About thirty of us met in the church car park to join a 1981 Leyland Leopard bus for a proper coach based outing to celebrate a birthday. We travelled to Meriden where the birthday boy had rung an all under eighteen quarter peal and managed to get the bus up the country lane approach. Next was Ryton which had last been rung as a six but was now an eight. Lunch at a great pub in Hillmorton (Stag and Pheasant) then squeezed the bus under the low railway bridge to ring at the church. Good ringing here with memories of Tony Pickering (ex RAF hurricane pilot). Onward to a very vertical ladder entrance at Claybrooke which finished with a very good touch of Stedman Triples and finally repeating the end of the very first outing of Whitacre tower organised by the birthday boy's father way back in 1979. Mancetter back then was a ground floor ring and very hard work now transformed into a upstairs ringing chamber but still very heavy! Not helped by the third and fourth being put up wrong but many found these quite a challenge. However we did managed a super course of stedman doubles at a suitable stately pace on these half muffled bells. The coach then dropped us home having kept us warm and dry during the day. It was lovely to have some many join us to celebrate.
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