We met at 10am on the 7th May at the marble church at Bodelwyddan. It is an evocative sight at the side of the A55 and a landmark many of us know well. It was no surprise then that there was a great turnout of people who wanted to ring there. We were very happy to be joined by ringers from Montgomery and rang rounds, call changes, Bob Major and Triples, Stedman and Grandsire to entertain the coach load of visitors in the church below.

From Bodelwyddan we moved towards the coast to the village of Rhuddlan. 10 of us walked the route, others went by car and we met at the pretty church to ring the very difficult six. Here we kept everything simple because ringing rounds was enough of a challenge, the treble and fourth being particularly hard to master.

Rhuddlan also brought lunch and a well earned break, for some of us sandwiches, others took to the pub. Unfortunately we lost the Eastham girls here (Sharon, Sue and Jean) and Helen from Heswall but gained Giles, Hazel and Ernie from Liverpool who had made the trip over the water.

The sun came through in the afternoon and the walk to Prestatyn took us off the roads and along the levee on the side of the river down towards the estuary. We had some amiable chat on the way and ended up at the church in perfect time to ring the eight.

Prestatyn gave us some good ringing and we were all pleasantly surprised by how nice they were (the memory of Rhuddlan was fresh in our minds). Everyone rang to their ability from call changes through to Spliced Surprise. One of the Montgomery visitors had her first attempt at Bob Triples which is always good to see.

We rang down and once again divided into walkers and drivers. The walkers had dwindled down to five, Peter R and Sam from Thurstaston, David Jones, Tony Fox, and myself. We has a heavy squall leaving Prestatyn and I began to think that Hilary Morris and her husband, and Amy Robson had been very clever deciding to ride the last leg. The rain soon passed over though and we were treated to more sunshine as we walked out over the fields towards Rhyl. The pace was quite fast and more than once Tony Fox and I had a little moan that our legs were not quite as long as the other’s. We did however get to Rhyl in perfect time to hear everyone else ringing up.

On arriving at Rhyl it was good to see that Peter Newton, Val Beecroft and Margaret Allinson had managed to change their plans and had come to ring on the pretty light six.

The day ended with a shuttle trip back to Bodelwyddan from Peter Humphreys for those of us who needed it and a trip back to the Wirral after a really enjoyable days ringing.

It only remains for me to note a few thank yous:

Firstly to everyone who turned out to make the day so enjoyable and such a success. To Peter Robson for organising everything so capably and for constantly chivvying the walkers to make sure they got there in time. To the visitors, whose company we enjoyed and finally to Brenda Humphreys for once again so ably taking charge of the finances and making sure we all paid!

JED