Julia learnt to ring aged 7 at Winchester Cathedral and rapidly accelerated in peal ringing including in a number of early young ringers’ peals. University in Birmingham exposed her to a new level of methods, striking and brought interest in ringing heavier bells. After graduating she rang with the Cumberlands in London, and participated in many record-breaking women’s peals, as well as competition ringing and judging at a national level.
A decade or so later, “life” took a priority with her focus being on career and raising a family. However, she continues to be an active bellringer and takes pleasure in teaching bell handling locally and participating in her local Guild committee as well as helping her own children learn.
More recently, she has been Chief Judge for the Ringing World National Youth Competition for a number of years, and is Chief Judge of the National 12-bell contest in 2022.
She is a firm believer that size, weight, age and gender should not be a barrier to where you ring in the circle and is passionate about demystifying the techniques for ringing big bells, so that anyone can ring anywhere in the circle with confidence.
This entry was written in January 2022.
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