1. The test piece shall be:
(a) 6 bell competition – 240 changes of Doubles, Minor or Call Changes.
(b) 8 bell competition – 224 changes of Triples, Major or Call Changes.
2. The competition shall have two categories. The first category is for teams consisting of Sunday Service ringers from the named tower. The second category is for teams consisting of ringers who ring regularly (a minimum of once per month, on average) at that tower.
Ringers may not be co-opted into a Sunday Service team, but may be co-opted into a regular tower team. Up to 2 ringers may be co-opted to enable a tower to compete, but for each such ringer a penalty shall be incurred. This shall be 15% of the team’s mark for the 6 bell competition, and 10% of the team’s mark for the 8 bell competition.
Teams entered into the ‘Sunday Service’ category are deemed to be entered into both categories and are eligible to win both sections of the competition.
3. A ringer may ring for more than one team, subject to eligibility.
4. ‘Scratch’ bands may be entered and judged, but shall not be eligible to win a trophy or cup.
5. A judge (or judges) shall, whenever possible, be invited from outside the Guild.
6. A draw shall take place at an advertised time to determine the order in which teams shall ring. Once the draw has taken place, each team shall be allocated a starting time. Any team incomplete at its allocated starting time shall be disqualified. Conductors must state at the time of the draw which category their team falls into.
7. Each team shall be allowed 15 minutes in which to practise, adjust and try ropes and ring the test piece. This time may be varied at the discretion of the Ringing Master. Any team failing to complete its test piece within the allocated time shall be disqualified.
8. The signal to the judge(s) that the test piece is about to begin shall be 2 whole pulls on the treble and second (ie, 1 2 1 2, 1 2 1 2).
9. A maximum of 10 whole pulls of Rounds may be rung before going into changes. These will not be judged, but any additional rows of Rounds will be judged and any faults accrued will be added to those accrued during the test piece. Only the first row of rounds (backstroke) at the end of
the test piece will be judged.
10. Any team failing to complete its test piece shall accrue maximum faults for the changes not rung.
11. No penalty shall be incurred for failure to set any of the bells.
12. The judge’s decision is final.
13. A cup or trophy will be awarded to the winning team in each category, to be returned for the next competition.
14. Additional Rules for teams ringing Call Changes:
(a) the first 240 (6 bell), 224 (8 bell), rows shall be judged commencing from the first Call Change;
(b) at least 25 Call Changes shall be made during the test piece and at least 3 bells other than the Treble shall be brought to lead;
(c) a steward will be made available, if required, to count the rows.
