DOVER Delight Minor

About DOVER Delight Minor

DOVER Delight Minor has the fluid hunting work above the treble of the Chadkirk Group, exacerbated by the 6ths place Lead End. Below the treble the work has moved away from Kent and Oxford but with a disruptive 3rds place at the 4-5 cross-sections and Plain Hunting at the Half Lead.

3rds place bell is the pivot bell and with the 6ths place lead end, the calling sequence for 6ths observation is as per Reverse Bob Minor.

DOVER Delight Minor is one of a group of 2 Treble Dodging methods all having identical work below the treble.

• DOVER Delight Minor (Ibid)
• NORWICH Surprise Minor

In July 2025 Bellboard had just 4 performances that included DOVER Delight Minor.

Method Structure.

Place Notation:
X 36 X 16 X 12 X 36 X 34 X 16, 16, Bob 14, Single 1456.

Grid:

Diagram: DOVER Delight Minor, plain lead, change-rows and grid.

Plain Course structure
This is a highly fluid method above the treble with the awkwardness of Norwich Surprise below. With 2nds Place Bell as the pivot bell, and a mandatory 6ths place Lead End, the leads are presented in Oxford Treble Bob sequence. Crucially, the bells become pivot bell in natural coursing order.

Goals and learning approach

What you are trying to achieve needs to drive your approach.
DOVER Delight is a free-standing odd-ball method, with the only close relatives being Chadkirk and Norwich. The method is perfectly suited as an exercise in Treble guided structural ringing.

Ringing by structure

DO NOT learn the lines, learn the structure, ring, make mistakes and learn from them. Track-the Treble skills, Place Notation skills, coursing order skills can all be developed in this manner

Performance Level

If you are wishing to achieve 720s, Quarters, or peals:
start with the structural ringing as above, add in the bits that are natural to you.
Study the lines.
Practice a lot.
Achieve some performances .

Method Mastery Level

Mastery of DOVER Delight is perfectly feasible, if unusual.

Learning DOVER Delight Minor.

The Structure

The course structure is as per Oxford Treble Bob minor.

The Rules

DOVER Delight Minor - the rules
Ring CHADKIRK Treble Bob Minor above the Treble, and
NORWICH Surprise Minor below

Double Blue Lines

DOVER Delight Minor, 1-2

Diagram: DOVER Delight Minor, 1-2.

DOVER Delight Minor, 3-4

Diagram: DOVER Delight Minor, 3-4.

DOVER Delight Minor, 5-6

Diagram: DOVER Delight Minor, 5-6.

Artefacts

1-4, 1-6, and 3-6 hunting boxes as necssary..

Place Notation and Grid

The pictorial grid emphasises the structure of the method better than the Place Notation.

Ringing Cambridge Delight Minor.

Track the treble

Awareness of the position of the treble is a key skill for most bellringing methods, and is the major key to ringing DOVER Delight Minor. Some hints and tips for developing the skill are given in the techniques section.

Positional Awareness

DOVER Delight Minor is highly fluid above the treble, less so apart from the half lead below the treble.

Place Notation Elements

The method only contains 5 elements (X, 12, 34, 16, 36).

Place Bells, Pivot Leads, and Handrails

142635 LE 16: London Bob; Kent and Oxford T.B.; Norwich S.

1-2:1-2, 1-3, 1-5, 1-6, 1-4, 1-2
3-4:3-4, 5-2, 6-3, 4-5, 2-6, 3-4
5-6:6-5, 4-6, 2-4, 3-2, 5-3, 6-5

The pivot bell (2nds pb) leads at the half lead. For 3-4 pair, the pivot point is when they cross over in 4-2 at the Half Lead. For 5-6 pair, the pivot point is when they cross over in 2-3 at the Half Lead.

Handrails
It's a fluid method with no obvious handrails.

Awareness of other bells

3-4 dodge together 4 times in the plain course.
The Oxford Places in the 5-6 section are made by a coursing pair.

Coursing Order in DOVER Delight Minor

DOVER Delight Minor exhibits glimpses of natural coursing order. An experienced ringers will pick out the parts that are valuable to them, others should concentrate on those features that are most helpful such as the order of becoming 2nds place bell

Ringing the Method

DOVER Delight Minor gives good practice at associating a piece of structure with a piece of Treble work..

Bobs and Singles.

Bobs replace the 6ths place at the Lead End with 4ths. This causes the bell that has just made 3rds to make the bob, make thirds once more.

Singles Singles are rarely used in Treble Dodging Minor.

Touches of DOVER Delight Minor.

DOVER Delight Minor has the same lead-end order as Oxford Treble Bob.