With grateful thanks to Steve Hough for posting this on our facebook page. Well worth a watch.
With grateful thanks to Steve Hough for posting this on our facebook page. Well worth a watch.
The Charmborough Ring attracts a lot of interest at public events and we have a number of slots free over the coming months for bookings.
http://www.charmborough.org/futurebookings.htm
You can usually collect a list of at least 20 names when the ring is used at a public event, but it is important to plan how you are going to capture contact details and follow people up afterwards, as people can come from quite a wide area. The Association of Ringing Teachers website contains lots of useful information about planning a recruitment event,
Although the ring is often used during the summer, it can be used throughout the year indoors at shopping centres, and for school activities days:
It costs £100 to hire the ring for a day, or £150 for two days, plus 60p/mile for towing, from our new base at Alresford in the W&P area. Further information is available here:
http://www.charmborough.org/hiring.htm
Lovely recording of the bells at Lymington on the radio this morning.
Last night we had our Inaugural ring…
Photo shows L-R
Jeremy Stupart, June Banister, Trevor Blades, Aileen Wilson, Donald Hughes, Jane Robinson (hidden), Maurice Stupart, Helen Blades, Bruce James, Philippa Arditti, Peter Bevis & Helen McGregor. Missing from photo = Mariko Whyte
Inaugural Ring @ Wells Bells – The Channel islands’ Ringing Centre
Thurs 7th Sept 2017
The First Ring – Rounds and call changes were rung:
With the changes called by Trevor Blades from outside the circle
This was followed by plain hunt on 7, a course of bob major and half a course of Yorkshire.
Single bells were rung by Jane Robinson, Bruce James,
Jeremy Stupart and Helen Blades
Finally: 1280 Plain Bob Major in 44 mins
First qtr peal on the bells
Helen McGregor
An inspiring extract of ringing up, rounds, call changes and ringing Down on Eight.
Simon Edwards Writes:
Footage of a quarter peal rung at St Mark, Swindon – spanking Stedman Triples. Ringers on bells 3-8 all aged 22 and under too, which was even better! I didn’t realise this had been filmed until afterwards, but very glad it was !
Lesley Belcher speaks at the ART conference on what new ringers want, and how we can work better as teachers.
The real quotes from real recruits may make you think….. that perhaps your new ringers might be wanting more but too polite to say so…?
And it you want to regenerate your Tower then Lesley describes a tower where this has been achieved.
“You don’t know what it’s like to be an outsider in ringing if you are inside”
Elva has been ringing since she was 12, and now works as an independent business psychologist advising a huge variety of businesses on their culture and practice as MD of Talent Innovations.
From what we wear to whether we have a hoover in the tower, she provokes us to reflect on our culture and whether we need to work on changing it in order to create a healthy future.
Bells on Sunday for January 2017.
1st. Denton, Manchester. Grandsire Doubles.
15th. Maidstone, Kent. Plain & Little Bob Royal.
22nd. Woodchurch, Wirral. Cambridge Surprise Major.
29th. Barnoldswick, Lancs. Barnoldswick T B Minor.
Simon Edwards Reports:
2016 marks the centenary year of Cub Scouting, officially launched on 16th December 1916, after some three years’ worth of planning and trialling. The Wolf Cubs, as they were originally called, were themed around the Jungle Book, a theme that continues in the majority of Cub packs today.
But how does this link to bells? Well, as well as being a ringer, I am also a Cub Scout Leader in my spare time, going by the name of Shere Khan, and have often found that my two hobbies go hand in hand together; my first peal, back in 2007, was to mark the Centenary of Scouting, after which I vowed never to ring another. How wrong I was!
The idea of combining my two hobbies once again, first came to me some eighteen months ago, with the prospect of a peal just using Cubs and Cub Leaders past and present to celebrate the Centenary. The date was chosen as the closest feasible Saturday to December 16th, a band approached, a method and composition were sourced from Robert Brown – an expert in these matters! – and slowly but surely, the pieces all fell into place.
Given that this was a Scout-themed peal, it seemed only fitting that Brownsea Island was the place to do it. As well as housing a delightful little eight, with a ringing chamber more akin to somebody’s lounge, the Island is regarded as the spiritual home of Scouting; the experimental camp led by Baden-Powell was held there in 1907, and this ultimately led to the formation of Scouting. However, the Island is shut to the public in the winter months, and this brought other obstacles with it, the most prominent being a boat across to the Island (it was just a bit too far to swim!), and thanks indeed must go to Alison and Alan Butler for tackling these logistics and ensuring the bells and transport were available for us, as well as giving up their Saturday to travel to the Island with us (and take the all-important group photo!)
