Paul Flavell
The Surrey Association were the hosts for this year’s Essex Trophy competition. We were very grateful to Ed and Val Muller for the use of Bletchingley bells their kind hospitality in laying on refreshments and Ploughman’s lunches, and for the use of the excellent Village Hall as the central meeting area.
Six teams entered to ring a full course of Yorkshire Surprise Royal, marked
from the fourth lead end. Each team was given a 30 minute slot to practise
and ring their test piece. Bletchingley bells are a pleasant ground floor 10,
rehung in 1989 and augmented to 10 in 1991, and ideal for this competition.
The judge was Ian Roulstone from St Paul’s Cathedral, safely squirrelled away on the first floor of the church rooms next to the church. Ian commented on each team in turn and said the ringing had all been quite consistent and nice to listen to. There were very few method mistakes which is essential in a striking contest!
captain
The results were as follows:
Place Team Peal speed Faults (out of 400 marks)
1 Essex 3hrs 09min 54
2 Surrey 3hrs 18min 71
3 Guildford 3hrs 20min 79
4 Kent 3hrs 20min 94
5 Sussex 3hrs 11min 108
6 Middlesex 3hrs 08min 155
Congratulations to this year’s winners Essex and thanks again to Bletchingley and Ian.
Essex will be hosting the 2023 competition on 9 September at St Mary’s Walthamstow.
Team photos
David Smith, 10 Simon Meyer