I suppose, when we look back at 2012 we will remember it as a year that we rang our bells a lot!

The year started quietly enough with the Annual Dinner held in February at Morley Hayes, organised by the Central District. About 60 members and guests, including our Patron Bishop Alastair and his wife Caroline, enjoyed an entertaining speech given by our guest speaker Peter Haywood from Taylors of Loughborough on his experiences as a bell hanger. Afterwards Bishop Alastair and Caroline were re-introduced to the art of hand bell ringing when the Association hand bells were brought out.

In April we met in the Southern District for the AGM. During the afternoon the bells of Ockbrook, Breaston and Derby St Lukes were available prior to the service at Allestree. There our President introduced us to his revised service sheet. Unfortunately, Allestree bells were found to be unringable, due to building works in the tower, on the day. The tea and meeting followed in the church hall. We welcomed four new members to the Association and Mike Willis from Allestree/Duffield was elected as an Honorary Life Member of the Association. Mike has been a member for over 40 years, tower captain at Ockbrook for many years prior to his moving house to Allestree, and had served the Association in many capacities in the District through the years. Evening ringing continued at Duffield.

The Summer Meeting saw us gather in the Peak District. In the afternoon we visited Brackenfield prior to going to Ashover for our service, tea, meeting and evening ringing. We welcomed another new member.

In October we were in the Chesterfield District for the Eight bell inter District striking contest and meeting. During the afternoon ringing took place at Heath and Barlborough while the contest, service, tea, meeting and evening ringing all took place at Staveley. At the meeting we elected and welcomed a further two new members.

2012 has been a busy year for competitions too. The Association Six bell contests were held in May.

Graham Hayward, from Nottinghamshire, was 'volunteered' to judge both the Arthur Ashby contest and the Horsley Cup. The Horsley Cup was held at Horsley with excellent ringing resulting in the bonus percentage being the clincher. Darley Dale ringing Oxford Treble Bob were 1st with 242 points ahead of Derby Cathedral ringing Cambridge Surprise 2nd with 240 points; Old Whittington, ringing Oxford Treble Bob, 3rd with 233 points and Belper 4th ringing Plain Bob Doubles 222.5 points. Richard Taylor was presented with the Cup. The Arthur Ashby contest was held at Denby. Here Stanton in Peak triumphed with 225 points; followed by in 2nd place Old Brampton 224 points; joint 3rd Bakewell and Belper with 221 points and 5th Sawley 200 points. Jo Walker received the Cup.

The Eight bell inter district Contest was held at Staveley. Mr Ian Thompson from Coventry was invited to be the judge. He placed the Peak District first ringing Grandsire Triples with 48 faults; 2nd equal were the Chesterfield District (Plain Bob Triples) and Southern District (Cambridge Surprise) with 70 faults. Again Richard Taylor was presented with the shield.

The 40th Tewkesbury Shield Contest took place in May, the test piece was Stedman Caters. Nine teams entered the contest. Unfortunately the Association were narrowly beaten into second place by 1% by St Mary's Redcliffe, Bristol.

The W W Worthington Ten bell contest was hosted by the Association at Derby Cathedral. Again the chosen method was Stedman Caters especially composed to be challenging by Christian Peckman. Unfortunately, neither the Cathedral Authorities nor I were aware that the Derby Feste had arranged for a brass band to play outside the Cathedral during the competition ringing. Hurried rearrangements were made to relocate the judges, Paul and Kate Flavell, from the Cathedral Offices into the Clock Room. However the Derby team were placed first out of the five teams who entered.

The National Youth Contest was held in Birmingham in June. Our young ringers, the Derby Tups, entered the call change section where they were placed 2nd and awarded an A grade. They came 3rd overall.

Finally, the National Twelve Bell Contest was held in Melbourne. Ten teams qualified for the final and again the chosen method was Stedman and the team who ring regularly at Melbourne, representing ringers from the Association, Nottingham, Leicester and Staffordshire were narrowly beaten into 2nd place by Birmingham.

During this year we were requested to ring for various special events:-

Firstly, various towers rang for St George's Day.

Secondly, the Lord Lieutenant asked us to ring over the Jubilee weekend. This event was taken to heart with peals. quarter peals, call changes and general ringing arranged at 54 towers with 274 ringers taking part.

Thirdly, the Olympics and Paralympics - to start with the Olympic torch arrived in Derbyshire and we duly welcomed it as it went through the County via Bolsover, Chesterfield, Bakewell, and Ashbourne before arriving for an overnight stop in Derby. The peal planned for the Cathedral had several start times before actually beginning at 7 pm, however, the torch arrived then and then went out for a concert before returning in a "Follow the Light Parade" at about 9 pm which stopped outside the Cathedral for twenty minutes when the bells could hardly be heard, before moving off again into the Market Place. St Peters Derby rang the following morning to wish the torch well on its way to Birmingham. The Olympics and Paralympics also provided more ringing opportunities at the Cathedral with ringing happening everyday.

I would like to express the Association's sympathy to the family and friends of the following who have died during the year. Stanley Margereson - an Honorary Life Member, he rang at Old Brampton having been tower captain there for over 40 years and Paul Wallis also from Old Brampton. Paul and Stanley rang their first peal together in 1981 for the Royal Wedding and by coincidence their last peal was rung together in 1985. Peter Sutton, a long-standing member who rang at Duffield and then at Mugginton also passed away in 2012. May they rest in peace.

We also remembered Gordon Halls who died 10 years ago. Several peals and quarter peals were rung in his memory.

Bishop Alastair introduced his award several years ago to recognise work carried out in the Diocese by Lay workers. The badge is a copy of a badge given to confirmation candidates in 1927 the year of the formation of the Diocese of Derby. In 2012 several ringers were recognised for work in their parishes - congratulations to:- Don Jones (Eckington), Joyce and Jack Chadwick (Etwall), Jane Boden (Derby Cathedral), John Watkins (Scarcliffe) and George Futers (West Hallam), David Camm (Youlgreave).

I would like to thank all incumbents and tower captains for welcoming the Association to their churches and allowing us to ring their bells. I am sure 2013 will provide its own challenges.

Jane Boden