Ding, dong, merrily on high! (From Gazette Series)

Ding, dong, merrily on high!

CAMPANOLOGISTS from Dursley struck all the right notes to come out on top of an annual competition.

The band of bellringers from St James the Great Church were victorious in the Gloucester and Bristol Diocesan Association of Church Bellringers' annual striking competition held in Cheltenham.

They brought home the Croome Trophy - a silver model of a bell and frame - after coming first out of six teams.

The team - John Taylor, Anne Pope, Liz Byrne, Phillip Pope, and Ian Unsworth was led by conductor Frank Byrne in a rendition of the challenging method Cambridge Minor.

The association also held its annual eight-bell striking competition on the same day where ringers from Dursley, Wotton-under-Edge and Berkeley represented the Wotton branch of the bellringers association.

Branch spokesman Andrew Harper said a mix-up on timing meant the group was not as successful as the Dursley band.

"Unfortunately the band arrived late and did not ring as well, coming sixth out of eight," he added.

In the second competition the band rang Grandsire Triples.