Front Cover: Foundation of the Central European Association of Change Ringers by Rodney Yeates
There has been active change ringing on the continent of Europe for many years. About 35 years ago, I worked for a while in Amsterdam, where we had an active handbell band, consisting of three Dutch people and one foreigner (me). We also had occasional contact with the bellringers at Dordrecht in the south of the country. In the Groote Kerk in Dordrecht (the Great Church), they had a carillon, consisting of 49 bells. Jaap van der Ende, the carilloneur, initiated the idea of clocking changes on eight of these bells. This continued regularly for decades, with a band consisting of up to 15 people and methods up to Plain Bob Maximus.

Melbourne ringers’ outing
On Saturday, May 23rd 2009, we were lounging about on the grass just below the summit of Beacon Hill in Leicestershire with a glass of wine and a bun thinking that this is exactly what they would have been doing a hundred years ago and this is pretty much the view, give or take a power station. We were re-enacting the Melbourne Bellringers’ outing of August 21st 1908 and although there were differences in transport and dress, (various milkmaids and dowagers that were authentic 19th Century, although they certainly didn’t ring tower bells in that garb), bellringers have the advantage of a hobby using bells and ropes straight out of the 1600s.

Letters
Quarter peal Analysis - Richard Offen
Fred Jackson - Michael Carding
Mobile Ringing Heritage Centre - Rt Revd Barry F. Peachey
Sixty years ago … - Richard Pargeter

The Central Council of Church Bell Ringers
Minutes of the Second Session of the 40th Council (112th Annual Meeting),
held in St Andrew’s Methodist Church, Pump Street, Worcester on Monday 25th May 2009, at 10.00 a.m.

From the E-Lists A round-up from the internet compiled by John Camp
Richard Grimmett claimed a Birmingham success – not, prematurely, in the 12-bell competition, but in reducing the number of pigeons.

P is for Peal Week by Simon Linford

Weddings
Lisa Norman and James Smith

Anne Oliver and Paul Armitage

Obituaries
Robert Martin, A. H. (Tony) Rogers

Ridgman Trophy – Rickmansworth 20th June 2009
The Ridgman Trophy is a 10-bell striking competition in honour of William J. Ridgman, past president of the C.U.G.C.R. and past General Secretary of the Ely D.A. This year’s competition was hosted by the Hertford County Association on a lovely sunny Saturday afternoon at Rickmansworth.

Thought for the week
Having now celebrated what is often called a significant birthday, I have found my mind comparing ringing today with ‘as it was in the beginning’ – my beginning at the end of a rope in the immediate postwar years.

Loughborough’s Great Paul mould to go on show in town
Plans have been drawn up to give a symbol of Loughborough’s industrial heritage pride of place in the town centre. For more than a century, the giant mould for Britain’s biggest bell, Great Paul, has gathered rust and moss in the yard of Taylors Bellfoundry in Freehold Street. Now, the Loughborough Town Centre Partnership wants to exhibit the 10ft by 12ft iron monster in the Market Place.