CDGCBR
East Cheshire Branch
The East Cheshire Branch of the Chester Diocesan Guild of Church Bell Ringers (CDGCBR) comprises 34 towers in the North East of Cheshire, Derbyshire and Greater Manchester. The branch includes Stockport, Macclesfield, Wilmslow, Buxton and Altrincham, as well as a number of smaller towns and villages in the area. The other branches in the guild are Chester Branch [19 towers with 6 or more bells], Mid Cheshire Branch [18 towers], South Cheshire Branch [22 towers], and Wirral Branch [20 towers]. As you can see by these numbers, we're the largest branch in terms of towers!
July
Saturday 13th - Tower Open-Day for BRF - Various TBC - All day
Sunday 21st - Branch 10 Bell practice - Stockport St. Mary's - 3.00 – 4.30 pm
Saturday 27th - 2024 Branch Outing - TBC - All day
August
No events
September
Saturday 14th - Guild 6-Bell competition - TBC (East Branch) - TBC
Sunday 15th - Branch 10 Bell practice - Stockport St. Mary's - 3.00 – 4.30 pm
Wednesday 18th - Invite to join Prestbury practice - Prestbury - 8.00 – 9.30 pm
Saturday 28th - Quarterly Branch Meeting
New Mills - 2.30 – 3.15 pm
Hayfield - 3.45 – 4.30 pm
October
Tuesday 8th - Invite to join Cheadle practice - Cheadle - 7.30 – 9.00 pm
Saturday 19th - Guild 10-Bell competition - TBC (Wirral Branch) - TBC
Sunday 27th - Branch 10 Bell practice - Stockport St. Mary's - 3.00 – 4.30 pm
November
28th Oct to 9th Nov - Branch Quarter-Peal Fortnight - Various towers - Various
Sunday 10th - Branch 10 Bell practice - Stockport St. Mary's - 3.00 – 4.30 pm
Saturday 23rd - Branch AGM for 2024 - Knutsford - 3.00 – 6.00 pm
December
No events
Note that only three months of the schedule are displayed at a time. If you want to see the rest of the year, click on the down arrow on the right hand side in the above text.
Live from Clive
From: Duncan Matheson Re: Branch Ringing Outing 27th July
I am arranging the East Cheshire branch ringing outing on Saturday, July 27th. Here are the details of this year’s branch ringing outing. Last year was a great success so I hope this year will be too.
If you want to join us for lunch at Denstone Hall Farm Cafe, please let me know with your pre-order for lunch as soon as possible. I have booked the garden room for us; it can take just 22, but if numbers exceed this they can give us another table in the main part of the cafe for 6-8 people. So it will be on a first come, first served basis. They say they can get busy on a Saturday in the school holidays, so there could be a long wait if you do not pre-book.
In any case it would be helpful to have an idea of numbers planning to come ringing, so please let me know anyway, either by email to dmmpott@yahoo.co.uk or text 07854 884145. (I’m away on holiday this week so probably won’t be able to take your calls until after June 29th).
Many thanks
Duncan
From: Pam Thomson Re: Guild 6-bell Competition 14 September 2024
Hello All,
Please find attached a notice for the 6 bell striking competition. Some people were asking about timings so can you please circulate to everybody but especially to the bands who will be representing your branch.
For information for your 10 bell bands, the 10 bell competition on October 19th at Oxton will start at 3.00pm as they have a wedding. The method will be Little Bob Royal. Gill will circulate the composition later. I hope this is sufficient information at the moment.
Best wishes
Pam
From: Stephen Aldridge Re: WhatsApp group
We (‘we’ loosely being the officers of the Manchester Branch of LACR) have set up a WhatsApp group for ringing in the Manchester Area. It is not intended, however, to be connected officially to LACR or any other guild/association etc. The hope is that any ringers in the rough area of Manchester will join and events can be advertised, wedding ringers requested, socials organised etc.
WhatsApp users can follow this link on their phones and it should take them directly to the group where they can join.
Hello there,
In the recent surveys of ringers, many people said that they would like to see more specialized practices rather than just general branch practices. As part of this, I've been running twice monthly Surprise Major Practices. These are based on a model that I trialled with a lot of success in the Durham and Newcastle Association, some years ago. It is aimed at both experienced Surprise ringers but also at those who are wanting to start dipping their toes in the Surprise paddling pool.
There are the key ideas behind this:
Initially, practices will take place on the second Tuesday at Dunham and the fourth Tuesday at Bowdon, Prestbury or Cheadle.
We will work on Surprise Major
We'll have learning aims for each practice so that we build up capability steadily. Specifically, we'll work through the Core 7 methods https://wiki.changeringing.co.uk/Project_Pickled_Egg_-_Part_12.
There will be a quarter peal or more each month to allow us to consolidate what we've learnt.
Everyone will need to do their homework before each practice!
The dates of the practices are the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of every month. The practices for July are
Tuesday, 9th July @ 7.30 - Dunham Massey
Tuesday, 23rd July @ 7.30 - Bowdon
If you are interested in taking part, please can you drop me a quick email on andrew.darling@me.com or a text on 07786 511 788.
From: Clive Re: Belfry Upkeep
This is worth looking at, even if you don't currently look after the bells at your tower.
From: Ernie de Legh-Runciman, Secretary, Central Council of Church Bell Ringers
Belfry Upkeep News Item
The Stewardship & Management Workgroup are pleased to announce Belfry Upkeep, an online document aimed at the Steeple Keeper – the person responsible for keeping the bells in order. The aims of the document are:
To help you understand the installation in your tower
To describe the checks you should carry out to identify any problems
To advise you on the maintenance tasks that you should be able to carry out, possibly with expert advice or assistance
Most importantly, to help you recognize the tasks that require specialist knowledge from a Bell Hanger or other expert
The document can be found at https://belfryupkeep.cccbr.org.uk
Learning the Ropes
The Association of Ringing Teachers (ART) regularly issues a newsletter called "Tower Talk". You don't have to be a member of ART to read the newsletters. Click here to see issue 29 (which is the latest issue). You can also click here for previous issues and other news.
Central Council News
We don't normally feature what is going on in the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers (CCCBR), but occasionally, they write to us and ask us to feature something.
Contact the Secretary
Members of the branch should have already received the above messages directly from Clive. If you haven't, click here to email Clive [clive.calton@btinternet.com] and get on his mailing list. If you need to get hold of Clive urgently, his mobile number is 07779 488359.
Site Map [Click on the link below to go to the relevant page]
Interactive Branch Map . This map allows you to look up the details for any of the towers in the branch by clicking it [uses Google Maps]. There is also a tower directory underneath. This just reformats all the data to make it easier to read [this bit is identical to the form on the Contacts page].
Interactive Tower Map. Use this to compare towers - weights, practice night, number of bells. Just click on the column header in the table to sort the data. Clicking on a tower in the map will give you contact details. The information shown on this page is also available as a PDF by clicking here.
Reasons to Contact Us
Here are four good reasons to send us a message
Stay Informed. Are you getting regular emails from Clive? Maybe your tower captain is getting them, but not passing the information on to you. If you're not on Clive's email list, then click here and we'll make sure that you're added. If you no longer want to receive any of those emails, then just click here.
Get Help. Is your band struggling to learn a method? Does your tower need a bit of help with numbers? This is your opportunity to reach out for help. Just click here and tell us what you need and we'll do our best to help.
Help Us. We can only get better if people tell us what they like and/or don't like. It's up to you to tell us if you like what we're doing on this website, at the branch events, or at tower visits. Every opinion is important, so take a few minutes and let us know what you think. Click here and tell us what you think of us.