First Quarter Congrats

From l to r: Derek Wilsden, Kathryn Tucker, Cathy Brown, Charley Heilker, Alice Heilker and Mark Phillips.

Congratulations to Alice Heilker on her first quarter peal ever! She admitted she felt very jittery at the beginning, though none of us detected any hint of nervousness. Alice has worked very hard on her striking and it showed during this quarter. May it be the first of many! Details of the quarter peal are listed below:

MARIETTA, Georgia
29 December 2007
St. James Church
1260 Mixed Doubles (Stedman, Grandsire and Plain Bob)
1 Catherine P. Brown
2. Kathryn E. Tucker
3. Charley Heilker
4. Mark Phillips
5. Derek J. Wilsden
6. Alice Heilker
First quarter - 6. First multiple methods quarter - 4. Rung for the wedding of parishioners Heidi Cash and John Setchel.

"Happy Clapper"

St. James is now once again an 8-bell tower. Our own intrepid Derek Wilsden finally received the part needed to fix the #3 bell, and did all the necessary work to bring St. James back to normal, even-numbered bell glory!
Many thanks to Derek, Mary Platt and Cathy Brown for calling changes and conducting methods under "odd" circumstances. And thank you to all the ringers who steadfastly endeavored to ignore bell #3 while ringing!

St. James Bells on the Radio

The bells of St. James are featured in a 30-second spot on Atlanta's public radio station, WABE. When the producer of the show, David Barasoain, asked Kathryn Tucker why the bells were rung at Christmastime (and this was back in October!), she did her best to give a concise explanation. Another spot featuring St. James will air in February.
Copy and paste the following link into your browser and listen to the spot: http://www.pba.org/programming/programs/atlantasounds/1606/
Then find the "listen here" link on the "St. James in Marietta" paragraph on the page.

Practice continues at St. James

Though it will probably be weeks until the #3 bell will be back in service, practices and service ringing will continue at St. James. As we found out at our most recent practice, it is a challenge to ring methods without this bell, but not impossible. We hope that all North Georgia ringers (and any visitors who might come along!) will continue to support the ringing at St. James.

Derek Wilsden's expalanation for the incident: "The clapper was ejected downward on to wood and suffered no damage (the only bell that does not have concrete under it!). The problem was not the usual loss of the crown staple pin in this type event, but a surprising failure of the welding of one of the side lugs of the staple and then a fatigue failure of the ‘pin’ - which is a 5/8-nch bolt. We are in contact with Taylor, Eayre and Smith for repair options."

Cumberland Peal Band

On Tuesday, 27 November, three members of the Society of Royal Cumberland Youths from St. James' successfully rang a peal of Lincolnshire Surprise Major, along with five SRCY members from the UK. This was especially exciting for Cathy Brown, who had never rung Lincolnshire and also for Kathryn Tucker, who had rung one plain course over a year ago! But with six other very steady ringers (Derek Wilsden rang the treble), we managed to pull it off. We missed Mary Platt, another Cumberland - alas, she was a good girl and did not call in sick to work. Lyn Barnett, the eighth Cumberland in the North Georgia area (Matt Brown, Emily Heilker and the always-missed Bill Bresler are also a members of SRCY), rang a peal of Bob Royal down at St. Luke's later that afternoon. Congratulations to all!

Peal band (l to r): Kath Baldwin, Ian Campbell, Simon Davies, Alan Regin, Kathryn Tucker, Derek Wilsden and Roger Baldwin (conductor). Missing is Cathy Brown, who had to scoot right after the peal.

The Heifer Bowl Returns to North Georgia

NAGCR Striking Competition 2007,
Church of the Good Shepherd, Augusta, GA

First Place for the Six Bell competition went to a combined team of St. Lukes and St. James ringers, conducted by Lyn Barnett. Cathy Brown, Mary Platt, Kathryn Tucker, Lyn Barnett, Derek Wilsden, Judith Smith.

First Place in the Eight Bell competition went to a combined team of ringers from Philadelphia, Brewster, St. Lukes and St. James.
Beverly Faber, Eileen Butler, Charley Heilker, Ron Edge, Bruce Butler, Chris Haller, Sally Karkula, Lyn Barnett.



The winning Call Change band included Bruce and Eileen Butler (Philadelphia), Chris Haller (Rochester), Sudie Lea O'Connor (Augusta), Helen Haller (Rochester), and North Georgia ringer Alice Heilker.


Thank you Sudie Lea and all the Augusta ringers for your hospitality and wonderful bells!

Happy 7th Anniversary to St. Luke's Bells!

North American Guild
Atlanta, Georgia
St. Luke
Sunday, 21 October 2007 in 0h42m (13-1-14)
1320 Plain Bob Doubles
1 Tommy Lazenby
2 Kathryn Tucker
3 Lyn Barnett
4 Sawyer Gosnell
5 Bill Buckner (C)
6 Judith Smith

For Evensong for the Feast of St. Luke and in celebration of the 7th anniversary of the dedication of the bells.

Atlanta Sounds records St. James Bells

Atlanta Sounds from Public Broadcasting visited St. James practice Monday evening, Oct. 22, to take an audio snapshot of change ringing.
Check their website at Atlanta Sounds for details and schedule of when it will be broadcast on WABE.

Change Ringing at St. Lukes, Atlanta, and St. James, Marietta, Georgia

St. James, Marietta, and St. Lukes, Atlanta, 18.5 miles apart and linked by Interstate 75, share the unique privilege to each house an installation of change ringing bells.

• St. James, Marietta, GA 8, 5-1-2

• St. Lukes, Atlanta, GA 10, 13-1-14

The ringers at each tower, collectively known as the North Georgia Ringers, are dedicated to the "Exercise" ......