David Waterhouse started learning to ring in August 2014 and recently rang his first quarter peal (tenor behind), after just less than a year. David had to work very hard at bell handling at first, but his persistence has been well rewarded and he is making great strides in his bell ringing. Shortly after the quarter peal, I retested him for Level 1 of Learning the Ropes, and he got so many ticks that he passed Level 2 at the same time!
Here is David’s account of his experiences leading up to his first quarter peal:
I am 61 years old. I was a Civil Engineer. I used to row for my company in the town bumps in Cambridge. I have been ringing for just over a year. I would like to thank Barbara le Gallez and Nicholas Small for training me for their help and advice for without it the Quarter Peal would not have been possible. I concentrated on three items and we were successful. The three items being:- 1) Keeping the tail end across the sally at handstroke. 2) Keeping the arms fully extended at the top of the handstroke. 3) Keeping your hands close to your chest as you come down from the backstroke. I hope you don’t mind me stating the basics.
L-R: Frank Seuss, Nicholas Small, Barbara Le Gallez, David Waterhouse