Winter seems almost to be over; the birds are beginning to shout at one another in the mornings and very soon ringers will be able to get to practice nights in daylight, what a joy that will be rather than negotiating a dark and sometimes treacherous route to the ringers’ door!
It is the season for Branch AGMs and the officers and stewards have tried to attend as many as possible; the ones that I didn’t manage to get to this year will be top of my list in 2020. It has been a real pleasure to catch up with many people at the Branch meetings, I have enjoyed finding out about topics of importance and made the most of delicious teas; thank you all for making me feel welcome.
We are fast heading for the busy summer ringing schedule with weddings and other special occasions which call for our skills. For some new bands this will be a new, and perhaps, daunting experience but I am sure that you will be well supported by neighbouring towers with more experienced ringers.
The Guild AGM will be held at Great Missenden on 18th May. Please try to attend, we need everyone’s enthusiasm and support, and all ringers are welcome.
Between now and then I will be moving home – for a few years I considered Orkney but there are too few bells up there to keep me busy – so I am only going a few yards down the road in Wheatley. It is highly likely that BT will cut off my contact with the ODG (and the rest of the world) for one to two weeks while they decide who is going to connect the wire, or flick the switch, or whatever manoeuvre it requires, so if you email me and I do not reply you will realise that I am in the throes of unpacking boxes grumbling at the engineers.