Ridgman Trophy Striking Competition 2013

Ridgman Trophy returns to Bedfordshire

Saturday June 15th at Surfleet

The Lincoln Guild are to be congratulated for their excellent hosting of this year’s 25th Ridgman Trophy regional 10 bell striking competition. Open towers, a mini-ring, boat trips and excellent pub food provided all the necessary ingredients for a very enjoyable afternoon.

Bedfordshire were drawn 8th out of 8 which meant a bit of a wait before we got to ring but it did give ample opportunity to size up the opposition as well as catch up with friends from around the region.

The church was full for the results. Judges Mike Purday and Richard Smith, both from Cambridge initially spoke a little about each teams’ performance before giving the all important placings in reverse order. Bedfordshire were once again placed first with just 30 faults with our hosts The Lincoln Guild taking second place.

All in all it was a very enjoyable and well organised event. Many thanks to my fellow Beds team members for all their effort and focus during practice and on the day.

Test piece:– Half a course of Cambridge Surprise Royal

Results
  Team Score Peal speed
1 Bedfordshire 30 faults 3h1m
2 Lincoln 42 faults 3h4m
3 Ely 47 faults 3h5m
4 Norwich 51 faults 3h12m
5 Peterborough 57 faults 2h59m
6 Suffolk 67 faults 3h19m
7 Essex 83 faults 3h5m
8 Cambridge University 102 faults 3h3m
Inaugurated in 1988, the competition has now been running for 25 years and for interest the winners table is shown below:
Team  
Hertford County Association 7
Bedfordshire Association 6
Cambridge University Guild 3
Essex Association 3
Suffolk Guild 3
Leicester Diocesan Guild 2
Ely Diocesan Association 1
Norwich Diocesan Association 1

Russell Brown

Ridgman Trophy winning team 2013
Left to right. Anthony Smith (6th), Bob Wood (5th), Russell Brown (7th), Philippa Whittington (4th), Richard Horne (8th), Charlotte Smith (3rd), Frank Rivett (9th), John Loveless (2nd), Andrew Keech (Tenor), Linda Garton (Treble).