Yorkshire Surprise Maximus

Yorkshire Surprise Maximus

Yorkshire Maximus is the easiest of all methods, until you learn Bristol. Allegedly, a famous elder statesman of the Exercise once compared the ease of ringing Yorkshire Maximus to that of "falling off a log".

There are three main ways to ring it, which can be used individually or combined:

• Learn the place bell starts and the line. Knowing that the places pair furthest apart then work inwards helps. It's very important to learn 6th's place bell as YORKSHIRE PLACES IN 1-2, THEN DODGE, and not not not not NOT as Cambridge frontwork. Similarly for 9th's, its pivot.

• Alternatively, forget the line, and just treble-bob. If you meet your course bell, run through then stop for places to let it back in front. In the other half of the course, it's a little more tricky: you need to stop and make places for your after bell, then run through it in turn. But where to stop? On the way down, you'll run into the treble, which is helpful; but on the way up, you'll run into 5th's place bell instead, treble-bobbing down in front of the treble.

• Or then again, just close your eyes and go with the flow.

Oddly enough, you can ring Yorkshire on any number of bells using these same techniques. Imagine that!

Just one more thing - if you use the coursing bell technique, you might, just occasionally, need to run through the hole where your course bell should have been...