Morning activities and 8-bell striking competition
- The morning consisted of various open towers along with the Balscote ring and White’s of Appleton bell hangers workshop being open.
- The 8 bell striking competition was held at Broadwell, a newly rehung and augmented ring in the Witney and Woodstock Branch. The location for this was absolutely stunning. Refreshments and a delicious ploughman’s lunch were in the barn, just across the field from the Church. The Stallpit mini-ring was also available throughout the morning and afternoon. Such a lot of work had gone into the day by the Witney and Woodstock branch.
7 teams (out of a possible 15) took part in the 8 bell striking competition ringing 210 changes (5 courses) of Erin Triples. The judges were from Bristol – Colin Newman, Matt Jerome and Anna Sherwood. They said it was difficult to ring without mistakes but the overall quality was good. The three judges all agreed on the scores:
| Team | Comments | Faults | Team | Placed |
| A | Peal speed of 3hr 6, strong confident start, some methods mistakes but a good 4th course | 45 | Banbury Branch | 5th |
| B | Peal speed of 3hr 4, shaky start, some inconsistent leading and mistakes | 54 | Oxford City | 7th |
| C | Peal speed of 3hr 6, grew in confidence. No faults. Accurate. | 25 | Newbury Branch | 1st |
| D | Peal speed of 3hr 1, solid structure. Excellent 4th and 5th course | 27 | Reading Branch | 2nd |
| E | Peal speed of 3hr 8, back bells worked well together. Consistent trips | 43 | North Bucks Branch | 3rd |
| F | Peal speed of 2hr 57, ambitious pace. Faults occurred, 4th & 5th courses were good | 53 | Vale of White Horse | 6th |
| G | Peal speed of 2hr 57, good rhythm, mistake in the third course. 4th & 5th courses were good | 44 | EBSB | 4th |
AGM
- The documents/reports for the AGM can be found via the following links:
https://odg.org.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/2023-AGM-Agenda-%5e0-Minutes-of-2022-AGM.pdf
https://odg.org.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/ODG-Account-2022-AGM-v3-311222.pdf
https://odg.org.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Reports-for-2023-AGM.pdf
- The formal AGM took place starting with an opening prayer.
- After this the obituaries were read out.
A minute’s silence was held.
The formal minutes will be prepared and made available at a later date.
- Thanks were given again to the branch for arranging the event, including Andrew Goldthorpe and especially to Paul and Annabelle who had allowed the use of their home.
- The meeting then ended. Ringing continued followed by the service and ringing until 5pm.
Cheryl Watson
VOWH Branch Representative.