremy, Keith and Simon.

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Sunday Ringing 18 Aug 2019

We were a little low on numbers this week as various people were away or committed to other things. Initially it looked like there would only be 4 of us: Graham, Keith, Duncan and Sue. But Stephanie turned up just as we were about to start ringing as her commitment at Cantley Park had been cancelled due to bad weather.

We attempted to ring plain hunt on 4 with a cover, which didn’t go too well but improved as we went along. We then switched to ringing call changes on the 3, 4, 6, 7 & 8 bells. This particular choice of bells was chosen as it makes up a major pentatonic scale which sounds good in pretty much any combination.

We then rang down the front 3 in peal (sort of), followed by some rounds on the back 5, and an attempt to ring them down in peal.

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Monday Practice, 12th Aug 2019

We had a busy evening starting with attempting to ring up in peal on 6 bells (as Rachel was available to ring up). We then practised call changes on 6, with some of “60 on 3rds”. We then did some plain rounds to give Louise some practice. After we attempted Cloister a few times interspersed with more rounds. We rang Whitefield and more rounds and then attempted to ring down in peal. Attending this evening were Graham, Vinni, Stephanie, Louise, Rachel, Duncan and Keith.

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Practice session 5 Aug 2019

We started the session attempting to ring up in peal followed by call changes with Stephanie, Duncan, Keith and Wendy taking turns to lead the band.

In between each touch of changes, the band rang Whitefield with Stephanie, Keith, Duncan and Wendy taking turns on the treble to practice plain hunting.

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Simulator practice 31 July 2019

This evening we did a short session using Abel with Graham, Keith and Stephanie.

We started practicing plain hunting with Stephanie hunting on 7 and Keith on 5.

Then Graham rang a touch of Kent Treble Bob Major practicing treble bob hunting.

Stephanie and Keith then did some more practice plain hunting.

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Practice Session July 29th 2019

We started the evening a little light with only 4 of us (Graham, Wendy, Stephanie and Keith) as others were running late, so we began by attempting to ring up the front 4 bells in peal, followed by practising plain hunt on 4.

When Duncan and Vinni arrived, we rang up the 5th and 6th and did some kaleidoscope ringing include Mexican Wave in places and “Dodgy” Mexican Wave.

Finally we took turns with a practice method called “Whitefield” where the treble hunts, the 3 makes 3rd and 4th places, and the 5 and 6 cover.

“Whitefield” method

At the end of the session we rang the 6 bells down in peal and moved to The Castle for a debrief.