Finally, an update!

First of all, let me say a big apology for the amount of time that has passed since our last blog!!
It is certainly not because there is nothing happening -- but to the contrary -- there is so much going on that we forgot to stay in touch!  
This spring has been a busy one, because of all the usual things such as Easter, but also because we set aside three or four Saturday afternoons for some concentrated ringing practices.  Being a band of "new" ringers, we are still trying to learn Plain Bob Doubles and Triples, and even throwing in some touches.  Yikes!
We were fortunate to have Ed Futcher here to help us in March, and we made great strides on that day.
At the end of this month, on April 27, we are privileged to have a group of Ancient Society of Youths to ring a peal in our tower!  They are coming from England and Boston and we are very much looking forward to their visit.  We also look forward to the beautiful weather which will allow us to open our doors and ring, accompanied by the sun, spring fragrances, and (hopefully very slight) breezes!

Busy Summer at the Tower

It's a busy summer for the Church of the Transfiguration ringers, and we continue to learn! 

Two weeks ago we were privileged to have Ed Futcher, Geoff Davies and Elaine Hansen here from Boston, along with Quilla Roth from Washington, DC. They kindly instructed us for three full days and we made great strides toward mastering Plain Bob Triples, in preparation for a quarter peal on Sunday, August 5th, which was the celebration of the Feast of the Transfiguration (the Church's namesake).  Five expert ringers joined us (Ed Futcher, Chris Haller, John Danaher, Alan Winter and Eric Trumpler), and with 5 of our ringers, we accomplished the quarter peal of Plain Bob Triples with 3 cover bells, so that we could ring on our full round of ten bells. 

Also, last week, we enjoyed hosting Alan and Marjorie Winters for two sessions of ringing practice. They were in the area for the wedding celebration of Emily Russell and Dale Winters in Groton, so they were kind enough to "swing by" the Cape during their travels, and were a great help to us at our rehearsals. A couple of us Orleans ringers had a wonderful time celebrating with Emily and Dale on Saturday -- Congratulations to them, from all of us at the tower of the Church of the Transfiguration!  

Four of our ringers will attend the AGM workshop at Smith College next month, and we look forward to all we will learn, and seeing our friends again.

Construction of the Bell Tower

Here's an inside look at the design and construction of the bell tower.

Northeast Area Meeting

On Saturday May 12th, we hosted our 2nd Northeast Area Meeting. It was a gorgeous day and we had about 15 visitors in addition to 15 from our own band. Most of our friends were seeing the new doors on the tower for the first time. Thanks to all who came from Hingham, Boston, New York, and down the street, we had a blast. Lunch was superb— fancy veggie rollups, gazpacho soup, finishing with strawberry rhubarb crisp with vanilla ice cream!

Casting of the Bells, 2008

Welcome to the Ringers Blogs. Take an inside look at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in London, England.

Casting of the Bells, 2008