Ashford District
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				Programme for 2009
				District officers
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Ashford District win the 8-bell

Congratulations to the Ashford District on winning the County 8-bell striking competition for 2009. Full details are available here.

The chairman's birthday peal

While on the Smarden outing to Oxfordshire on 16 April, the newly appointed County Chairman was conspicuous by his absence from the afternoon ringing activities. It was known he was in the area but where exactly was he and what could have been so important to keep him from grabbing a couple of towers?

All was revealed at dinner that evening. He had been ringing the treble to a peal of Yorkshire Surprise Major at nearby Drayton to celebrate his birthday on that very day. Nothing very significant about that, it wasn't his first peal and he wasn't doing any of the difficult stuff (!!!) but the other seven members of the band were also celebrating their birthdays on that very day, most of them very established peal ringers indeed. This was the culmination of a couple of letters in The Ringing World and two years of emails by one member of the band trying to get it all together. Even up to a week or so before the day it was doubtful it would go ahead but it did and very successfully too.

This is the first occasion that a peal has been rung by a band all having the same birthday, on the day of their birthday. So congratulations to Peter Sims (and the rest of the band who did their bit).

And congratulations from webmaster too. The details are on page 637 of the RW — and the organiser reckons to go for a 12-bell peal in 2011!

District Newsletter

The current edition (June) is now on the streets. As usual it is available free to all towers, but additional copies will be available for anyone who wants one from Peter Sims at sps.petersimms@btclick.com for 50p plus postage, or postage free for electronic copies.

Bells concert at Hythe

Hythe ringers will be participating in a concert on Friday 10 July at 7.30pm mounted by the Friends of St Leonards as part of a week long festival. This follows on from a similar event two years ago which was particularly well received. All the music and readings in the concert will have a connection with bells or ringing, and some change ringing will feature, with tower bells amplified into the church, and handbells, courtesy of Donald and Ruth Niblett and friends. The concert will be free, with a retiring collection. For more information please contact Nigel Spencer on np&mjs@fireflyuk.net or 01303 260524. Please note there will be no practice at Hythe on this evening, but any visiting ringers who wish to attend the concert and would like to take part in the ringing should contact Nigel.

District striking competition 2009

Saturday 16 May saw the annual District striking competition being held this year at Brookland.

The results were as follows:

Thanks to the judges, Keith and Susan Record from Canterbury for making an excellent job of doing the judging. Willesborough will represent the District in the county competition to be hosted by the Canterbury District at Lynsted on 26 September.

Peter Sims gives a bit of the wider picture: Just to put you in the picture, Sheila and I were ringing for a couple of weddings at Smarden immediately prior to going to the meeting. When we came out of the tower with 45 minutes to go until the draw we found two very baby tawny owls (still covered in down) on the path outside the tower. One was lying on its side, looking to all intents as if it was dead. We made the instant decision to try to do something for them. We got a safety helmet out of my car and put them in it and then attempted to phone to get some sort of assistance. Apparently everywhere is shut at weekends: RSPB, RSPCA, Hawk and Owl etc. All just automated answerphones. I phoned a ringing vet at Gillingham who suggested we brought them over; not a lot of use as we were headed the other direction, but he did advise that there was a 24 hour vet at Notcutts in Maidstone. We commandeered Sheila's neighbours to take them to Maidstone so that we could hot foot it to Brookland. Needless to say, we were drawn first and arrived a few minutes late, but we did just about make it, only to be disqualified as the touch was miscalled!

At least the two chicks did OK. By time they arrived in Maidstone the very poorly one had warmed up (by cuddling up to its brother/sister in my helmet, covered over by an old tea towel) and was much better. The vet promised they would be handed to an owl sanctuary in the next day or two and would be OK.

Sorry there aren't any photos, but they seem a pretty fair exchange for a couple of live tawny owls.

The Sallies

Ashford District from time to time hold a quarter peal week. There are many aims, including: to raise funds for the KCACR Bell Restoration Fund; ring a quarter in as many towers in the District as practical; to involve as many ringers as possible; to nurture less experienced ringers through a "first" especially those ringing their first quarter and generally enhance ringing in the District. The committee decided it was time for another one and 7-15 November (a long week) was chosen.

Another idea that had been floating around the committee for some time was to have an "Oscar" type awards ceremony to acknowledge outstanding performances within the District, so it was decided to combine the two, with an award ceremony at the end of quarter peal week. This was timed to coincide with the monthly meeting to be held at Ashford on 15 November — hence the birth of "THE SALLIES".

