Australian and New Zealand Association of Bellringers

Report

The second ANZAB Surprise Major Weekend was held in Adelaide over a long weekend from 10th to 13th March, coinciding with the Adelaide Festival and beautiful autumn weather.

Over 20 local and interstate ringers took part, with four experienced interstate ringers leading the seminars and ringing. The weekend started with a quarter peal of Yorkshire Major at St Cuthbert's, Prospect, on Friday evening, followed by practice night and pizza and drinks in the church hall.

Saturday saw two parallel groups: "Towards Surprise Major" and "Cambridge/Yorkshire/London/Bristol/Adelaide Major". The interstate leaders gave seminars on topics including "Treble Bob Hunting", "Cambridge Minor", "Little Bob and Treble Bob Hunting on higher numbers" (for the "Towards" group) and "C/Y Major", "L/B/A Major" and "Splicing" for the more advanced group. Zoom session had been held covering these topics earlier in the week to "warm-up" the Adelaide ringers.

Following a hectic day with 11 ringing sessions and 6 seminars everyone enjoyed an evening meal at La Scala Restaurant. Sunday saw service ringing at 4 towers, followed by brunch and ringing at St Francis Xavier in methods up to Cambridge Royal. The day finished with a further Cambridge Minor session and a Bristol Major focus.

Quarter peals were planned for Monday (Adelaide Cup Public Holiday), with 2 successful and lots more valuable practice in other sessions. The ARC (Adelaide Ringing Centre) proved invaluable in providing plenty of rope time plus a well-appointed seminar location.

Many ringers made very significant progress over the weekend; ranging from first courses of Cambridge Minor to Bristol and London Major quarter peals and courses of Cambridge Royal.

Ringing for the weekend recorded on BellBoard, including the three successful QPs, may be found here.

The program is here.

Phil Goodyer