Andrew Moncrief reports on his exciting weekend at the ART masterclass at Birmingham; and day out in London:
Friday 30th September me and my dad went down to Birmingham for my masterclass by train which unfortunately was an absolute shambles. We ended up having to get off at Preston to change only to find out the train from Preston wasn’t going to Birmingham so we had to get off the train at Crewe. The train that we got to Birmingham was on time thankfully. As soon as we got to Birmingham we got a taxi to the Holiday Inn Express hotel to drop our things off.
Later on me, dad and Chris got the bus to Great Barr as Friday is their practice night. I think they’re really great people. The next morning was the day of my masterclass where we all met at St Martin in the Bullring church hall. That was where I met my tutor Alistair Cherry, I got on really well with him. He is a good man and he was a good choice for me as my tutor.
The things I worked on were things like not to put too much effort in ringing really heavy bells. The towers were great although I’m not used to anticlockwise staircases. The best things that happened that day were the weather was glorious and I rang the tenor at St Martin’s 39cwt. Once it was finished the students got their learning the ropes masterclass certificate I got one as well even though I did not know about it.
The next day which was Sunday me and dad had a day out in London as I’ve never been properly. We had to get the train from Moor Street station which took us to Marylebone station. Once we arrived in London we made our way to the Underground where we got the train to Westminster. When we got off at Westminster we got outside and took some photos of the Parliament clock tower I must say they’ve done a really great job on it.
We then went off towards the London Eye where we bought some souvenirs to bring home. Before long it was time to get on the London Eye. I was beginning to enjoy the spectacular views of London when I could see St Martin in the Fields, the Shard, St Paul’s Cathedral, the Houses of Parliament and other places. We then made our way to the Underground to get the next train to London Paddington station.
When we got to Paddington station I took a photo of the statue of Paddington Bear on platform 1 afterwards we made our way to a shop that sells the Paddington Bear merchandise. We then carried on to St Pancras station which is where the statue of John Betjeman is. He’s the one who saved the station from demolition.
We then went off to King’s Cross railway station to see some trains before going to Euston and Waterloo. We then went to see St Paul’s Cathedral and St Mary le Bow church. We then headed back to Marylebone to get the train back to Birmingham.
