Two out of Three aint Bad!

On Saturday morning I was at Inkberrow church, where the retired Bishop of Man and Sodor, Robert Paterson, ran an inspirational training session on the Liturgy of the Service of the Word, for Readers in the Diocese.

In the afternoon I had been roped in to take part in the Association interbranch bellringing competition at a church on the outskirts of Evesham.  I had arranged for DH to come and collect me, with the vague plan that we would fit in a short walk by the river in Evesham before the competition.

However, the weather on had turned cold and wet, so that put paid to that particular part of the plan.

With just over an hour before the competition, it wasn't worth going home, so we popped into Evesham Country Park. There was a shoe shop I thought DH might be interested in, but, to my surprise, he decided that he would prefer a cup of coffee.

DH ordered the coffee, but it was rather bitter. 

I prefer a rather mellower brew, so I won't rush back!

It was only a couple of miles to our next destination - the church at Great Hampton on the southern side of the river. We allowed a quarter of an hour - that should be plenty of time.

What could possibly go wrong?

Then just as we were heading into Evesham we spotted a sign.

"Road ahead closed"

Then I remembered from a visiting the town the previous Friday that there was something happening in the town this weekend.

"Arghhhhhhhh! It's the Evesham Mop!"

"What is that?" asked DH, in blissful ignorance.

"A fair in the centre of town. The main street is closed. I saw the sign last week, but I didn't realise that it would affect us today!"

We did the wise thing.

We followed the example of the rest of the traffic and turned off. However, that road took us towards Worcester. 

There is no other crossing point of the Avon in this direction until you reach Fladbury.

"We need to go round the ring road." I instructed DH.

And so we did, backtracking past the Country Park, as the clock continued to tick.

We finally reached at Great Hampton church a minute or so after the draw. We were not the last to arrive. Several others had also been caught on the hop by the Mop. 

Our team was scheduled to ring second. 

The judges were secluded in some part of the ground floor of the church, so all teams were instructed to silently tiptoe into the church, so that the judges would not know who was ringing. 

In reality, it is usually clear to everyone who the winners are, but it is good to have some judges to confirm the verdict.

Our practice session went well and we were feeling confident. This was very encouraging, as we were ringing Double Court Minor, a method we didn't know very well. In rehearsals it only had successfully come round once! 

Unfortunately, our test piece was not as good as the practice, but due to the skill of the conductor, it came round. Phew! 

We had no real expectation that we would win, as the third team were a much stronger band. Our only hope of victory was if they, like the first team, fired out. 

As I still had service prep to complete ahead of the service tomorrow morning, we left after that piece of ringing. 

Later I got the news on Whatsapp that we had come second in both the 6 and 8 bell competitions, with the Western branch being worthy winners of both. 

As I reflected on the result I was reminded of the words Meatloaf famously sang "Two out of three ain't bad!"