Christmas Day

Christmas morning service we manage to get all 8 bell ringing for service.

Wishing everyone a HAPPY CHRISTMAS and good health and comfort in 2018.

Ringing for Crib Service

Christmas eve celebrations in the tower, with Local ringers and family, plus Owen and Martin from Dalton

NW Evening Mail Carol Service

All 8 bells ringing for NWEM Carol service, with help from Phoebe, AlanD, and Owen to boost our other ringers Jo, Sue, AlanJ, Ray, Andrew, Cameron and Jason

Quarter peal and service ringing for Choral Evensong

Pleased to announce and congratulate Cameron for his successful quarter peal on an inside bell on just the second attempt.

That is his second successful quarter peal (the first being on the treble), and his rapid progress shows promise to overtake his dad and become a much more accomplished and competent ringer. Conductor is proud father and Godfather.

It was great to welcome Dennis Ellisdon back to St James for the quarter, and Phoebe as solid as a rock on the treble.

Lancashire Association of Change Ringers St James the Great, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria Sunday, 3 December 2017 in 46 mins (12-0-24 in F) 1260 Plain Bob Minor 1 Phoebe Gibbard-Thompson 2 Clarissa J. E. Caroe 3 Cameron J Pollock 4 Dennis Ellisdon 5 Andrew Painter 6 J Andrew Pollock (C) Rung for Advent Choral Evensong First Quarter Peal on an inside bell - 3 Celebrating 60th anniversary of first lesson to ring, in the same tower - 4 Composition 540 + 720, H then (W, sW, W, sW, H) x 5> Ringing World BellBoard: https://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/view.php?id=1201299

Scouts Visit Tower

The 11th Barrow Scouts from Beaconhill came to visit the tower, and were shown handbells by Keith Newby who introduced the scouts to change ringing downstairs in the church, and were also given a tour of the tower climbing over 11 spiral steps to the old belfry to watch the bells being rung beneath their feet, and then have a go at ringing the bells themselves in the ringing room. Even some of the leader had a go, including Louise Nixon (a member of the tower) who demonstrated she could still ring after her elbow injury. Thanks to all our ringers who supported the visit and deominstrated the bells and offered such a warm welcome

Simulator Workshop - St. Annes Parish Church

A simulator workshop (see notice on LACR website) was held at St Anne's Parish Church in mid November.

This newly installed (2017) bellringing training facility was being used to explore the opportunities it offered to individuals (learners) and for training officers. There was a tangible 'buzz' of excitement and interest, and a hive of activity from several independent training sessions taking place at the same time.

The tower is quite large and had sufficient space in one corner to have a 'dumb bell' that could be rung even as all the other bells are rung. This had a set of headphones for the learner, a computer and a large computer monitor.

There was another simulator setup to practice handbells, but I wanted to focus on tower bells, so left this for another opportunity in the future

Two other bells had been tied with a very effective rope and bicycle inner-tube arrangement (see photo) with one rope loop attaching to the flight of the clapper, and the inner tube being secured over the crown staple, and the other rope loop being pulled using the stretch of the rubber inner-tube to hook over the clapper flight from the opposite side. Quick and simple to fit and remove. The new version of ABEL was being used, which has a relatively new interface with video animated ringers instead of the old circle of rope images that just flipped from being a tail end to a sally. The new animations showed a pretty fluid action which could be used for practice with ropesight. Historically I have found that ringing with ABEL was restricted to 'listening' practice, and this was great while you are roughly in the right place but was very hard to recover once you got too far out of place, and more often than not had to start again.

With the new ABEL, initially I found myself reverting to listening mode (that I was familiar with) for plain hunt, but then I started to try use the ropesight with the simulator - which began poorly because it was less familiar, but improved with practice. Before the end of the session I was using the ropesight to ring St Clements reasonably well, which is more advanced method ringing than anything else I had done using a simulator before. The new interface also has additional real-time visual clues to your performance that helps you to improve as you ring. Each animated ringer displayed on screen has a bar above them with their bell number. The slot for you works best I found if disabled the animation for my ringer (was distracting otherwise), but importantly instead of bell number at the top, it has a colour coded bar. If you ring within narrow tolerance (essentially spot on) you get complete bar in green, if ring early then just the left half of the bar is coloured in shades going from green to amber to red depending on how far out of place you are ringing early. Similarly the right hand side of the bar is coloured if you ring late in same colour coding. At the end of the practice piece, ABEL presents an overall score out of 10 (best I did was 8.8, worst about 5.2!), and allows you to review the striking to see if there is any pattern such as always slightly late on backstrokes, or handstroke gap is not enough. However the simple score out of 10 became a challenge to have another go to improve striking and get a better score... almost like a computer game with a rope instead of a Kinnect controller! If it makes me excited to have another go at my age, I can see it will have appeal for younger more competitive and computer savvy ringers. Overall the workshop was very helpful, informative, challenging, fascinating, and simply great fun! Highly recommended, and it was made clear that they are keen to offer sessions to use their simulator as a resource for any ringers For more information about ABEL please visit www.abelsim.co.uk

