Inter Branch Striking Competition 2019

The 2019 Inter Branch Striking Competitions were held on Saturday 5th October at Northfield, in the Northern Branch and featured the traditional 6, 8 and 10-bell competitions (all Little Bob) along with a new competition for young ringers. Richard Pullin acted as judge and the Master started the event with the draws for the 8-bell, young ringers and 10-bell.

The 8-bell saw Northern Branch ring first in a piece which showed promise but unfortunately came to grief, Western Branch then gave a measured performance followed by Southern who rang well but did not quite settled into the piece.

The young ringers competition followed. The test piece was rounds and call changes to feature Queens and Back Rounds before finishing in rounds. The Northern Branch rang first and were very confident and handled the bells well. The Southern Branch featured 5 young ringers with a guest from the Western Branch. They coped well with the bells and displayed some good ringing for such a young band who had never before rung as a team.

The results for the young ringers followed immediately with praise being lavished by the judge. The Southern were runners up, receiving a B grading for their ringing and were presented with silver engraved medals. The Northern Branch were awarded an A grade for their superb ringing and each received a gold medal and were presented with a new trophy.

The 10-bell competition was next and Northern Branch again did not finish their test piece. Western again rang next followed by the Southern.

Finally the 6-bell competition was run with a member from each of the 8-bell bands judging along with two of the young ringers. The draw again saw the three teams places in the same order! Northern had a slight wobble early on but then settled into some good ringing. The Western Branch then produced an outstanding performance followed by Southern who produced some good ringing but with a few clips throughout.

So to the results and Richard gave his feedback on each team before giving the faults.

The 8-bell was won by Western Branch with 17 faults; the Southern came second with 38 faults.

The 10-bell was won by Western Branch with 35 faults; the Southern came second with 71 faults.

The five judges for the 6-bell each used their own scoring system and were unanimous in awarding first place to Western Branch. The judges were split on second place but ultimately decided 3-2 in favour of Northern Branch.

The Master thanked Richard for judging and gave him a selection of beers.

The Master also acknowledged comments received on the difficulty presented by his chosen touches and would reflect on this for the following year. Diane and Rosie were thanked for providing the refreshments. The Master closed proceedings by thanking all those who had taken part by ringing, especially the young ringers and Diane Awkati for making their competition possible.

James Mort
Association Master