In May, the Guild entered a team into the Tewkesbury Shield competition. This is a National competition on 10 bells, attracting entrants from all over the country.

There were 8 teams in the competition and we were drawn to ring 3rd. We sat outside in the glorious sunshine to hear the first two teams ring before it was our turn to ring. The test piece was a whole course of Yorkshire Surprise Royal ably conducted by the Guild Ringing Master, Terry Astill.

We started with a few minutes practice and a quick pep talk before embarking on our competition ringing. The test piece went very well and we were all pleased with our performance. We had the obligatory team photograph on the external stairs at the bottom of the tower, standing in band order with the treble on the lowest step.

Then the team and supporters adjourned to the nearby Wetherspoon’s beer garden where our team mascot, Holly the dog, wasn’t made very welcome at all! Back to the Cathedral rooms (several pints later for some) for the results and we were thrilled to find out that we had come second, only being narrowly beaten by St Mary’s, Redcliffe. Our excellent result meant that we all left in good spirit, with ambition to win next time.

The next competition that the Guild will be entering is the Robert B Smith trophy which is this year being held on September 24th at St Margaret’s Leicester. Please come along to cheer the band on!

Sally Brown