| Heighington, St Michael | 6 bells, 15-1-23 | G |
| Richmond, St Mary | 8 bells, 11-1-12 | G |
| Darlington, Holy Trinity | 6 bells, 6-3-9 | B♭ |
| Darlington, St Cuthbert | 8 bells, 18-0-14 | F |
| Shildon, St John | 8 bells, 16-1-8 | F♯ |
Events
Events
Every term a different member of the exec plans a tour to a different area. The Freshers’ Tour tends to be in the county, but the Treasurer’s Tour can go as far away as York or Whitby. The Easter term holds the annual summer tour – a several day-long trip to a far-off county, where we ring at around 20 towers, get matching t-shirts, and of course – play lots of Wok, the traditional DUSCR game.
We also have an annual dinner where all current DUSCR members and the DUSCR Life members (previous student members of the society who have since graduated) are invited back to Durham for a formal dinner and handbell performance, followed by a ceilidh. There is usually a tour on the day of the dinner and a number of peals and quarter peals are rung over the weekend.
Upcoming
Fresher’s Fair – Maiden Castle Sports Centre
10:00-19:00 Wednesday 27th September
Every society attached to the Student’s Union will have a stand at the Fresher’s Fair – come along and meet our friendly student ringers at DUSCR’s stand. So you know what to look for – this was our stand last year!
Mini-Ring – Outside Durham Students Union
10:00-16:00, Saturday 30th September
Come along and have a go on our mini-ring! This is a miniature outdoor set of 8 bells. Although each bell is about the same size as a small plant pot, they work in exactly the same way as the bells you’ll find in a church tower and are great fun to mess around on! It will be pretty hard to miss us especially with all the noise these bells make but just in case here’s a picture of us ringing on the mini-ring last year.
Fresher’s Practice – St Oswald’s Church, Durham City
19:00, Friday 6th October
An extra practice is put on in Freshers Week for Freshers to try ringing with the society. All levels of experience are welcome and if you have never rung before we will teach you!
Freshers Bar Crawl
19:30, Friday 13th October
Most societies do college bar crawls and DUSCR is no different! Join us for a tour around Durham’s many college bars from Hill to Bailey. The start bar will be announced a few days before. Here’s a few of us tanked up at a previous bar crawl!
Secretary’s Tour
Saturday 21st October
This years secretary’s tour is being organised by Matthew Black. The towers and timings are below:
10:30-11:30 – St Andrew’s, Aycliffe DL5 6JY, 3 bells, 3-2-9 in E♭ (note that the tower is accessed by a vertical ladder and you will need to sign a waiver before ascending)
12:00-1:00 – St Cuthberts, Darlington DL1 5QG, 8 bells, 18-0-14 in F
Lunch at Spoons (The William Stead)
2:45-3:45 – St Cuthbert & St Mary, Barton DL10 6JF, 6 bells, 6-3-27 in B♭
4:15-5:15 – Holy Trinity, Darlington DL3 7BQ, 6 bells, 6-3-9 in B♭
These arrangements allow for public transport between towers (hence the deceptively long lunch at Spoons) should we need it. If you would like to come on the tour please email Matthew ([email protected]) by Saturday, 14th October so he can arrange transport in time.
Previous
Summer Tour 2023
June 2023
The 2023 Summer Tour was to Northamptonshire and organised by our master, Andrew Booth. We stayed 3 nights at Miles Baker’s house (master 2022) and rang at 18 towers both in and on the way to Northamptonshire. Ringing highlights included a superb touch of plain hunt on 11 at Kettering and the hilarious mess we made pulling off in rounds at the anticlockwise ring at Barton Seagrave (half the ringers looked the wrong way!) The evenings included lots of beer (with over 100 pints drunk) and games, including the crazy game of ibble dibble. We also played the traditional game of Wok in the field, we might have to buy a new set of balls for next time!
Treasurer’s Tour 2023
February 2023
The 2023 Treasurer’s tour was to Hartepool and organised by Vera Paksy. We rang at 4 towers, St Oswald’s, Art Gallery, Stranton (which had been recently rehung) and St Aidan’s. It was an enjoyable day out including a pub lunch and pizza and pints in the Station House afterwards.
