Summer 2026

Group photo at Builth Wells. Report below

Llanfihangel Rhydithon

Llanbadarn Fawr (Crossgates)

Nantmel

Lunch at Llandrindod Wells golf club

Builth Wells

Kington

Holmer and Friends Summer Outing 2026.

Quickly dubbed the ‘not the nicest of.... tour.

We met at Holmer Parish Centre at around 8am, considering the recent heatwaves we have experienced in 2026, the morning was a little overcast and chilly, we had all dressed for a heatwave, but luckily brought warm clothes. After Barbara and Sylvia arriving a little late due to a sheep causing problems, we got on the very nice minibus. Although, it obviously wasn’t cleaned properly prior to our outing.... Richard found a half pint of Thatcher’s which he disposed of (a little too early for a drink!) And I apparently was sitting in the child seat; it had a dinosaur seat belt comfort pad. Prior to boarding the bus Karen had read out the instructions for the morning bells, this is where the ‘not the nicest of’ began.... I will update as I go with the instructions, but it sounds like we would be experiencing not the nicest of bells.

Llanfihangel Rhydithon was our first tower, the instructions stated the church would be open and there would be a small staircase to the ringing chamber, the bells will be down and the treble is next to the next staircase. “Enjoy the bells as much as you can”. Well, the staircases were lovely and easy to climb, a few of us ventured up to see the bells. They weren’t overly big bells and were not far from the ringing chamber below. Whilst raising the bells we soon noticed the ropes were very long. Due to the short draught putting knots in was difficult. Even the most experienced ringers in the group had difficulty with these bells, maybe it was the long ropes or short draught but they were fairly hard to ring. Whilst looking around the tower we found a world record from 1952 in which a group of ringers rang 5 peals in a day..... how? We will never really know, but they also rung one for the 50th anniversary, so maybe it was just us? We did, however manage to ring Call Changes and Bob Doubles, whilst also getting covered in dust.

There was no toilet at the first tower, and with an hour travel and 45 minutes ringing, a toilet stop was needed..... this was a service station, with...... not the nicest of toilets! Dave gave us 10 minutes to use the facilities and refuel, Ian decided he wanted a sausage sandwich, turns out the 10-minute guidance was not relayed to the staff of the service station as we nearly left without Ian. We were informed the bap was worth the wait, so we didn’t mind too much and the next tower was just down the road.

Llanbadarn Fawr, the instructions told us these were a pretty 5 but 1 and 2 are close together, so be careful when handling. On our arrival, we located the ringing chamber in the only entrance to the church. How they ring for weddings was discussed as it is unknown how the guests and bride would get in if ringing is requested. We had no issues with the 1 and 2 being close together, and on reflection, this was the best tower of the morning. Due to this we were able to ring call changes, Stedman, Grandsire and Mixed Doubles. The plain bearings made them a little awkward to handle and the ropes still very long, but we coped a lot better at this tower, and enjoyed standing in the sun which had managed to break through the clouds. On ringing down, it was noted that a spider was not the normal hanging device for the ropes, we had a long stick and had to play hook a duck to get them on hooks to keep them out of the way of getting in and out of the church.

On to Nantmel, our final tower of the morning. Also, the tower with the most instructions. It read, “you may have to move some bits to ring the bells, the tenor is by the electric boxes with a red and white Sally. Bells will be down. No chime. If the treble won’t swing, you will need to go up into the bells (easy route) and check a platform has not been left in the wheel. They are not an easy 6, trying to get them a designated bell fund”. Luckily, when we arrived the treble swung, so no need to climb the vertical tiny ladder, labelled “access to the upper-level using the ladder is not permissible under any circumstances without written permission from the M.A.C office...... not sure on the (easy route) we couldn’t find another way up! I was on the 3 to ring up, we got half way and I could not get it up, I am also not great with long draughts and no rope guides..... Dave was trying to help me out but I couldn’t do it and kinda panicked, I was either going to keep it where it was or end up bringing it back down, luckily Karen took over for me... turns out the 3 and the tenor were fighting and did not want to be rung up. But the team got them up. We rung Rounds a few times, but the bells did not want to stay up, those who rung did very well fighting them. About 15/20 minutes in, those of us outside the ringing chamber heard the bells being stood and rung down, turns out the rope on the 2 was coming undone on Alison. It was decided to leave this tower and go to lunch early.

Lunch time! A pint was definitely needed by this point. We had a different experience this year, we went to Llandrindod Wells golf club. What can I say except the views were amazing and the food was great! It was a welcome change to a pub lunch, the table had been set up and we were all around one table and able to hear each other. After our lunch and a couple of well kept pints of Jemima’s Pitchfork, a few of us went to sit in the sun outside and see if we could name the hills..... we could not.....

Builth Wells was the tower after lunch, instructions said, “easy bells, by far the best, the only ones on ball bearings”. We entered the stairs to the ringing chamber via a very tiny doorway, I honestly want to meet the people who built some of these churches, they must have been tiny. Once in the ringing chamber and the bells were up, all we could say was, wow! The bells were so lovely we got to ring Call Changes, Bob Doubles, Grandsire, Stedman, Cambridge and Norwich! The only downside was the CCTV kept beeping at us, hopefully it was a good thing and that we all rung so well.....

Finally, on to Kington. This was a lovely tower with a really lovely outside stone staircase up into the ringing chamber. We had definitely saved the best 2 towers for last. We were all very tired by this point, including our ringing mascot, Roo the dog, who slept on people’s feet while we rung. Again, these bells being so nice we rung Call Changes, Bob Doubles, Plain and Little Bob and Norwich. None of the other towers today had a toilet, much to everyone’s relief this one did have a hidden toilet.

As with all our outings, we had a debrief, this time in The Olde Tavern, in Kington. This is a very tiny pub which we filled whilst waiting to get a pint. Luckily, the sun was still shining so we all sat outside to chat about the day and generally have a good time with great people before we all headed home. We also passed on our thanks to Karen and Dave for organising our day, and Dave for driving the mini bus,  we all had a great time, even if they were ‘not the nicest of bells’.

Hayley Clarke