Whilst occurring outside our Guild, this may be of interest to people wondering “how can I restart ringing at an under-used tower?”   RM 

Eleanor Wallace Writes:

As some of you may know, I have been working with Mike Pitman recently to try and formulate a plan to get the practices and quarter peal nights up and running at Kingston again. They are such a beautiful ring of bells, and being a Kingston ringer myself for years I hate to see them not being rung as much as they should and going to waste.

As I have finally finished university and returned to the area I now have time to dedicate myself to re-establishing a regular practice night. However, I need as much support from everyone as I can and am asking for your help. Mike and I have come up with a concept of having two practice nights and two quarters a month on a friday so that the bells are rung every week, and we hope that it at least one night a month may appeal to all ringers of any standard, so that people don’t feel pressurised to dedicate themselves every single week.

The below is the monthly structure which I am trying to introduce, and I would love to hear what you guys think, advice etc as have never done anything like this before.

The Plan

From Friday 3rd March practice nights and quarter peal nights will be resuming at Kingston from 7:30 – 9:00 pm, and we would really love for you to join us. We have a lovely sounding and very easy-going ring of ten bells (tenor 26-3-16) and we want to get them ringing regularly again with the long-term aim
of becoming a supportive teaching tower. We are aiming to create a monthly structure that caters for ringers of all abilities; whether you are a called change ringer or a surprise ringer we hope to provide something for everyone.

1st Friday of the Month – Open Practice Night

Any ringer of any ability who is interested in getting practice at ten bell ringing is more than welcome. Ringing will range from Rounds and Called Changes to Plain Caters and Royal, as well as any six to eight bell ringing if its requested. Whatever you’re learning, come along! Any more advanced ringers who can help out will also be very much appreciated too.

2nd Friday – Advanced Ten Bell Practice

For ringers who want to challenge themselves learning Surprise Royal or just want to keep the cobwebs off.  We will be practicing the Standard Eight Surprise Royal methods (and others as time goes on) with a special method to focus on every week.

3rd Friday – Open Quarter Peal

Whatever the method or number of bells, if you fancy ringing a quarter peal then let us know and we will try to organise it for you. This night is aimed at giving people of all standards quarter peal practice and achieving firsts in method etc. Just pop an email to Eleanor Wallace (form below)

4th Friday – Advanced Quarter Peal

We will be working through the Standard Eight Surprise Royal (and others afterwards) quarter peals. If you’re interested in getting involved, achieving firsts in Surprise Royal etc. just send an email to Eleanor:

• Ringwood Advanced Practice Resumes – Thursday 7th October

  Ringwood Advanced Practice – First Thursday of the month, 7.30 – 9.15 pm, commencing October 7th.

  The Ringwood ringers are happy for the advanced practices to re-commence in October albeit on a different evening. The change of evening has been set down so that all the local ringers will be able to attend all their regular practices, hopefully this will not impact significantly upon the advance practice and we can continue to ring the range of Surprise Major methods as in the past.

  The local band are ringing with both stair doors open and the hatch to the chamber above the ringing chamber partly open, this appears to create a reasonable level of ventilation, I’ll be bringing along a CO2 meter so that we can monitor actual ppm levels during the practice. Wearing of face masks within the ringing chamber will be optional for everyone double Covid vaccinated, otherwise we would prefer ringers to wear one unless they have had a negative lateral flow test 2 days beforehand.

  Looking forward to seeing everyone again.

  Alan Bentley

• A&P District – Macmillan Coffee ‘MornRing’ @ Bentley – Fri 24th September

  

• Heritage Open Days – Winchester District towers – September 2021

  PLEASE NOTE: THE TEST VALLEY RINGING FESTIVAL ON 18TH SEPTEMBER HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL SPRING 2022.

  THE OTHER EVENTS ARE STILL GOING AHEAD.

  Historic bells across the Winchester District will ring out for this year’s Heritage Open Days Festival. Because of Covid restrictions access to come and meet the ringers is limited to certain towers, but you are welcome to come and listen at all towers.

