Haughton Village News

Haughton Village News

Haughton St. Giles church Christmas Fayre


The Christmas Fayre was buzzing this morning with varied and interesting stalls and delicious refreshments. I would like to thank all the locals who gave their names and contact emails so that they can now receive updates from the Haughton Bell Ringers web site. Many individuals were enthusiastic about receiving information from a new source now that the parish magazine has come to an end.
Trevor Stacey


Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

Stafford's Trebles have been Cast

Stafford's new trebles have been cast at Westleys Newcastle-under-Lyme, attached are some pictures and videos of the castings, all went well.  Photo's and Video's have been supplied by Nigel Horritt.

Surprise Maximus at Stafford is a step closer!







They are still a little short on funds, visit http://www.stafford.thebellringers.org.uk/ to donate.






  







Tips on Ringing Yorkshire Royal

To some people Yorkshire  is easier than Cambridge?
 
Note that the "Place bell order" is the same = 2,6,10,7,3,4,8,9,5
That's the best way to learn a Surprise method = lead by lead eg 2nds place bell becomes 6ths place bell becomes 10ths place bell etc.
 
At a Bob, if you "run out" you become 3rds place bell & if you "make the bob", you become 4ths place bell !!!
 
Short Yorkshire  places (dodge/place/place/dodge) means that the coursing order (in the plain course) is 2,4,6,8,10,9,7,5,3 & doesn't get broken up (as it does in Cambridge with the longer work when doing "places" )
Note that you generally dodge on front (in 1/2) & at back (in 9/10) with your "course bell" & your "after bell" -( eg; for 5 in a plain course that is "7" & "3") unless it's with the treble. Course & after bells can change if a Bob is called
 
Also note that in Yorkshire you play "leapfrog" with course & after bells when doing places - eg; if you are 8ths place bell - as you do 6/5 places watch your "after bell" go thro, then you go thro him in 6/5 while he does his 6/5 places. Sounds complicated? Not really - I find it helps to know these little wrinkles?

Information supplied by Ray Daw, Thanks Ray, I hope you don't mind me using it here, but this is exactly what I would like this website to be used for.  If anyone else has any useful tips, please feel free to email them to me.










Message from Haughton WI

On Saturday 7th December is the WI annual Christmas Dinner held at the Village Hall.  If you are attending Haughton Christmas Lights Switch On could you refrain from parking in the Village hall car park as it will be required by the WI. 

Thank you.

Bells and Ringing.

Hi T, a leap fwd to the 21st century. 

I'll spread it around Garden Guild. Seighford n Swinnerton, tho' they are all the same folk. 
Will 

From Haughton to Morpeth for Bell Ringing

From Haughton to Morpeth for Bell Ringing!

 

The Clock Tower on Old Gate in the town centre of Morpeth, Northumberland contains the oldest original peal of civic bells in the United Kingdom. It is one of only eight secular bell towers in England never to have been associated with a Church. It was built using stone from an earlier Medieval building between 1604 and 1634.

 

In 1706 a peal of six bells was installed in the tower, provided by Major General Edmund Maine, when he became MP of Morpeth. The bells were cast by the prominent bell founder Richard Phelps (of Whitechapel Bell Foundry) and were originally intended to be made for the Parish Church of Berwick-upon-Tweed. However, the people of Berwick failed to elect the Major General to Office a couple of years previously. On Maine's successful election as MP of Morpeth, the bells were presented to the Corporation of Morpeth. This gave rise to the curious local saying that "Berwick Bells are heard in Morpeth." To accommodate the bells, a top storey (belfry) was built in 1706. By the early 20th century, the bells had fallen into disrepair and were eventually recast and hung in a new cast iron frame in 1951 by John Taylor & Co to commemorate the Festival of Britain Two further bells were added to make a total of eight.

 

The bells are rung at 8pm everyday; marking the evening curfew in years gone by. The tower is a Grade II* Listed building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Morpeth Clock Tower has an active and enthusiastic band of ringers and welcome visitors to ring on practice nights. Recently, while on holiday two Haughton Bell Ringers, Helen and her daughter Lydia visited and rang at Morpeth, ringing there as guests.  Morpeth Bell Ringers have an interesting website at https://www.morpethbellringers.org.uk/

 

Helen explains: “We had another great holiday in Northumberland. It’s the first time we’ve been in the winter and it was wild and windy and still absolutely beautiful. There’s nothing quite like walking along a deserted beach all wrapped up against the elements with the dogs bounding along beside you. As usual one of the highlights for me was a visit to Morpeth Clock Tower. It was my fourth visit and I was welcomed with warm smiles and comments of ‘it’s the wrong time of the year, it’s not the summer’! It was a packed Clock Tower that night as not only were we there visiting but also a ringer from York. She was working in the area and had looked up on the Dove’s Guide (the bell ringers guide to all the towers worldwide, take a look as you’ll be amazed how many towers there are even in Australia, USA and Singapore) to see if there were any practices in the area that night. It was as normal a great night of ringing where the Morpeth Tower Captain, Matthew, did a great job of organising it so everyone had a good practice. The ringing levels of the people there were vastly different but everyone helped everyone else as is normal. In my opinion there is nothing like this hobby for just being able to turn up at any practice night to be welcomed with the words ‘are you a ringer?’ and then being bustled in to enjoy an hour of ringing.

