Handbell Toolbox

Plain Bob Minor

A quarter peal of Plain Bob Minor requires the conductor to call a surprisingly large number of bobs and singles. This can seem daunting until you understand that the quarter peal is composed of a number of small blocks built up in a logical manner. Knowing how the quarter peal is constructed makes it a lot easier to both put the calls in the right place and keep right – collectively known as conducting.

Which pair to ring?

Ideally it would be good to have the choice – to ring the pair you feel most comfortable with and to also ring with an experienced band of ringers who won't go wrong.

If you've conducted on tower bells, you might feel most comfortable ringing the tenors as you are probably used to calling off the tenor. If you haven't called touches on tower bells you might like to ring the trebles as the lead end is easier to spot when the treble is in your right hand. However, you might find yourself in the situation in which you are the most experienced ringer in the band and have to conduct from the hardest bells to ring, 3/4.

Whichever pair you ring, it pays to do your homework beforehand. Work out how you're going to know when to call the bobs and singles and have a back-up to check who's doing what at some or all of the calls.

Building the quarter peal

This might all look a bit complicated with bobs, singles and coursing orders flying around. Have a piece of paper handy and follow the deconstruction of the quarter peal given below. Start with the plain course and study each building block in turn. When it gets too much stop and have a rest!

When it comes to ringing the quarter peal, you can either practise each block starting with the 120. Or you can "go for" the quarter peal and see how far you get. The point isn't to "score" the quarter peal but to practise longer pieces of ringing. Doesn't mean you can't celebrate appropriately when you do finally "score" though.

A plain course

A lead of Plain Bob Minor is 12 changes long and a plain course consists of 5 leads i.e. 60 changes.

A simple 120

A bob rotates three bells in the coursing order. Calling a bob every time the tenor dodges in 5/6 (up & down) brings the bells back to their original order after four bobs.

	5 3 2 4 6	The plain course coursing order
W	3 2 5 4 6	The first bob (W) rotates the first three bells in the coursing order (5, 3, 2)
H	3 5 4 2 6	The second bob (H) rotates the middle three bells (2, 5, 4)
W	5 4 3 2 6	The third bob, another W, rotates the first three bells (3, 5, 4)
H	5 3 2 4 6	The fourth bob is at H so it rotates the middle three bells again to return to the original coursing order

 

This is two full courses and is 120 changes long.

When ringing the tenors for this touch, the 5 is always closer to the front when the calls are made so it is easier to think of this touch from the point of view of the 5 which MAKES the bob, runs OUT, runs OUT and dodges 5/6 up.

The 360

By omitting the second call at 5/6 up (the final home) the touch lasts for six courses, i.e. 360 changes.

	5 3 2 4 6	The plain course coursing order
W	3 2 5 4 6	The first bob (W) rotates the first three bells in the coursing order (5, 3, 2)
H	3 5 4 2 6	The second bob (H) rotates the middle three bells (2, 5, 4)
W	5 4 3 2 6	The third bob, another W, rotates the first three bells (3, 5, 4). End of first block.
W	4 3 5 2 6
H	4 5 3 2 6
W	5 3 4 2 6	End of second block.
W	3 4 5 2 6
H	3 5 2 4 6
W	5 3 2 4 6	End of third block. Returns to original coursing order.

 

Call the 5 to (MAKE it, Run OUT, Run OUT) three times.

An extent

To get the 12 courses for the full extent (720 changes), call a single at the final home where it would otherwise come round. Call the 5 to:

• MAKE it, Run OUT, Run OUT
• MAKE it, Run OUT, Run OUT
• MAKE it, Run OUT, Run OUT, single at 5/6 up

Repeated.

To put it another way: call a single at the final Home position and repeat the 360 changes now with the 3 & 4 reversed = 720 changes i.e. nine courses short of a quarter peal.

The extra 540 changes - option 1

The extra courses for a quarter peal requires an additional touch of 540 changes. The easiest way to do this is to call WHWHsHs three times. The single at Home (Hs) swaps the second and fourth bells in the coursing order.

	5 3 2 4 6	The plain course coursing order
W	3 2 5 4 6	The first bob (W) rotates the first three bells in the coursing order (5, 3, 2)
H	3 5 4 2 6	The second bob (H) rotates the middle three bells (2, 5, 4)
W	5 4 3 2 6	The third bob, another W, rotates the first three bells (3, 5, 4)
Hs	5 2 3 4 6	A single at H swaps the 1st and 3rd of the middle three bells (2, 4)
Hs	5 4 3 2 6	A second single at H (one course later) swaps them back again to the previous coursing order
		Repeat the above twice to return to the original coursing order

 

Calling this whole calling sequence (WHWHsHs) again leads to a coursing order of (5,2,4,3,6) and then once more (WHWHsHs) we have (5,3,2,4,6) – the plain course coursing order after nine courses i.e. 540 changes.

The extra 540 changes - option 2

The alternative approach to the 540 is to call (WHW) x3 with a single at H (exactly as for the 720!) then call 3 x W with a final sH. The advantage of this is that the first half is identical to the first 360 rung and in the second half there are fewer calls and all in the same position. The disadvantage (which is not insignificant) is that 5-6 are not coursing in the final part of the quarter (which they are in the option 1). This can be mitigated by calling the 540 before the 720.

Total 1260 changes, a quarter peal

If you're an inexperienced conductor and the 540 looks a bit difficult, you can always ring two 720 extents and ring a quarter peal of 1440 changes.

Ringing World

Don't forget to submit your quarter peal to BellBoard and ask for it to be included in the Ringing World for publication.