Cambridge Minor Quarter Successful!

A successful QP of Cambridge surprise minor was rung at St. James on Tuesday, October 28, with British visitor Jeremy Warren conducting. Cathy was spot on at treble; Lyn rang the #5 and Jeremy the #6. Kathryn, Charley and Derek also rang in on the 2, 3, and 4 -- not sure of the order. See the StJ QP book for details!

St. Luke's Celebrates 8th Anniversary of Tower Bells

North American Guild
Atlanta, Georgia
St. Luke
Sunday, 19 October 2008 (13 cwt)
1260 Plain Bob Triples
1 Tommy Lazenby
2 Kathryn E. Tucker
3 Lyn A. Barnett
4 Charley Heilker
5 Sawyer Gosnell
6 Bill Buckner
7 Derek J. Wilsden (C)
8 Judith Smith
In celebration of St. Luke's Day and to mark the 8th anniversary of the dedication of the tower and bells.

Top 10 Reasons I Loved the AGM in Miami

The ubiquitous "pink flamingo sunglasses" worn by (l to r) Sudie Lea O'Connor, Beverly Faber, Peter Trotman and Mary Platt.

10) Tropical weather (i.e. rain!)
9) Eating paella at the Botanical Gardens and getting acquainted with folks I'd seen but never really talked to.
8) Bell-themed Evensong service.
7) Seeing a well-behaved Shih-Tzu sitting in the pew behind me at the Friday Evensong service; he brought along his two human companions, also!
6) Standing on the 40th floor balcony of the Treleaven home, eating Cuban food and listening to a beautiful touch of Bob Major on handbells.
5) Getting a tour of South Beach, courtesy of Bill Buckner, and marveling at the "Hollywood film set" ambiance of it all.
4) Sitting outdoors, enjoying warm evening breezes, at Nemo restaurant in South Beach, eating great food with great friends.
3) Appreciating the incredibly hospitable Miami ringers, who always had a smile, no matter what was thrown at them.
2) Attending a reasonably short, well-run AGM meeting (thank you, Lyn Barnett), followed by an excellent AGM banquet with (guess what!) delicious food.

.....and the #1 reason I loved the Miami AGM

1) TONS of ringing time!!!

As an aside, there is one final reason I loved the AGM in Miami: hearing about next year's AGM in New York City. Look for the promotional buttons on the cork board in the St. James ringing room.

Mountain Ringing Weekend - Hendersonville!!

Kathryn Tucker, Joy Franklin, Derek Wilsden, Don Johnes,

Sally Cook and Bill Buckner celebrate Joy's first quarter peal rung inside.

Congratulations, Joy!

The Atlanta and Marietta ringers joined forces with the Hendersonville, NC ringers for a weekend (15-17 August 2008) of ringing and social fun, including training and quarter peal attempts.

Hendersonville, NC

St. James

Sunday, 17 August 2008

1260 Plain Bob Doubles

1. Sally Cook

2. Joy Franklin

3. Derek Wilsden (c)

4. Kathryn Tucker

5. Bill Buckner

6. Don Johnes

First quarter peal inside: 2

Rung in honor of the 30th anniversary of the installation of the bells.

See also http://www.nagcr.org/news.html

Quarter peal in memoriam

Before regular Monday night practice on August 11, six ringers gathered to ring a quarter peal in memory of Mark Phillips' father, who died recently. Thanks go to Sally Karkula for organizing the quarter and making sure that everyone showed up on time! Also, thanks to Diane Campion not only for stepping in as a replacement for Mary Platt, who was injured in a running accident, but for providing the photo above.
As ringers, we do what we do for the pure love of the ringing, for the intellectual challenge and to provide a service to our church. But the other aspect of ringing is the sense of community and closeness we have as a group, and the knowledge that, in the end, we always "have each other's backs", as those goofy kids say today!

Marietta, GA
St. James' Church
Monday, Aug. 11, 2008
1260 PB Doubles in 39 minutes

1. Sally Karkula
2. Kathryn E Tucker (c)
3. Diane K Campion
4. Derek J Wilsden
5. Charley Heilker
6. Alice Gough Heilker

Rung in memory of Major William Marcus Phillips Jr. , USAF (Ret.), father of Mark Phillips, a fellow ringer.

