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

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!