Shropshire Association of Church Bellringers

Well that’s the preliminary quiz over. I hope you all had fun and answered most/all of the questions.
This was never meant to be a quiz, but rather a Treasure Hunt. As none of us is likely to be going on holiday in the near future I thought we should have a virtual holiday by going on a bell ringing tour of the world guided by the quiz answers.
Through the quiz (and the answers!) I have given you information you need to go on a

Virtual Bell Ringing Treasure Hunt of the World.

The quiz answers can be considered as places, links to places and necessary web sites.
Each week you will be given directions to places already alluded to (sometimes obliquely) in the three weekly quizzes. When you get there you will answer some bell ringing related questions.
You will need to use your computer (web sites!!) but the directions are pretty straightforward and most of the questions easy to answer.

All the answers to the three weekly quizes can be found here

So where better to start a world tour than St Chad’s, Shrewsbury.

Make the short journey to the tower nearest to where Abraham Darby the Elder (AKA Abraham Darby I) set up his first brass works in Shropshire. (Resources required: Google and Dove’s Guide).

• How many bells in the tower?
• What is the fundamental difference between brass and the metal used for making bells?
• Which Abraham Darby was responsible for building the current church?

Now let’s travel South East to the church with ringable bells nearest to where Pickles the dog found the world cup. (Resources required: Google and Dove’s Guide)
(Clue: you will need to pin point exactly where the find was made)

• What is the church? (Clue: It is close to a famous athletics stadium and the scene of John Mortimer’s barrister’s most memorable case)
• Who cast the 6 bells and when?

The answers to the Week 1 questions can be found here

The bells at Penge were cast by John Warner and Sons. Now there is a real clue to our next destination which is way out west.

Presumably the “Sons” of John Warner were also Warners and as there was more than one (Sons not Son!).

• They would have been known as the …………….

One of the film titles I usurped for lockdown days (Questions week 3) was not one film but a trilogy based on a book by an Oxford academic and expert on Anglo Saxon languages (Clue: He also wrote another, related, book that was made into a film trilogy).

• Give me the address of the film company that made the film trilogy.

In the good old days of film making the start of each “take” was signalled by a noise and image of a special, but very simple, instrument. It enabled sound and image to be synchronised.

• What was it called? (Clue. The name may remind you of a part of a bell)

If you are in the right place you will know the name of the City you are in.

• How did it get its name?

Spend a little time here and lap up the sun and all the other local attractions before moving on.

We are now going almost due east.

• How far (roughly) until we get to the first ringable tower bells?
• Where are we now?
• What was the name of the famous television series that started in 1978 based in this City?
• What was the name of the family the series was based around?
• What was the name of their family home?

This place actually exists.

• What was its name when first built in 1970?

We can’t stay here too long, although the temptation is great. Instead we are now going about two thirds of the distance we travelled to get here still in an easterly direction.

We get to a City by the coast which in Dove’s guide has four rings of bells hung for full circle ringing.

• How does this place remind you of Shirley Ballas?

We’ll be staying here for the start of next week’s journey.

The answers to the Week 2 questions can be found here

We’re staying in Charleston SC for a little while before wandering off on our world bellringing treasure hunt.

• How many peals have been rung in Charleston towers since 1st March 2016?
• What, if anything, do you find unusual about their temporal distribution?

I’m feeling very laid back, perhaps even a little lazy, this week. Perhaps it’s the places we are going to visit!
If you want to leave Charleston for destinations afar, you are encouraged to go by aeroplane. But I’m feeling laid back and not in the mood for planes, or for that matter airports. So I am going to take you on a cruise.
I have decided to travel with Carnival Cruises.

• What are their generic places to cruise to from Charleston?

Well, I am going to the Eastern Caribbean. Will you come with me?
If you don’t want to come then enjoy yourself in Charleston, but I am going to sail soon.
Well, within a couple of days I arrive in the Netherlands. That was unexpected!

• Where am I (or if you have come with me, where are we)?
• But this is even weirder, what is the official language I can hear spoken around me?
• And what’s this peculiar money?

I quite like it here, so I’m going for a wander. There is still evidence of a relatively recent weather event.

• What was it?

I like this island life so I’m going to go island hopping along this archipelago.

TIME PASSES

The boats have been a bit rickety but over the last week and I seem to have travelled across and round a myriad of islands.

