 |
Saturday: the outing
The following morning, the day after Trafalgar Day, we began the day's tower tour. The FODS gathered at the coach with not a sailor hat in sight. After picking up the city dwellers at Canterbury West train station, our driver navigated the narrow streets to the roads leading to the Isle of Thanet for our six towers tour.
We had excellent diversity, from the five-bell tower at the Minster in Thanet (17 cwt and a real workout with plain bearings), dubbed "The Joke Tower," to the bells at Quex Park 12 (14-3-0 in F), known as The Waterloo Tower
At about this time, members of the coach tour began to inquire about the padlock on the onboard loo. Some members opined that the loo was out of order, due to a certain aroma in the region. Eventually the lock came off, and it was revealed that the aromas were from the French cheeses which Jim brought from France. No surprise, the assorted chocolates were much favoured over the cheese, and cheese will never again appear at a FODS event.
At Ash Next Sandwich, St Nicholas 10 (21-3-0), the FODS had to demonstrate considerable virtuosity in bell handling.
|
|
The number 3 stay broke, and was found to have been patched after two previous breaks. It nearly spelled doom for ringing on all of the tower's ten bells, until David Braunton and Sister Mikey stepped forward and rang the bell up, expertly balancing the bell with only the rope for control during the cruelly leisurely interval between touches.
Unusual approaches to ringing chambers are no surprise. But at Wingham, St Mary the Virgin, 8 (19 ¾ cwt) there was a ladder, which
climbed from one side of the Chancel to the opposite side, to rise through a trap door in the floor of the ringing chamber...
|
|