 

We’re back up here next summer, for a week a little further North where I’m hoping to ring at Berwick which I believe is the most northerly tower in England. The second week will be back in Low Hauxley and ringing in Morpeth where I won’t confuse the local Band as it’ll be summer!!”

 

If you have found this article interesting you don’t need to travel all the way to Northumberland to learn more about Bell Ringing, why not come along to Haughton for one our practice nights (most Monday evenings at 8pm) Contact Tower Captain, Trevor Lock, who will be happy to explain more and welcome you to try your hand.  Details on this website.

 

Pictured: Morpeth Clock Tower in summer and the view from the Tower with the Christmas Lights!

 

Stafford Bells Update

The team met this evening to evaluate the cleanup operation after the removal of the bells.

The old 5th inside the Clockroom will be hung for training purposes.

The empty belfry, waiting for the arrival of the new frame and bells.

There's quite a lot of work to do tidying, cleaning, and painting over the next few months, so we all should be busy.

They are still a little short on funds, visit http://www.stafford.thebellringers.org.uk/ to donate.





Quarter at Stoke Minster

I've just been involved in ringing a quarter peal of Grandsire Caters at Stoke Minster to mark the retirement of Rt Rev Geoffrey Annas, Bishop of Stafford

https://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/view.php?id=1312098

Newcastle 12 Bell Practice

I’ve just come back from Newcastle-under-Lyme monthly 12 bell practice, having rung Cambridge Royal, Yorkshire Royal, Stedman Caters, Plain, Little, and Cambridge Spliced Royal… Yes, it was all Royal tonight as only 11 ringers turned up, although it was a thoroughly good evening. Hopefully, we’ll get Cambridge Maximus next time.
Trevor Lock

November/ December Magazine Entry

I would like to say a big thank you to Jackie, Jean, and Laurie for all their hard work in producing the parish magazine. Over the years they have published my ramblings and have undoubtedly helped me to share some of the secrets of the ancient art with you.

It has inspired me to start this blog, hopefully, I will find the time to keep it up to date, and that the people of Haughton will find it.

We're now looking forward to our Christmas ringing and of course our traditional Christmas Meal. 
As always if anyone is interested in joining our band please feel free to contact us or just turn up at the Church any Monday
night at 8pm.

2019 Challenge - November 2019

We've saved Plain Bob Minimus to last! Well, it was always our back-up plan if one of the others wasn't going to go! but we never needed it!

That's all 11 standard minimus methods completed, we haven't quite decided what to do next month, but we'll think of something.

To view this months quarter view Bellboard page: https://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/view.php?id=1310636

Stafford Bells going.....

Stafford Bells being loaded on the lorry


Stafford Bells being spotted on the M5

Trip to Dublin

We’ve just come back from a long ringing weekend in Dublin.  We rang at all 5 towers in Dublin, courtesy of Roy McCarthy Coaches of Macclesfield, as one of their drivers is a Bell Ringer at Sandbach.  Thursday was spent traveling to the port across the Irish Sea on the ferry and then to our 4-star hotel.

Our first tower on Friday was S Augustine & S John which is a 10 bell tower hung anti-clockwise (which means the ropes fall the opposite way around than usual).  After the climb up the Open Steel Staircase which wasn’t for the faint-hearted, we rang the 10 bells.  They proved to be a bit of a hand full however we managed a plain course of Grandsire Caters.

Next, we traveled to the National Catherdral Bells of St, Patrick.  Cast by the Taylors bell foundry of Loughborough they were super quality.   The last tower of the day was the 16 bell tower (Yes I said 16 bells) of Christ Church and we did ring all 16.

There was just one tower on our list on Saturday; Christ Church Taney.  There are 8 bells here and I was in the driving seat as I had been given the task of organizing the ringing.  These bells were best suited to our experience and we all had a good ring.

Just with the one tower on Saturday, meant we had the afternoon to ourselves to explore Dublin. My family decided to visit the waxworks. I managed to get a photo taken with my Comedian hero’s; Father Ted and Father Doogle.  We retired back to our hotel where we managed to get a well-deserved pint of Guinness.

Sunday morning started with the usual Full Irish Breakfast, a quick pack of our bags, and back on the coach to make our way Home. On the way there was just one more tower to grab, St. Audoen, 14cwt 6, reminding me of the back 6 at Gnosall made me feel quite at home.  We left St. Audoen and headed for the Ferry and home. Thank you Steve and Mike (our Coach Driver), for another great weekend.