We drove north in six cars from separate starting points on a fine Friday morning and converged on the Percy Arms in Airmyn for lunch. Mobile phones make this sort of arrangement much easier than in the past, especially when one remembers to turn them on!

The first tower was the glorious eight at Howden Minster. The ruins of the part of the church that escaped the dissolution of the monasteries still stand and provide an atmospheric backdrop to a magnificent church. The bells are as lovely as I remembered and we really enjoyed them.

We drove to Withernsea along the A63 at rush hour and sat in a traffic jam caused by a broken-down lorry. In the evening we went the short distance to Patrington with its interesting access which requires a signed indemnity form before anyone is allowed to attempt the unusual route to the ringing chamber! Everyone negotiated the spiral stairs, the walk up the roof and the crawl along the rafters without incident and the ringing here was good. St Patrick’s, Patrington is known as the Queen of Holderness and is a beautiful church.

We were especially pleased to be allowed to ring here on this day as the reredos behind the altar has great meaning for Deborah Pike, the wife of the Archdeacon of Montgomery. Her father, John Allan Hebden, was born in Keyingham, East Riding of Yorkshire on 18^th September 1915. At fourteen years old he was apprenticed to Fewsters, joiners and undertakers of Patrington. During his time there he worked on the installation of the restored reredos at St Patrick’s church. The reredos is truly magnificent. During World War II he served as ship’s joiner in the Merchant Navy, sailing on the Atlantic Crossings. Allan spent most of his working life as a funeral director in Hornsea and died in 1994. The bells of Patrington rang out on what would have been his 100^th birthday.

We had lunch in Hessle and then visited the King of Holderness, St Augustine’s, Hedon. There is another magnificent eight here and we made the most of our time and thoroughly enjoyed the bells. Burstwick was next. The last time I rang here we had to remove the pigeon droppings and twigs from the stairs before we could ascend – it is all spick and span now, thank goodness. We managed some reasonable touches and then descended the tower to find Pauline and her helpers waiting with cups of tea and cake that made our day.

The last tower was Roos in its delightful woodland setting. The eight are a pleasure to ring and we finished the day with a real sense of satisfaction. The ringing had been good and the company excellent.

Sunday morning involved travelling to Beverley St Mary’s where we joined the band to ring for Sunday service. The grand ten were worth climbing the 77 steps for and a good touch of Grandsire Caters was enjoyed, which made the whole weekend for some of the tour. We then made the dash across the town to Beverley Minster where we were welcomed by the local band. This was the heaviest ring of the whole tour and John just had to ring yet another tenor! We then repaired to the local café where we sat outside in the sunshine. The afternoon was free for people to do their own thing, and several of us went to Burton Constable and had a pleasant time walking in the grounds or visiting the house. 

On Monday we had to return home, but we stopped at Chesterfield with its crooked spire to have a final ring. The verger let us in and we rang well on this excellent ten. The vicar was so impressed that he recorded our efforts and said he would put it on the church website – fame at last! It was raining by this time although the weather had been beautiful all weekend. We returned home with good memories of another Allsorts tour. 

I would like to thank all the tower captains and contacts that made us so welcome and made my job much easier and Rachel and Gordon for their excellent organisation and for laughter throughout the weekend.

Write-up by Jill Danby