Saturday 28th March – Leicester St Margaret
Leicester St Margaret hosted the first competition for the Taylor Trophy in 1976 and has since been a popular venue for eliminators. Some months ago I was approached by the National 12 bell organising committee if St Margaret’s could host a 12 bell qualifier on 28th March 2026. This was confirmed in the summer with the other towers being Nottingham St Mary, Cornhill and St Mary-le-Bow.
Entries for the 2026 competition closed in November and the draw took place in early December. Beverley, Birmingham, Chilcompton, Cheltenham, Exeter, Guildford and Leicester were drawn to ring at St Margaret’s. There are strict rules to which the teams must adhere and the organising committee have decided that there are to be no practices, quarters or peals by the visiting competing bands on the bells for the qualifiers – which should give Leicester an advantage!
St Margaret’s last hosted an eliminator in 2017 and I am still awaiting an update from the committee of any changes to procedure. We are awaiting the date of the installation of the Hawkear equipment but there are instructions for competing bands on the website. I am told that there are 19 names on the Leicester entry from which the band will be chosen. The 12 bell organising committee decided that there were plenty of other Leicester ringers to help without giving other teams else an advantage.
An initial planning meeting has taken place. There will be a bar – the glasses are to be sponsored by Big Wilf’s muffles. Robert Watson will be the licensee and be needing a team of at least 10 to run the bar efficiently from 11:30 onwards until beer runs out!
The welcome and the draw are at 11am. Prior to the draw we will be serving bacon butties, veggie alternative, cake, tea, coffee and soft drinks, requiring a further at least 10 volunteers, mainly serving and lots of contributions of homemade cakes.
Lunch will be from 12 noon – more volunteers needed for serving.
We are also required to provide stewards for the bands and judges.
Ringing ends approx. 4:15pm after which the judges will make a decision and the results announced shortly after 5pm.
As with the RBS competitions held in 2022 and 2024 the stalls will be cashless – ‘money tokens’ will be available throughout the day.
28th March promises to be a busy, rewarding day with an opportunity to listen to some first class ringing. Please make a note in your diary and help keep Leicester on the map. It is an excellent opportunity to meet new ringers from far and wide. I will be pleased to receive names of volunteers as soon as possible. (email: stmargaretschurchleicester@gmail.com)
Volunteers are always better than pressed men!
Carol Franklin
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