It was nice to see so much ringing in the county over the jubilee week. The performances ranged from rounds and call changes to method ringing; lots of general ringing and short performances, involving ringers of all abilities; several quarter peals, including Yorkshire Royal at the Cathedral; and a few peals, including one of Platinum Jubilee Alliance major – the first peal in the method, one of Platinum Surprise Major, and one of Grandsire Caters, and the first peal at Ab Kettleby.

Here are a few photos and videos of the celebrations in Leicestershire:

Enderby, Wigston Magna, South Wigston & Aylestone

A happy group of bell ringers, from Aylestone, Barwell, Enderby, The Cathedral, Narborough, South Wigston and Wigston, gathered outside All Saints, Wigston after ringing for the Platinum Jubilee. This was the second ring for several of this band, we commenced our ringing at St John Baptist, Enderby, with Phil & Helen Staples, John Dalby and Chris Swain-Phipps. After ringing at All Saints we moved to St Thomas, South Wigston and then on to St Andrew’s, Aylestone, where we were once again joined by Phil & Helen, plus Glenn Jones. The ringing included, rounds and call changes, Grandsire, Plain Bob and Stedman. A good day was had by all with some nice ringing, for a really special lady. God Save the Queen.

Countesthorpe

On Thursday June 2nd, the bells at St Andrew’s, Countesthorpe were rung for half an hour as part of the village beacon lighting celebrations. The final tolling of 8 o’clock launching the brass group’s fanfare and the rest of the festivities.

Ratby

An extract of the peal rung at Ratby on Thursday 2nd June. 5088 Yorkshire Major. https://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/view.php?id=1518729

Harby

The village had plans for a number of events over the jubilee weekend – the opening item stating “8:45pm – The Bells will be rung”.

Having just moved to the village, and aware there is no local band, I was not sure what their plans were for the bells to be rung, however a quick chat with the vicar, and he was delighted that I had just volunteered (!) to get the bells rung for the event. He clearly had faith that something would happen in time…

There is one other (known) ringer in the village, and my wife also rings and -thankfully – Harby is only a 5 bell tower, so a call to a couple of friends completed the team.  We rang call changes for about half an hour – and in that time, the bells had called approximately 300 people to ‘The Wong’ (the field behind the church) for the lighting of the Jubilee Beacon.

The ringing has stirred quite a lot of interest within the village, and we have planned a tower open morning on 9th July to showcase what ringing is about, and to try to get some more ringers trained up, so the bells can be rung more often.  Hopefully we may start up practices soon, so watch this space!

Jonathan Dickenson – harbybells@gmail.com

Loughborough All Saints

On Sunday 5th June a peal of 5039 Grandsire Caters was rung at Loughborough All Saints. https://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/view.php?id=1522381

St Martins Cathedral, Leicester

A quarter peal of Yorkshire Royal at the Cathedral on Thursday 2nd June. https://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/view.php?id=1518542

Desford and Peckleton

Celebrations started early at Desford when we rang a quarter peal on Wednesday 1st June. On Friday 3rd June we had general ringing to coincide with the ringing before the service at St Pauls Cathedral in London. We had ringers from Desford, Ratby and Kirby Muxloe, and we rang a range of methods and finished off with call changes with Queens and Kings.

Then on Sunday 5th June ringers from Desford, Ratby and Kirby Muxloe rang a quarter peal at Peckleton.

East of Leicester

On Friday 3rd we rang at Twyford, Tugby, Allexton and Skeffington.

Sunday 5th we did sessions at Ashby Folville, Pickwell, Somerby, Burrough on the Hill and Great Dalby!

We got around!!

Cossington

On Thursday 2nd June a quarter peal was rung of 1270 Doubles in 7 methods/variations – Platinum Jubilee, Platinum Anniversary, Plain Bob, April Day, Seighford, May Day & Litchurch.

Barrow Upon Soar

On Friday 3rd June a quarter peal of Grandsire Doubles was rung at Barrow Upon Soar. This was the first Quarter by local band in many years, first Quarter for Valerie Thompson and the first Quarter in over 30 years for David Boothy.

Also in Barrow at the Flintstone Pots, another quarter was scored on 5th June. This was the most changes rung on the bells.

Thurcaston

A band of young ringers rang rounds, queens, tittums and firing at Thurcaston. They were: Dexter Deackes aged 11, Lucy Hadfield aged 15, Joe Green aged 12, Barnaby Davis aged 11, Jacob Peace aged 15, George Davis aged 13, Morgan Williams aged 16.

Long Clawson

360 Doubles was rung at Long Clawson for the Jubilee Service. They also held a “Ring a Bell for the Queen” session.

Ab Kettleby

At Ab Kettleby a peal was rung on Saturday 4th June. This was the first peal on the bells and also the first peal for James Lowe and Joseph Adcock and the first peal inside for Peter Brown.

Quorn

Melton Mowbray

Melton Mowbray rang for the jubilee on Thursday 2^nd June from 19:52 to 20:22. We rang rounds and call changes.  In addition, we fired the bells a total of 70 times.

Thurnby

Ringing before the Jubilee service at St Paul’s Cathedral on Friday 3rd June.

North West Leicestershire

On Thursday evening a beacon was lit at Packington recreation ground. Prior to that we had a village rounders tournament in which several ringers participated followed by some ringing at 21.30 to coincide with the lighting. 

On Friday 20 ringers from several towers in N.W leicestershire rang at Heather, Swepstone, Appleby Magna, Measham and Packington to coincide with the St Paul’s Service. A special mention to Colin Lord , Stuart and Mary Hale who just made it back from a trip to Italy, Stuart Cycling the entire route over 20 miles.

Then on Sunday morning the new local band rang for a special jubilee songs of praise at Packington and Service ringing at Measham. 

A busy weekend!