ASCY TOUR OF
NEW ZEALAND & AUSTRALIA

Time to leave Adelaide and head for the most isolated city in the world: Perth. The plane journey took almost 4 hours. The strict quaranteen laws had been laying heavily on The Mushroom's mind so much so that the day before, after a thorough search of his suitcase, he had discovered 3 rogue seeds! Since these were seeds he wanted to take to England, he had the presence of mind to post them before confronting the Perth sniffer dogs! Needless to say everyone passed the test.

Very soon after arriving in Perth, the first ringing engagement started: a peal of Grandsire Cinques at the Swan Tower. This tower (known simply in Perth as "Swan Bells") is beautifully sited by the side of the Swan River. It has an elegant glass tower and illuminated needle that holds a lift and stair case attached to a more substantial tower shrouded by two brown "sails" which contains the ringing room and the bells. The belfry contains the former ring of 12 from St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square (they tuned up beautifully) together with a number of modern bells to form a ring of 16 with a couple of accidental bells. Visitors to the tower pay A$6 which allows them to view the ringers through darkened glass (so that the ringers cannot see the tourists), view the bells through glass in the belfry and then view the local area from the highest viewing point. It was particularly interesting for some of the ringers to watch the peal band in action, and watch the reaction of the tower tourists to the various ringing styles being displayed.

PERTH, Western Australia
Swan Tower
Tenor: 29-0-14 in C sharp
Sat 27^th Sept 2003 in 3h 17
5015 Grandsire Cinques
Composed by Donald F Morrison
1 Simon J L Linford (C)
2 Peter C Randall
3 Michael P Moreton
4 Karen Lebon
5 Carol Brown
6 Eric S White
7 David E Rothera
8 Keith G Game
9 J Roderick N Lebon
10 Fr David A Gibbons
11 Derek J Thomas
12 David J Baverstock
This peal was rung Non-Association

The other good point about Swan Bells is that it is situated right next the riverside bar called "The Lucky Shag". All ringing visitors to Swan will be familiar with it, and by the end of the tour, so were the ASCY - some more familiar than others!

Later in the evening there was a practice at the Swan Tower with the local ringers which was followed by a trip down to Fremantle Harbour (about half an hour away on the railway at the mouth of the Swan River) and dinner at "The Red Herring".

Some views of Swan Bells: the  bell tower on the Swan River.

The other place where the ringers seemed to spend most of their time.

The Sunday morning had several ringing options for the touring party. There was service ringing at Claremont or service ringing at St George's Cathedral. A band was also assembled to attempt a peal on all 16 bells at Swan. This was a very inexperienced band on sixteen which also included two members who had never rung a peal on sixteen before. It took a good couple of hours for the rhythm to settle, but the peal was successfully completed with a much better sixteen bell rhythm. This was only the 3rd peal on all 16 bells here, and only the 2nd of surprise. As with the peal the previous day (and indeed, with all peals at the Swan Tower), the band and supporters were treated with refreshments afterwards.

The peal had obviously taken its toll on some of the band as two of them promptly dropped out of the peal arranged for the afternoon. Fortunately the Master was able to rustle up a couple of replacement ringers and was particularly pleased that one of them was from the locality. So while most of the ringers headed for the Lucky Shag, a band of 8 ringers headed for the prestigious area of Perth known as Mosman Park and the school chapel of St Hilda of Whitby. Since the ropes here were rather hard and tight, Michael Moreton needed to enlist the help of Derek Thomas to help him put an additional tuck into his rope. Michael's words "you put both hands on it while I poke it in the hole" echoed across the ringing room to great mirth! Despite this, a peal of Yorkshire S Major was successfully completed. Following hospitality from Mary and John Townsend, the band were able to briefly visit Christ Church, Claremont before heading back to the centre of Perth. For those not in the peal, a service touch was rung for evensong at St George's Cathedral later in the afternoon and drinks and nibbles were kindly provided by the Perth ringers in the adjacent hall afterwards. A quarter peal of Double Norwich was then attempted at the Cathedral, but this unfortunately came to grief just before the end.

In the evening, the local ringers and the touring party met together for a dinner in the Globe Wine Bar in the Parmelia Hotel. The Master issued some words of welcome (to which David Knewstub, Perth Ringing Master responded) and Fr David Gibbons said Grace. There was a good turnout and everyone had an excellent time.

School Chapel of St Hilda of Whitby, Mosman Park.

Christ Church, Claremont

Pictures from the Dinner in the Parmelia Hotel.

David Knewstub (right) enjoyed the company of Stef Warboys (with Keith Game pictured in the centre).

Laith Reynolds with the Junior Steward.

The Master with Laith Reynolds.

David Rothera and Carol Brown share an intimate couple of pints!

This was the Queen's Official Birthday in Western Australia (they even celebrate it differently from the other Australian States). As a consequent, it was also a Bank Holiday. The number of visitors to the Swan Tower had risen dramatically following the publicity campaign preceding the ASCY tour, and this day was no exception.

The task for the day was for the Society to honour a long standing invitation issued by Laith Reynolds to ring a peal to commemorate the first ever peal of Stedman Cinques. The College Youths performed this feat on 6th October, 1788 (which is incidentally the year that Australia was first settled) on the bells of St Martin-in-the-Fields. These are the same bells that are now in the Swan Tower. The composition used then was longer than the traditional length of peals by over a 5th, yet it was this composition that needed to be followed for the commemoration. There is a highly ornate yet rather aged peal board recording the 1788 performance in the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields. A facsimile of this dominates Swan ringing room looking crisp and new.