The simulator can also be used to allow all bells to be rung tied to have a 'silent practice' for residents and passers-by outside the church, but audible inside the ringing room using audio speakers. In this way it is possible to have extended teaching and ringing sessions for whole range of ringing from basic handling practice to full practice with rounds & calls, plain hunt, method, touches etc. without disturbing the neighbourhood and so avoid any potential complaints.

Since the workshop the Barrow simulator has been updated to the latest software, and we have successfully set up with a projector to project larger image of the animated ringers and make it even easier to develop ropesight and improve striking. If anyone would like to come along to Barrow by arrangement to have a go and try out this setup, I would be pleased to accommodate. I am sure I will be organising a simulator workshop for our branch in the near future

Branch Ringing Meeting at Barrow

The Furness & South Lakeland Branch of the LACR held their monthly meeting at St James. There was an opportunity to have a longer ringing session by using the branch simulator for and additional 45 minutes before the normal ringing session on open bells. Jeg from Millom kindly wrote a summary of the afternoon which was published in the branch newsletter:

Funeral Service ringing for Eric Pearce

We rang the Church bells before and after the funeral service for Eric Clarke Pearce who passed away peacefully at Furness General Hospital, on 23rd September, 2017. He was a gentleman, and someone who quietly got on and made things happen without any fuss and without expecting any recognition. He was an easy person to get on with, friendly and interested in you but a quiet and relatively private person himself. We were very fond of Eric and will miss him dearly, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family, and especially Brenda his beloved wife and Churchwarden at St James.

Brenda and Eric Pearce on Sunday 9th March after the re-dedication of the church bells.

Safeguarding course at Workington

Jo Sweeney and Andy Pollock drove to workington for a safeguarding course by the Carlisle diocese tailored for bellringing - particularly for those involved in teaching bellringing (but anyone who has connection/responsibility for ringing and vulnerable persons at a belltower in the diocese.

Regrettably we arrived 10 minutes late after a long drive, and were unable to gain entry into the church (locked out). The course was apparently a success, and a rerun has been promised in the South of the county sometime

Funeral Service ringing for June Parkinson

We rang the bells to remember the life of June Parkinson who passed away on 17th August at the age of 73. She had a bright and cheerful nature with a disarming smile and infectious sense of humour that brightened up the day for everyone around her. Our thoughts are with all her family and especially her devoted husband Ken who is a bellringer at St James. She always loved to hear the bells and we hope they brought some comfort today. We will all miss her but we are grateful that we had the privilege of knowing her and giving us happy memories. God bless June.

Ken & June Parkinson at tower meal in 2015

140th Anniversary Peal for the bells of St James

A peal was rung to celebrate and mark the 140th anniversary of the bells, with ringers from Barrow, Broughton, Hawkshead, Whittington, Heptonstall, and Cambridge.

Peal Details Online: Ringing World BellBoard

Branch 6-Bell Striking Competition

Barrow entered two teams into the striking competition, the A team consisting of 3 members of the tower and 3 regular visitors to the Barrow practice, ringing two plain courses of Plain Bob Minor, and the B team (dubbed the re-B-el team as not all ringers were members of the LACR through choice or not being elected yet, and so would not be eligible to be ranked) was an all Barrow tower team, and was announced as a 'scratch' team.

The A-team had an early mistake which led to further faults, and so it was called round and re-attempted. Unfortunately the false start was the undoing of our team this year, but this was partly due to a lack of practice as a team beforehand. The attempt after the false start was much better and a good standard, with notable performances by Sue managing very well on the treble and Cameron similarly accomplished on the 3rd. Roll-on 2018 when we can show what we are capable of, with even more progress over the next 12 months.

The B-Team had Jo on treble, Sue on 2nd, Jason and Cameron on the 3rd and 4th respectively, Andy Pollock on the 5th, and Ken on tenor. Ringing rounds and call changes, congratulations to all the team for ringing exceptionally well, and special recognition to Jason who had not even led before the evening and managed one brief practice before the main piece where he coped admirably.

It is very clear that we have made real progress together over the last 2 years since the restoration of the bells. Well done all!

