Project Pickled Egg - Part 2

2025-07-29T08:36:37Z

SamSpencer: /* Episode IV - A New Hope */ linked part 3 reference

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== Where did the Standard 8 come from? ==

It is not entirely clear how the current Standard 8 came about. The first peal in these eight methods was at Brierley Hill in 1939, but it was very much a one-off. I have spoken to leading peal ringers who were ringing spliced in the 1960s and the Standard 8 was being rung then even if not referred to explicitly as such, other than by Wilfrid Williams, who was definitely remembered to have used the term. However others don’t remember the term at all. It may have been the publication of all-the-work compositions in the ‘60s and ‘70s by Noel (Jim) Diserens (1969) and PGK Davies (1975) in these methods, which gave them traction.

Going back a little, the Ringing World of 1941 contained an almost weekly discussion on the subject of the ‘Standard Methods’ (interspersed with reports of which towers in the City of London had been destroyed by enemy action). No reference is made to the Brierley Hill peal, and the discussion appears to have been prompted by the publication of the “Surprise Major Collection”, a book containing most of the methods known at the time. In an early article, the unnamed author says:

“I don’t pretend to explain why it is, but I fear too many of us are not enthusiastic as we might be. It may be due to inertia, which affects us all more or less, but I wonder how many good ringers have been lost because their home company refused to progress. What should we think of the musician who, year after year, played nothing but the same old tunes? But too often we are content with ringing the same old methods interminably., all unconscious of the fact that no matter what the art or subject may be, it can only be a living thing as long as it commands our interest.”

The standard methods of the time had become standard because they were the only methods available. This was not a larder with many ingredients – no place here for quinoa or edamame beans. Superlative and Cambridge started it off, with Yorkshire and Bristol also known. At this time London was considered to be the preserve of the experts, nevertheless, the phrase ‘Standard Four’ appears in the correspondence referring to CSL and B. Cambridge seems to only have achieved its place as a standard method because it was rung first. The first ingredient in the larder was still there, stuck down, with no one daring to check the sell by date on the jar.

Although the series of articles peters out before the end of 1941 without conclusion, it contains glimpses of the future. Cornwall is introduced as a new method which “seems to be the one best fitted to become a standard method”. The figures of Glasgow are presented as an example of the impossible!

== Standard methods – Episodes II and III ==

Perhaps the most well-known attempt to find a different set of methods was the formulation of the “Nottingham 8” in the 1990s. The aim was to add more variety of lead-end orders and thus give more scope in composition. The Nottingham 8 added Cassiobury, Cornwall, Lessness and Glasgow to Pitman’s 4 (the common group name for CSL and be B based on AJ Pitman’s ground breaking compositions of the 1940s and 50s). It was first pealed in 1997, and has been many times since, but without really penetrating beyond the peal ringing community.

In a letter published in 2013, AJ Barnfield proposed a group of 12 “good methods and true” – Belfast, Bristol, Cambridge, Cooktown Orchid, Cornwall, Deva, Frodsham, Lessness, London, Superlative, Turramurra and Yorkshire. His aim was to provide an improved experience for ringers from increased variety and quality of the methods proposed, and he also saw the group as dynamic, changing gradually over time so as not to go stale.

== Episode IV - A New Hope ==

I only scratched the surface of research into the origin of the Standard 8. I had hoped to find a defining moment, some plan that had brought it into existence, that might inform the job of replacing it, but I didn’t. Rather they seem to have just grown from the only methods that were around, and became embedded by habit and the production of compositions. That does nothing to enforce their status.

In [[Project_Pickled_Egg_-_Part_3|Part 3]] I will introduce the criteria that we have developed for selection of a core method. Unlike our forefathers, we do not need to start with the only ingredients available. Maybe the criteria will steer us towards the deli counter!

==References==
* [https://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/issues/2018/81 ''The Ringing World''], No 5570, 16 January 2018, pg 81.

Project Pickled Egg - Part 1

2025-07-29T08:32:36Z

SamSpencer: /* The project */ linked part 2 reference

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== Background ==
Discussions on replacing the Standard 8 with better methods are almost as old as the Standard 8 themselves, and usually dissolve into nominations of ringers’ favourite methods and hatred of Pudsey and Rutland in particular. Ashtead and Uxbridge are often informally added to the Standard 8 without them having any particular merit, and Glasgow and Belfast have become relatively standard additional methods for those wanting more of a challenge. Ringers starting out ringing Surprise Major are almost always steered down the path of learning the Standard 8 in some order, usually the Cambridge above ones, then Bristol, etc. The benefit of learning the Standard 8 is that you are learning methods that your fellow ringers are likely to know, and you will be equipped with the skills to ring in the “touch of 8 spliced” which may be the Holy Grail of a Surprise Major practice. Compositionally, pursuit of the Standard 8 has created a vast body of compositions which are hampered rather than enhanced by the inclusion of all of these eight particular methods. Pitman’s 4 doesn’t really get any better by adding Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Pudsey and Rutland. It is difficult for composers to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, although some have made admirable attempts. History has got us to the point where most ringers of Surprise Major have the basic ingredients of the Standard 8 in their larder. They are our staples, but unfortunately, they do not make a very good cake.

== Aim ==
Project Pickled Egg is developing a new set of Core Surprise Major methods to replace the Standard 8, with the degree of thought, consultation and follow-up resource that could have traction. There won’t be eight and they won’t be called ‘Standard’. They may not even all be Surprise. The whole point would be that it would be a set of core methods that would teach ringers how to ring Surprise Major in a progressive way, with each additional method building on what has come before, and clear reasoning for why it adds value.The emergence of ART, a reforming Central Council, and a new generation of young ringers coming through events such as the Ringing World National Youth Contest means there is a chance now to teach a whole new generation of ringers a different set of Surprise Major methods. We can stock these ringers’ larders with fresh and much more exciting ingredients than generations before had, which not only make better cakes, but teach them how to cook and how to shop for more ingredients. This will be a larder without any pickled eggs in!

== The project ==
The idea for Project Pickled Egg was conceived on a ringing friends holiday in summer 2017. It was then developed by a small group of collaborators (generally experts in composition and method construction, plus me) before being launched with this series of articles in the The Ringing World. Early on it was presented to the St Martin’s Guild, some members of which embraced it straight away!

<pre>
ST MARTIN'S GUILD OF CHURCH BELL RINGERS
EDGBASTON, W Mids, St Bartholomew
Fri Jan 12 2018 2h44 (10)
5024 Cooktown Orchid D Major
Comp. Donald F Morrison (No.1745)
1 Christine Mills
2 Mark R Eccleston
3 Stephanie J Warboys
4 Catherine R Taylor
5 James P Ramsbottom
6 Michael P R H Woolley
7 Alistair J Cherry (C)
8 Jack E Page
#projectpickledegg.
In 8 peals, Jack has now circled the tower in order from treble to tenor. Well done Jack!
</pre>

In [[Project_Pickled_Egg_-_Part_2|Part 2]] I will explain the methodology being used to consider whether a method makes it into the larder, as well as looking back at how the current Standard 8 got there in the first place.

SIMON LINFORD<br>
Birmingham

==References==
* [https://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/issues/2018/55 ''The Ringing World''], No 5569, 19 January 2018, pg 55.

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Project Pickled Egg - Part 2

Project Pickled Egg - Part 1