It is beginning to become a tradition for the second year running the band I ring with have gone on tour to nearby towers on St George’s Day (23^rd April). Last year we ventured into Rutland but this year we went into LDG Syston and Harborough districts.

Well not quite we did a short 15 minute ring in Twyford (a lovely 6) before heading off to Tilton-on-The-Hill. We were joined by some other ringers from outside the band to add some gravitas Garry & Sue Mason and Sally Brown. Some of our 16 ringers went to Tilton first rather than have a very short ring at Twyford.

Tilton, a 6 bell tower, has recently been refurbish with the frame replaced and the bells tuned. Outside the tower the musicality of the sound is excellent and louder. Inside the tower unfortunately it is deafeningly loud, but work is underway to fix this. A very enjoyable time was had by all.

Each tower was booked for an hour’s ring without any travel time gaps. A few ringers left early to ring up and have a ring at the next tower while those staying behind rang some more and rung down before travelling.

After Tilton we went to Billesdon an 8 bell tower with a challenging ring. The front 3 or 4 ropes are very closely spaced. Excellent bell handling required otherwise might start ringing an adjacent rope instead of yours.

Next stop was Houghton, which your scribe found great difficulty with the local pronouncing its name sounds something like “Hoe-ton”. A really nice tower to ring in with 6 bells. However parking in the street is not easy so a few of us parked in our lunch venue’s car park and walked to the tower. The excellent lunch was at The Old Black Horse pub.

After lunch we departed down the road to Kings Norton 8 bells with the heaviest tenor of the tour at 18cwt. It is a delightful church in a very rural setting with an interesting internal architecture well worth a visit. At this church the current LDG President, Peter Brown and his wife Annette Tudor-Brown were married about 37 years ago !

Our final tower was Gaulby and a very nice 6. We had a great tour and I am at least looking forward to making St George’s Day tour a tradition by organising another next year. The key question being which towers and which lunch venue.

David Wicks of Pickwell