A Friday evening quarter peal at Brockenhurst settled the nerves, and ensured we knew what to do at the Special Single! With Giles and Kieran unavailable for this, we were joined by Jack and Jimmy, both one-time members of the movement themselves. Only one real hiccup occurred, when two bells tried to “run in”, but this was quickly recovered! Finally, we were set for “the big event!”
On the day, the eight of us met promptly on a grey, drizzly Poole harbourside with Alan and Alison for the ferry across. It occurred to us here that Cub Scouting from the 1960’s to present day (with the possible exception of the 1990’s) was covered in the band, accounting for half of the existence of Cubs! It also became quickly apparent that the mileage travelled to ring this peal was not inconsiderable; Swindon, Peterborough, Liverpool, Kent and Humberside were all represented, and lucky Kieran had to make twice the number of boat trips as the rest of us, setting off from the Isle of Wight at silly o’clock (wasn’t it 5:30am?) that morning!
I had joked that the hard work was now done, and this was the easy bit, but of course nothing is ever as simple as that, is it? A false start did nothing for the nerves, but, with a reshuffle and some gritting of teeth, off we went again. And that was it! Aside from a moth flitting around for the first half of the peal, causing a mild distraction, there were no further “scary” moments, bar the odd missed dodge, one of which prompted a “couldn’t get the staff” comment from Barry. Oops! And soon, all too soon, it was over, with big smiles all round and a year and a half’s thoughts and plans wrapped up and completed. Marvellous! Click for Peal Details
Overall, I am delighted with how this latest scheme of mine has panned out; a very worthwhile effort to mark an important milestone in what is quite possibly the most recognised youth group in the world. We are all very grateful to Alison and Alan Butler, who not only sorted out a ferry, the tower, and the numerous other logistics, but who also gave up their Saturday to travel to Brownsea and back with us. Thanks must also go to Robert Brown for his help with the method and composition, and to my fellow band members for joining me with this.
Now, all I need for the “set” is a peal for the Centenary of Beavers, in 2086… Anyone interested? ☺
Some footage of the peal can be found below, for interest/enjoyment:
ART is pleased to announce the launch of the second Learning the Ropes ® DVD – this one focussing on the skills and knowledge needed for Raising and Lowering.
The new DVD contains almost an hour of specially commissioned footage exploring all aspects of raising and lowering. Separated into convenient chapters, the DVD includes sections on chiming, raising a bell, lowering a bell, raising in peal, lowering in peal, trebling up and trebling down.
Through-out there are examples of good raises and lowers and the DVD also places in context the skills which help develop the competences of bell handling, teamwork, listening and other core skills we use in ringing generally.
Techniques to help you learn or teach to raise or lower a single bell or in peal are fully dealt with as well as the issues you face when learning to ring or treble up and down in peal. A number of ideas to allow effective practice are demonstrated.
The Raising and Lowering DVD is now available to everyone for £15 via the ART Shop . ART Members can claim a £3 discount by purchasing via the SmART Ringer Shop.
Graham Nabb
ART Chairman
grahamnabb@ringingteachers.org
https://youtu.be/–gnCBAga8k
Steve Hough from Eling has produced and uploaded a wonderful video on to Youtube of the C&S outing to Oxford.
Thank you Steve for this lovely video.
A Video by the WP Guild Education Committee
eduA video by the WP Guild Education Committee
The BBC has run a coordinated set of features across the country on the future of bell ringing. We’ve had our own article on BBC Radio Solent and BBC Radio Guernsey, but there is also a national feature, plus other areas.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-37257729
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-37268629
As with all BBC Iplayer content, you only have a limited amount of time to listen to these.
Tim Daykin interviews 11-year-old Ian, 8 months into his ringing career… this clip is 4 minutes long.
As well as footage from August 2016 of call changes on 12, there are extracts from other occasions including a peal on the middle six, ringing on the back 6 and lowering the back eight in peal.
ROCH ringers are a ‘cross Guild’ friendly bunch who support and ring at each others towers on practice nights and for weddings etc. They can be found ringing the bells at:
They share bells, friendship, fun, beer and outings
Learning to ring in this atmosphere is a pleasure. They have quite a few new ringers of all ages ( 7yrs – 70yrs) between them and folks thinking ‘Hmm I would like to give it a go’ are always welcome. Please click on any of the tower links to find their contact details,the days and times that they practice.
See you soon.
David Forder Writes:
Wonderful ringing – silent and non-conducted. Just take a look at the composition!
The peal is on Bellboard – click to see names.