Robert B Smith Trophy 2024 – 6th Competition
St Margaret’s Leicester, Saturday 28th September 2024, 1100 draw
Thank you for entering/being part of a team taking part in the competition this year. This note is intended to provide you with all or at least most of what you need to know about this year’s event. If you have questions, please get in touch with Robert Watson on robert@robertwatson.org. He can also be contacted on the day on 07780 661215.
Finding the Church/Car Parking
It’s best to put Canning Place into your satnav to find on-street parking by the church (£8 all day ‘pay and display’ or ‘pay by app’ ** don’t use a QR code on a machine to access the App – there are scammers at work in Leicester!). No parking in the church grounds please.
Follow this link to see a map of local off-street parking and prices: https://en.parkopedia.co.uk/parking/locations/55_saint_margaret’s_way_3ghjgcr5qp6c7zk2dh/?country=uk&arriving=202409281000&leaving=202409281800#google_vignette
Timings
10.00 Access to the church.
- Tea/coffee/soft drinks, bacon butties/burgers and cakes, plus at least one vegetarian option, will be available and throughout the day.
11.00 Welcome on behalf of the Church followed by the Draw and team photos.
- First team goes up the Tower. Meet inside the Church at the bottom of the stairs. A Steward will come up with you and come back down again after your practice. You may adjust the ropes but after you have rung please return them to how they were. Please do not go anywhere other than the ringing room – there are alarms!
- Beer and cider available.
12.00 Second team goes up the Tower (and so on).
- Last team (scratch band) finishes.
4.30ish Results.
Teams There are 7 teams confirmed and we intend there to be a scratch band too, for anyone coming to the event but not in one of the 7 bands (together with some who have already rung but cannot get enough of our fine bells…). Confirmed bands are:
Birmingham Cathedral, Chester, Leicester, Liverpool, Melbourne, Nottingham,
St Oultons.
Judges The judges are Stef Warboys and Jadd Virji. We are hoping to have Hawkear outputs available to the Judges to assist them in their marking.
Test Piece 240 Stedman Cinques 8 10 s11 13 14 15 17 (20) repeat
Rules The rules are few in number and straightforward:
- Entry fee £24 per band (can be paid cash or card).
- Band restrictions related to involvement in the “National 12 Bell Competition” this
year: teams must have at least 3 ringers that didn’t compete in the competition at all
(Eliminators or Final) and a maximum of 3 ringers that rang in the Final.
- Ringers can ring for more than one band if need be, to make up numbers.
- Rounds at the beginning and following the last change will not be marked.
- The signal to the judge is two whole pulls on 1/2.
- Teams must have completed their test piece in plenty of time for the following team to be able to start their practice promptly on the half hour/hour.
- Teams will not be able to restart their test piece unless there is a mechanical failure. If repairable the following team times will be adjusted accordingly.
- The Judges’ decision is final on marking the ringing and the results.
Food and Drink
We are very grateful to Carol Franklin and her helpers for providing food and non-alcoholic drinks throughout the day. We can’t guarantee to meet everyone’s specific dietary needs, but the city centre is only five minutes away if you want something different.
Beer and cider will be served outside the church – beer from Charnwood Brewery (low alcohol available in bottles), Cider from Charnwood Cider. Please can you consume it within the ground of St Margaret’s – it shouldn’t be taken outside of that area as there are bylaws in place that prohibit alcohol consumption on the street (and the fines are quite steep). Please don’t bring it into the church (if we have bad weather we’ll advise what to do).
Like last time the competition was at St Margaret’s, we will be selling £5 and £10 “Food and Drink” cards – these can be purchased in the church and paid for by cash or card. When something is purchased the requisite value will be crossed out on the card – if there are any amounts left on a card at the end of the day, you can choose to either donate it to the Church or ask for it to be refunded.
Tea/coffee/soft drinks and cakes – £1
Bacon butty, barbecue item (burger/sausage) – £3
Cider/beer – £3 per pint/bottle.
First Aid
There will be a first aider on site – ask for Chris (most likely to be found looking after the BBQ).