Wells Surprise Minor

About Wells Surprise Minor

Wells Surprise Minor is a close relative of London Surprise Minor. Wells Surprise Minor is a member of the "London above" group, and the definitive method of the 7 member "Wells below" group.

Wells Surprise is characterised by the pivot bell (5ths place bell as per London) alternately leading and making point seconds. The "Kent places and a pointy lead" for the bell passing the treble 5-4, and its reverse make for interesting ringing on handbells.

Method Structure.

Place Notation:
36 X 36. 14 X 12 X 36.14 X 34.16, 12, Bob 14.

Grid:

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

Learning Wells Surprise Minor.

The Structure

Below the treble the switch from right place to wrong place creates a stedman whole turn for the pivot bell which makes a single blow in seconds place to link to leading at the half lead.

The Rules

Wells Surprise Minor - the rules
There is no simple statement encapsulating Wells Surprise.

Double Blue Lines

Wells Surprise Minor, 1-2

Diagram: Wells Surprise Minor, 1-2.

Wells Surprise Minor, 3-4

Diagram: Wells Surprise Minor, 3-4.

Wells Surprise Minor, 5-6

Diagram: Wells Surprise Minor, 5-6.

Artefacts

The right place lead of the stedman whole turn takes place as the treble dodges in 3-4.
At the same time, 3rds place bell is making a fishtail in 5-6 with 4ths place bell.

Place Notation and Grid

Unless you are ringing by the rules (see above), both grid and place notation are relevant to learning and ringing Wells Surprise Minor.

Pictels

The method is too complex to chop into elements.

Ringing Wells 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 London Surprise Minor. Some hints and tips for developing the skill are given in the techniques section.

Wells Surprise Minor is complicated to ring owing to the backward hunting, and the wrong places structure below the treble. The grid is rich in "work to do" and requires close concentration. The luxury of right place methods where the focus of attention is the backstrokes is not available.

Positional Awareness

No experience from which to comment.

Place Notation Elements

The method only contains many elements (36X36, 14, 12, 36, 14X34, 34X14).

Place Bells, Pivot Leads, and Staging posts

The place bell sequence for 5-6 is very helpful.

Awareness of other bells

Wells Surprise Minor demands total concentration on the method structure, awareness of the work of the other bells should come with experience.

Coursing Order in Wells Surprise Minor

The 4 consecutive 4ths under the treble are in natural coursing order.

Ringing the Method

This is a classical bellringing method repaying the time spent in study and practice.

The difficulties in Wells Surprise stem from:

• leading wrong and hunting wrong
• there is no comfort zone of the familiar plain hunting patterns
• the perpetual switching between forward and backward hunting
• e.g. fishtails and coat hangers feel "unnatural" on handbells
• the sheer amount of mental effort to cater for the places
• -36- seems disproportionately easier than 36-36
• The dots make it relentless: 14.36-36.12.36-36.14 and 36.14-34.16.34-14.36

It seems that ringing purely by the grid structure (or place notation) is too mentally demanding to be sustainable and a more comprehensive visual approach is needed. Our suggestion is to use both grid structure and double blue lines as aids to ringing Wells, considerable experience of ringing LOndon would be useful.

Bobs and Singles.

Bobs
Running in and out at the bob is more intuitive than making the 4ths and turning round to hunt out to the back.

Singles
All the bells make places and reflect back down the blue line.

Touches of Wells Surprise Minor.

5ths place bell is the pivot bell, and hence the first lead end is 142635 giving calling positions from the tenor as:
In, Before, 4ths, Wrong, Home.

Touches of Double Oxford work for London Surprise Minor but give twice as many changes.