  Saturday 11^th September 2.30 – 4.45pm, St John’s New Alresford: Tower Open Day

  Friday 17th September, 2.00pm Twyford St Mary

  The  Mayor of Winchester, Councillor Vivian Achwal, will be visiting the church of St Mary the Virgin, Twyford at 2pm on Friday 17th September. The Mayor’s Escort will be Dr. Sudhaker Achwal. They will hear ringing performed on the eight bells by a team of ringers drawn from across the Winchester area. The Mayor is offering her support to the team of ringers of Twyford, who are currently raising funds to restore their bells, and to the bellringers in other nearby churches in the Winchester District who are opening their towers to members of the public as part of the Heritage Open Days festival.

  ****POSTPONED UNTIL SPRING 2022****:Saturday 18th September – Test Valley Ringing Festival

  The following towers will be ringing at various times during the day for the Test Valley Ringing Festival. Exact timings for each tower to be confirmed nearer the date

  East Tytherley (8 bells, tenor 14-1-5 in F#)

  Ground floor ringing room.

  A relatively modern ring dated 1897 and 1999 by John Taylor & Co.

  Mottisfont, St Andrew (5 bells, tenor 6-0-23 in Ab)

  Ground floor ringing room

  The bells are dated 1663, 1675, 1678, 1718 and 1891.

  Houghton, All Saints (6 bells, tenor 2-2-21 in E)

  Ground floor ringing room

  In contrast to the other rings on this open day, this is not only the lightest ring of bells, but also a relatively modern one, with bells by John Taylor & Co (1950 and 1975) and four by Matthew Higby & Co (2015)

  Broughton, St Mary (6 bells, tenor 11 cwt in G)

  Ground floor ringing room

  The oldest bell is by an unknown founder and dated 1617. Another by Clement I Tosier was added in 1681. Three more were added in 1720, 1763 and 1774. The last was added in 1934.

  Nether Wallop, St Andrew (6 bells, tenor 14 cwt in F)

  Ground floor ringing room

  The oldest bell is dated 1585 by John Wallis and two more were added by John Hidgen in 1642.Two more were added in 1702 and 1770, with the final bell added in 1992.

  Over Wallop, St Peter (5 bells, tenor 7cwt in A)

  Upstairs ringing room

  One of the bells is dated 1599, two others dated 1631 and 1636 are by John Dawton. A fourth was added in 1776 and the final bell added in 1875.

  Stockbridge, St Peter (6 bells, tenor 7-0-20 in Bb)

  Upstairs ringing room

  Three of the bells are by Samuel Knight and dated 1691. The other three are by Mears & Stainbank of Whitechapel and are dated 1887.

  Longstock, St Mary (5 bells, tenor 8cwt in A)

  Ground floor ringing room

  The oldest bell is by John Wallis and is dated 1593. He also cast another in 1617. The other three were added between 1879 and 1893.

  Leckford, St Nicholas (5 bells, tenor 8-2-4 in A)

  Ground floor ringing room

  Three of the bells date from 1582, 1595 and 1629. The other two date from 1934 when they were added by Mears and Stainbank of Whitechapel

  Goodworth Clatford, St Peter (8 bells, tenor 7½cwt in A)

  Well ventilated upstairs ringing room.

  The ring of eight bells includes a bell cast in 1622 by John Wallis, one cast by John Dawton in 1627 and one in 1700 by Robert Cor. The others are by John Taylor & Co and the Whitechapel Bellfoundry.

  Upper Clatford, All Saints (6 bells, tenor 9-0-16 in F#)

  Ground floor ringing room

  Five of the bells are by various founders from 1621 to 1721. They were augmented to six and hung in a new frame by John Taylor & Co in 1967.

  Please revisit this page nearer the date to check the timings.

  All towers will be open for 45 minutes general ringing. After this, slots will be available for pre-booked bands. All ringers are encouraged to let us know which towers they intend to ring at by submitting a booking form. This will also help with track and trace.

  Link to booking form

  There is no charge for the open day, but it is suggested that visiting ringers leave a donation of at least 50p per ringer at each church for local tower/church funds.

  Visiting ringers need to adhere to Covid protocols. Do not come if you are feeling unwell, and wear a face mask if unvaccinated ringers are present. Any unvaccinated ringers or those who have only had one dose should also take a lateral flow test beforehand. Hand gel to be used each time a new ringer touches a rope.

  Members of the public are welcome to come and listen, and may watch the ringing from the nave in those towers where the bells are rung from the ground floor. However, it will not be possible to have a go.

