Retirement Quarter Peal for Ray Gotko

On July 26th the Reverend Doctor Raymond M. Gotko retired after seven years of service as the Associate Rector of St. James Episcopal Church in Marietta. The Parish had a farewell party for him on Sunday and on Monday he celebrated with the St. James' band by tenoring in his first Quarter Peal. We dedicated the QP of Plain Bob Doubles to Ray and his new venture - retirement. He and his wife Linda have moved to Sewanee, TN, where he will finally have plenty of time for golf and RINGING!!

Jay Williams , who recently scored his first QP and is in the picture on the right, took the photo of the QP group.


July 27, 2009. 1260 Plain Bob Doubles
1. Alice Gough Heilker 2. Sally Karkula 3. Charley Heilker 4. Kathryn E. Tucker 5. Mary Platt (C) 6. Raymond M. Gotko.
First Quarter: 6

July 4 Ringing and Partying St James Style

For all who attended and enjoyed hamburgers, hot dogs and pot
luck at Cathy and Chris Brown's home yesterday evening, I want to say
what a great occasion it was. Thank you so much to the Browns for
hosting and grilling and so much more. We all had a wonderful time
creating a grand family gathering out of the many generations
represented for what has become an Independence Day tradition.

The BBQ followed an afternoon of ringing at St James, which was full
of firsts and lots of "well done's." After birthday boy Charley
Heilker sounded the tenor 13 times at 2pm, and some lovely call
changes, Derek Wilsden conducted a QP Plain Bob Major, noteworthy in
that the band included our guests from the UK, Michael and Sheila
Cotgrove, and also our newly-returned-from-a-year-on-

the-continent Emily Heilker. Welcome Home.


Then, following a brief recess, Cathy Brown conducted a QP Plain Bob
Triples, featuring Jay Williams on the tenor (a first QP for him) and
Alice Heilker on the treble (first on 8 for her). Well done Jay and
Alice. Not even 1 do-over was required.


I'll leave the QP official details to the conductors to report. But
leave it to say, that St James Marietta marked the nation's 233rd
birthday with a joyful noise.

If at First you do Not Succeed, then Try, TRy, and yes, TRY again!

Gathering together on a specific date to ring a Quarter Peal commemorating a specific and important event on that day is a good recipe for anxiety. I as conductor certainly felt that way. It was a warm occasion; certainly in the day's temperature (a bit over 90F) but certainly also in fellowship, with a nice balance of Birmingham, Atlanta, and Marietta ringers as can be seen in the QP report below. Our first foray into the method came unstuck after one of the six parts (the old faithful 'bobs in, home, and two at fourths: Diary p. 53). We put it down to "practice", and started again. A nicely struck and confident 5 parts later it/we failed again - and I should have been able to quickly put it back onto the tracks - but failed. A 10-minute rest left us just enough time for one final try - and bingo! Craig's tenor-covering drove us expertly and remorselessly to completion, and the rest of us complimented that, to a man/woman, with a solid rhythmic piece of ringing. At the call of 'that's all', only three minutes remained before the start of the six o'clock Vespers in the very-nearby Cathedral! The early anxiety was well repaid.

DJW

Birmingham, Alabama
Cathedral of St Paul
Sunday, 31 May 2009
1260 Plain Bob Triples
1 Lyn Barnett
2 Catherine P Brown
3 Jennifer Johnson
4 Ted Clark
5 Bill Buckner
6 Jeremy Johnson
7 Derek J Wilsden (C)
8 Craig Lagrone

Rung on the Solemnity of Pentecost for The Celebration of The Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the Ordination to the Priesthood of The Very Reverend Richard E. Donohoe, S.T.L, Rector. Rung in
gratitude for his inspired leadership which was the impetus for this beautiful ring of tower bells being in Birmingham.

Wandering in Worcester

Worcester was the venue for the 2009 annual meeting of the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers and as I am one of the NAG representatives to the CCCBR, I had the privilege of attending the meeting.

