Master’s Quarter Peal Tour 2014 - Manchester, 3rd-5th January

So the weekend after New Year when there are at least a dozen severe weather warnings in place may not have been the ideal time to choose for my Master’s tour, however 20 hardy souls travelled from all over the country descending on Sacred Trinity in Salford where we were based for the weekend.

We began, as always, with a sociable evening in the pub. The Salford Arms served some excellent beer and so here it became apparent that we had learned nothing from the previous year’s Master’s tour (where beer was still being consumed after 02:00) as we merrily engaged in a repeat performance, followed by an excellent pizza takeaway at around 03:30 courtesy of Alex!

Against the odds, the following morning we scored a quarter peal of Grandsire Caters at the Cathedral and Yorkshire Surprise Major at Stretford. Some rather technical car-sharing ensued to ensure that the correct bands reached the correct towers for the 11:30 attempts. Those familiar with the A4 will appreciate that the spectacular number of traffic lights and speed cameras rather hampered our progress through Stockport, and we were very grateful to those local ringers who waited for us at the next towers! After some delayed starts, Erin Triples and some Spliced Surprise Major began in good style but did not finish in the same fashion. More successful was the Plain Bob Doubles at Poynton where we were ably assisted by 2 local ringers, David Friend & Kate Atherton – many thanks for joining us!

After an excellent lunch at the Romper on Marple Ridge we headed back towards the city centre, stopping en route to score a quarter peal of Plain Bob Triples at Fallowfield and finishing with Double Norwich Court Bob Major at Sacred Trinity.

Martyn Owen led us around some of the best real ale pubs of Manchester before an excellent curry on the “Curry Mile”. On Sunday morning we joined local ringers at Fallowfield, the Cathedral and Sacred Trinity before a leisurely Sunday lunch and departing our separate ways.

We now look forward to the annual dinner which will be on February 8th 2014 in Stevenage. Any ringers at University throughout Wales would be very welcome to join us on any of our tours.

- Sarah A Tadman

Fallowfield, Greater Manchester, Holy Innocents. Saturday, 4 January 2014 in 47 minutes (13-2-19). 1344 Plain Bob Major. Patrick Wheeler (C) 1, Paul R Parker 2, Sarah West 3, Helen Foster 4, Alex Haynes 5, Iain Scott 6, Kevin J Rogers 7, Matthew Greenaway 8.

Manchester, Greater Manchester Cathedral & Parish Church of S Mary, S Denys and S George. Saturday, 4 January 2014 in 51 minutes (27-3-6). 1296 Grandsire Caters. Kevin J Rogers 1, Victoria L Evans 2, Malcolm Murphy (C) 3, Helen Foster 4, Sarah A Tadman 5, Patrick Wheeler 6, C Phillip Hope 7, Paul R Parker 8, Roger W Haynes 9, Roger Grieve 10.

Poynton, Cheshire, St George. Saturday, 4 January 2014 in 41 minutes (13-2-17). 1260 Plain Bob Doubles. Jan Hine 1, Kate Atherton 2, Paul R Parker 3, Tim Hine (C) 4, David W Friend 5, Sarah A Tadman 6. With thanks to local ringers Kate & David.

Salford, Greater Manchester, Sacred Trinity. Saturday, 4 January 2014 (11-2-17). 1280 Double Norwich Court Bob Major. Tim Hine 1, Victoria L Evans 2, Rhiannon Meredith 3, C Phillip Hope 4, Martyn Owen 5, Richard Wolfgang 6, Roger Grieve 7, Roger Haynes (C) 8. With birthday compliments to Joyce Griffiths, Great Aunt of the ringer of the 2. 2 - First in method.

Stretford, Greater Manchester, St Matthew. Saturday, 4 January 2014 in 43 minutes (11-3-23). 1250 Yorkshire Surprise Major. Jan Hine 1, Tim Hine 2, Sarah West 3, Martyn Owen 4, Rhiannon Meredith 5, Matthew Greenaway 6, Iain Scott 7, Richard Wolfgang (C) 8. Rung on the Master's Quarter Peal tour as a birthday compliment to Jean Hirschhorn, grandmother of the ringer of 5.