July Country Meeting 2023

Loughborough, Leicestershire

Four years have passed since the Beverley Country Meeting and it was time to pack and drive south again to meet up with old friends and make some new ones. Last year a family event meant I couldn’t attend the Northern Ireland meeting, so there was no way I was missing this one!

Alyson Kerr and I arrived in Loughborough on Thursday evening and decided to get our bearings by walking to ‘The Three Nuns’, the designated hostelry for the weekend. Despite not wearing any ringing-related tops it seemed clear to the staff that we were bellringers …. hmmm …. and we were soon eating and drinking and renewing old acquaintances.

Having Alyson with me meant I didn’t need to resort to Mr. Google to find the way back to the hotel, as Alyson seems to have an inbuilt navigation system and the way back took only a fraction of the time it took us to find the pub initially.

Neither of us had signed up for peal attempts so Friday was a slow start eating breakfast with other Cumberlands who were based in the same hotel. We walked through the park to the Carillon Tower, listening to the tunes emanating from the top, then had a leisurely lunch before meeting at Taylors of Loughborough for the Foundry Tour. Sally Brown was our guide and she definitely enjoyed showing round a group of ringers. Three bells had been cast earlier in the week and we were able to see them protruding from the sand in the casting hall, as well as visiting some of the parts of the foundry not usually accessible to tour groups. Taylors is undergoing a lot of work to improve the ‘visitor experience’ and from what we saw it will be fantastic when it’s finished.

Friday evening saw even more Cumberlands in the pub, with some of us informally joining in the Quiz to help get an idea what might be in store for us on Saturday.

On Saturday morning, for those not attempting peals, there was an opportunity to join a steam train outing or the ringing tour. Having come to a ringing weekend I thought I’d better do some actual ringing and decamp some cobwebs from my brain. The tour took us to three lovely rings of 8 where everything from Rounds & Call Changes (for the next generation of Cumberlands) to spliced Surprise was rung. One youngster started with R&CC then rang Plain Hunt then treble bobbed to Surprise – nothing fazed her. Many thanks to Linda Garton and John Loveless for running the ringing at Prestwold, Barrow upon Soar and Quorn, and for the very welcome refreshments at one venue. The afternoon pre-meeting ringing at the Foundry was a lock-out as the wrong key had been passed over – oops!

Loughborough Parish Church was the venue for the Business meeting. Using the OWL (I think???), the meeting was a hybrid of those actually in the church and those joining remotely via the internet. It’s a fantastic way to make the Society more accessible to members. After tributes we stood to remember 5 members and later in the agenda elected 3 new ones. It was good to hear that next year the Country Meeting will not clash with the RWNYC as it was doing this year.

Following the meeting most went straight across the road to The Three Nuns and settled in for the evening. The pub was closed to the general public so the Society made the most of the opportunity to drink as much of the beer (other drinks were available) as possible – fairly successfully as barrels seemed to be changed with some frequency! A substantial hot buffet meant everyone had plenty to eat to soak up the liquid. The Quiz was a great mix of general knowledge though the variable team sizes meant some teams had a greater range of general knowledge than others! After dark (which comes much earlier in the south) the heavens opened and a full-scale monsoon descended which caused some members consternation as to the availability of taxis, and others to look on it as a reason not to leave just yet.

It was a fabulous weekend – many thanks to Sally Brown and Luke Groom for the local arrangements and to the Officers for the behind-the-scenes stuff which must happen to enable members from far and wide to meet in this way.

Christine Richardson (Sunderland)

View photos from this event in our gallery.

Peals rung on Bellboard

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11 peals so far have been rung for the Society July Country meeting.