DUSCR Dinner 2022
December 2022
The 2022 dinner was held at the Masonic Hall in Durham and was organised by Vera Paksy and Rachael Sanderson. As well as a tour to Darlington and the surrounding area earlier in the day, the dinner included nice food, drinking, a memorable speech by guest speaker Daniel Page and of course the traditional DUSCR Ceilidh!
NUA 2022
November 2022
For NUA (Northern Universities Association of Change Ringers) in 2022 DUSCR travelled to Manchester, home of Coronation Street. As well as drinking and socialising with bell ringers from other universities we rang at several towers in and around the city. We also entered into the striking competition and to our surprise came 2nd!
Secretary’s Tour 2022
October 2022
The 2022 secretary’s tour was organised by Cian Tempest. 14 members came along and we rang at five towers around the Southern District of County Durham. The towers were Shildon, Heighington, Gainford, Barnard Castle and Staindrop.
Summer Tour 2022
June 2022
The 2022 Summer tour was to West Yorkshire (and a bit of Lancashire) and was organised by Miles Baker. We stayed in a superb scout hut in the middle of nowhere. Much ringing, alcohol, fire and bacon was consumed.
Treasurer’s Tour 2022
February 2022
The 2022 Treasurer’s tour was to York and organised by Andrew Booth. We travelled by train in the morning and rang at several towers around the city including York Minster! Afterwards we had a great time pubbing with our friends from York in the Wagon and Horses before catching the last train home.
NUA 2021
November 2021
Durham hosted the Northern Universities Association of Change Ringers (NUA) annual meet up after this was not possible in 2020. Much ringing, alcohol and bacon was consumed.
Treasurer’s Tour 2020
Saturday 29th February 2020
The 2020 Treasurer’s tour was to Darlington and the surrounding area.
DUSCR Dinner 2019
Saturday 30th November 2019
This dinner celebrated the society’s 60th anniversary and was a huge success. A quiz night was organised on the preceding Friday where Life members reminisced about the past with a number of people sharing a ‘five minute memory’ about their time in DUSCR. The day of the dinner saw a tour to Consett and the surrounding area, while the dinner itself featured (possibly the first) handbell dinner touch rung by an all undergraduate band as well as some brilliant speeches.
Many thanks to Rachael Sanderson and Joseph Walker for doing such a fantastic job organising this.
Summer Tour 2019
June 2019
The 2019 summer tour took us to North-West London and was organised by Izzy Seale. It was great fun and the word of the tour (according to Rachel) was “nap”.
DUSCR Dinner 2018
Saturday 1st December 2018
The Annual DUSCR Dinner 2018 was a brilliant occasion – as ever – and was organised by Natasha Kozlowski. Her tour took us to Hartlepool where we rang at 3 churches after a quick brunch at a local Weatherspoons!
Summer Tour 2018
June 2018
The 2018 summer tour took us to Leeds and was organised by Rachael Sanderson and Oliver Rice. It was a fantastic tour – as all DUSCR tours are.
DUSCR Dinner 2017
Saturday 2nd December 2017
The annual DUSCR dinner was brilliant this year (as always). A big thank you to Elizabeth Hopper for the organisation of the dinner and also to the master Rachael Sanderson, and the guest speakers. It was a fantastic evening and we look forward to seeing you all again next year! This year the dinner day tour was to Darlington, it was a good day and it was nice to have ringers from current DUSCR and DUSCR life.
Summer Tour 2017
June 2017
The 2017 summer tour took us to Nottingham and was organised by Rachael Sanderson. We rang at 17 towers over the weekend, then rang at Ossies when we got back because we apparently hadn’t done enough ringing.
Summer Tour 2016
June 2016
The 2016 summer tour took us to Birmingham and was organised by Elizabeth Hopper. We rang at lots of exciting towers, including England’s 16 bell tower at the Bullring. We enjoyed a barbecue and lots of pancakes at a questionable hostel. Commonly regarded as the ‘best tour ever!’.
Summer Tour 2015
June 2015
The 2015 summer tour took us to Manchester and Cheshire and was organised by Victoria Gale. This tour was when infamous quotes such as “this spoon isn’t working” and “if I plug in the kettle is it automatically on?” were born. We were treated to some excellent ringing, a proper fry up, and lots of games of Wok (TM).