• I got to one and thought I was in Upton Magna. Why?
• But at last I’ve arrived at my destination. I thought at first I was in the South of Spain. Why?

I wasn’t the least surprised I seem to have been through almost every European Country language-wise and I’ve had lots of cocktails to drink.
Oddly in the last set of islands all the drinks appeared red.

• Why?

Well, I’m here now and as a treat I see there are some ringable bells. But I am getting a bit fed up with singles.

• Where am I?

Its also really hot. So I was very pleased after the ringing to sit in the shade and have another cocktail. I wondered if it was hot because I was ringing near the equator.

• Am I near the equator?
• It set me wondering. What ring of bells is nearest the equator?
• Are there any ringable rings of bells in “Equatorial” countries? By that I mean countries the equator passes through.

And then I drifted off in the balmy sunny afternoon. See you next week.

The answers to Week 3 questions can be found here

It’s Sunday, my third on Grenada, and this morning I was ringing singles (again!).

I feel the need for something more adventurous. I start looking through my record book and something uncanny happens. St George’s Grenada was my 2001 tower and I still have Kenya on my mind. I suddenly think of a tenuous link and recognise I have my next destination.

• What was the link and which continent am I going to next?
• I find myself humming a Johann Strauss (II) waltz. Which one?

There are no direct flights from Grenada to my next destination, but I can go via Miami and New York with American and then a 15 hour long flight will take me from JFK to JNB. The whole flying time is the best part of 22 hours and with stop overs 38 hours. I think I’ll do it in stages and have a stopover in each. I want to ring, anything other than on 3 bells!

I need to contact the towers. I try Miami first.

• Who are the 2 contacts?

Well, I’ve sorted out ringing there. I tried New York, but I couldn’t ring.

• Why not (and its nothing to do with Covid-19)?

Well, that wasn’t a bad few days and now I’m sat on my plane, a new A350-900. So just 15 hours and I’ll be in my destination.

• Where will I be landing?

Well, I’ve arrived and settled in, so I’ll contact a tower. I fancy some triples or major so only one of the three towers will do.

• Which?

I decide to go for a tour. I leave my hotel and the tour bus heads out of the centre of the City and travels towards the west/southwest and we come across a famous president’s house.

• Whose house was it?

Now the bus travels to the East and I go to a museum that documents the history of a flawed political and social system.

• What is the name of the museum?

Well, I’m here now and as a treat I see there are some ringable bells. But I am getting a bit fed up with singles.

• Where am I?

Finally we get taken to the Cradle of Humankind.

• What is it and why is it called this?

The answers to Week 4 questions can be found here

Well, I don’t know about you guys but I’m waiting to hear from Boris about whether I can come back home. Boris is going to talk to you at 7pm on Sunday 10th May.

• Of course here in Jo’berg it will be (what time?)

In the meantime I am going to continue my bellringing journey north through Africa. But I am a great fan of the novels of Alexander McCall Smith particularly those starring Mma Ramotswe. So instead of going North I hop on a bus going just North of West...

• ...to where?

Well, I’ve sorted out ringing there. I tried New York, but I couldn’t ring.

• Why not (and its nothing to do with Covid-19)?

Well, I’m on a bit of a roll. When I was at School I learned all about Stanley discovering Dr Livingstone in deepest darkest Africa. I don’t know where this famous meeting was, but I do know of a world famous tourist site that was named by Livingstone after a famous British Queen and Empress.

• What is the name given by Livingstone to the site and what is its traditional name?

Well, I decided to take the train, but even that took more than 28 hours! But here I am. To my joy it is as splendid as ever.

• But what country am I in?
• And what country can I get to just by crossing this bridge?

My mind is beginning to need the stimulus of some ringing and I’m in the right country. But I’m a bit bus and trained out so I’m going to fly due West for an hour to get to a capital city with a ring of 10 bells.

• Which city is it?

I phoned ahead. To my surprise the tower captain sounded almost ecstatic. When are you getting here he asked? Later today, I said. Could you ring in a peal tomorrow? Yes I said what are we ringing? Well he said, Its Grandsire Caters, but I need a tenor ringer, would that be OK with you? Of course it would, I said. This will be a famous peal he said.

• Why would a peal of Grandsire Caters at this tower be “famous”?