The whole event was masterminded by Steven Davis, the immediate past District chairman with Damien Smith the new chairman and possible inspiration behind The Sallies acting as Master of Ceremonies — complete with suit (but no tie!). The event was superbly organised, complete with sound system, appropriate music, a star-filled ceiling, projector for categories, nominations, prizes and acceptance speeches. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves, with much humour all round.

The 12 prizewinners were:

Whilst generally not wishing to single out any individuals, some stand out as especially worthy of note:

Helen Small — apparently decided on a Wednesday practice night that she would like to learn to ring Glasgow and Bristol. She looked them up and rang quarters of each (1st blows) the following weekend!

Lucy Whitehead — in the past 12 months has achieved a wide variety of ringing standards including at the age of 14 ringing the tenor at Folkestone (25cwt) without difficulty.

Mary Marshall — Mary has achieved many things during her time ringing. Although no longer a "spring chicken" [Peter's words, not Webmaster's], she has recently completed her 100th peal at the same time as her grandson Martin also completed his 100th.

Each of them (including Margaret on behalf of her granddaughter) were very quick to acknowledge that they couldn't have achieved what they did on their own, but it still took a great deal of effort and commitment from each of them. Well done!

As for the actual quarter peal week: there were 36 quarters rung at 32 towers using 112 ringers (18 from outside the District), 16 conductors, 19 firsts of which six were first quarters. Only four quarters were rung entirely by local bands, but two of these were the first by those bands.

All in all a very successful event in terms of ringing and a very enjoyable new awards ceremony. It looks as if this may well become a regular event for the immediate past Chairman to organise.

Peter Sims

Web forum for the Ashford District

Damien Smith sends us the following useful message:

I mentioned at the ADM that I had created an Ashford District web forum. I had hoped to explain it in a little more detail, but hopefully this will give you all the input you need. A web forum is a discussion site for members to talk about various ideas, issues, topics, jokes, etc within a society/club. I know of a few of these both within the ringing circuit and through the school teaching line and they all play a very important role in communication between people, something that we as a District perhaps find hard due to the size of our plot. Therefore this little creation will hopefully flourish into something that all members can be a part of and keep themselves updated with the gossip and news from within our Ashford District. It is in its early stages and will need input from you all as to how it should be laid out. There are already some forums on there which I hope people will have a look at and contribute to.

The address of the forum is http://ashforddistrictkcacr.messageforums.net. Once logged in for the first time you will need to click on Register [fairly small type at top of screen]. After you have added a few details you will have access to the site.

Some basic things . . .

• Forum — The main subjects on the web forum. The "administrator" (me) creates these. There are currently five on the site. More can easily be added so if you have something you want to add then do please let me know!
• Topics — Different items within each forum. For example there is a forum titled District Meetings. Within this forum there are topics for each individual monthly meeting held in which people can discuss things. Members can create their own topics for people to view and write on by clicking on NEW TOPIC (i.e Thoughts for the next business meeting or comments about the proposed rule changes, etc)
• Reply — To leave your note/comment on the topic page. You can also subscribe to a topic so that you will receive an email when another member writes on it so that you can keep on top of the discussion. You can also do a Quick Reply if you want to add something quick and easily, however there are no options to subscribe to the topic.

I really hope that this outline doesn't completely boggle you and that it gives you what you need to get going on the site. It does take a tiny bit of getting used to but once you are on and have had a play it really is easy. I also hope that this does become something that the District uses and that it is available to ALL MEMBERS of ALL DISTRICT TOWERS so PLEASE tell your fellow ringers about it.

Any questions or queries then PLEASE let me know.

ADM 2008

At the ADM at Tenterden on 18 October the new District officers for 2008/09 were elected as under, with Damien Smith taking over from Stephen Davis as Chairman and Richard Edwards elected to the new post of Competition Coordinator:

• Chairman: Damien Smith
• Secretary: Pam Manger
• Treasurer: David Wilkinson
• Ringing Masters: Alan Bourner and Mike Godfrey
• District Reps: Pam Manger and Peter Sims
• Competition co-ordinator: Richard Edwards
• Newsletter editor and press rep: Peter Sims
• District bookstall: Mike Godfrey
• Tea committee co-ordinator: Mary Marshall
• Clothing sales: David Gower
• Training officers: The ringing masters
• John Castell Library custodian: Brenda Davies

Call change striking competition

The 2008 competition was held at Newington-juxta-Hythe on 20 September, and the judges were Cathy and Rupert Cheeseman from the Lewisham District. General comments: The 5th seemed to cause problems and the 2nd was close at hand when leading. The standard was very good and a pleasure to hear. Team D was difficult to judge so all pieces were listened to again to make sure of the scores.

