Imogen Carrie reports:
This year there was a first for the Carlisle Guild of Church Bell Ringers. Our first Youth Team, the Cumbrian Herdwicks, entered into the Ringing World National Youth Striking Competition. After a year of practicing together every six weeks during the school holidays, we made the journey down to Birmingham where the team rang their test piece of Advanced Call Changes on 6. The team consisted of, in ringing order, Boniface Dobell (18), Eliza Steadman (12), Lucas Hoyle (16), Milly Lawson (14), Hannah Saudek (16) with Paisley Cater (17) conducting. Hannah and Paisley shared the captain’s hat, with Hannah keeping an eye (or ear!) on the team’s striking while Paisley called the team into Queens then to Kings and back again. 
It was an early start for the team leaving Penrith Bus Station at 7am to get down to Birmingham in time. But once they were there they rose to the challenge and were excited wherever they went. Paisley and Hannah gave the team a little pep talk before the practice with Hannah saying, “have fun, don’t think of it as a competition just think of it as a chance to ring somewhere else.” And Paisley saying, “good luck, when this is done we have the really fun things like ringing in the Bullring guys!” When they finished their test piece they all sighed a breath of relief, the hard part was over, but they wanted to do more, much more!
Our competition time was 11:45am at Erdington Parish, St Barnabas (a ring of 8, 15-1-15) where we rang the front six. The judges’ comments were “This team is to be commended for their performance, and it was incredibly encouraging to hear this team relax as their test piece went in and their ringing getting better and better even in only 120 changes”.
As well as ringing the test piece, the afternoon was filled with various other opportunities to ring, including ringing at St Martin’s in the Bullring (a ring of 16, 39-1-19), ringing at St Paul’s, Jewellery Quarter (a ring of 10, 12-2-13) along with a handbell lesson, and Moseley St Mary (a ring of 10, 18-0-9). 
The team did a fantastic job, all ringing to a high standard. The competition was close, twelve teams competed in the Advanced Call Changes section, when the results were announced we were joint 4th, blowing the team away with how well they did and setting their goal for next year – winning!
We would like to thank The Ringing World for organising this year’s competition, as well as the judging panel lead by Lucy Warren, all the stewards and helpers and the St Martin’s Guild for hosting.
I’d like to give a special thanks to Helen Ruberry for helping me with organising all the young ringers, parents, helpers and the towers. Another special thanks to Julia Cater, her insight into the competition and her connections made this year’s entry possible. And finally a big thank you to all the towers and tower captains in the Guild who allowed us to have extra practices and who have given our young people extra opportunities to ring in preparation for the competition.
