Following in the footsteps of the last few years' Masters is no easy task. Each has brought ambition and energy to the job and has achieved much. Every succeeding Master therefore has the job of continuing the momentum and building on the successes of previous years, and I am conscious that this becomes increasingly difficult with each year that passes. Nevertheless I am looking forward to the challenge and am confident that the Society will continue to be successful during my year of office.

I think that members have a right to know what to expect from a new Master. However, the election meeting is not always the ideal occasion on which to set out one's objectives and plans. Long speeches late at night tend do not always meet with an enthusiastic response, so I thought that a message via the web site would have the dual advantages of being able to be read and digested at members' leisure, and of reaching a wider audience. Of course, it may also have the dual disadvantages that it might not be read at all, and also that, being more permanent than a speech, it might come back to haunt me later on!

There is sometimes a feeling that a new Master should come in like a new broom, sweeping away everything which has been done in the past and introducing lots of new ideas - a bit like political parties. To do this after so many successful years would, I think, be counter-productive and an insult to previous Masters and their achievements. So do not expect revolution - any changes are more likely to come through evolution.

Ordinary practices

The core repertoire of methods for the year will continue to be Stedman Cinques, Cambridge, Bristol and Orion Surprise Maximus. All are very well-established in our repertoire: Orion provides a standard of excellence towards which many aspire, and the others are well-established steps on the path. I intend to reintroduce the idea of a focus method each month - possibly more than one in some months. I found this a helpful concept when Simon was Master and I believe it provides a useful structure for learning and revising. I hope to introduce some methods which we have not practised before as well as some we have rung in the past. I also intend to announce a Spliced menu for each month so that we have a focus for that as well.

In making these choices and in running the practices I will try to accommodate the aspirations of members. I have already discussed ringing goals with one member and will be pleased to do so with others if they think that it is helpful. I may also experiment with ringing longer touches on occasions. The number of touches rung during a practice depends on many variables, but on difficult rings longer touches do sometimes seem to result in increasing confidence and higher standards. I will also try, as far as I can, to ensure that everyone who arrives at the practice at or near the beginning rings at least twice.

Special practices

Special practices were originally introduced as a way of dealing with the large numbers attending practices, especially on meeting nights. They are a useful way of allowing more concentrated practice in specific methods, and I intend to continue to use them for this purpose, especially for practising the focus methods. I also hope to be able to give members, especially those from outside London, opportunities in twelve-bell ringing which they might not otherwise get.

Peals

I plan to organise a peal in or around London in most months, largely for members who attend Tuesday night practices, although some peals may include members from further afield. My intention is to attempt peals in some of the focus methods, especially those which are new to our repertoire. These peals will normally be on Saturdays, as I do not feel that weekday evening peals are conducive to sustained good ringing. However, we may have to resort to weekday evenings occasionally as a backup. I am also planning to round off the year with a peal day on 10th November in London in which all six of A J Pitman's all-the-work peals of Spliced Surprise Major will be attempted simultaneously. There will also be peals outside London as outlined below.

Contact with members outside London

Over the last two years Simon and Stef have each gone to great lengths to involve more members outside London in the Society's activities. Peal ringing has been a major focus in this, and I believe that it has been a very successful initiative. I intend to continue this policy by arranging to ring peals with members around the country . Some of these peals will be joint efforts with London members whilst others will be more locally-focussed. As well as the traditional peals before the country meeting in Devon in July, there will also be a peal weekend over the August Bank Holiday weekend based in Leeds, which will follow the successful format of the Cardiff weekend last February. In addition, with the enthusiastic support of members locally, peals have been arranged in the next three months in Hampshire, Worcestershire, Cornwall, Wiltshire, Middlesex, Somerset and Gloucestershire: many more will follow during the rest of the year.

Overseas links

The UK05 tour did a great deal to strengthen links with members overseas. The Society visit to Toronto last August and the opening of the new ring of twelve at Holy Trinity, Wall Street, New York by a Society band last month have both built on these links in North America. During the year I plan to continue this process with visits to Washington and Vancouver in April, to Western Australia in September and, hopefully, to New York in October. Plans for the Washington visit are well in hand, although the subsequent Canadian part of the trip is a little more loose at the moment. In September I plan to spend two weekends ringing in Perth with local Society members, hopefully we will be joined by members from other parts of Australia. And at Tim Barnes's enthusiastic instigation a slot has been pencilled in for a visit to New York in October, subject to satisfactory ringing procedures being established there.

National Twelve-bell Competition

The Society has performed very well in the competition over the last few years. We have already voted to enter a team in the 2007 competition, and ten of last year's band have already agreed to ring again, allowing a large measure of continuity with our past success. Hopefully our endeavours will not be disrupted by television crews this time! The Competition Committee's decision not to allow multiple entries prevents us from entering two teams again: I am sure that this will be disappointing for many members who took part in the A team last year, although I accept and support the reasons for the Committee's decision.

Other ringing activities

The last two years have seen the initiatives of the Society twelve-bell competition at Evesham and the Master's Challenge in Bristol. Both were well supported by members, particularly from outside London, and were very successful events. Whilst trying to think of yet another similar activity which we could try in 2007 I was approached by Dickon who asked for the Society to support a peal day in May to raise funds for the St Magnus restoration. As this is a very worthwhile initiative which will need the participation of a large number of members to ensure success, and because it has effectively taken the May calendar slot used in the last two years, I think that a further ringing activity in the spring would not be viable - there is a limit to the number of initiatives which members can reasonably be expected to support! However, after consultation with the Master of the Society of Royal Cumberland Youths, we will be holding another informal striking competition between the two societies as part of our normal practice schedule, and following the same broad format as in previous years.

And finally..

I hope that you will all appreciate this more detailed review of the year's ringing plans. If you have any comments or questions I'll be very pleased to hear and try to answer them. Success results from maximum co-operation between Master and members and I know that I can count on your support in what I am sure will be another excellent year.

Chris Kippin