Hi everyone.  The editor has asked me to write a short piece on Guild peals in 2025, telling me it was easier than commenting on the quarters, because there are less of them and because when they are sent up to Bellboard they always say which Guild they have been rung for.  However there are still some twists to be considered!  But first, the key facts:

24 peals were rung for the Guild in 2025 (exactly the same number as in 2024) and here they all are, not in chronological order, but by how many people ‘liked’ them on Bellboard:

If you follow this link https://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/view.php?id=1836535 you can work out for yourselves why the top one got so many likes!  I’m disappointed that the handbell peals at the bottom of the list got so few likes – only two and one of them was from me!   The very lowest ranked one was rung in memory of Barry Brown by a band of experienced handbell ringers.  It’s not fair that it’s bottom!  Maybe you could follow this link https://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/view.php?id=1839903 and give it a like!  If you want to look at the detail of any of the other peals then you can follow this link: https://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/list.php?association_id=17&year=2025&length=peal&likes and then click on the peal you are interested in.

You might have noticed that whilst I was asked to write about Guild peals, the heading says LDG and Leicestershire peals.  That’s because whilst you might expect there to be a close correlation, there isn’t.  You can see from the above table that three of the LDG peals were not rung in the county (and one not even in this country).  But the biggest discrepancy is that, in total, 88 peals were rung in Leicestershire in 2025 of which only 21 were rung for the LDG!  What’s going on?!  Who is using our bells for their own non-LDG purposes?!

Well here are the locations where the bulk of the peals in Leicestershire this year have been rung:

42 of the 43 peals at Sproxton were rung for the Lincoln Diocesan Guild…just over the border, with bands largely made up of Lincolnshire residents.  Saltby is different, with peals rung for ‘The Trent Valley Association’.  I’d never heard of this organisation, and the best that Google AI could come up with was that “The Trent Valley Association (TVA) of Church Bell Ringers is a regional ringing society primarily active in the East Midlands of England. It is often referred to as “the Friendly Club” by its members.”  Perhaps someone who knows some more about the TVA could tell us some more?

Turning to leading ringers, Terry Astill tops the charts for the Guild, followed by Lewis Benfield and Mick Angrave – the same top three as 2024, although the order has swapped around.  Well done all of you.

And a big ‘well done’ to everyone who rang in an LDG peal in 2025 – 59 of you in total – and especially to the ‘first pealers’.  The full list is here https://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/leading-ringers.php?association_id=17&association=Leicester+Diocesan+Guild&year=2025&length=peal .

By the way, the leading ringers in Leicestershire are none of the above – they are from Lincolnshire, ringing those peals at Sproxton.

Finally a quick look at the methods rung in the LDG peals – multi-method Surprise Minor (ranging from 3 methods to 7 methods) the clear favourite.

Robert Watson