We started the year with a well-attended ADM held at Brassington, following ringing at Bradbourne and Brassington, and a very welcome tea.

In February, the Peak District hosted the Annual Dinner, at the New Bath Hotel.  The worst of the snow was narrowly avoided and this was a successful, well attended event.  Thank-you Emma Humphrey, and her team for organising this.

As always we have tried to arrange a varied programme of meetings, taking in all parts of our area, and, as always, some events were better attended than others!

In March, the Striking Contest Heats were held at Baslow and Ashford.  There were a good number of entries in both categories, with Darley Dale and Tideswell going through to the finals for Method ringing, and Ashford and Bakewell for Call Changes.  Congratulations to all who took part, and thank-you to Bob Smith, our judge for the afternoon.

In October, the Peak District team retained the eight bell trophy for the third consecutive year!  Well done!

The District Coach Outing in May took us to Yorkshire, on what must have been one of the hottest days of the year.  We must thank the Taylor Family for organising these annual excursions so well.  The highlights of this one were Ripon Cathedral and Knaresborough, which had the coolest tower!  This is the one event of the year which is always well attended, but if you have never been on a District Outing, think about giving it a try.  You won’t be disappointed.

In August we incorporated a little exercise into the meeting, ringing at Edensor then walking through Chatsworth Park to ring at Baslow.  This made a very pleasant afternoon event.

Quarter Peal Day was enormously successful this year, thanks to the organisational skills of Gail Lilley.  Twenty Quarters were attempted, of which sixteen succeeded, leaving a lot of very happy, smiling ringers to enjoy refreshments at the Flying Childers at Stanton in Peak in the evening.  Thank you Gail, we hope you will take this on again this year!

Also in October, Richard Freemantle of Elton rang his first Peal (Bob Minor) at Stanton in Peak. Congratulations, Richard.

More recently about fifty ringers gathered at Ashover for the District Carol Service, with refreshments served afterwards by the Ashover ringers and friends.  Many thanks to Emma Humphrey and the Ashover Team for organising this event for us.

We finished the year on a sad note, hearing of the death of Frazer Mack on 28th December.  Fraser rang at Ashford, having moved to our area five years ago.  Our sympathies go out to his family and friends.

Could I end by thanking the committee for their support and hard work throughout the year, and the tower captains and incumbents who have made us so welcome?