Bellringing Outing to Norfolk

On Saturday we went on the South East District's bellringing outing, organised by Tom Scase of Debenham. It was well attended, with some new faces from Debenham and Otley.

Our first port of call was East Harling, a church that does not have a regular band of bellringers. Although the tower captain here has taught countless learners over the years, the drop out rate is high - perhaps more difficult than most people imagine? and also, many other activities vying for peoples' time these days. Bellringers are afraid that their enjoyable hobby is "on the way out".

A large and impressive church - all ready for a wedding later in the day. There were pots of cyclamens plus two gigantic flower arrangements at the front of the church.

 Our bellringers took full advantage of a coffee morning with cakes for sale in the church.

Another church we visited was Quidenham, which has a round tower. These round towers are a Norfolk speciality, although you do find a few in Suffolk.

The churches all seem to have healthy populations of bats, as their dry droppings are everywhere to be seen. This was a cute cloth bat hanging in one of the church windows. Some of the churches have sonic bat repellents, but as bats are protected by law, they must not be directly harmed. And they do good by catching countless insects.

Of course we had lunch in a pub, the Red Lion at Kenninghall. Only in Norfolk - a tractor parked outside the pub!!

I will  be talking about the papers presented at the BQSG seminar in the next post.