• A&P District – ‘Rounds’ Striking Competition and BBQ – Saturday 4th September – Blackmoor

  

  Names to enter competition and names for catering please email no later than Saturday 31st August:
  Names for Ringing to Roger Barber: rogerbarber4@gmail.com
  Names for BBQ to Judy Sparling: judoir@btinternet.com

  DOWNLOAD POSTER

• Winchester District Training Course – Sunday 8th August 2021

  ‘Grandsire Doubles – from first steps to calling touches’

  Sunday 8th August at 2.30pm

  An online presentation introducing beginners to the plain course, explaining bobs and singles for those wanting to ring touches, and giving guidance on calling to those who want to call touches.  A useful refresher on Grandsire Doubles as we return to our towers.

  Zoom link open from 14.15

  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86989085541?pwd=c1Q2TUsvSktDdFIvU0JrYnkzdCtEZz09

  The presentation will be given by Edmund Wratten, Winchester District Ringing Master

• Notice for visiting ringers

  As restrictions are lifted and ringing is able to resume, please note that not all towers are able to begin ringing again. Some may have restrictions in place whilst COVID infection numbers are still high. Many are still observing social distancing and require face masks to be worn. Others are restricting numbers that attend, or limiting the number in the ringing chamber at a time. There are also towers with insufficient number of ringers.

  I recommend that if you intend to visit any tower as a visitor, you contact that Tower Secretary in the first instance to check if ringing is taking place and if there are any restrictions in place. Do not assume all towers have restarted. I would hate anyone to have a wasted journey.

  If any towers wish to let me know their situation, I can update the website. Please email me at wpbells@gmail.com.

  Great to be back ringing again but stay safe!

  Andrew Glover

  W&P Guild Webmaster

  W&P Tower Directory

• Contact Hursley Tower Secretary

  Email: Use Form

  Name(required)

  Email(required)

  Comment(required)

  Submit

  Δ

• Isle of Wight District half-yearly meeting – Saturday 24th July

  Isle of Wight Half yearly meeting and Centenary Celebration

  at Newchurch from 3 pm on Saturday 24th July

  Please contact Mary Tester, District Secretary, to get all the paperwork for the meeting.

  Hope to see lots of people.

  There will be ringing from 3pm, all necessary precautions will be in place.

  And a traditional tea with cake!

  

• Guidance in England from 19th July

  Ringing guidance for England for the period from 19th July onwards has been agreed with the House of Bishops Recovery Group today and can be found here. The lifting of any restrictions on how long we ring for and with how many other ringers is welcomed, although we need to be mindful that at a time of greatly increasing infection rates, and big regional variations, many ringers will still be cautious in terms of how much ringing they do. Some towers are actually discussing reducing the amount of ringing they do because of the rise in infection levels, not increasing it.

  The Church of England’s own guidance has not been published yet, but should be later today. It includes a paragraph referring to the Central Council’s guidance.

  Although the wearing of facemasks is no longer mandated in places of worship, and will not appear in the Church of England guidance, we have included a number of situations where due to the particular nature of ringing we would expect masks to be worn, including close face to face teaching, and ringing with unvaccinated children. Some clergy may retain a policy of facemasks in their church or cathedral, and if they do then their wishes take precedence.

  The Government now wants us to take responsibility for our own actions. If you don’t think you should ring for as long as you are allowed to – don’t. If you want to wear a facemask when ringing – wear one. If a member of your band wants you all to wear facemasks to protect them – discuss it as a band and come to an agreement. Bellringing is a group activity and we are responsible for each other not just ourselves. The virus has not gone away by any means – we are learning to live with it.

  This seems like an ideal time to thank the rest of the Covid guidance team – Phil Barnes, Mark Regan and David Pouncey – who have helped navigate this difficult process over the last 16 months, and the large number of ringers who have given their quiet support behind the scenes. As a team we would like to thank Mark Betson and Brendan McCarthy, the members of the House of Bishops Recovery Group, who have had an extraordinary burden put on them.

  Simon Linford
  President CCCBR

• President’s Blog #38

  When my parents chose the name Simon it was because it was unusual. Lots of other parents around the time thought the same and there was a bulge in Simon production, with three in my class at Junior school. But we are now a long way past Peak Simon, and the name languishes outside the top 100, replaced with the likes of Maverick (a famous Tomcat pilot at 73) and Leonardo (a famous turtle at 93). Bellringing Simons are a select yet strong group, with some perseverance enabling us to ring a quarter of Little Bob 14 in hand on Ringing Room. A last hurrah for the Simons on the platform? No – which shows how Ringing Room is going to continue to have a place in bringing groups of ringers together who might not otherwise meet easily and help develop progress in change ringing. As well as keeping many of us sane for the last year, Ringing Room and Ding’s ability to bring ringers together will be one of their legacies.

