Plain Bob Triples

Some ringers don't like Plain Bob Triples much, but it is rung at many towers so it seems sensible to learn at least one touch to call!

112 changes - PBBP repeated…
This means that first we have a plain lead (i.e. the treble comes back down to lead and there is no call), followed by two bobbed leads (i.e. you call a bob), then another plain lead and then we do that all over again - giving us PBBPPBBP. This is called a 2-part composition because we ring the PBBP block twice. The 6 is back home after the first part (i.e. it is in 6th place, you can see this from the figure below), as is the 7, so the work of these bells in the second half is the same as in the first half. First we shall look at calling this touch from the 6.

The first lead is plain, so you make long 7ths unaffected.
At the next lead end (that is, when the treble comes back to lead) you call a bob but since you are dodging 5-6 up you are unaffected. Since this is Plain Bob, the call comes when the treble is in 2nds place and so that is when you are in 5ths place before your dodge.
There is a bob at the next lead, but this time you will be affected. You would have dodged 3-4 up but call the bob when you are in 3rds place, make 4ths and come back to lead.
The next lead is plain, you dodge 5-6 down. You are now back in 6ths place and we are half way through the composition, so now you just do the same thing all over again.
When you are doing this 5-6 down dodge for the second time you will need to call "That's all!" It comes the blow before rounds, so as you are in 5ths place before you dodge back to 6ths place.

	112
	234567
	352746
-	357624
-	356472
	543267
	Repeat

The first lead is plain, so you make 2nds unaffected.
At the next lead end you would have dodged 3-4 down, but you call a bob when you are in 4ths place before the dodge and run in instead.
The same happens at the next lead end, call a bob in 4ths and run in.
The next lead is plain, so you get to dodge 3-4 down at last.
The next lead is also plain, you dodge 5-6 down.
Then there is another bob, you will be making long 7ths unaffected, and the bob comes at your first blow in 7ths.
At the next lead you call the last bob, before you dodge 5-6 up, so when you are in 5ths place.
The touch comes round the next lead. You will be dodging 3-4 up - call "That's all!" when you are in 4ths place before you dodge back to 3rds place.

Now try calling this touch from another bell.

You can learn and call this touch from these bells and work it out for other bells until you are comfortable with it. So long as you know where the calls come for each bit of work you are about to do, soon you can try taking any bell and just working out what happens as you ring. Then you will just need to remember "PBBP repeated".

Explanation of the figure above, on the left...
You may be wondering about the numbers written out to the left of the text above. This is how this touch is written out in, say, the RW Diary. First it tells us how many changes long the touch is (112).

You can see that the underlined row is rounds (without the treble). Each line represents a lead end, i.e. 1352746 is the change at the treble's backstroke when it comes back to the front for the first time after we begin. [This change is more correctly called the lead head with the lead end being at the treble's handstroke lead.] We do not include the treble in the notation because by definition it must always be at the front of the change at a lead end.

A dash in the left column, "-", means that there is a bob at that lead end, a blank means it is a plain lead. If it were a touch with singles there would be an "S" against the lead ends where you needed to call a single.

"Repeat" tells you to ring it again. If a touch has "repeat twice" that means you ring it 3 times in total, and so on. So from this way of writing the touch you can extract PBBPPBBP, and it's also a quicker way to see what each bell is doing at each lead end than always working it out from the beginning - for example, at the third lead end the 5 has become 3rds place bell and so will make 2nds next time (providing there is no call).

I have also explained this on the Grandsire Triples page, so look there for another example.

On to Grandsire Triples.

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