The title of this post is apt, since I did a fair amount of wandering - Worcester is a small city and easy to explore on foot. During the times I wasn't attending official functions, I let my feet wander where they liked; I walked along the Severn River while listening to a peal being rung in the Cathedral (photo above), I shopped along the High Street and even took a quick train ride to nearby Pershore. It was in Pershore that I visited the most unusual ringing room I'd ever seen - suspended high above the floor of Pershore Abbey, it is not for the faint of heart. I took some video with my camera of the ringing "cage", and posted it on YouTube - the link to see that is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EwPJJ14-oY. Or just go to youtube.com and in the search box, type "Ringing at Pershore Abbey" - my video will be first in line.

The meeting itself took place on Monday, May 25th and it lasted (with a couple of breaks) from 10 am to 6 pm - another activity that is not for the faint of heart! But learning more about how the Council works, and witnessing the enthusiasm that the members have for ringing, makes me even more dedicated to being the best advocate for the Exercise that I can be.

I'll be writing a more detailed article about the weekend's activities later - watch for it in your next issue of "The Clapper".

Rounds on Six

Last night at the St. James' regular Monday evening practice, a group of ringers rang rounds on the back six of the eight bells. "So what?", you say. Well, these rounds were a bit different - ringing the fourth of six was Jay Williams, one of our learners. He's been working with Derek Wilsden for a couple of months, along with assistance from Cathy Brown and Kathryn Tucker. He's learned handling, ringing one bell while listening to rounds on Abel, and has even done a bit of plain hunt on six with Abel. He's intelligent, funny, creative and is wildly enthusiastic about learning to ring.
And he's blind. Since birth.
He got his first pull on a bell at Grace Church, Charleston, courtesy of David Porter. When Jay and his wife moved to Marietta, he found out that a local church had change ringing bells and inquired about learning to ring. Derek was consulted, and after some discussion, it was decided that we would give it a try. And last night was the happy beginning of what we all hope will be a long and fruitful ringing career for Jay.

St. James AGM

Despite a small group, the St. James AGM was very productive, though there was so much food on the tables that we were tempted to set up an ad-hoc restaurant outside the church! Lots of business was discussed and most importantly, elections were held. The officers elected for the year 2009/2010 are as follows:

Tower Captain: Mary Platt
Ringing Master: Kathryn Tucker
Secretary: Alice Heilker
Treasurer: Chris Brown

Thank you to the past officers, Derek Wilsden and Diana Witt (Ringing Master and Secretary, respectively) who stepped down after much hard work. And thank you to Chris Brown who, despite his protestations that he'd be ever so willing for someone ELSE to be treasurer, just keeps getting elected year after year!

We very much missed the presence of Derek Wilsden, Jan Wilsden and Alice Heilker. Alice continues to recover from lung surgery, and Jan Wilsden was taken ill on the day of the AGM and was in the hospital with her husband at the time of the meeting. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Heilker and Wilsden families. We treasure them dearly.

Surprise Major Weekend Workshop

St. James and St. Luke's jointly hosted a Surprise Major workshop over the weekend of Feb. 27 to March 1. Out-of-town folks gathered at St. James on Friday for an open practice with locals; many went to the Marietta Diner afterwards for a bite to eat - as always, those who have never been there before were astonished by the size of the menu and the size of the cakes!
Early on Saturday morning the attendees gathered at St. James for the serious work of learning Surprise Major methods; one group focused on Lincolnshire, Cambridge and Yorkshire, the other on Bristol and London. Paul Graupner (he of the 'bunny ears' in the photo above) led the first group and Alan Regin (the tall man in the back right of the picture) led the second group. Much ringing was done, though a mid-afternoon funeral necessitated a break in the course. A very nice quarter peal of Cambridge Major was scored after the 5:30 service and a Chinese dinner was enjoyed by all at the end of the day.
On Sunday, a surprise snowstorm hit Atlanta, and the ringing at St. Luke's, as well as a peal attempt at St. James, were canceled. Both groups stayed at St. James, though three helpers hightailed it early out of town by car - many flights were canceled that stormy day!
We may try again next year, and will endeavor to make the weather behave - naughty, naughty weather!