Entertaining short documentary by Eric Hall, explaining the curious rules and traditions of a game of quoits in the garden of a Suffolk pub. Title – Behind the Bell by J Eric Hall This film begins with a hand opening a book to a map of Suffolk. A woman walks down a picturesque street in the village of Kersey. A half-timbered pub, The Bell, is seen from outside. In the garden behind, Ted, an old local, removes tarpaulin coverings from two square patches of ground 18 yards apart. Using a...

Entertaining short documentary by Eric Hall, explaining the curious rules and traditions of a game of quoits in the garden of a Suffolk pub. Title – Behind the Bell by J Eric Hall This film begins with a hand opening a book to a map of Suffolk. A woman walks down a picturesque street in the village of Kersey. A half-timbered pub, The Bell, is seen from outside. In the garden behind, Ted, an old local, removes tarpaulin coverings from two square patches of ground 18 yards apart. Using a garden fork, he raises the clay underneath slightly, then covers them with plastic and thumps with a wooden block to flatten them. The commentary explains these preparations for a game of quoits. Two women watch from a nearby bench, and another local, Joe, arrives with a blackboard for scoring. The board reads ‘Kersey Bell Quoit Club’. Men polish their quoits with a cloth rag and the commentary notes that the quoits are 7 inches in diameter and weigh 3½  pounds. A circle one yard in diameter is marked out on the clay patches, constituting the target. Teams of men chat in the shade of the trees. The game begins, and the players take their turns throwing their quoits, with six men to each team. The target is seen with some hits, and some missed quoits lie in the grass to one side. Scores are marked up on the chalkboard. After an interval in which tea and biscuits are served, the teams switch ends. The targets are prepared again and the game continues. One team poses together before people head back into the pub. The Bell is seen again from the street. Title – Behind the Bell by J Eric Hall Title – The End