Ringing Forums

Roger Booth makes a very valid point. Communication is the key to everything in the world of ringers.

It is essential that the inexorable move to online commuication is pushed out to meet the widets audience. It can't rely on people remembering to check in with a local website or FB page in the hope of finding something of interest. I served two periods as Branch Chairman in the 1970s and 1990s but now I'm completely out of touch with what's going on and, with a coue of exceptions who are the committee members.

Our Branch page on the YACR website is 5 years out of date - it fires out with the 2019 Newsletter! So that is of limited value. We have a couple of active PB/plain hunt towers whose news fills the branch FB page but we hear nothing from the majjority of the other 65 towers listed in the Branch.

From my occasional visits to other towers, I get the impression that many of them don't feel any affinity with the branch. Is it for these towers to find the branch contacts and seek them out, or is it for the branch to adopt a 'evangelical' approach and try to draw them in?

To answer Martin Rushton's comment of a few weeks ago, the former Anglican church in Hebburn, Co. Durham was acquired by the Presbyterian Methodists in the 1970s. According to my 1988 Dove it had been converted to become 'St Andrew's Parish Centre' at the time of that edition. Google reveals that it is now a Buddist meditiation centre:
https://co-curate.ncl.ac.uk/st-andrews-church-hall-hebburn/

We too adopted Adrian's approach and used an external microphone when making a film about bell ringing for BBC2 some years ago. We used a 'rifle' mic - it's quite long and highly directional (it helped that we had a good mate who was a reporter at the local BBC radio station!)

We stood in the backyard of a neighboroughing terraced house so that the wall around the yard screened us from any close-by extraneous noises and pointed the mic at the louvres on the side of the tower furthest from the tenors which we considered to be the loudest bells. The result was perfect.

Positioning a microphone above the bells will probably eliminate the sound of ropes rattling up and down but will probably pick up the clatter of the sliders being kicked from side to side.

John - obviously no explanation. This is presumably restricted information in order to improve the odds in favour of winning for those who do know!

In response to a request from the Churchwarden, on two occasions we provided a tower key to the then incumbent. On both occasions the keys were lost. Now we neither offer nor ask the question. The Ch-warden has a key (and happens to be a ringer too) so the problem has solved itself.

The one-third losses in congregation numbers and in revenue seem to be a pretty closely parallel to the decline in the numbers who claim membership of a Christian church. Perhaps the two debates should be digested together.

I am assuming that the instrument, be it a piano or a ring of bells, having been unused for a decade that the church has tried and failed to put it to use.

I can revise my earlier comment - if some bequeathed a rather fine grand piano to church but it was never use and stood idle for a decade or more, what should the church authorities do? Keep and let it slowly deteriorate through lack of use and the conditions in whixh it is stored? Or would it be more beneficial to sell to someone who can make good use of it and use the income to add to the usable assets or functions of the church?

" I asked him whether he would rather have the scrap value of those bells so that he could spend that money on other towers " Simon Linford

As he says it must be a no brainer. If you inherited a rather fine grand piano but no one in your family played and it stood in the corner untouched bar the occasional dusting, what would you do? Keep it 'because granny always loved it' or sell it on to someone who can make good use of it?

"do you know how many look at any of the rest of the website"

I cannot recall offhand but since the majority are not local to us and therefore unlikely to take up ringing in our tower, it is of little concern. We are just pleased that they took to trouble to visit our site and have shown an interest in bells and possibly in ringing. The percentage who actually take up ring as a result will be minute but it must be better than no percentage at all. And yes, about 15-20% roam around some of the other pages.

According to Google analytics, the biggest draw to our tower website is a page entitled FAMOUS BELLS. More than one-third of visitors to the site have searched for that phrase. The second biggest draw is a page about Big Ben. We only added these pages to the website on a whim, thinking it might be interesting to add a few notes about Big Ben, the Lutine Bell and a few other well known bells but they have proved to be the strongest magnets of all! Check them out at: https://sotherans.wixsite.com/stmarks-bellringers. If you think the idea may help your tower website, feel free to adopt/adapt/improve - and perhaps drop me a note so that I can visit the result.

Two of my new ringers attended the recent NW course. Both were working at the same level but they were split into different groups with different tutors. One has returned with renewed confidence and a sense of achievement. The other is disappointed and somewhat unsettled. Both tutors required an acceptable standard of bell handling and striking. One was willing to compromise somewhat in order that the pupils could make progress with PH and PB. The other appears to have insisted in perfection before moving to the next stage.

Whilst it is absolutely right that handling and striking must meet a standard, it is surely expecting too much to ask for the level of perfection that comes with experience from a group of new ringers who are taking their first steps into change-ringing.

Up in the wilds of the Yorkshire Dales, local towers have pooled their knowledge and experience and congregate at one of the towers on the first Friday of each month. This provides an opportunity to ring with others, ring less familar bells and to hear other tutors' explanations. Often, in the latter case, simply hearing an explanation in a different form of words from a different person can bring enlightenment.

It may be worh tracking down recordings of tower and handbells made by a firm called SAYDISC in Gloucestershire (I think). They aren't as old as many of those listed earlier in this thread, but they are generally good quality recordings. Does anyone know if Saydisc are still operating?

It's is several decades since I last applied any Zebrite to the slider rails and the lack of it doesn't appear to have made any difference to the 'go' of the bells or the wear of the sliders and their rails (which incidentally have just had their 50th 'birthday').

I recall from many years ago being advised to apply blacklead such as 'Zebrite' - (looks like black toothpaste!) - to the slider rails to reduce friction and ease the movement. I wonder if this is still considered good practice?

Robin may well be correct! But so long as the ratio of stays / gudgeons is heavily weighted on the side of broken stays, then they may be considered to be doing their job!

Dora and Alice White gave a whole new meaning to 'stays' in a ringing context!

" . . . it would be nice to have the confidence to use an alternative wood" - Mike Shelley.

But please don't waste your time and effort using mahogany! A tower in our region acquired a stack of 'offcuts' from a local furntiture factory and (predictably) they snapped like match sticks!

Many thanks to Graham for the explanations. It's fine for those who know all about it but not very intuitive for those who don't!