Wedding Ringing

All 8 bells at St James were rung for the marriage of Adam Ritch and Anya Graham.

BBC MUSIC DAY 2017

Call was sent out to take part in BBC Music Day by central council (CCCBR) and passed on by association...
"BBC Music Day is returning for its third year on Thursday 15 June 2017, celebrating music’s ability to unite communities across generations, and this year bell-ringers have been asked to play an even bigger role."

We set up for a cross-generational band for a quarter peal with range of ages covering over 55 years between youngest and oldest. There were ringers in teenage years, 20's, 50's, 60's and 70's.

The ringing was extremely good, and our youngest ringer was attempting first quarter peal on a working 'inside' method bell for plain bob minor. Unfortunately, as we were about to begin the final course, having rung for almost 45 minutes with barely a hesitation or mistake, there was a mix up and within a further lead where the next to last call was to be called, we had lost the quarter with just a few minutes ringing remaining.

This was a great shame as the everyone's ringing deserved to get the quarter peal, but there will always be another opportunity to try... we will have to arrange the next attempt soon.

At least the people of Hindpool and within earshot of the church were treated to some fine ringing, including Adam Ritch and Anya Graham who were having their rehearsal for their wedding at the weekend.

MEANDYRING #8: Hawkshead - Langdale (Chapel Stile)

The branch monthly meeting was scheduled for Holy Trinity church in Chapel Stile in Langdale so we arranged to meet up at Hawkshead for an early ring and see whether the weather would allow us to go for a walk in-between. Below is a brief account and a reduced selection of thumbnail phots from the day... more can be seen in the Google photo album, and also in Jo Sweeney's photo blog.

The weather does not look very promising, but we meet up at 9am at Hawkshead. Clarissa joined us earlier than she originally expected

Torrential rain in Hawkshead wet road, grammar school and church	List of special 'musical' call change. John Gummer describes Hawkshead call changes... the 'big bang' of call changes. We give it a go, with varying success, but good fun.	Clarissa perches on stair banister ready to guide Ken while he covers on the tenor
Group photo in the ringing room in Hawkshead Linda (Ulverston), Jo, Andy, Sue, Clarissa, and Ken... John Gunner (Hawkshead) behind the lens.

Too wet to walk... plan B springs into action - Jo Sweeney's cake radar works a treat!	Church Beck is running fast beside the Ruskin Museum in Coniston
Example of meticulous recording and artwork by Ruskin displayed in the museum in Coniston	Three of Ruskin's own handbells!
Holy Trinity church in Chapel Stile, Langdale	Jo and Sue - Barrow pixies keeping out of mischief.
Jeg Gray recovers the clapper from the tenor that sheared at top of its shank during ringing and fell onto floor of belfry	The bells in the belfry at Holy Trinity church in Chapel Stile, Langdale

Wedding Ringing

All 8 bells at St James were rung for the marriage of Melanie Graham and Darren Reid.

MEANDYRING #7: Orton - PendragonCastle - KirkbyStephen

The branch monthly meeting was scheduled for Kirkby Stephen so we siezed the opportunity to visit Orton and go for a gentle potter along the River Eden beforehand. Below is a brief account and a reduced selection of thumbnail phots from the day... more can be seen on Flickr photostream, and also in Jo Sweeney's photo blog.

A great start to the day - worth the early start to get to Orton before 9am - after browsing the farmers market and succumbing to temptation to buy fresh sourdough bread, ginger sticky toffee pudding and tiramisu cheescake (pity there was no cheese stall), Andy Pollock & sons, Jo Sweeney, and Sue Fryer visited kennedy's fine chocolates (expensive but worth savouring) and enjoyed a large hot chocolate in the shop café

Hot chocolate (not the group) at Orton - Kennedy's Fine Chocolates cafe - Sue, Cameron & Jason

Jason, Cameron, Jo, Sue, (Andy takes photo) arrive first for open ringing at All Saints church in Orton. Lovely musical ring of 8, and easy to ring.	View of Mallerstang Edge in background, with Pendragon Castle behind us now as we set off on walk along the River Eden.	Close-up zoom of Pendragon Castle
Hamlet at Shoregill	Sue and Jo wander down a green lane	Mallerstang Church at Outhgill, rebuilt through the benevolance of Lady Anne Clifford in 1663
Jo goes for the coffee and walnut cake... and has eaten half before I get my camera out!	Cameron and Jason about to tuck into warm chocolate orange cake with cream! ... yum!	The rather grand parish church at Kirkby Stephen has another glass fronted mezzanine ringing room.
Jo Sweeney covering to Grandsire Triples... despite her T shirt she did not go wrong or improvise!	Our merry band of ringers lined up in height order...almost! Andy Pollock, Sue Fryer, Cameron & Jason Pollock, Jo Sweeney.	Bluebells in Kirkby Stephen churchyard

Tower Training Day and Meal

A sandwich course! Two sessions of ringing training for our learners (including visitors) sandwiched a very enjoyable and relaxed meal at the King Alfred on Walney Island.

