Saturday 14^th September 2024 was a warm and sunny day as the bell ringers headed to Suffolk for our second coach outing of the year.

After a drive of just over an hour, we arrived in Bures, a village with the River Stour defining the border between Essex and Suffolk. Here the bells are heavy and hung in an anti-clockwise circle but we rang well, finishing with Lincolnshire Surprise Major.

Our next stop was for four hours in Sudbury. This allowed ample time for non-ringers to look round whilst the ringers could ring at two churches with lunch in-between.

The first church (St Gregory) has 8 bells that have been recently restored and rehung by Taylor’s Bell Foundry in 2022. The project cost £60,000 and was spearheaded by Pauline Brown, a previous Hornchurch ringer. This was one of the best rings of the day. We rang a touch of Stedman Triples and a course of Bob Major with James and Carys on the treble and 2^nd respectively.

The second church in Sudbury (All Saints) were heavy and difficult to ring. It took a while to get used to the bells but we did manage a couple of methods and people commented how nice the bells sounded.

After Sudbury, the non-ringers were dropped in Lavenham for two hours whilst the ringers visited Edwardstone before returning to Lavenham.

Edwardstone were an easy-going ring of 6 bells with the ringing successfully organised by Marianne. Jamie and Ellen rang the 2^nd to some well struck Call Changes whilst the more experienced ringers rang Cambridge Minor.

Lavenham church stands on the top of a hill and with a tower 138 feet high, lays claim to being the highest village church tower in Britain. It is visible from miles around.

The bells are also special; heavy but quite easy to ring with a beautiful sound. This enabled our less experienced ringers to enjoy their best ring of the day which was well organised by Tony Bloomfield, giving everyone a good ring.

A short drive to our evening meal venue made a great end to the day with excellent food and company.

Our thanks must go to John and Jonathan for a very well organised day.