The Mini-Minorz activities

2003

In between ringing the little bells at Appleton, the ‘New kids on the block’ voted to become the Mini-Minorz. They then exchanged twelve bells for ten pins and bowled with equal enjoyment and enthusiasm.

January saw us at Swerford and Tadmarton. The ropes at Swerford were extremely short and there were not enough boxes to go round, particularly when some people needed two or three. Graham Reeves become our resident tenor man as he was the only person who could ring it comfortably!

February's ‘Firsts Day’ was very exciting. Camilla and Catherine rang their first quarters and the band rang call changes at Tadmarton without any help or support: an excellent ‘first.’ And it was good to have families join in the celebrations afterwards at the Lampet Arms.

At half-term we rang on eight at Bodicote and were then all very kindly treated to lunch by Emma’s parents at the Plough. Fortified by sausage and chips, the Mini-Minorz went on to Moreton Pinkney to meet the Cherwell Crinklies. Flap jacks came somewhat earlier than usual as the rope on the two slipped the wheel and cut short the session.

April - we have just been to Bletchingdon and Tackley (see Matt’s report) and are ringing after Easter at Rousham and North Aston.

Future plans include a trip into Oxford, the Ringing World Roadshow and a picnic/barbeque!

The members of Mini-Minorz met at two o'clock on Saturday 5 April, at Bletchingdon, and rang there (with the help of some experienced elders) until around three. It was a pleasant change to be able to have a good number of children ringing at the same time, and still have some adults there, to keep it under control. From Bletchingdon, we moved on, in various cars, to Tackley. We had some refreshments and relaxation (see photo), before ringing until about four-thirty. It was a successful day, and many thanks go to Joan and the other helpers for arranging it.

Matt 

May
Mini-Minorz Oxford Outing 31^st May
Programme
0930 to 1030   St Lawrence, North Hinksey (6)   5-2-27
1130 to 1230   St Aldate’s (6)   11-1-12                  

Lunch at Pizza Hut

1345 to 1445    St Giles (8)    13 cwt
1500 to 1600    St Thomas (10)     11-2-6 (lock out!)
1645 to 1745    St Peter, Wolvercote (6)      8-0-2

We set off just before 9. It was extremely hot and it got hotter as the day went on. In the Mini-Minorz were James, Daniel, Emma, Naomi and I (Catherine.) We started off at St Lawrence, North Hinksey. We were the first to arrive. The bells were very light. Next we set off to the centre of Oxford on the Park and Ride to St Aldate’s. The church was lovely and so were the bells. They had green sallies. Afterwards, we went to Pizza Hut. We had three different pizzas and afterwards the kids had ice-cream from the ice-cream factory, ice-cream sauce and sweets. We had scoffed ourselves so much that we were late for St Giles. St Giles had eight bells, whereas all the others had six. It was hard getting up there but once up we found the bells were quite hard to pull but were lovely. Next we came to St Thomas (which had ten bells.) When we got there we found it was locked so we caught the Park and Ride and went paddling in the river instead. That was really fun and cooled us down. Last but not least was St Peter’s. Red furry sallies and very light bells.

FANTASTIC
Catherine

Mini-Minorz Summer Barbeque
On August 7th Me, Catherine, Camilla, Kieran and Demelza set off about 12:30 to get to the first tower, which was Coombe. The bells were quite nice and there were 6 bells. The second tower was Church Hanborough. The bells were quite nice as well and there were 8. Then after ringing we went to Demelza’s house to have a BBQ and then we had a water fight and I got drenched.                                        

Emma 

Half term Activities
Monday 27th October
We had two new recruits this morning, Thomas and Emily. Naomi, Catherine, Camilla, Emma and me were also ringing.
First we visited Lower Heyford from 1:30 – 3:00; the bells there were lovely but the tower was hard to find at first.  Then we went on to visit Rousham from 3:30 – 4:30, a ground floor ring. There someone also set the alarm off (rather good timing as my ringing of bob doubles was delayed.)  Then we went into the kitchen at Rousham where several people had prepared us a very nice tea.

Friday 31st October
Today we only had four mini-minorz - Emma, Sarah, Kieran and me.  First we rang at Mollington from 11:00 – 12:30 then we went on to Bodicote for an excellent pub lunch at The Plough, which was burgers and chips. We then went on to ring at Bodicote from 2:30 – 3:30 and rang some very nice Grandsire Triples. We also learnt that the sixth there was Emma’s favourite bell.

I think that everyone enjoyed themselves on these two days. So, speaking on behalf of all the Mini-Minorz, I would like to say a big thank you to all of the helpers for helping us improve a great deal, and to the parents for organising tea at Rousham and lunch at The Plough in Bodicote.

Mini-Minorz Outing 2004.

Through the cooler weather and after the festive season Mini-Minorz and Co. started the New Year off with a relaxing yet satisfying day trip to Oxford on January 3^rd 2004. To maintain the wintery feel, we all enjoyed a good session of ice- skating in the morning, and though not everyone’s best sport, we still enjoyed the time. After an appreciated lunch, where we dined on Italian cuisine, we ventured out to the first tower – Lincoln College: a steady ring of eight that set the afternoon off in good spirits. We were able to warm up and refresh our ringing techniques on this more familiar size of peal before heading out to St Mary Magdalen: a lovely peal of ten. For those who had not attempted ringing methods such as Grandsire Caters, plain hunt on nine, or even simply rounds and call changes on nine, it certainly gave us all a taste of something new! Our next and final tower of the outing was St Thomas (and this time they let us in!). This being the second out of the two peals of ten bells, it was the first time Caters ringers were able to practise the new method with a little more confidence and experience. All the new mannerisms a ringer should adopt when ringing on ten bells, are quite unique to those for eight or even six bells. So the chance to ring them was very useful and greatly appreciated.

Ringing is a constant learning experience, enjoyed by many. On this outing we experienced something new, and are looking forward to the next excursion!

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