The first session was rung on the 6 bell branch simulator, the first time it had been used for a full silent practice (normally just used for individual bell-handling tuition before practice night). The simulator worked exceptionally well and allowed us to have more ringing in the day with less disturbance for the local residents surrounding the church. The bell handling and sound for the learners is a satisfactory compromise, but it would be important to finish off the day without the simulator (the bells rung open) to ring the bells for real.

Back Row: Ken Parkinson, Cameron Pollock, Ian Taylor, Alan Jones, Alan Dewar, Keith & Anne Hackney
Front Row (standing mostly): Clarissa Caroe, Andy Pollock, Beryl Jefferson; Front Row (kneeling): Jo Sweeney, Andrew Smith.

Each learner had at least one target to work on learning, and each learner took turns to try their learning objective with the support of the helpers, including our own experienced ringers Clarissa and Andy, and fantastic support from Ian Taylor and Alan Dewar (ringers at Ulverston), and Keith and Anne Hackney (ring all over the branch!). Good progress was made but the afternoon session promised to consolidate and make further prohgress.

Lunch was an integral part of the day (no surprise to anyone who knows Andy!) and having chopped and changed venue a few times we eventually stuck with Jo Sweene's suggestion of the King Alfred. A large round table could accommodate everyone who stayed on for lunch, and Andrew Smith eventually found his way to join us. The food was yummy, and plenty of it

Beryl, Keith, Anne, Jo

Jo, AlanJ, AlanD, and Cameron

It was just as well we had an extended period to eat and digest lunch without rushing.... I don't think I could have moved after my burger...

We were joined by Owen Osmotherley and Jacqueline Preston for the afternoon session, and with their help we completed a very successful day.

Thanks to everyone! for sacrificing time to help and support the learning on the day, and the learners from Barrow and Ulverston for working hard and striving to make progress. Good progress was made, and a lot of fun was had along the way. A thoroughly enjoyable day, and one that will strengthen the ringing in the area.

St George's day - quarter peal

The back 6 bells at St James were rung for a quarter peal (well over 1000 changes) to celebrate St George's day and 'Ringing for England'. The quarter peal took about 49 minutes to ring and was Camerons first ever quarter peal, and he rang the treble impeccably. Congratulations Cameron - an achievement very well done!

Lancashire Association of Change Ringers St James the Great, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria Sunday, 23 April 2017 in 49 mins (12-0-24) 1260 Plain Bob Minor 1 Cameron Pollock 2 Clarissa J. E. Caroe 3 Ann S Thompson 4 Anne Hackney 5 Keith Hackney 6 J Andrew Pollock (C) First Quarter Peal - 1 For St George's day and "Ringing for England" celebration. Composition 540 + 720, H then (W, sW, W, sW, H) x 5> Ringing World BellBoard: https://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/view.php?id=1170017

Quarter Peal band for St George's day: Keith(5), Anne(4), Clarissa(2), Ann(3), Cameron(1), Andy(6)

Pancakes and Praise!

All 8 bells were rung for the special 'Believe in Barrow' service welcoming, participating and sharing with people from all across Barrow including Anglican, Methodist, Salvation Army etc. The service ended with over 200 pancakes and lots ofg different toppings.

CDGCBR Training Day

Four intrepid adventurers from Barrow set off early for a day of ringing in Carlisle Diocesan Guild as part of their training day, driving over a frosty and slippy Corney Fell to meet at Hensingham at 9.30am to register, and elect new members (5 ringers from Barrow were duly elected to join two existing members from our tower), and then work out transport and set off to respective towers.

Iwan was a learner in the learning ropesight group in which Andy was a helper. Clarissa helped in one of the two groups dedicated to new ringers gaining experience of changing place - concentrating on speed, bell control and striking. Cameron was in the more advanced group looking at first methods and touches of these methods.

Morning and afternoon sessions gave plenty of opportunity to try out and consolidate what what was learnt. There was just enough helpers for the helpers to grab a break occasionally, but Clarissa and Andy rang almost every ring (and were tired but satisfied they had contributed to the success of the day).