The results were as follows:

posn	tower	judges' comments	ringing position	marks
1st	Frittenden	Used the full 20 rounds. Used minimum noumber of changes in the test piece. Steady rhythm, set a good standard for the competition.	A	80%
2nd	Smarden	Good piece of ringing but the speed was variable.	B	71%
3rd	Lydd	Very hard to judge - no crashes and very few clips but quite a lot of small gaps causing faults to mount up. Needed a steadier rhythm.	D	67%
4th	Lympne	Changes expanded and contracted but had fewer problems with the 5th. Handstroke leads gave most faults.	C	60%

Rupert and Cathy with the winning Frittenden band

Quarter peal week

We haven't had a quarter peal week since October 2004 and it is always a good opportunity to get lots of people involved in a District activity and to raise some money for the Bell Restoration Fund. This year's event is planned for the extended week (ie two weekends) 7 to 15 November.

You don't have to be a member of the KCACR to take part but you do have to be prepared to pay £1 to the tower that you are ringing in and £1 to the BRF for each quarter that you achieve. Our aim is to ring a quarter peal in every tower in the District during the week with as many people as possible taking part and even ringing their first quarter peal. If we can help someone to achieve something new during the week, it will be even more worthwhile.

The District will be divided into seven sections with two ringers allocated to each section to make all the arrangements.

On Saturday 15 November we will have a get together at Ashford tower, with ringing during the afternoon followed by a meal in the Church Hall with a lighthearted ceremony of prizegiving afterwards. You've heard of the Oscars, well this is the Sallys! We hope as many of you as possible will come.

Pam Manger

District calendar 2009

Unless otherwise noted below, all events consist of ringing from 3 to 4.15pm, with a service at 4.30pm. The service is followed by tea (and a meeting where marked with *) and then evening ringing until 9pm unless otherwise stated. Ringers of all standards (from rounds to Spliced Surprise) are very welcome and will happily be catered for. If you are trying to learn a new method then this is an ideal opportunity to ring with an experienced band and to have someone "hovering behind" to guide you through if necessary. Please tell one of the Ringing Masters what you would like to ring (they are not psychic — well not all the time!) and they will try to arrange something to suit you.

A new feature was added for the first time in 2007. You'll notice that all venues appear in blue and are underlined. This means that if you click on the place name you'll be taken directly to a largish scale map. At the top of the map, just under KCACR, there is a scale indicator, and you can click on this to make the map smaller or larger as you wish. Have fun!

District practices

The idea of these practices is to give people the opportunity to ring methods that they may not have the chance to ring in their own tower due to lack of numbers etc. We have divided these into a plain practice, usually held on a weekday evening in the second week of the month, and a Surprise practice held on the 4th Saturday morning — that is the Saturday after the District meeting.

Plain practices

In order to ensure that these more accurately reflect individual towers' specific needs, it has been decided to modify the format a little. Future practices will be specifically arranged to suit individual towers (usually on their normal practice night) and will focus on the methods etc that have been requested. This special practice will be limited to the people who normally practise there, plus invited ringers to assist with the learning. If your tower has a special requirement in terms of training, please contact Mike Godfrey or Alan Bourner and discuss it with them.

Surprise practices

These have been well supported in the past and cater for Surprise ringing in whatever methods the band can stand, BUT the chance is there for anyone learning to ring Surprise, or even to treble bob on the treble mdash; you will be especially welcome.

For more information on happenings in the Ashford District contact Pam Manger (District Secretary) at the address on the email page (on the left).

120 Club for 2009

Draws take place March to December and prizes are £30, £20 and £10 in all months. Peter Sims adds: Thanks to all who have bought a ticket, and a special thanks to those who worked so hard in selling them all.

The fourth draw of the 2009 series took place on a coach somewhere on the M25 on 20 June, and results for the year are as shown below. The numbers in brackets refer to the share number, and NOT to the winner's age :-)

The results with the pale yellow background are last year's, for comparison — just to make sure no one wins too often!