Stayless trebles

[Chris Povey]

The 'flip' side to stayless trebles of very light rings and mini rings is bells of this weight with stays and sliders. The late Arthur Jopp's private ring of 12 at Stoulton have stays and sliders on all bells, as does the the new lightest ring in a church at St Christopher's, Warden Hill, Cheltenham (6, 63lbs, all Taylors). The recent G&BDA AGM at Warden Hill last month was a veritable riot, with even experienced ringers getting into a right old mess. It was reported at the subsequent meeting that the previous record for breaking a stay at a G&B meeting had been exceeded by 200%, ie three stays broken. The Tower Captain bore the pain very well, I thought, even as yet another stay was transformed into kindling wood. (I nearly said 'firewood', but that would have been OTT.) These stays were deal, not ash. Can anyone tell me why deal is preferred to ash in such cases?

Chris Povey


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