St James, Whitehaven

Stained Glass Window

St John, Hensingham

Cameron practiced touches of plain bob doubles (which his first attempt was only at practice the wednesday before the training course) at Cleator Moor, and Arlecdon. At Whitehaven and Hensingham, Iwan trebled to various methods (including touches to mix up the order he passed the bells) including Plain Bob, Grandsire, St Simons and St Clements.

Lunch was pre-booked at nearly pubs, and was an opportunity to have a rest and enjoy good food and company.

All the ringers - tutors, helpers and students seemed to have a good time, and everyone finished the day with the rewarding feeling that real progress had been made!

Group 2 end of day photo at Hensingham

Barrow welcomed a group of bell-ringers on a ringing tour of Furness and South Lakeland (Barrow, Broughton, Dalton, Ulverston and Flookburgh). Unfortunately the weather was dismal with fine misty rain and a chilly breeze, but the bells would hopefully make up for the conditions outside.

About 8 ringers arrived early and were ushered inside out of the rain, followed about five minutes later by a further group armed with hot drinks and cakes for breakfast! A good plan I thought.

They patiently waited for the chimes to strike 9am and then rang the bells up nicely in peal.

Ringing included rounds, Stedman, and Pudsey plus others, and they were clearly enjoying themselves. Some took advantage of the opportunity to climb further up the tower to the old belfry to see and hear the bells ringing below their feet!

Photograph courtesy of Helen Rubery

After 45 minutes ringing the group prepared to set off to Broughton by catching the next train to Foxfield. As they departed, some of the ringers recalled the difficult and average sounding bells from before the restoration, and commented on how good the bells sounded now, and what a good job had been done with the tuning of the bells. We were espescially pleased to know they enjoyed the bells.

Tenor tolls for Holocaust Memorial Day

A single bell was rung half-muffled from 7pm for approx. 18 minutes on the 72nd anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz death camp. Setting the tenor bell very briefly on each stroke meant the toll was slow and a poingnant reminder to all those in earshot of the church that we must not forget this and other genocides.

Holocaust Memorial Day aims to ensure we do not forget all the victims and people affected by genocides such as the Holocaust and Nazi Persecution, Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur and to ensure we continue to learn the lessons from the past to create a safer, and better future.

The church was also open until 7.30pm for anyone from the local or wider community to come and say a private prayer or sit in quiet contemplation.

HLF Stakeholder Meeting

Andy Pollock attended a stakeholder meeting chaired by Heritage Lottery Fund development officer Maya Sharma with the new head of region Nathan Lee, kindly hosted by Signal Films at their offices in Cookes Studios on Abbey Road.

It was a very interesting meeting with lots of very enthusiastic representatives of different historic and natural heritage sites and resources. There were lots of constructive discussions about what there was to offer and how we could try and spread the word to local residents and visitors.

Later in the day Maya Sharma was able to visit the tower to see the magnificent results of the HLF funded project to restore the bells. She managed to reach the ringing room with the aid of the handrail but declined a visit to see the bells close up from old or new belfry. She learned about the bells, the restoration, how we ring the bells, and even had a go herself. Heritage and traditional skills in a modern context!

Maya Sharma (HLF development officer) meets the bellringers, learns about the restoration project and tries her hand at ringing!

MEANDYRING #6 - Hampsfell walk for Cartmel branch ringing meeting

There was no early ring organised, but when the weather looked promising, a walk was arranged to coincide with the branch ringing meeting at Cartmel. Eight people - ringers and family went for a gentle and short walk up Hampsfell, a hill behind Grange-over-Sands with great views over Cartmel and to the Lakeland fells.

View NE toward the Howgill fells	View from Hampsfell summit limestone pavement to Coniston fells
Heading for the 'hospice' at the summit of Hampsfell	Using gadget on top of hospice to line up fells and landmarks based on their bearing
Click here for history and facts about Hampsfell Hospice
Ringers on top of Hampsfell Hospice	Inside Hampsfell Hospice
Group photo at summit with Lakeland fells in background	Coniston and Langdale fells with Field broughton village in foreground
Iwan prepares and jumps over puddle
Cartmel Priory nestled in the valley below waiting for us to finish the walk and visit to ring the bells	Heading back down, with view over bay and Heysham power station.
Silhouette of Jason by cairn near end of walk	Iwan pleased to be taller than everyone else / Ringer access through medieval walls of priory.
Looking back from Carmel priory ramparts to Hampsfell	Access to the ringing chamber takes us all along the transept roof
Belfry is rotated 45 degrees from ringing room	Ringing the 6 bells - Iwan trebles to touch of Grandsire doubles inside the characterful Cartmel Priory ringing room
Click here for Jo Sweeney's "Bellringers' Walk up Hampsfell" photo-blog

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