First As Conductor -- Cathy Brown

Celebrating the birth of granddaughter for Mary Platt

Marietta, GA
St James
Monday 21 July 2008

1260 Plain Bob Triples

1 Judith Smith
2 Matthew Brown
3 Mary Platt
4 Kathryn E Tucker
5 Charley Heilker
6 Derek Wilsden
7 Catherine P Brown ( C )
8 Alice Gough Heilker

In honor of the birth of Sydney Rahne Tallent, granddaughter of 3 on July 13, 2008; 9lbs, 6oz, 21in!

First quarter as conductor.

Congratulations to Cathy Brown, adding another to North Georgia’s growing pool of conductors.

Lots to Celebrate on the Fourth of July!

Congratulations Susan and Charley

Friday, 4 July, 2008, St James
1260 Doubles (2m.)
(780 Grandsire, 480 Plain Bob)

1 Susan A. Lagrone
2 Mary Platt
3 Derek Wilsden ( C )
4 Lyn Barnett
5 Charley Heilker
6 Alice Heilker

For America’s 232^nd Independence Day Anniversary.
Also in celebration of the 56th birthday of 5.
First quarter not as cover, 1.

FOLLOWED UP by a delightful and delicious pot luck at Cathy and Chris Brown's home, with Chris at the grill. Then on to the Famous Marietta Fireworks on the Square (for those who did not get up at 4:30 am to run the Peachtree Road Race).

Marietta Change Ringing Bells Featured on WABE

Local NPR affiliate, WABE in Atlanta (90.1), is again featuring the St. James change ringing bells and the interview with Kathryn Tucker on "Atlanta Sounds". This feature has been broadcast off and on for several months and is providing great publicity for and public awareness of change ringing in our area. Kudos to all who made the interview happen!

If you have missed it on the radio, listen to it here:

http://www.pba.org/programming/programs/atlantasounds/1719/

The Heilker Family Trio

Congratulations to Alice upon ringing her first Quarter away from cover, the first for the Heilker family as a threesome in the same Quarter, and Best Wishes to Emily as she embarks upon studies in Europe next month. It served also as between-morning Eucharists service-ringing.

MARIETTA

St James’ Church

Sunday, 24 May, 2008

1260 Plain Bob Doubles, in 38 minutes

1. Alice Gough Heilker
2. Derek Wilsden (C)
3. Charley Heilker
4. Emily Heilker
5. Valdeane Brown
6. Mary Platt

First away from cover: 1. First as cover (!) 6.

Best Wishes to 4 on her 21^st Birthday and as she leaves for a year of studies in Europe.

St. Luke's Ringers Host Tomorrow's Learners

St. Luke's Guild of Change Ringers is always on the lookout for ways to introduce ourselves to the parish. One way to do this is to invite the Sunday School classes -- from kindergarten to 4th grade -- to visit the tower. Through April and into May, each class will get its turn to climb up to the bells and have a go at chiming or ringing a bell during the Sunday School hour.

This last Sunday, April 5th, was the first of the Sunday School classes, the 2nd and 3rd graders. Unlike many adults, most of the kids know no fear, so for an hour the tower is filled with eagerness and enthusiasm to see and try everything. Our spiral staircase leading up to the dead room and belfry is an adventure in itself for most kids this age. Sawyer Gosnell, our steeplekeeper, has become quite expert at managing 6 or 7 kids at once standing next to the bell frame to see all the bells hanging in the frame, watching one of the larger bells turn over several times, and fielding hundreds of questions.

Paper and crayons are available for drawing pictures of the experience. The pictures, many of them very interesting and quite dramatic, are displayed in the tower stairwell. Bell shaped cookies, of course, top off the visit.

In addition to entertaining and educating our St. Luke's kids about our bells, their visits are also providing us with chances to audition kids for the “children’s chiming band” we are developing to involve younger parishioners in service ringing as well as to introduce them to change ringing. It is our hope that this generation will grow up thinking of tower bells as a regular part of church -- a place they can look forward to being a part of!

Judith Smith

St. James Guild of Change Ringers AGM

Diana Witt, Jan Wilsden, Alice Heilker and Sally Karkula smile for the camera!

On Sunday, March 16th, members of the St. James Guild of Change Ringers met at Mary Platt's home for dinner and the annual Guild meeting. The meeting began at about 6:30 pm, was interrupted by the serving of the feast, then re-commenced after all had eaten their fill. Mary made a wonderful corned beef and cabbage main dish (an early St. Paddy's day offering), which was complemented by delicious side dishes brought by other Guild members.

