As I have said several times elsewhere, there appear to be only three twin-hunt Triples methods in which ordinary Grandsire singles can be used in a peal composition. Those methods are Grandsire, Tottenham, and Union. The bob courses for these methods can either be rung forwards or backwards, unlike the plain courses for these and all other twin-hunt methods, which can only be rung forwards. Grandsire singles change the direction of the ringing without choice, which narrows their use down to these three methods.

​

Union Triples is simply Grandsire with 5ths made at the plain lead ends instead of 7ths. Consequently a bob course of Union is identical to a bob course of Grandsire. For this reason I gave very little attention or interest to the method for years, until December 2018 when I discovered what a little treasure trove of interesting composition potential it is.

​

Like Grandsire, Union has many more varied ways of ringing 5040s than other twin-hunt methods, because the Grandsire singles make it possible to ring compositions that are half in-course, half out-of-course. Union has a slight advantage over Grandsire in that it has 3-member q-sets, rather than 5-member q-sets. These are easier to work with and allow for some kinds of composition that aren't practical in Grandsire, as we shall see.

​

The old greats had fun with Union. The great genius John Carter published this 24-part in 1893. Based on the 24 part ends ending xxxx678, this plan isn't really possible in Grandsire as discussed elsewhere.

​

In 1890 Carter published this 120-part of Union on the three-lead course plan. Some might disagree that it's a 120-part, but as far as I'm concerned the repeated pattern and the mathematical group of 120 course ends with the 5th in 5ths place gives it that qualification. 120-parts on the 3-lead course plan are well-known in Grandsire, but Carter's real masterstroke is the use of only one call in each course (unlike the 3-lead course peals in Grandsire which must have at least two calls in each course - the Union q-sets allow for more plain leads.) This shows that a peal of Union can be rung half in-course and half out-of-course with only 120 calls. In Grandsire, 180 seems to be the fewest calls possible with this specification.

 

At around the same time, Joseph J. Parker turned his deductive abilities to Union, and produced this wonderful 9-part:

​

5040 Union Triples

By Joseph J Parker

  234567

  472356 2

S 364572 1

S 523764 1

  635742 3

  526374 2

  435726 1

  734526 5

  247563 3

  732456 2

  527463 3

  425763 5

  724563 5

  437256 3

  234756 5

9 part, only calling the first bob in parts 1,4 and 7.

 

Published in 1892, this peal is three "Bicycle three-parts" linked together, with all in-course xxx756, xxx675 and xxx567 part ends. It is very pleasing that the extra bob is the first to be rung in the part, and that it should occur right next to the pair of singles. A typically neat production from the exacting J. J. Parker (incidentally, he described this composition as a 3-part rather than a 9-part, due to the extra bob in every third.)

 

At the same time he published this exceptional palindromic 18-part, rung wholly in-course with Holt's Bob Singles:

​

5040 Union Triples

By Joseph J Parker

   234567

  752634 1

  537426 4

  765342 2

  367542 5

  253467 1

  452367 5

P 475236 2

Call the above nine times, with a bob at the end of the 3rd and 6th parts, and a Holt’s Bob Single at the end of the 9th part to produce:

 

  235476

  562347 2

  365247 5

  723465 1

  427365 5

  754236 2

  537642 4

P 564237 1

Call the above nine times, with a bob at the end of the 12th and 15th parts, and a Holt’s Bob Single at the end of the 18th part to finish.

 

I came up with some compositions, starting with this 18-part:

 

5040 Union Triples

RBP (no. 1)

    234567

  s 742356 2

    637542 1

 [s 526437 1

    745326 1

    637245 1

  s 256437 1]

  s 472356 1

    634572 1

    426357 2

  s 374526 1

    653274 1*

    426753 1

  s 734526 1

    247563 3

    352647 1

    423675 3

18 part.

Replace [SBBS] with SS in parts 2,3,5,6,8,9,11,12,14,15,17 and 18, and with a bob in parts 4, 7, 10, 13 and 16.

Replace -* with a single in parts 1 and 10.

Composed 17th December 2018.

​

This is based on the same in-course 9-part group of (234)(567) part ends as Parker's 9-part, and is doubled to 18-part by swapping over bells 5,6. This peal was made up from the foundations of a would-be 36-part peal that sadly wasn't possible. An 18-part like this with mixed parity part ends is not possible in Grandsire, but an 18-part in that method with all in-course part ends is possible.

​

Next I produced an irregular 20-part. The part ends have the 7th as observation with bells 2-6 ringing cyclic rotations of Rounds, Queens, Back Rounds and Tittums, analogous to the peals of Stedman Triples by Thurstans, Haley and Brook. I've also produced 20-parts of Grandsire, and now Plain Bob, both methods offering neat arragements due to the 5-member q-sets in Grandsire and the irregular q-sets in Plain Bob which can effect 5-part shunts. These options aren't possible in Union, which is why this peal is more broken up and not as neat. 20 parts do not divide by 3-member q-sets. However, it is still nice that a 20-part is possible.

 

I then composed some 12-parts, using the same part ends as Parker's Grandsire with the 7th observation. The first one has nowhere to swap over 5,6 with a single, so the two half peals have to be linked together irregularly:

 

5040 Union Triples

RBP (no. 3)

  234567

  362745 4

  573462 1

  325746 2

  453762 3#

  274653 1

  432765 2

  574632 1

  425763 2

s 354276 2

  623754 1*

  476523 1

s 534276 1

  625734 1

  236457 4

  742536 1

  267453 2

  342567 1

12 part, calling single for bob at end of 3rd, 6th, 9th and 12th parts.

In part 1 call a single at * to produce #.

In part 7 call a single at # to produce *.

Composed 17th December 2018.

​

This was followed by a 12-part with all parts the same length, and a rather palindromic structure:

​

5040 Union Triples

RBP (no. 4)

  234567

  752634 1

  327645 3

  563427 1*

  375642 2

  453627 3

  234675 3

  742653 3

  237465 2

  542637 1

  325674 3

  463725 1

s 534672 2

  265374 1

p 273465 1

s 452673 1

s 324567 2

12 part, calling s for -* in parts 1,3,5,7,9,11.

Call a bob at p in parts 1,5 and 9.

Composed 18th December 2018.

​

I was pleased that this composition only has 183 calls - three more than Parker's 12-part.

​

All in all, Union turns out to be a very interesting method and offers much scope for varied peal plans. In some ways it is slightly more versatile than Grandsire.

​

​