Australian and New Zealand Association of Bellringers

Armidale 29th Anniversary Weekend

The Anniversary Ringing Weekend at St Peter’s, Armidale, is more than a tradition; it doubles as a quiet stocktake of the local band's progress over the previous year. Are all those Thursday nights of "one more go" beginning to show?

Not so long ago, the band was down to five: three experienced ringers (Carol, John and Simon), along with two indefatigable learners (Kathy and Peter). Even as numbers climbed to eleven regulars, progress remained predictably steady rather than swift. With the nearest other tower some four hours away, St Peter's ringers don’t have the luxury of popping over to their "neighbours" for extra practice or borrowed wisdom. And like many regional towers, the things city bands take for granted - such as a ready supply of standers - are non-existent.

Once a year, all this changes at the Anniversary Weekend, when a welcome influx of visiting ringers bolsters our practice sessions. This year, we were fortunate to be joined by Deryn Griffiths, Elaine Lee, Enid Roberts, Harold Bartlett, and Peter Harrison, each bringing skill, patience and good humour in generous measure.

The ringers after service ringing on 26 October 2025
From left: Stephen Goldsmith, Peter Creamer, Monty Wood, Enid Roberts, Peter Harrison, Elaine Lee, Stephen Wood (back),
Harold Bartlett, Allison White (back), Deryn Griffiths, Denise McKeon, John Hadfield, Simon McMilan, Carol Quinn

What made this weekend particularly memorable was that every single local notched a personal milestone. Some plain hunted for the first time; others ventured into new touches and methods; and even our seasoned ringers rummaged through their mental attics to rediscover methods they hadn’t rung in years. The weekend also featured three quarter peals with multiple "firsts".

By Sunday afternoon, the tower felt stronger, steadier, and buzzing with possibility. Plans are now underway for monthly quarter-peal attempts rung entirely by locals. What once lived in the realm of aspiration now feels like the natural next step.

Stephen Wood

Armidale 27th Anniversary Weekend

The weekend of 3rd to 5th November 2023 was set aside for the 27th anniversary weekend ringing at Armidale; a week later than usual to allow all our learners to benefit from the presence of visiting and returning ringers. The primary aim of the weekend was to develop the capability of the Armidale band, plus giving some of our visitors their first chance to ring for some months or years. We were pleased to welcome eight visitors from Sydney (4), Newcastle, Coffs Harbour and the Gold Coast (2). Here they are!

Cartoon credit: Kathy Creamer.   Photo credit: Hayden Gray

Ringing on Friday evening was on both silenced and open bells, to enable handling practice for our learners and 'cobweb brushing' for others. Due to a baptism service being held in the Cathedral, Saturday morning's ringing was on silenced bells until lunch time. Use of the simulator allowed this session to be for both handling and more advanced ringing. After lunch, open ringing ran until 4pm, by which time everyone was exhausted. Evening refreshments and dinner followed at The White Bull Hotel. Service ringing on Sunday was followed by morning tea and coffee, before a successful quarter peal of Grandsire Doubles rounded out the weekend.

Our thanks go to Enid Roberts, Kathi Downs and Geoff Milne for running the ringing sessions, and to all the visitors for helping our learners further up 'the learning curve', and for re-energising Armidale ringing yet again!

One of our new ringers, Kathy Creamer, is a published illustrator of her own and others' books. Kathy agreed to render one of our group photos from the weekend into a cartoon. Click the image above to see the photo on which the cartoon is based (it's not nearly as good).

Kathy is also responsible for creating a recruitment poster, which we've used around Armidale and online - see below. It has achieved results, as we've acquired four new learners who saw it.

Designed by Kathy Creamer

Simon McMillan

Armidale Commemorates ANZAC Day 2020

Normally, the Armidale community's annual commemoration of ANZAC Day begins with a dawn service, followed by a larger gathering at 11:00am. Both services are held at the cenotaph in Central Park, adjacent to St Peter's Cathedral, and the ringers are involved from the outset in setting the Cathedral's flag to half-mast at dawn and then raising it to full mast when reveille is sounded during the 11:00am service. As well, the 7th bell, dedicated to the memory of the 33rd and 2nd/33rd Infantry Battalions AIF, is tolled 11 times during the minute's silence. Following the service a commemorative quarter peal is rung, if there are enough ringers available.

What to do in a time of COVID-19?

Despite the restrictions the ringers were keen to participate. Flag duty was easy. This could be done by two people, very much isolated from the community atop the 85 foot tower. Dawn and dusk, no problem; with flag raising in the middle of the day timed for 12:00 noon in line with Commonwealth guidelines. It was decided to toll the Battalion bell 105 times just prior to noon as this would fit nicely with the flag raising.

Meanwhile, it turned out that the usual commemorative services had not been abandoned altogether, and small "by invitation only" socially-distanced ceremonies took place at dawn and 11:00am. During the minute's silence at the later service, the Dean of the Cathedral, Chris Brennan, chimed the service bell "Maud" 11 times, so the ringers' involvement was complete. Chris is, after all, patron of the bellringers' society!

ANZAC Day 2020 was a glorious Armidale autumn day as this late afternoon image of the tower shows.

From the top of the tower, the intricate nature of the eastern end of the Cathedral roof is evident, as is the deserted carpark and largely empty Central Park.

My co-self-isolator, Jane McMillan, was my safety backup, flag-raising assistant and auxiliary counter.

Simon McMillan

Armidale 19th Anniversary Weekend, 2015

The 19th Armidale Anniversary Weekend was a great success, with 6 hours of general and training ringing on the Friday and Saturday, and service ringing and a quarter peal on the Sunday. As ever, we could not have done it without the assistance of our visitors from Sydney, Canberra and Brisbane, who can be identified in the image below. We also welcomed Dru Haywood from nearby Bellingen (well, 2 hours away by road) and hope to see her again soon.

Happy participants at the Armidale Anniversary Weekend 2015

This year the particular focus was on Surprise Major ringing, and I am pleased to report that the successful quarter peal was a first of Surprise Major for one of our band, the weekend's organiser, Carol Quinn.

Armidale Anniversary Weekend 2015, quarter peal band

We gratefully acknowledge the training grant from ANZAB which assisted in the running of the weekend.

Simon McMillan