NAVY IN NORTHUMBERLAND

"Go to jail – miss a turn.”   All very familiar words to Monopoly addicts.   Now the Royal Naval Guild of Bellringers has no monopoly, indeed at this weekend we had representatives from our sister service, the Army, and our joint descendant, the Royal Air Force (No, not incestuous Ed!).   The jail part – well all who came to this year’s Trafalgar Weekend had to go to jail in order to catch hold on a ring of bells given by a General, albeit in the 18^th century.   As far as I know, nobody missed a turn too.

Enough clues?   Well we were based in Alnwick and, thanks to the superb planning of our organisers, Chris and David Barraclough (who were unfortunately unable to join us), in the six towers we visited in the border country were included not only Berwick Town Hall but also the Morpeth Watch Tower.   At Berwick you have to go through, on the top floor, what was the old Court Room, but also the line of cells of the 18^th century jail to get to the ringing chamber.   Some of the cells had grates but the only bed on display was a sloping wooden platform for at least six – a minor peal band who had celebrated too much?   At the Watch Tower, after braving the traffic to get to the island on which it stands, the peal grabber could easily see that the sure way to score there was to have been elected Mayor of the Borough!”

This is the furthest north that the RNGB had ever foregathered, only four miles short of getting abroad to Scotland, but north of the wall and the Tweed.   The countryside was magnificent and members took advantage by extending their stay to explore.   With a photo-sympathetic bus driver (yes, a bus, which we think was having its half term holiday from school duty) we had a magnificent tour of the area with its moors and coast, castles and islands, with ringing included.

The weekend finished with a dinner at the White Swan Hotel in Alnwick.   We dined, unfortunately not in the main dining room which is the reconstruction of the first class saloon of the sister ship of the ill-fated Titanic, where members who stayed there had breakfast, but in a cosy offshoot.   Just as well, as the after dinner cabaret, clean, allowed two of our senior members to show that the dreaded Alzheimer’s had not yet struck.

Our thanks go to the organisers, to all who met us and made their bells available and to our impeccably time-keeping bus driver - a popular man who was wolf whistled by two home-going miniature steam traction engines we passed on the road. Finally, it was nice to meet again Mark Philipson at Embleton. After his long stay at RNAS Yeovilton, he's almost an honorary member!

METOC
 

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