The 56th Annual Dinner - February 4th 2023

Cordelia Thompson reports...

In traditional style, the 56th ECG Dinner Weekend kicked off in the Impy, and for the first time in many years there were even some students present!

Saturday began with the introduction of a new gnome, Gnorris, after Gnathan’s unfortunate accident last year. Happy to finally have a new fresher to pass gnome-bearing duties onto, Emily gave Gnorris to me, and I quickly learnt how keen everyone else would be to steal him off me! Emily also brought the new, slightly less fragile ECG gnome Gnigella along, so at least the band had more than one target!

The ringing began first at St Peter in Tiverton, followed by St Mary’s in Silverton, which involved a fun amount of shuffling up and down the steps and into the Church in order to give everyone a go at ringing! Then it was off to the Lamb Inn down the road, a lovely pub to grab some lunch and catch up together. After carefully keeping him close for the first two towers, it was at this point that Gnorris first got stolen, and failed to reappear for the whole meal! Gnigella took this as her moment to shine and enjoyed the special care and adoration of many of the ringers. The final tower was Broadclyst, where Gnorris worryingly reappeared at the top of a tall cabinet, and the risk of another accident seemed high. Luckily, he reappeared safely, and the ringers enjoyed a nice mix of call changes, Grandsire triples, and Cambridge major.

After some sprucing up, everyone came together in the evening at The Rougemont Hotel for the traditional dinner and ceilidh. After a delicious three course meal, we enjoyed a touch of ‘Fat Controller Maximus’ on handbells, rung by Andrew Digby, Tom Hinks, Steph Hills, David Maynard, Matt Hilling and Nathan Evans. Next came two fantastic speeches from our guest speaker Ben Carey and Emily, this years’ student Master, with Helen Maynard winning the customary sweepstake. Next came the daffodil toast, which came at quite a shock to me as a fresher who just thought the daffodils were a nice decoration! Finally, everyone moved to the dancefloor for the ceilidh, with even Gnorris having his party hat on and keen to get involved!

Despite exhaustion from all the dancing the night before, St David’s was packed on Sunday morning for service ringing. Which was followed by breakfast at Boston Tea Party, a reminiscent walk around campus for some, during which Emily learnt many a story of past ringing escapades, which ended in George’s for lunch before heading to the Cathedral to end the weekend. A mix of ringing involved courses of call changes, Stedman, and Grandsire. The new (and old) ringers also got the chance to go up and see the bells ringing, an exciting insight into just how big and loud they really are.

As a fresher, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the dinner weekend, but it went far beyond my expectations! From all the lovely new faces, range of ringing opportunities and quirky traditions, I can’t wait for next year! And nor can Gnorris, who you’ll be pleased to know made it through the weekend unscathed and is now safely back at St David’s.