On Saturday 1st October the Leatherhead District held its second Quarter Peal Day following on from the success the previous year. 30 members attempted 11 quarters at different local towers. Planning for the day began back in March with members being asked to commit the day to their diary and to say how many Quarter Peals they would be up for ringing on the day.
The day got off to a super start with early successes at Buckland and Epsom Common. More great news followed when by lunchtime we realised that all 6 morning attempts had been successful. We had already equalled our tally from the previous year.
The planned Cambridge Major at Ranmore wouldn’t go and a judicious change to Grandsire kept the 100% record, along with a simultaneous success at Leatherhead. While some had a bit of a mid-afternoon breather another quick one was ticked up on the very light 6 at Stoke D’Abernon. 9 out of the planned 11 in the bag!
The pressure was building for the bands and conductors of the last 2 attempts, both due to start at 17:00. With one false start the Epsom band came good, while at Banstead the day appeared to have taken its toll. There was no way that the intended London would get off the ground despite us trying, but a good clean quarter of Cambridge on the fine Gillett & Johnston bells was a nice way to end the day.
The details are on Bellbard at: http://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/event.php?id=4929
Over the day five people rang 5 Quarters, seven rang 4, four rang 3, five rang 2 and nine rang 1.
So 11 Quarters planned and 11 scored. Where do we go from here?
More immediately, where some of us actually went was to The Woodman in Ashtead. And then someone mentioned a curry. . .
A great day.
Richard Trueman