Wearmouth Surprise Minor

About Wearmouth Surprise Minor

Wearmouth Surprise is a member of the Westminster group of methods but below the treble, the method is Wells Surprise.

Method Structure.

Place Notation:
X 34 X 14 X 12 X 36.14X34.16, 12, Bob 14, Single 1234.

Grid:

Diagram: Wearmouth Surprise Minor, plain lead, change-rows and grid.

Goals and learning approach

What you are trying to achieve needs to drive your approach.

Ringing by structure

Get going:.
Use whatever learning approach you like most to acquire enough knowledge to ring a plain course. Ring a few and see what aspects of the method spring out, and study these. Practice until courses and simple touches are ringable.

Performance Level

If you are wishing to achieve 720s, Quarters, or peals:
start with the "get going" as above, add in the bits that are natural to you.
Study the Double Place Bell sequences, and the lines.
Practice a lot.
Achieve some performances .

Method Mastery Level

It is unusual for a band to wish to achieve mastery in a method like Wearmouth.

Learning Wearmouth Surprise Minor.

The Rules

Ring Westminster over Wells.

The Structure

Use of the grid is helped enormously by an ability to see the position of treble.

Wearmouth is a stepping stone between the Westminster above group and the Wells below group. Hence achieve performances in Wells and Westminster to ease your way into Wearmouth.

Alternatively learn Norwich and Westminster and then Stamford is a stepping stones into ringing Wells below the treble, and in preparation for ringing pure Wells.

Double Blue Lines

The Double Blue Lines give a useful overview of the method, adding context which is helpful for overcoming trips.

The Double Place Bell sequences are identical with Double Bob Minor.

Wearmouth Surprise Minor, 1-2

Diagram: Wearmouth Surprise Minor, 1-2.

Wearmouth Surprise Minor, 3-4

Diagram: Wearmouth Surprise Minor, 3-4.

Wearmouth Surprise Minor, 5-6

Diagram: Wearmouth Surprise Minor, 5-6.

Artefacts

The Blue Line features worth noting are:

• The 7-pull dodge of Westminster above is a useful handrail, but use structured counting.
• The "Wells below" is challenging for all pairs.

Place Notation and Grid

The choice here is personal preference. The author’s preference is the visual nature of the grid.

Section by Section

In the standard X12x (3-4 section), the pivot bell is leading both times..

Ringing Wearmouth Surprise Minor.

Track the treble

Awareness of the position of the treble is a key skill for most bellringing methods, and a significant help in ringing Stamford Surprise Minor. Some hints and tips for developing the skill are given in the techniques section.

Positional Awareness

Place Notation Elements

The method only contains X, 36, 12, 16, 34, but 36.14X34.16.34x14.36 might be a challenge.

Place Bells, Pivot Leads, and Staging posts

In the standard X12x (3-4 section), the pivot bell is leading (right) both times, and it leads right at the half lead. Those 3 leads (Hand and Back) alternate with pount 2nds, lead Back and Hand, point 2nds; i.e. the classic Wells frontowrk.

The long dodging in 5-6 is a classic staging post (handrail).

Awareness of other bells

Coursing Order in Wearmouth Surprise Minor

Natural Coursing Order is maintained above the treble.
The pivot bell leads at the half lead, the coursing pair cross in 2-3, and the parted pair cross in 4-5, so the treble skips the pivot bell in the coursing order between the 5-6 dodges.

Below the treble, the pivot bell makes point 2nds over 4 bells in coursing order.

Ringing the Method

We have no advice other than learn the method thoroughly.

Bobs and Singles.

Bobs replace the 2nds place at the Lead End with 4ths as per Cambridge Surprise.

Touches of Wearmouth Surprise Minor.

3rds place bell is the pivot bell, and hence the first lead end is 156342 giving calling positions from the tenor as in Cambridge Surprise.
Complib has over 90 compositions that include Wearmouth, but none specifically just for Wearmouth. Complib has over 600 compositions including Cambridge S Minor, a number of which are purely Cambridge, and which will work for Wearmouth.