00:00 - Llanover
00:36 - Abergavenny
07:05 - Llantilio Pertholey
11:48 - Llantilio Crossenny
16:58 - Final Evening!
Following two relaxed days (well, it’s all relative!), Day 6 - our final full day - saw a return to a full-on itinerary, complete with an early start (much to Euan’s disgust) as we headed north-east towards Abergavenny. To our delight, we were rejoined by Becca and Kinsey (The Goodest Boy) - Bertie was clearly Lilliputtered out however, and did not make a return visit!
Unfortunately, the early start was in vain, as the keyholder at our first tower, Llanover, had been told the wrong time and failed to turn up! Despite Simon’s best efforts, this could not be rectified, and so we instead headed into Abergavenny for a compensatory coffee break - what a hardship!
This did mean however that we were fresh and ready for perhaps the most anticipated tower of the week; the wonderful ring of ten at Abergavenny, where we were given the warmest of welcomes by the rector, Father John Connell, before ascending the tower - not one of Kinsey’s favourite climbs! The bells are a vintage 1947 Taylor ring, which were cast to celebrate the end of World War II. These replaced an earlier ring of eight (tenor 19cwt) - it’s fair to say that these were a peal of mixed vintage, which probably weren’t very good; an old six, with bells by Purdue, Rudhall and Jefferies & Price in the mix, they were augmented from six to eight (and the tenor recast) in 1887 by Llewellins & James of Bristol to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. The ringing here was run by the tag-team of Jose and Alex, who led us through the usual repertoire of call-changes and Grandsire Caters, and even some Cambridge Major on the back eight.
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Following lunch in Abergavenny, it was a short hop down the road to an ideal post-lunch tower, the easy going 12cwt six at Llantilio Pertholey, where we were blessed by the arrival of Jimmy and Emma (and her sausage rolls!). These are an old four which were rehung in a new frame and the treble replaced by Taylors in 1994; the old treble is now hung as a sanctus bell, and can be heard at the end of our session here. The augmentation to six took place the following year, in April 1995, with two trebles cast and installed, also by Taylors. They are what I call a pleasingly average six; easy to ring, OK to listen to, and clear inside. The only real problem was the ancient tenor, which needed a lot of encouragement to get it moving! Ringing featured here is Grandsire Doubles (inside) and Bob Doubles (outside), although the Surprise Minor boat was pushed out here with the introduction of Annable’s London - a great method!
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I have previously uploaded some call-changes from our visit here; these can be found on the below link:
• Call Changes at Llanti...
And so it was onto our final tower of the day, the simply delightful little eight at Llantilio Crossenny. Cast in 1977-8 by Whitechapel, they replaced an earlier 10cwt Rudhall six, and are one of - if not - the finest light ring going; apart from the slightly barren (and very stuffy!) ringing room, there was absolutely nothing to fault here; the sound, go, and clarity were all top notch. We produced some of our best ringing of the week here, with Stedman and Cambridge rolling around, although I sadly did not have a chance to film much! For your delectation however, I have included some call-changes (inside), forwards-backwards (outside), as well as the lower.
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The full extent of the call-changes filmed here may be found here:
• Call Changes at Llanti...
And so it was back to Miskin for one final evening of merriment. Whilst Lauren and Emily busied themselves with cooking (and I with some nice crusty bread!), others were more interested in playing with Kinsey and Brick (not necessarily together). We hope the latter enjoyed their view from atop the flagpole - and is not too emotionally scarred by the experience.... :-)
And that's it for Summer Tour 2023 videos - I did film Pontypridd (Sunday morning tower), which will be uploaded in due course, but nothing else. Thank you for watching - and here's to 2024's Tour!