  One of the joys of ringing is that so many resources are developed and provided by so many different people and without charge. Every so often something that is valued is at risk or possibly even lost. So we have a team led by the T&T workgroup looking to identify all the software programmes and assets that we as ringers care about and seeing what can be done about making sure they are as safe as they can be. What would you miss if it went down? I am not missing the Bellringers Facebook group, but would miss BellBoard, Ringing Room, and the Changeringing Wiki, which is the easiest place I can find my PPE articles. You can email the team at it4ringers@cccbr.org.uk and watch out for their forthcoming survey.

  Ringing for the birthday of the NHS was well supported and covered by the media – quite a few towers managed to get TV coverage. We had been a bit sceptical when Bruno Peek had first mentioned this about nine months ago. The practicalities of ringing 73 times were mere detail when we didn’t really know what sort of ringing would be possible. Thanks to all who took part and registered their events. It’s supposed to be annual now, but I bet this is something that will wear out.

  Unlike the Fourth of July, which will no doubt last forever! Washington ringers celebrated Independence Day with a full peal at the Cathedral – the first ten bell peal outside Australia since March 2020. Five years to the big 250 – the US Semiquincentennial Commission has already started a countdown https://america250.org/

  Sadly, questions on whether it was appropriate to dedicate ringing performances to England’s win over Italy in the Euros became academic late on Sunday night.

  Meanwhile quite a few peal bands are lining themselves up to ring peals on 19 July, on the reasonable expectation that restrictions are going to get relaxed. When I received an invitation for a 9am start for a peal of Bristol Maximus I assumed it was a joke! But no – some people really are that keen, and will be reminding local populations that have missed their bells quite how long they sometimes get rung for.

  Personally, I am going to stick to handbell peals for a while. Making a late entry into the world of handbell ringing has made me realise how much more difficult it is to learn when you are older. For all those who have learned young and found making progress in ringing easy, discovering that learning can be quite hard when you’re just the wrong side of 50 is a good lesson.

  I still haven’t finished the Cornwall edition of the Ringing World, despite it being kept handily in one of our rooms of quiet contemplation. Presumably we are now working on County issues and will be working north? I hope Rutland is going to manage a complete issue. I was fascinated by the article in the Cornwall edition about Rounds ringing. I was aware it was ‘a thing’ but not exactly what people do, or that there was a complete society dedicated to it.

  I also liked the alternative vocabulary. I would be interested to know of regional variations in other distant outposts of the Exercise. When I learned to ring at Cannock the signal to start ringing down was “Look to the fall”. Who else says that? I only realised that wasn’t universal when I said it in Essex and no one knew what I was talking about.

  Picking up on a thread from Ringing Chat (sent to me by my in-house social media monitoring team) there is a lot of discussion about how churches might be used more. In my business life I am close to this subject as I am working with the Church of England on the development potential of church buildings. Churches are often simply too big, and using the space better, or using less of it, is high on the agenda (see what the CCT did at All Souls Bolton – perhaps the best example of creative reuse). If a building can still maintain some worship space but with the rest put to good use this would be a welcome outcome. Bells are now seen as part of the solution. If we can attract visitors and use for buildings that is welcomed.

  Once a year the Council has a meeting with Historic England and the Church Buildings Council to catch on various matters churches and bells. The relationship with them is as strong as ever but it was still useful last week to discuss such matters as church closures, historic bell frames, progress on the Dove database project, the Clerical Guild’s proposed ‘Theology of Ringing’, and how ringing is part of the fabric of the church.

  Diana Evans of Historic England followed up with “How positive the CCCBR’s approach is. The amount of energy you are all putting into recovery from the pandemic is amazing. Bell ringing is an important part of the life of many historic places of worship and Historic England is keen to encourage the continuation of this tradition.”

  Simon Linford
  President CCCBR

  Content taken from https://cccbr.org.uk and logo used with permission from Central Council of Church Bell Ringers