The following slate of officers were elected for the year 2008-2009:

Ringing Master - Derek Wilsden
Tower Captain - Kathryn Tucker
Secretary - Diana Witt
Treasurer - Chris Brown

Thanks go to Mary Platt for opening up her lovely condo to us, and to all who contributed food, ideas and excellent companionship.

Cumberland Peal at St. James'

Thanks to the help of Roger and Kath Baldwin, four North Georgia members of the Society of Royal Cumberland Youths were able to score a peal of 5 minor methods. We very much appreciate our friends from overseas and look forward to their next visit, whenever it may be!

Society of Royal Cumberland Youths
MARIETTA, GA
St JAMES CHURCH
Monday, March 3, 2008 2h28 (5)
5040 Minor (5m: 1 extent each of
Norwich S, Cambridge S, Kent TB,
St Clements CB; 3 extents Plain B)
1 S Kathleen M Baldwin
2 Catherine P Brown
3 Kathryn E Tucker
4 Lyn Barnett
5 Derek J Wilsden
6 Roger Baldwin (C)
Most Minor methods 2,3,4,5.

More Firsts from Charleston

Congratulations to Derek Wilsden on conducting his first QP of Major during Ring Around Charleston!

Charleston, South Carolina
Cathedral of St Luke and St Paul
Saturday, 23 February 2008
1280 Plain Bob Major
1 Derek Wilsden (C)
2 Kris Fowler
3 Scott Stricker
4 Eric Jacobson
5 Tom Miller
6 Roger Baldwin
7 Bill Buckner
8 David Porter

Details of the 3 QPs conducted by Bill Buckner, Lyn Barnett and Kathryn Tucker:
(Photos to follow, hopefully!)

Charleston, South Carolina
St Michael
Sunday, 24 February 2008
1260 Plain Bob Doubles
1 Nick Winters
2 Scott Stricker
3 Tom Miller
4 Roger Baldwin
5 Bill Buckner (C)
6 Noah Smith

Charleston, South Carolina
Grace Church
Friday, 22 February 2008
1320 Plain Bob Doubles
1 Rosalie Crouch
2 Alan Regin
3 Lyn Barnett (C)
4 Roger Baldwin
5 Bill Buckner
6 Roy Smith
First as conductor, 3; first quarter, 6.

Charleston, South Carolina
Grace Church
Friday, 22 February 2008
1260 Plain Bob Doubles
1 Yvonne Cairns
2 Kathryn Tucker (C)
3 Eileen Joy Butler
4 Bruce Butler
5 Ron Warford
6 Doug McCoy
First as conductor: 2.

Firsts in Charleston

Ringers from both Marietta and Atlanta recently participated in "Ring Around Charleston", an event held every other year in the beautiful South Carolina city. Lots of quarters were scheduled, and many were scored, including a first for Kathryn Tucker as conductor on Friday, Feb. 22 (Plain Bob Doubles). It was a nerve-wracking experience, but it was made much easier by the incredible support of Ron Warford on the fifth and Yvonne Cairns on the Treble - both are from Newcastle, UK. Doug McCoy from Charleston was the steady tenor, and Philadelphians Bruce and Eileen Butler (2 and 4) rounded out the fantastic group. It was quite a range of geographic talent!
Derek Wilsden also conducted his first quarter of Major, and Lyn Barnett of Atlanta successfully conducted her first quarter. More details on those accomplishments will be published as they become available.

Bob Doubles Quarter Peal Band
Back row (l to r): Ron Warford, Bruce Butler, Doug McCoy.
Front row: Yvonne Cairns, Kathryn Tucker, Eileen Butler.
Photo was taken at the evening banquet on Saturday, Feb. 23 - the clothing in the photo was not what we were wearing for the quarter peal!

New Minor Methods Initiative

The NoGa Ringing Masters are launching an initiative to accelerate improvement in the quality of ringing by NoGa ringers, both in method reliability and striking.
This is being approached by redirecting one hour of each tower's Saturday morning practice (9:30-10:30) for a program of achieving ringing excellence, initially in Plain and Treble Bob Minor methods, then leading on toward several Surprise Minor methods. The Program kicks off on February 2nd for the eight most advanced ringers active in the NoGa towers.
A quickly-felt trickle-down to all ringing by NoGa ringers will be better supported bands within which they can better progress. As ringers achieve a sufficient standard in methods and striking they will be inducted into the (open-ended) Program. Ringers not (yet) within the Program will be welcome at the 9:30 Saturday hour but generally as sit-in observers only.
Derek Wilsden