The morning was spent at St Mary the Virgin, Caterham-on-the-Hill. This is by far the easier of the two Caterham rings, hence why the competition was held there instead of Caterham Valley. Hanging in this tower is a light-medium ring of 8, coming in at 12cwt on the scales. Being tuned to F#, they seem like a fairly bogstandard ring on paper. I did note that whilst ringing, the bells do have quite a bit of hum in the ringing chamber, whereas outside the sound is more grand. This is probably because of the Back 6 being a complete 1869 cast of Mears & Stainbank. The 1993 trebles however - when rung on their own - stick out like a sore thumb. The Surrey Strikers Team was a 6 Bell entry (Back 6 of course!). Our test piece featured Queens, Kings and Tittums; all of which can be heard in this video.

After the results were presented, with the Surrey Strikers coming in at a solid 3rd place, a very entertaining tower grab followed. Our first venue was the aforementioned Caterham Valley. The Church of St John the Evangelist itself is much grander than St Mary's, let alone the ring of bells. In this beige tower is a 16cwt ring of 8, tuned to Eb. The bells here are of mixed founders: with the 1, 2, 4, 5, 7 and 8 being 1922 Mears & Stainbank; a 1723 Richard Phelps 3rd; and finally an 1848 Charles & George Mears 6th. One unique thing about this set, is that the bells have Major 3rd Tierces, instead of the usual Minor 3rds. As a result, this makes the ring sound extremely boomy, both inside and out. Our Surrey Strikers group were first in, so with the help of the ringers after us we rang a "Two Bob-Courses" touch of Grandsire Triples, with me conducting. (Comp. BBS X 2)

Moving swiftly on we arrived at our second location, the only grab for me, at Godstone. Once we departed the built-up Caterham area, the landscape became much more rural, with Godstone being a good example of a quintessential Surrey village. The Church of St Nicholas houses a somewhat similar ring to Caterham-on-the-Hill. A 12cwt ring of 8 hangs inside, although this time it is tuned to G. This ring sounds truly amazing, caused by their 1915 founding by Gillett & Johnston. Even whilst ringing the bells up - despite their quite piercing chiming volumes - they were magnificent. Here, we have some Call Changes to Queens and Kings.

For our third venue, we rang at one of the numerous rings of 10 in the Southern District of the SACBR. In this instance, it was Bletchingley. A tower featured on this channel before, this is a delightful light ring. Weighing 16cwt in E, they aren't too de similar from All Hallows, Twickenham - being just 2cwt lighter. However, as can be heard in this video, the two rings have practically no commonalities. Until 1991, the squatted yet wide tower consisted of: Mears & Stainbank Treble, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th and Thomas Janaway 2nd, 7th and 8th. Then Whitechapel augmented the 8 in 1991 by adding 2 new trebles. At this tower, we were able to exercise our method repertoire more. Therefore, we see the ropes ringing along to a Bob Course of Grandsire Caters. (comp. BBBB)

Finally, we ventured down to Merstham. a fairly busy tower in the Surrey Association. Like Caterham Valley, the bells here are of extremely mixed founders. Mears & Stainbank cast the present Treble, Second and Third, followed by a Bryan Eldridge 4th in 1657, William Burford 5th in 1380, Robert Mot 6th of 1597, Pack & Chapman 7th of 1774, and a Bryan Eldridge tenor of 1640. Altogether, the bells match eachother well. To aid with this, the bells are tuned to the old concert pitch, where A = 454Hz. Like at Bletchingley, our method repertoire was extended further, which allowed us to ring Cambridge, Yorkshire and Bristol Surprise Major, amongst other things. The featured piece here is 'Three Leads of Bristol'. (comp. BBB / Bob every lead).

Music: Andrew Applepie - Too Much Rain

Footage at Caterham Valley and Godstone is courtesy of Lucien A Lapthorn.@1260stedders

Next video: Bell RInging at Badgeworth, Gloucestershire.

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