Day 1 of an amazing weekend organised by Aaron! For any train fans watching, Evercreech Junction is a particularly prominent landmark on the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway, and DItcheat Manor, a class 7800 Great Western steam locomotive, supported by the West Somerset Railway.
We start the day off at Evercreech after journeying as far a field as Kent and Sussex on Friday evening and Saturday morning. Evercreech didn't disappoint, with soft tones and good hums all round. A variety of rounds and call changes, plain hunt and Grandsire was rung ensuring everyone was catered for ;-) Some queens on the outside was particularly good and had good rhythm to it. The lower on 10 was also another particularly good point.
Next, it was then onto Ditcheat, a fantastic Taylor ring - what's not to like! Plenty of boom, bold hums and brilliant external acoustics, albiet some rather prominent rope noise. Nevertheless, a signature touch of Stedman was rung, followed by a good touch of Grandsire called by Isaac, varieties of rounds and call changes and half a course of Cambridge Major to really get them going (definitely a future peal/quarter peal venue.
Staying with the heavy, over a ton theme, we moved onto East Pennard, the heaviest 5 in the world. All the bells can really be classed as tenors in their own right and they were generally handled very well by the whole group - forwards and backwards rounds being a particular highlight as well as the Stedman.
We then descended into Street after a rather chilly lunch break in the Lantokay. Genuinely wouldn't be surprised if some passers by in that clip thought we all are completely mad (they wouldn't be wrong ;-D)!
The final two towers of the day had rather interesting characteristics; the querkiness, mixture and challenges I actually quite liked, though they needed some attack.
The girls band at Walton successfully managed forwards and backwards rounds and the tenor queen almost dangled off the end of the rope at one point much to the amusement of the rest of us!
Last but not least was Street, a ton 8 with significant pulley noise - pulleys just above the ceiling boss creating some interesting handling round the front and the necessity to raise one's voice to be heard. We join the signature touch of Stedman and half a course of Cambridge Major, which was rung well and sounded very good just outside the church.
A cold evening awaited as we spectated at the Carnival that evening and a warm evening at the after party - followed by the journey back into Shepton Mallet!
Keep your eyes pealed for the Glastonbury Carnival video coming up in 1a and Sunday ringing coming up in part 2.