Well, we got our peal. I think I feel I have achieved and will settle down to listen to Boris in the pub with my new ringing mates.

The answers to Week 5 questions can be found here

I was now realising how much I had been missing regular ringing and felt it was about time I went somewhere I could ring and be a tourist.
I noticed that having at one time been near the equator I was now near one of the other great circles of latitude.

• What are the 5 great lines of latitude (parallels)?
• Which one am I near?
• What is the significance of this line of latitude?

When I look on the map I find that if I travel west along this line of latitude I eventually get to cross a huge island, the West coast of which is rich in bells, so I made my decision to travel there.

• What is the name of the huge island (some might say the largest island in the world)?

Before I go, I need to get some new luggage, mine has suffered a great deal from all my travels to date. I was just thinking what to buy when an idea came to me. I went back to my map. Yes there it was, very close to the line of latitude, well just south of it, was a place named after a British Prime Minister which was also the name of type of leather bag.

I didn’t have many belongings and so I bought one of these bags in Harare, before getting on my plane to follow the line of latitude as near as I could.

My plane journey ended in a large city with 2 rings of bells: a 12 and a 6.

• What city is this?

Unfortunately I arrived late Monday night, the practice night for the 12 and far too late to ring. But the practice for the 6 is a Tuesday and so it was I found myself the next evening on the tenor. We pulled off to ring a touch of Grandsire, but the bells sounded rather odd.

• Why?

The bug was back and I didn’t want to miss out on any ringing, but I still wanted to see the country. So the next morning saw me on a train just before 8, to take a 5 hour journey south. I eventually arrived at my next bellringing destination about 1pm and went for a good look around. I didn’t have long because the practice on the 8 started at 5.30, but I went along even earlier to help with the learners. The church was on a street with a name I more commonly associate with a piece of Handel’s music, first written for the coronation of King George II, but has been used in every coronation since.

• Where am I?
• What is the name of the piece of music?
• What is the weight of the tenor?

Chatting in the pub afterwards I found that not only did the next tower South practice on a Thursday, but that one of the people I had rung with was actually from that tower and driving home the next day. The next morning we started early. We drove down the coast for nearly 3 hours and then turned inland to finish the journey. This part of the journey was particularly spectacular. At one point we crossed a river named after a famous English anarchist who in the early 17th century met a terrible end.

• Who was this?

Shortly after we arrived in the next ringing city. At first I kept thinking I was in America, or at least a particular American State.

• Which and Why?

And that was how I rang in a cathedral on a Thursday.

• Where am I and what was the name of the cathedral?

I was asked if I would like to ring a quarter peal of 5 spliced surprise major that Saturday and so I rested for a couple of days before starting my travels again. We got our quarter. It was the standard 8 minus two port cities and a one-eyed bear.

• What methods did we ring?

The answers to Week 6 questions can be found here

Even the two days I had rested up weren’t enough so I stayed in Armidale a little longer. This came to me when I looked back through my notes and saw that I had lost all sense of directions. I hadn’t travelled West from Harare, but East and Brisbane and the other towers I’d rung in so far in Australia were on the East Coast.

During my sojourn I received an email from a good friend with a quiz question. It took me nearly 10 minutes to get the answer. Let me try it on you. It sounds as if it might be a ringing question, but isn’t. It went:...

• ...If Glasgow is 8 and Cambridge is 11, what is Oxford?

I was well rested and knew which way was up by the following Wednesday and had made up my mind I liked Armidale but wanted the full on Australian bell ringing experience. Thus it was that on Wednesday morning I was at Armidale airport with a one way ticket to Sydney.

I arrived in Sydney on the 29th January 2020 and decided I would start tower grabbing the next day. There are so many towers in the Greater Sydney area that I decided to limit myself; but how? It needed to be both random and logical and so I hit on the idea of attending the practice for every tower within a 10km radius of the middle of Sydney Harbour Bridge starting on the 30th. I didn’t miss a practice and in the end rang at 11 towers. I left the day after I rang at the last tower to be grabbed. Because of clashes I rang at two towers three times.

• Which were they, and what day did I leave?

I decided that I had to finish my trip around Australia with the Swan Bells and therefore had to plan for how I would get there. There are so many towers I decided to go South from Sydney ringing at all the towers with more than 8 bells. It took me a bit under 2 weeks but ...

