Balmoral Delight Minor

About Balmoral Delight Minor

Balmoral Delight Minor has the fluid hunting work above the treble of the Chadkirk Group, exacerbated by the 6ths place Lead End. Below the treble the work has moved away from Kent and Oxford but with a disruptive 3rds place at the 4-5 cross-sections and 5ths place Half Lead.

4ths place bell is the pivot bell and with the 6ths place lead end, the calling sequence for 6ths observation is as per College Bob Minor.

Balmoral Delight Minor is one of a group of 3 Treble Dodging methods all having identical work below the treble.

• Wilmslow Delight Minor
• Balmoral Delight Minor (Ibid)
• Peveril Delight Minor

At of June 2025 Bellboard had just 4 performances that included Balmoral Delight Minor.

Method Structure.

Place Notation:
X 36 X 16 X 12 X 36 X 12 X 56, 16, Bob 14, Single 1456.

Grid:

Diagram: Balmoral Delight Minor, plain lead, change-rows and grid.

Plain Course structure
The essence of this method (as a progression beyond Oxford TB) is the hunting work above 1-2 for the 1-2 sections combined with the thirds when treble passes thriough 4-5. With 4ths Place Bell as the pivot bell and the 6ths place Lead End, the leads are presented in Double Court Sequence.

Goals and learning approach

What you are trying to achieve needs to drive your approach.
Balmoral is easier than Nelson Treble Bob
so if this has already been tackled, then step up to Balmoral with 3rds at the 4-5 cross-sections, and hence have a shot at ringing by Structure.

Ringing by structure

DO NOT learn the lines, learn the structure, ring, make mistakes and learn from them. Track-the Treble skills, Place Notation skills, coursing order skills can all be developed in this manner

Performance Level

If you are wishing to achieve 720s, Quarters, or peals:
start with the structural ringing as above, add in the bits that are natural to you.
Study the lines.
Practice a lot.
Achieve some performances .

Method Mastery Level

It is unusual for a band to wish to achieve mastery in a method like Balmoral but don't dismiss it out of hand.

Learning Balmoral Delight Minor.

The Structure

The essence of the method is Oxford Treble Bob, but with significant differences.

The Rules

Balmoral Delight Minor - the rules
Ring Nelson Treble Bob Minor
except:
At the 4-5 cross-sections, 3rds place is made (causing a dodge in 1-2); and the Half Lead is 5-6.

Supplementary Rules based on Oxford TB

Oxford, Wilmslow, Balmorlal and Peveril:
When Treble dodges above 1-2, 2nds place is made and the bells in 3-4 and 5-6 dodge.
Oxford: When Treble passes through 4-5, lies behind at the Half Lead, or passes through 5-4, all bells plain hunt (P.N. 1-6).
Wilmslow, Balmorlal and Peveril: When Treble passes through 4-5, or passes through 5-4, 3rds place is made and the bells in 1-2 dodge (P.N. 3-6).
Wilmslow, Balmorlal and Peveril: When Treble lies behind at the Half Lead, 5ths place is made and the bells in 1-2 and in 3-4 dodge (P.N. 5-6).

Double Blue Lines

Balmoral Delight Minor, 1-2

Diagram: Balmoral Delight Minor, 1-2.

Balmoral Delight Minor, 3-4

Diagram: Balmoral Delight Minor, 3-4.

Balmoral Delight Minor, 5-6

Diagram: Balmoral Delight Minor, 5-6.

Artefacts

Strip-the-willow in 1-2.
3-pull in 3-4 across the half lead.

Place Notation and Grid

The pictorial grid emphasises the structure of the method better than the Place Notation.

Pictels

As with Oxford Treble Bob Minor, the rules are a good approach to the method, and splitting into individual elements is of no value.

Ringing Balmoral Delight Minor.

Track the treble

Awareness of the position of the treble is a key skill for most bellringing methods, and is the major key to ringing Balmoral Delight Minor. Some hints and tips for developing the skill are given in the techniques section.

Positional Awareness

Balmoral Delight Minor is helpful below the treble in keeping the bells close together.

Place Notation Elements

The method only contains 5 elements (X, 36, 16, 12), all of which will already have been rung.

Place Bells, Pivot Leads, and Handrails

156342 LE 16: Double Court Bob; Sandal Treble Bob, Hull Surprise

1-2:1-2, 1-6, 1-3, 1-4, 1-5, 1-2
3-4:3-4, 4-5, 5-2, 2-6, 6-3, 3-4
5-6:6-5, 3-2, 4-6, 5-3, 2-4, 6-5

The pivot bell (4) makes 5ths the half lead. For 3-4 pair, the pivot point is when they dodge together in 1-2 at the Half Lead. For 5-6 pair, the pivot point is when they dodge together in 3-4 at the Half Lead.

Handrails
For both 3-4 pattern and 5-6 pattern, the pivot leads act as handrails.

Awareness of other bells

Apart from the fluidity of "Nelson Delight above", most ringers on encountering Balmoral Delight Minor find it quite straightforward.

Coursing Order in Balmoral Delight Minor

Balmoral Delight Minor exhibits glimpses of natural coursing order. An experienced ringer will pick out the parts that are valuable to them, others should concentrate on features that are more helpful

Ringing the Method

Balmoral Delight Minor makes excellent use of the skill of following the treble in combination with the structural variation on Oxford TB.

Bobs and Singles.

Bobs replace the 6ths place at the Lead End with 4ths. This causes the bell that has just made 3rds to make the bob, make thirds once more.

Singles Singles are rarely used in Balmoral Delight Minor.

Touches of Balmoral Delight Minor.

Balmoral Delight Minor has the same lead-end order as Double Court Minor, use bobs-only touches.