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Outing 2002, Essex
So� a 7am departure time from Battle church. All were picked up, either en-route by Chauffeur Big T or at the church, on time. Eve and Dafney made a point of noticing the promptness of their collection from the A21 too.Fourteen on us, including Elizabeth, took hold in the recently acquired mini bus from Uckfield (ish - collected and dropped off by Alan and Paul).
The trip to Essex went without problem and, as usual, there was an amount of pointless chit-chat, back-seat driving and winging. Dafney had started early, dipping into her flask of Gin almost the instant she got on the bus - that's her excuse anyway, I'm sure it was only water in there�
Unusually, we arrived at the first tower - St Mary the Virgin, Kelvedon - 20 minutes early. The nearby railway line gave SimonL something to get excited by, on behalf of Stuart, our train expert, while others went to fetch breakfast.
We were all waiting for a man to come and show us the bells, but a man on a bicycle unlocked the church door, and someone clever found the ground floor ring anyway. These bells proved to be a bit of a challenge. I certainly struggled with the bells of the 21Cwt light set, long draughed 6, and many others did too. We did, however, manage rounds quite reasonably. We left the bells, content that we finally had something to moan about (since we were so far unable to moan about Paul's navigating and time-keeping). I'm sure they'd have been fine, had we had a chance to practice on them�
At the second tower - St Peter ad Vincula, Coggeshall - which we also arrived early to, there was a flower festival and lots of old people had baked cakes. Marian appeared to have a soft spot for cakes and payed up for a Victoria Sponge with Apricot jam, whilst Angela fell for the flapjacks. SimonH managed to leave poochie with strangers at the door, while Marian, Angela and Mark took shifts with Elizabeth.
The church has a rather tall, tightly winding, open iron staircase to the ringing chamber, where we were graced with the 24.25Cwt 10. There is quite a large ringing room, with the 5 precariously placed at the top of the stairs. These bells are 'wonderful' and there were a number of comments requesting them to be taken home. Although an attempt to ring Grandsire Caters failed, they rang really well and sounded truly superior. The only complaint was about the tenor sally, which was, apparently, kinky at the top.
The last tower before lunch - St Michael the Archangel, Braintree - was an 11Cwt ring of 10. They have a strange arrangement of almost vertical steps and 'proper' church stairs. The bells ring very tin-y and sound horrible1. I understand that the original ring of 6 had 4 smaller bells added, 2 in 1900 and 2 in the 70s. On finding that the back 8 sounded bearable, a local Battle band (with a spare) was mustered to ring a touch of Stedman Triples, which sounded pretty good.
Mmmm, the pub - The Retreat, Bocking. Again, we were very prompt. They had laid on a special cheapy menu for us, and all food was cooked from scratch. Unfortunately, this meant service was unusually slow and our plenty-of-time hour and a half turned into a mad-munch-and-run. The usual tone of conversation was attained when Stephen offered to chew on Alan's sausage. We then left Dafney to finish her lunch on her own-some and crossed the road to the next church.
St Mary's, Bocking - let us ring for a wedding, which I though was very brave. We were shown in and taken up the spiral staircase, where the belfry had a glass-based wall with a balcony and a view over the rest of the church. The bells were a reasonable ring of an 18.25Cwt 10. In the churchyard, SimonL managed to have his photo taken by a pro and Ray (finally) made his obnoxious, rude comment of the day (something rather loud about wide-angled lenses, not quite to the boys' usual standard). The bride was also heard to ask the vicar "Is he here yet?"....
All Saints, Rayne - a light 6 at 6.5Cwt. On arrival, we were chased into a farm by a local, who had come to tell us that we had missed the turning, which we knew, and that we should turn around, which we also knew - very helpful though. A church of character, with an entrance to the few steps to the belfry designed specifically for tiny people, and a toilet money box located behind the door. Stuart took a fancy to these well-hung, good sounding bells and we rang a touch of Cambridge Minor, to prove that we can.
The final peal - St Mary and St Lawrence, Great Waltham - another ground floor had 'nice' sounding, 22.5Cwt bells, but some maintenance is required� Stephen and Alan managed to ring the 4 on their knees and little Simon and Marian also experienced catching above the sally on the other bells. Eve was found to still be swinging on the deep-set 5 while the other 7 were going to attempt Stedman Triples.
The bus was a little quieter for the return trip - we were all exhausted, some were even trusting enough to catch a few winks.
We arrived at ALL the churches early and there were no lockouts. Ray didn't manage to break anything - better luck next time, Ray�
I'm really speaking for myself, but we are all appreciative of the organisation and great efforts by Paul - in acquiring a mini-bus, navigating and achieving a smoothly run, enjoyable and varied outing. He's very welcome to do it next year too :-) Thanks Paul.
Thanks also to Alan, who, just as tired as the rest of us, drove us around all day. Thanks Al.
Jo.
25 August 2002
1In my humble opinion.
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