Before the peal, a number of reporters and a television crew came into the ringing room. Both the Treasurer and the Master (who had to hastily don a shirt and the badge) were interviewed and appeared on Channel 9 later in the evening. The peal itself was very good yet tiring as it lasted 4 hours 18 minutes. It was not the most inspiring of compositions as it remained in the tittums position throughout, and the 7th and 8th consequently rang 47 plain courses without being affected by any calls! However, when the peal came round, the ringing room was swamped with the other touring members, Swan ringers and a beaming Laith Reynolds, who also brought along another newspaper crew. More photos were taken of the band and the Master (variously in the ringing room by the Peal Board and in the belfry) before the ringers were able to hit the Lucky Shag!

This time it was the Master's turn to complain of aches that led him to find a replacement for himself in the afternoon peal at St George's Cathedral. He was certainly very grateful to Jocelyn Sloan for stepping in and ringing her first peal of Surprise Major.

Later in the evening, a quarter peal of Stedman Caters was attempted at Swan with some of the local ringers, but this unfortunately came to grief. There was then an hour's general ringing/practice before another quarter peal was successfully rung of Stedman Cinques.

It was in the hotel bar at the end of the evening that Martin and Deirdre Cubitt arrived brandishing an early edition of "The West Australian". There on page 30 was a rather amusing article about the events of the day and the Master together with a photograph of the Master balancing behind the 13th bell in the belfry!

"The West Australian" Tues 30th Sept 2003 Pg 30.

The elaborate facsimile of the 1788 peal board in
St Martin-in-the-Fields.

St George's Cathedral.

Ringing the Swan Bells.

There were only 2 more peals left of the tour and both were rung successfully. One was at St Hilda's Chapel in Mosman Park where the Secretary called Diserens' 8-Spliced S Major and the other was on the light 12 in the Swan Tower of Cambridge S Maximus. After the peal at Swan, the band were greeted by the Lucky Shag with free beer. It would appear that Andrew Stubbs had inadvertently mentioned the Lucky Shag in his Channel 9 interview thus resulting in a grateful landlord! (The Master had also received a free gift from one of the bar maids but this is not thought to have had anything to do with TV!)

In the evening, an official ASCY Practice was held at Swan, run by the Master. It was again an opportunity for some of the local ringers to practise methods such as Stedman as well as an opportunity for the touring party to ring more advanced material. A plain course of Little Bob Sixteen was brought round successfully and 2 leads of Bristol Sixteen were rung on two occasions. For some of the party, this was their first ring on 16, and for others their first go at Bristol. The highlight was perhaps 4 leads of Bristol Maximus on the light 12.

After the practice, an official business meeting was held in the ringing room, chaired by the Master in front of the 1788 facsimile peal board. The usual items of business were transacted, two new members were proposed (one from Perth and one from Melbourne) and Ron Chapman presented the Society Library with a copy of his thesis. David Knewstub and Laith Reynolds also issued welcomes to Australia and Perth. At the end of "Any Other Business", the Junior Steward stood up to issue a vote of thanks to the organisers of the tour. He presented Phil and Gwen Rogers with a rather expensive bottle of Australian wine as selected in advance. Turning to the Master, he was to be presented with a framed photograph of the Swan Tower, but this could not be sorted out until the return to London. However, he was then presented with an 18 inch long didjeridu which he was then invited to sound during the meeting. Goodness knows how the Secretary planned to record that episode in the minutes! Drinking, of course, continued in the Lucky Shag and those still awake enough to continue in the hotel bar were treated to playing of another gift presented to the Master: a CD of rather funky didjeridu music (mercifully not Rolf Harris).

Food in the Lucky Shag after the Business Meeting.

Michael Moreton tries out the Master's didjeridu.

And how it is really done...

All good things have to come to an end, and thus the touring party met at the Lucky Shag for one last time for lunch. In the morning a number of people did turn out to the Swan Tower to assist in a demonstration to a large group from Queensland. During the lunch, the Junior Steward entertained the group by announcing a set of awards, the recipients of which are pictured below.

Goodbyes were said (Michael Moreton saying "Goodbye birdie birdie birdie" to one of the local birds) and the coach finally arrived to take people to the airport. The flight to Singapore was fairly empty and therefore comfortable, although the few hours spent in the outside bar certainly felt very tropical. The flight on to London was just long, although David Rothera did a good job of complaining that he had not been offered a cooked breakfast yielding results for himself and the Master.

The final lunch at the Lucky Shag.

David Baverstock with the "Sharking award".

Rod Lebon with the award for the person wearing the same item of clothing the most.

Deirdre Cubitt with the award for being the most loyal non-ringer.

Keith Game got an award. The Web Master can't remember what it was for but it might have involved his love of innuendo!

Fr David Gibbons received the award for the least originality: would you believe that he delivered the same Grace TWICE during the trip! He narrowly beat the Junior Steward who called the same composition of Yorkshire Maximus twice!

Tony Daw with an award for the most action during the holiday.

Stef Warboys with an award for services to the Australian economy. She managed to spend more on clothes than Paul Williams and the Master did on gin!

David Baverstock with the "Sharking award".

And finally the award for the most entertainment provided on the trip: Michael Moreton received a pencil sharpener ... shaped like a mushroom!

So it was that the touring party returned to London. Remarkably, Keith Game had all his luggage...

The tour was a special one. The touring party were generally good humoured and certainly enjoyed themselves. The welcome by the local ringers was incredibly generous. Some friends were made and invitations to visit England returned. Without doubt the visit by the Society has been a great success.