Stoke Fleming 2003

Since 1996, a group of ringers from Wiltshire and Hampshire have been visiting the small village of Stoke Fleming, just south of Dartmouth for a long weekend of ringing and social activities. In fact, the event goes back into the early 1980's when Knutsford in Greater Manchester was the venue. Mildenhall, Suffolk followed in the early 1990's before the Stoke Lodge Hotel at Stoke Fleming became the most recent gathering point in 1996.

The weekend, like the last couple of years, commenced with Dinner on the Thursday evening which was followed by drinks in the bar and a catch up of all the local gossip and events. It was unfortunate this year that Neil and Katrina had to withdraw at the last minute due to Neil picking up a leg infection and having to spend time in hospital in Cambridge. As with tradition, we drank to absent friends during the course of the weekend and both Neil and Katrina were in our thoughts and we wished Neil a rapid recovery.

Friday broke with tradition with a mini bus arriving at the hotel at 09:15 to take us to Plymouth to ring at three towers kindly arranged for us by the resident Stoke Fleming organiser, Mr John Dietz. John was joined by his son, Robert and with the bus fully loaded we set off for the first tower of the day, Laira, Plymouth. These were an excellent ring of Whitechapel bells, cast for the millenium and were thoroughly enjoyed by all. Things got even better when the local ladies arranged for tea, coffee and biscuits to be served at the back of the church after the ringing.

The light 8 of Stoke Damerel were our next tower which proved challenging but nevertheless were a very enjoyable ring. It was here that we managed to ring a course of Duffield.

Next stop was lunch that had been organised by John in advance at a pub in Plymouth. The food was excellent, the hospitality fantastic and had we not had a timetable to keep a few extra hours would not have gone amiss at this location. Nevertheless it was on to our final tower of the day, Compton Gifford, Plymouth, a fine ring of 8 where a well struck course of London was rung.

Our final visit of the day was to the Plymouth Gin Distillery in the old part of Plymouth that had been arranged for us by our long serving weekend organiser, Mr Robert Sherriff. No doubt the highlight of the tour was the gin sampling but behind that came the sight of Anita and George catching forty winks in the back row during the video presentation before the tour started. Unfortunately, two of the party, Robert and Ben were unable to participate in the sampling due to their age (hard luck boys!). After purchasing bottles from the distillery shop we assembled aboard our bus for the return journey to Stoke Fleming and a quick swim in the pool before dinner. We were joined this evening by Peter Sheppard who had made the journey down from Minety on the train following an A level examination earlier in the day.

We awoke Saturday morning to a cloudless sky and that was how it stayed for the rest of the day. The local service bus dutifully arrived at the Stoke Fleming bus stop (albeit late) and took us to the first tower of the day, Townstall, a tricky ring of 6 at the top of the hill leading into Dartmouth. Here Sarah had a little difficulty in catching the sally on the 2nd, was it the bell or maybe even the possibility of a little too much alchohol the night before? Afterwards, we walked to the fine ring of 8 at St Saviour's in Dartmouth where we had some very good ringing.

Next stop was the quayside where the small ferry boat that runs between Dartmouth and the castle was awaiting. Unfortunately, a certain member of the party (no names mentioned Peter), delayed our departure and we had to await the arrival of the next ferry. After a short smooth crossing of the Dartmouth Straits we met up with John Dietz for the eagerly awaited North v South Devon Call Change striking competition.

With the South team winning the toss they elected to put the North team in first and under the leadership of their captain, Mr John Sheppard the traditional 60 on 3rds was successfully called round despite a few dubious calls somewhere in the middle of the test piece. The South team sportingly clapped the performance before taking their positions to perform their test piece. The South team was captained by Mr Ian Carey who nearly lost his bottle halfway through the test piece and had to seek the assistance and reassurance of Ben to keep him on the straight and narrow - (this assitance would later be contested by the North team during the judges remarks). The South team were fortunate to have in their team Robert Dietz, a local resident call change expert who was placed on the tenor to help maintain a good steady, reliable beat despite the teams attempts to upset the rythmn with their somewhat unpolished cartwheeling handstroke leads.

After the South team had completed their performance Robert provided some feedback making reference to the inconsitencies with the leading which had caused him difficulties in maintaining a good beat at times - well done Robert, we will try better next year!

Nevertheless, both teams made a good effort and eagerly awaited the result of the judge during dinner later that evening. After the traditional team photographs had been taken and refreshments consumed at the local cafe, the more energetic walked back to the hotel whilst others were transported back by car and taxi.

Following tradition set in previous years, Saturday afternoon saw the Stoke Fleming Tennis Championships being held on the hotel tennis court.

In the heat of the burning afternoon sun, Cynthia retained her championship title for the 4th year in succession, this year partnered by Mr Des MacEnro Jones. Ben and Brenda were creditable runners up, Ben having successfully negotiated getting through the first round knockouts for the first time ever. A refreshing swim for the more energetic followed the tennis before people retired to their rooms to prepare for the formal evening events.

With the general dress code having become more relaxed over the past few years, it was decided that this year a formal dress code for the evening dinner would be reinstated and therefore, shortly after 18:30 a contingent of smartly dressed gentlemen, some in dinner suits and even smarter and more elegantly dressed ladies began to arrive at the Sherriff suite for pre-dinner drinks and nibbles.

With the champagne having being cooled throughout the course of the afternoon, the duty of opening the bottles fell to the newly appointed drinks waiter - Louigi.

With two bottles successfully opened without incident, Louigi became a little over-confident and as the third cork exploded from the bottle and hit the hotel window, Cynthia was engulfed in a shower of fizzing champagne whilst Louigi tried in vain to stem the flow by placing his thumb over the top of the bottle which really only made the situation worse. While cries of 'you idiot' and 'I told you to open it in the bathroom' rang around the room the champagne drenched Cynthia made a hasty retreat before Louigi had time to apologise for his poor performance with the champagne bottle. Offers from those present to suck the champagne from Louigi's somewhat dripping dinner jacket were politely declined and a little later, with Cynthia having returned and feeling a little less soaked the assembled party departed to the hotel patio for photographs and further pre-dinner drinks.

On the patio we were pleased to welcome John and Jan Dietz, our dinner guests and an enjoyable evening was had by all culminating in the judges decision on the afternoons striking competition event. The South team were pronounced the winners by John and his overall comment was that he thought that both teams had made a 'brave effort'. Ian responded and thanked John for judging the competition and for all of the tower arrangements and Robert Sherriff for yet another well organised weekend. The eagerly awaited public apology of Louigi for his earlier misdemeanour with the champagne bottle was gracefully accepted by those present (I think) and when he went on to remark how glamourous all of the ladies looked in their finery, total foregiveness was bestowed upon him. However, despite the humbling apology he carries forward a yellow card and three penalty points to next years event - sorry Des. Sarah on behalf of the ladies present thanked Des for his kind words and also thanked the gentlemen for once again restoring the dress standards to an exceptionally high level. The evening was finally completed with further drinks on the patio under the glowing red full moon.

Sunday arrived all too soon and following breakfast we assembled at Stoke Fleming church to ring for morning service. When we finished we said farewell to the Dietz family and once again thanked John for his great organisation. Back at the hotel we packed and headed home ringing at Gittisham, Offwell and Cotleigh en route.

Well that's it for another year I'm afraid, roll on next year and we look forward to another great weekend in Stoke Fleming. Thanks again to both Robert and John for their great organisation.

Finally for the benefit of our esteemed wine waiter Louigi I have added the following link to hopefully avoid a repeat of this years events

Cheers Des.

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