This report and its statistics are based upon quarter peals, which have been published in the Ringing World between 01.02.08 and 30.01.09; these are listed at the end of this report. Any quarters rung within the year 2008 and not published within this period are therefore not included and quarters published on or after 01.02.09 can be expected to be included in the report for 2009. Throughout the analysis and report figures in parenthesis show the comparable figures for 2007. The total number of quarter peals attributable to the association is 415 (430). The distribution of quarters through the districts and the number of towers where quarters were rung are shown in the table below.
| Quarters | Towers | ||||||
| District | Tower | Handbells | Total | Tower | Handbells | Total | |
| Central | 78 (73) | 26 (49) | 104 (122) | 19 (19) | 4 (4) | 23 (23) | |
| Chesterfield | 26 (14) | 26 (14) | 14 (5) | 14 (5) | |||
| Peak | 128 (159) | 15 (15) | 143 (174) | 31 (33) | 1 (1) | 32 (34) | |
| Southern | 118 (103) | 17 (8) | 135 (111) | 22 (20) | 6 (2) | 28 (22) | |
| Sub Total | 350 (349) | 58 (72) | 408 (421) | 86 (77) | 11 (7) | 97 (84) | |
| Others | 4 (8) | 3 (0) | 7 (9) | 3 (7) | 1 (0) | 4 (7) | |
| Total | 354 (357) | 61 (72) | 415 (430) | 89 (84) | 12 (7) | 101 (91) | |
The leading tower in each district, together with those where more than 10 association quarters were rung, is listed below:
| Central District | Peak District | ||
| Belper Campanile | 10 (17) | Ashford in the Water | 12 (13) |
| Belper St Peter | 13 (11) | Brassington | 11 (6) |
| Brailsford | 13 (10) | Great Longstone | 10 (13) |
| Etwall | 10 (8) | Youlgreave | 10 (11) |
| Chesterfield District | Southern District | ||
| Staveley | 6 (2) | Derby Cathedral | 38 (34) |
| Derby St Peter | 26 (32) |
On handbells the band meeting at Belper rang 17 (36) and that alternating between Tideswell, Wetton and Mickleover rang 25 (15) quarter peals.
Based on the assumption that quarters rung at churches on Sundays are likely to be for services, in 2008 there were 12 churches in the Peak District, 6 in the Chesterfield District and 4 churches in each of the Southern and Central Districts where quarter peals were rung for services.
Ringers
A total of 284 (275) ringers took part in the quarters recorded, an increase of 9 on last year. Congratulations are due to the 14 (13) ringers who rang their first quarter peal. They are:
Ringer |
Quarter rung at | District | Date |
| Rachel Fraser-Burton | Horsley | Central | 01 December ‘07 |
| Sam Jopp | Duffield | Central | 13 September |
| Russell West | Staveley | Chesterfield | 11 August |
| Samantha Yeomans | Staveley | Chesterfield | 03 August |
| Sue Bliss | Great Longstone | Peak | 25 August |
| Alistair Hamilton | Brassington | Peak | 28 May |
| David Palmer | Brassington | Peak | 14 April |
| Christine Windsor | Brassington | Peak | 04 February |
| Jana Pavova | Derby Cathedral | Southern | 31 December ‘07 |
| Antoinette Abel | Derby, St Peter | Southern | 18 May |
| Garry Gee | Netherseal | Southern | 25 July |
| Paul Hathaway | Overseal | Southern | 13 June |
| Ben Thorpe | Ockbrook | Southern | 06 April |
| Tom Watkins | Derby, St Peter | Southern | 18 May |
In addition to these new quarter pealers two members, Lynn Betts and Helen Legood, called their first quarter peal. Congratulations to you both.