• ...where did I ring and where did I end up?
• Also, which was the heaviest ring?

The answers to Week 7 questions can be found here

Whilst I was in Hobart, I started to hear serious discussion about an infection that appeared to be spreading across the world. It was called Covid-19

• I didn’t know what Covid-19 stood for. Do you?

The first case in Tasmania had just been confirmed.

• When was this?

I felt a sense of foreboding.I tuned my cat whisker to Radio 4 to hear what was happening in the UK. BTW ...

• ... why is a cat whisker so called?

I heard the Government had the situation under control, and immediately panicked! What should I do? I really wanted to ring on the Swan Bells, but wasn’t sure exactly where they were so I looked it up in Dove's.

• Where are the Swan Bells?

There was one other ring of 10 or more bells in Australia, I hadn’t yet visited and it was sort of on my way to the Swan Bells. So I made up my mind to travel immediately. I caught a Jetstar flight on the 3rd March to this city, a journey of just 1 hour and 55 minutes. Alas, when I arrived and phoned the Tower correspondent I learned it wouldn’t be possible to ring and none of the other towers in the City would be appropriate as I was in a rush to get to the Swan Bells before the virus. However, there was a special railway trip I wanted to take from here to the City that was home to the Swan Bells and this would be good compensation.

• What is the name of this railway journey?

And so it was on the evening of the 5th of March I had dinner with my companions who would be with me for 2 days and I departed on my long-awaited train journey at 21.40. There is another famous railway journey I could have made from this city, but this time north, not west.

• What is the name of the rail journey and where does it end up?

It goes through a town that sounds like a Lewis Carroll character jumping.

• What is the name of the town?

Will I beat the virus, or will it beat me?

The answers to Week 8 questions can be found here

My train journey across Australia was wonderful. The food and drink were just incredible. One of the places we passed through was called Kalgoorlie. But the town wasn’t always known as this.

• What was it known as, and why?

To my surprise, even out in the middle of Nullarbor Plain...

• ...(what is the literal translation of Nullarbor?)...

the train had fast wifi. As anyone who has travelled from Shrewsbury to London will know, that was more than Virgin could provide! I received an email from my quiz loving friend. This time it had two questions.

• There is only one word in the OED that is an anagram of coronavirus. What is it?

"It was a bright, cold day in April, and the clocks were striking 13."

• This is the opening sentence of which novel?

In my friend’s opinion, one of the finest novels of the 20th century. My friend’s daughter agrees with him and she is ALWAYS right.

I also received an email telling me that the St Paul’s Burwood is actually 10.49km from the centre of Sydney Harbour Bridge, not less than 10 (actually 9.9) as I had measured it. So, well done to my emailer.

It wasn’t a boring journey, but I had time to bring my emails up to date and to ask the tower contact in Perth if I could ring. She had said I would be welcome to ring that Sunday, which was great as I was going to arrive on the Saturday afternoon. So I sat back and enjoyed the rest of my journey.

I arrived in Perth and popped across to Barrack Square. The tower is very impressive, but...

• ...but just how tall is it?

I then went to Billabong Brewing, but they wouldn’t sell me any of their “Brew On Premises” beer.

• Why not?

So I went to a nearby pub and had a couple of pints.

The next day I had a quick tour of Perth before going ringing. The Swan Bells are amazing, so some questions for you.

• How many bells are there?
• Twelve of the bells came from an English church. Which one?
• If you add together the years the twelve bells were cast, divide by 12 and then round up or down to the nearest whole number what do you get?

I had a great ring and enjoyed some beer with like-minded people. The beer wasn’t quite as good as Station Bitter, but then it wasn’t brewed in Oswestry!

And so it was that on the afternoon of Monday March 9th I sat back on a very special Qantas flight and arrived the next day in London.

• Why is this so special?...
• ...and what is the name Qantas give to the plane I travelled in?

I eventually got on a train to Gobowen. Well I didn’t really, I had to change at Birmingham International. The trains were late, it was raining, there was, predictably, no WiFi, but it was home. The following Sunday I rang a QP at Oswestry, with all my friends, and then lockdown!

But do I have some stories, and memories, and millions of pictures? The good thing about lockdown is that I won’t need to have the scheduled meeting with my bank manager for a little while!

The answers to Week 9 questions can be found here