Ringing Forums

Probably. But without the publication of Tintinnalogia and Campanalogia would the art have developed so fast and so far?

That's if you can get a 40W bulb these days. A "40W equivalent" LED wouldn't work!

Some years ago I heard that during the filming of "The Royal" there were problems in Scarborough. The bells of St Mary's can "bounce" off the water and clearly be heard across the bay to where they were filming. Practice nights had to be postponed I understand.

Personally, if I get people who turn up because they just want to RftK, I'll turn them away. — John de Overa

I understand your POV, but consider that if you can get a youngster (say under 25) to ring, maybe in 10 or 20 years they will come back to it and be the stalwarts of ringing for the next generation. Train a teenager now and they could be ringing in the 22nd century.

I always insist that you MUST lose the last coil before the bell could reach the top, and in the case of a crossed coil, let the bell come down, sort it out and then raise. I'd rather hear a discordant raise than the sound of an ambulance arriving.

I'll be interested to hear what the experts say, but there are a couple of problems with left-handed ringing. First, when ringing up and ringing down the rope has a right-hand lay and will naturally form loops when passed from the right to the left hand. This is not co-incidence, sailors regularly coil ropes and the ropes are made to make this task easy. The other problem is that if the ropes fall next to each other, a left-handed ringer is likely to throw his rope out the other way, and there is the risk of entanglement or grasping the wrong rope.

"Tutors Handbook" CCCBR, ISBN 0-900271-36-1 p17
"The New Ringer's Book" CCCBR, ISBN 978-0-900271-93-9 p7
Coleman, Steve: "The Bellringer's Bedside Companion" Sue Coleman Publishing, ISBN 0-9523896-0-6 pp306-317

Just a passing though, is she keeping both hands together when pulling? If the hands are apart then probably only the right, upper, hand is actually doing any work.

If we think people would be put off by what makes most of us tick, are they the people we want to attract? — John Harrison

Well the view from the bottom is different. I'd query "most of us", but accept that there is a significant group for whom this is true. The first thing must be to encourage people to start with a belief that they will be ringing in a reasonable period of time and can then start to build on it. There is a shortage of ringers nationally. To take your violin analogy; if making a film to encourage adults to start, which message is better:

• You need to start before you are five, practice at least two hours a day and by the time you are 21 you have a small chance of playing like this.[cue violin concerto] If you can't reach this standard we don't "want to attract" you.
• You can start at any age and after mastering the basics you can join in beginners' orchestras and socialise with other budding musicians [cue grade IV music]. In time many of our members progress to advanced work and join the town orchestra or opera group. [cue a G&S overture]

Emphasising methods and having to learn them can be off-putting for beginners. If the film is aimed at encouraging people to start then perhaps it should follow the normal progression many towers and show learning to handle a bell, ringing in rounds and call changes. This last is much easier to explain what has to be done than simply a shout of "Go Titanic Cinques" and all the bells start moving in an incomprehensible way.

For instance:
RM: five to three
Commentator: the number five bell has been asked to follow the number three bell and to make space the four moves out of the way.
RM:three to one
Com: Now the three follows the first bell and the two moves out of the way. Look the five is now following the two.
RM: five to three
Com: Now the five has moved again to the three. Listen and you can hear the music as first the odd bells and then the even bells ring.

OK, I'm no script-writer, but you get the idea.

Don't fall into the trap of thinking Christians = Anglicans! I've seen a Methodist minister quite happily ringing in an Anglican church. For that matter Christians = members is also a tad suspect.

BBC Radio 4 6 o'clock news also had an item at 26:00 minutes in.

(Bit OT) Nothing changes; when Rochester Cathedral bells were recast in 1921 there was a significant price hike between Gillett & Johnston quoting, and the price that they charged once the old bells were in their foundry. See Love's guide for some of the story.

What is worse: meeting the vicar rushing down the path towards the church as you "escape". He often has a service at one of the other churches and before ours. I get a cheery greeting as I head off!:gasp:

Fairy 'nuff. Coming from a nautical environment I may have rather a stricter attitude.

Just worth a mention: for tail ends it may well be better to use two interlocked eye-splices. I've seen that done on a 30cwt bell and the flexibility meant that it remained easy to ring for (IIRC) several years.

I don't think I'd even trust a bend to attach left-hand and right-hand laid. When they came under tension didn't they tend to mutually unravel? I won't allow plaited lines to be attached to laid lines for that very reason on board. It's easy to say that "this line is only for light duties" until there is a problem and someone grabs hold of it.

I was taught (grief, well over half a century ago!) to roll the splice underfoot to and fro. It will bed down the strands into a cylindrical shape, not the knobbly one splicing creates. Ensure that the deck and your shoe are clean, you do not want to integrate small stones into the slice, they will chew the rope.

The rolling underfoot is also recommended if splicing wire, not something we normally have to do.

If the splice has to pass through a pulley, you may need to do a long splice which is slightly harder and not quite as strong. It does however retain the rope's thickness. Generally though, if the sally can go there a short splice will pass.

Thanks.

What time was he on? I'm not going to listen to 3 hours of R5 just to find it!

Is it possible that with an ageing demographic full peals are getting beyond the physical limits of some people? I do note the rise in handbell peals which can be performed sitting down.

@Steve Pilfold as @Alan C said "there isn’t a one size fits all solution". All the talk of training and charging or not is totally irrelevant if we can't get people through the door. The limiting factor may well be that there is no-one to train!