The leading ringers and conductors, those who rang more than fifty or conducted more than twelve quarters, are shown in the table below.
| Total Quarters | Tower | In hand | Total Conducted | Tower | In hand | |
| Alec Humphrey | 145 (113) | 136 (112) | 9 (1) | 91 (84) | 88 (84) | 3 (0) |
| Geoff Goodall | 84 (119) | 84 (115) | 0 (4) | 41(72) | 41(72) | |
| Eileen Goodall | 83 (109) | 83 (109) | ||||
| Linda Pelc | 82 (101) | 82 (101) | ||||
| Chris Gilbert | 77 (65) | 77 (65) | 1(0) | 1(0) | ||
| Nick Daines | 58 (23) | 58 (23) | 18 (4) | 18 (4) | ||
| James Franklin | 58 (71) | 58 (71) | ||||
| Pat Halls | 57 (33) | 38 (25) | 19 (8) | 5 (8) | 5 (8) | |
| Simon Humphrey | 32 (31) | 10 (19) | 22 (12) | 30 (24) | 9 (12) | 21 (12) |
| John Heaton | 41 (38) | 41 (38) | 29 (13) | 29 (13) | ||
| Len Goodall | 34 (40) | 34 (40) | 23 (18) | 23 (18) | ||
| Gill Hughes | 48 (66) | 28 (38) | 20 (28) | 18 (13) | 6 (5) | 12 (8) |
| Roy Meads | 21 (19) | 21 (15) | 0 (4) | 15 ( 6) | 15 (6) |
A number of personal milestones were reached by members during the year including:
| 50th quarter | Rachel Attaway |
| 100th quarter | Nick Daines |
| 200th quarter | Chris Gilbert |
| 200th quarter | Neil Westman |
| 250th quarter | Pauline Boyle |
| 250th quarter | Steve Harpham |
| 1500th quarter | Alec Humphrey |
| 3000th quarter | John Cater |
| 25th as conductor | Chris Booth |
| 50th as conductor | Neil Westman |
| 300th as conductor | Pat Halls |
| 800th as conductor | Alec Humphrey |
Methods
Two methods and one principle, all previously unrung, were rung for the first time by quarter peal bands and named by them. Each of them is demanding and. I include the place notation of each in order that members can assess for themselves how much the respective bands achieved.
| Name | Place | Date | Notation |
| Ashford in the Water TB Minor | Ashford | 2 Jan | 36.x.36.16.56.x.12.16.14.x.14.36. lh16 |
| Joshua Differential Doubles | Ockbrook | 24 Feb | 3.1.345.125.345.123.5.1.123.5.345.5.123.1.5.123.345.125.345.1 |
| Peak District Major | Youlgreave | 17 Dec | 36.12x12.36.18 |
About half of the quarter peals were of Minor and almost one quarter were of Plain Bob.
Methods rung are shown in the table below.
| Methods rung | On five bells or less | Minor | Triples | Major | On nine bells or more | Total |
| Stedman | 1 (3) | 4 (1) | 1 (1) | 6 (5) | ||
| Grandsire | 16 (11) | 13 (16) | 1 (0) | 6 (4) | 36 (31) | |
| Plain Bob | 30 (45) | 42 (46) | 13 (10) | 13 (22) | 2 (8) | 100 (131) |
| Other plain methods | 10 (10) | 33 (58) | 2 (6) | 19 (9) | 2 (2) | 66 (85) |
| Cambridge/Yorkshire | 27 (22) | 16 (14) | 5 (3) | 48 (39) | ||
| Other Standard Surprise | 8 (8) | 15 (13) | 0 (1) | 23 (22) | ||
| Kent/Oxford TB | 19 (10) | 6 (5) | 0 (1) | 25 (16) | ||
| Other treble dodging | 4 (0) | 61 (65) | 5 (2) | 0 (1) | 66 (68) | |
| Multi-method & spliced | 17 (17) | 20 (12) | 1 (0) | 3 (5) | 41 (34) | |
| Total | 78 (86) | 210(221) | 33 (33) | 78 (70) | 16 (20) | 415 (430) |