St. James AGM

On March 13th, members of the Guild of Change Ringers met at Mary Platt's new home for their AGM; afterwards, they enjoyed a delicious potluck dinner. The results of the election are as follows:

Derek Wilsden - Tower Captain

Cathy Brown - Ringing Master

Jay Williams - Secretary

Diane Campion - Treasurer

This is a complete turnover of executive officers, and we all look forward to the coming year of ringing.

We are grateful also for the following who will serve in the coming year in non-elected capacities:

Charley Heilker - continues as Steeple Keeper, and assumes the task as Assistant Ringing Master

Mary Platt - continues as Archivist

Sally Karkula - continues as Librarian

Kathryn Tucker - assumes the task as Social Director

Cathy Brown - continues as Young Ringers Ringing Master

Quarter peal band (L to R): Derek Wilsden, Cathy Brown,

Kathryn Tucker, Jay Williams, Alice Heilker and Charley Heilker.

On a cold Saturday, February 5th, St. James ringers met for their usual morning practice, but we cut it slightly short to begin a quarter peal. The band has been trying to stretch its wings a bit by attempting quarter peals on the Saturday practice days, when folks are available.

This Saturday, it was Alice Gough Helker's turn to attempt St. Simons Doubles - a method that had been tried before but not completed. Alice rang her first quarter peal inside (PB Doubles) last February at Stella Maris (Charleston), but had not scored one at her home tower. Cathy Brown was the conductor, and for the most part, everything went smoothly with good striking and few mistakes. We were very happy for Alice, and hope this bodes well for subsequent Saturday quarters!

By the way, directly after the quarter, everyone seemed to disperse like seeds in the wind and a photo wasn't taken. However, we remedied that by snapping the picture the next morning at Sunday service ringing.

Running Ringers

Once a year St. James Episcopal Church has a huge fundraiser called the Wonderful Days of Winter 5K Race. Founded in 1974, Wonderful Days Preschool is St. James’ primary outreach to the Marietta community. Forty to fifty children from low-income families attend the preschool and their transportation, tuition, and two meals a day are paid for by St. James’ and other charitable organizations. Since most of their students are Hispanic and English is not their first language, Wonderful Days helps them become fluent in English and prepares them for elementary school. This year two of our ringers, Kathryn Tucker and Chris Brown, ran in the race while some of the less energetic ringers helped with the lunch that followed. It was a really nice morning, cold and clear, with no sign of our impending doom, that is the snow.

Southern Ringers Form a Confederacy

On October 23rd, St. James hosted a practice swap with ringers from Birmingham and a grand time was had by all. A whole range of methods was attempted and, for the most part, rung successfully - from rounds and call changes to Cambridge, with Kent and Grandsire and Plain Bob scattered in between. Two of Birmingham's newest ringers, Emily and Irene, did very well handling our much smaller bells, and made some good progress.

Lunch was served half-way through the day and thanks go to Cathy Brown and Alice Heilker, who organized a barbecue feast, with contributions of food and drink from other St. James ringers.

Thanks to everyone who participated, and especially to Ted Clark - the Birmingham ringer 'wrangler' who managed to get a nice group of Brummies from Alabama to Georgia and back again!

Field Trip for Marietta's Young Ringers

On Saturday, July 31, our Young Ringers went to St. Luke's on their first field trip for ringing. Everyone had such a great time, I am sure that it won't be their last. The size of the bells didn't faze them or if it did, the fun of ringing larger bells won out over any reservations they might of had. At first Emma didn't want to ring the tenor, but after watching the guys all have a turn, she reconsidered. She needed some help pulling off, but once she started ringing, it was just another adventure. By the end of practice, our group was ringing together on the back four. With everyone's crazy schedules, it is challenging to find time for one weekly practice and two would be impossible, but I noted a hint of appreciation when Emma said, "So you GET to practice here each week - cool!" Emma, a gymnast, is clear on the value of practice.



After practice we all went to lunch at the Varsity, an Atlanta tradition , for burgers, slaw dogs, fries and the best onion rings in the world.
So a big thank you to the St. Luke's Band and special thanks to Sawyer Gosnell for helping us set it up. Now we have to start thinking about the next field trip. If only school and sports didn't get in the way.

I made a video (my first!) of my recent visit to Taylor's Bellfoundry in Loughborough, England; it was part of the many activities planned during the Central Council's annual meeting, which was in Derby this year. If you're interested in seeing a bell being cast, watch the following (copy and paste URL):

http://tinyurl.com/2ao42l3

Enjoy!

Happy Birthday, USA

Left to right: Kathryn Tucker, Mary Platt, Emily Heilker, Alice Heilker, Derek Wilsden, Jay Williams, Cathy Brown (c), Charley Heilker

On July 4th, we gathered for a quarter peal in honor of America's 234th birthday. The tenor was solemnly tolled 13 times, the group gathered after last-minute water breaks and then set off to ring Grandsire Triples. After three false starts, the decision was made to snuggle under the comfortable blanket of Plain Bob Triples, hoping to score a quarter celebrating the many, many July birthdays that we have here in Marietta. Below is the note that goes along with the successful quarter peal:

Birthday Compliments to the United States Of America (July 4),Charley Heilker (July 4), Rett Walker (July 5), Alyssa Motylinski (July 6), Kathryn Tucker, Bill Rush, & Rahne Tallent (July 13), Shelley Tallent (July 14), Alice Heilker (July 20), Mary Platt (July 27).

We were all feeling well-nourished on this day - the night before, Chris and Cathy Brown had hosted the traditional Fourth of July barbecue and the food was both copious and delicious. Many of the guests meandered over to the "Root House" for first-row seats to the City of Marietta fireworks display, thanks to the Browns, who paid for two large tables; the money went to help fund the Root House projects.

It was a wonderful holiday, and we are very thankful for the freedom to ring as a united group, in various states of joy here in America.