"I went to Derby"
Like all good ideas, the plan to organise a bit of a weekend around Derby was thought up in a pub one Wednesday evening....
Anthony Cotton was responsible for the bulk of the work - organising Cumberlands from the Derby area, towers and peals. All the master had to do was get a few Southerners up for the challenge of ringing 14-spliced royal - a cyclical composition by Don Morrison.
Saturday morning: Cumberlands meet in Derbyshire.... 10-Spliced at Ticknall lasted two hours before the conductor made his first mistake of the morning. Unlike everyone else's mistakes, this meant an early lunch, but valuable practice time with the methods and ringing the cyclical composition meant the mood was bordering on confident for the afternoon....
However, there was success at Ashover with a peal of Cambridge scored with a typically untypical MJLD composition...
Saturday afternoon: In the pub at Ticknall a couple of pints of Timothy Taylor's and quiet confidence had turned to unswerving belief in our abilities. Some of us even believing we could correctly pronounce Meall nan Eun. Matt wasn't so sure, but he managed to say it 9 times and only get in confused with "Yorkshire" once as we scored a satisfying peal at Duffield.
Saturday night: Armed with detailed directions many of the ringers from the day's attempts descended on Roy (Meads) and Frances (Haynes) house in Idridgehay. This was a bit like going to a pub, only serving better food (Bakewell tarts) and better beer....from Ashover Brewery - just what the assembled company needed!
Sunday: service ringing, lunches, shopping, walks and.... the opportunity to ring the 14-spliced again, this time at Derby Cathedral. Jake eased us along at a typically majestic pace before Matt urged a gear-shift to make it across the finishing line before evensong. Jake duly obliged and the last few parts featured some particularly good ringing on these excellent peal-ringing bells.
Monday morning: Back at work - "Did you have a good weekend?"
"Yes, I went to Derby". (a few quizzical looks)
Whereas in Derbyshire, I understand that five of the band meet to ring another peal, at Ticknall, and finish off the beer.....
Simon Holden