The date fast approached and our Stedman had to be polished up and given an airing on Friday 25th February to mark the 200th anniversary of when it was first performed by a group of Mancroft ringers led by Samuel Thurston. How far had we got?

Stedman on handbells is hard and it is very hard for a band where not one of us has ever rung Stedman triples in hand, including the conductor. One of us has never rung Stedman triples in the tower either. Three have only been dallying with handbells for well under 2 years, and for much of that time we were not allowed to ring together face to face so a couple of us are more comfortable ringing on-line. So would we achieve our goal?

Probably not. The inside ringers can all ring plain courses from all the combinations of bells and we can individually struggle through a qp in the company of Mr Abel/Ms Mobel, but put us together and things are so tenuous that if one person wobbles, we tend to collapse like a domino rally. Speaking for myself, I can only stay right if I know without a shadow of a doubt that any clash is my fault. I then self-correct reasonably efficiently but of course this strategy is hazardous when employed by more than one person at once. "Clash!" and 2 or even 3 of us decide that it must be our error, so change position to compensate , resulting in some more horrid noises. Or, more embarrassingly, one of us (usually me) is convinced that they are blameless so nod vigorously in the direction of who ever is in "their way", who then doubts themselves, rings when they should not ring, and things rapidly deteriorate. Sometimes the conductor can put us right, but that is a stupendously big ask of someone who is both ringing and calling her first quarter in hand in the method.

We would like to achieve the quarter during 2022, the anniversary year, but I am content with where I have got to so far.  I was pleased to be able to ring a solid course on 25th February because I started from rock bottom and I have had to work extremely hard to even understand how Stedman works, to grasp quick 6's and slow 6's, going in quick or slow, Mondays, Tuesdays and other patterns, to coordinate my brain, my hands and my shuffling feet.  I have often felt like I was trying to catch smoke as each time I believed I had a handle on the principle, it proved elusive and just outside my eager grasp. I have been ringing Stedman in my head from the trebles every night  for months and I would like to move onto something else now because there are so many more things to explore.

When I mentioned this to the others there was a scandalised intake of breath. The fact that I have enjoyed the journey and don't much mind whether I reach the intended destination seems a decidedly unringerly attitude. They are more disappointed that, as an ensemble, we are not yet ready to achieve what we hoped to achieve. I suspect my relaxed attitude is, because I started late in life, that I don't have the same inbuilt drive to conquer everything that I attempt. This is a natural protection of my self esteem because, realistically, I am not likely to achieve much. Or perhaps it is down to personality. I am the sort of person who, if I rang 5000 rows of a peal (chance would be a fine thing) and then the rope broke minutes from the end, would not be too bothered. If I had enjoyed the 99% achieved, then that would be sufficient, although I imagine that there are many ringers who would be extremely cross and consider their time and effort wasted  because there would be nothing to announce to the ringing community.  Although, in my book, losing a peal at the very end and not sulking marks a person out as a successful human being.

I did have a look on BellBoard to see how many recorded quarters of Stedman triples in hand there have been and it is not many. Apart from a few notable bands who seem to make a habit of it (one group in Australia achieved it a couple of dozen times between 1963-96) , it does not appear to be something that ordinary folk do. When it comes to peals, other than in Birmingham where it seems to have been a party piece, there are less than a dozen bands who have recorded that they achieved this feat. Therefore, however far we get, I reckon that we are in illustrious company and should feel proud, even if 1260 proves too ambitious a goal for the moment.

Naturally, being a near total ignoramus, I had absolutely no idea of the enormity of the challenge that we set ourselves back last year.  If I had, I would probably have demurred and settled for Erin, because she is nowhere near as slippery as Stedman.

In future, we should avoid looking at peal boards and such like when ringing and concentrate on the task in hand, because who knows what one of us might spot next?

Having rung the handbells we were joined by 4 others and rang a quarter of Stedman triples on the MRDC bells. I tenored, which may sound like nothing much to any ringers out there, but since I have never covered on 8 bells it was an achievement for me. We rang the same composition that we have been tackling in hand, so at least I knew the tune.