Christmas Bellringing in Ipswich

Today was Christmas bellringing in Ipswich. We opted for St Clements Church this year...it is redundant, which is sad as it was once a proud old church with connections to the shipping at the port and with the British Navy...hence is known as the Seamans Church. Formerly used as storage for the local museum, the church has recently been cleaned up and will be used as a performance venue for nearby Suffolk College. Some of the monuments have been removed for safekeeping. We managed to ring Stedman, Ipswich, St Clements, Cambridge and Norwich here, on the ring of six.

Then we returned to St Margarets for tea and mince pies. This church has exciting plans for a new ringing gallery and work to the bells...

Last week, we also rang a quarter of Grandsire Triples at Ufford before their carol service.

I went to several company Xmas meals...Hintlesham Hall...we were a bit rowdy there.....in the Christmas crackers were those long balloons that zoom around making funny noises....we had lots of fun with those!

And the Ram in Hadleigh...this group was more sedate....

Tomorrow, more ringing at Pettistree, where the scaffolding is down and the decorating is finished.

The church looks lovely and bright now.

More Books on Textiles

Some recent additions to the library....

An excellent and heavy book.....lots of reading here. It is in three main sections: Overview, Colors and Mechanics. There is a sizeable section entitled Appendices, which includes useful informstion such as Timelines, prices, and more on greens, blues and blacks. A sizeable bibliography and index round it off...originally a thesis, I think, this book is readable and engaging....quite a tome!

A book about textiles in Norwich, mostly woollens. Norwich lost out to later industry in the Midlands and North, so not as recent history as the books based around cotton textiles...but as Norwich is local to us here in Suffolk, this piqued my interest. I must visit the museums in Norwich again soon!

This book has been around for some time, but I thought that I had better buy a copy.....Kathryn Berenson has researched the topic thoroughly, and the book is well illustrated.

Finally, two books on textiles from Asia, bought at a used bookshop in Framlingham...