Connor's weekend in Brockenhurst

A fantastic weekend in Brockenhurst on 2nd and 3rd February following the harsh millimeters of snow that caused no end of disruption to travel the week before (a 4hr tour of Woking station the night before in the freezing, for some, was an added extra - no heating provided)!

We all met on Saturday morning at the Forest Edge Campanile for many fun and games on the miniring, with the likes of Connor double handing 1 and 8, Aaron and Simon on 2 to 5 with Andrew casually sipping his tea! What a laugh! We did actually attempt some proper ringing with varying results from the hyper lot.

Lunch was a traditional Fish and Chip lunch on the sea front, not too cold as one might imagine, but certainly no paddling. A glorious atmosphere though with such picturesque views!

Next we went onto Milford on Sea, this ground floor 1928 Taylors 12cwt 8 - ho ho ho! Lovely bells but oddstruck in places and challenging to strike, but so worth it. A respectable quarter of Plain Bob Major was rung.

A bus journey later we went onto Lymington, a boomy but challenging 20cwt 8. Considering the band was flagging towards the end, we had some decent ringing for the 100th Lilliputters quarter, and especially well done to the treble ringer.

The Sunday saw us ringing at Connor's local tower at Brockenhurst. While not the best in the world, going dunk, and having a tendency to double clapper occasionally, they certainly have character and once rolling they are easy.

The Gasworks Campanile was another experience, the tiny bells are hung on bicycle wheels with a tapper at one end of the bell that strikes the bells. The sallies are also made of compacted flannels. We managed a respectable course of Cambridge and Erin on them. Coats were necessary as it was absolutely freezing in the open garage.

Overall a great weekend