Ringing Forums

Most ringing societies organise outings and a good way to learn is to help someone who has done such things before. Offer to help organise an outing and I am sure that most society committees would welcome such an offer!

Most ringing societies have contact details for towers on their websites and Dove shows maps of towers so you can work out potential routes. Sites like Google maps will help you work out travel times between towers.

There is a desperately old publication on this topic free to download from the CCCBR shop from the link below. If you "translate" the suggestions forward by about 25 years (from letters with stamped addressed envelopes to emails etc), then this should give you some ideas.
https://shop.cccbr.org.uk/product/organising-an-outing-download/

Organising outings is far, far easier now than suggested in this old booklet with the availability of online information! I would certainly not be too ambitious in your first few outings. Have fun and good luck! Let us know how it goes.

I think one of Steve Coleman's books also has something on the subject?

Yes I think it does. However I have attempted here to upload the old CC pamphet that I just downloaded.

When I was first organising outings I was always worried about what to say. The letters always seemed quite short. Ultimately though, the recipients of such emails (as they invariably are now) know that it is a bit awkward and understand. I saw a request the other day which just said where the band was coming from and asked if the bells were available from 12-1 on a certain day. It doesn't need much more!

I also remember though when I used to go on quarter peal outings that we got into trouble at one tower, and upset the locals, because we rang a quarter peal and had not said in the letter asking for the bells that we were going to ring a quarter. We hadn't thought it important to be explicit as to how we used the hour. The problem was though that it was a new ring and the locals had not yet rung their own quarter on the bells, and had wanted to. We just didn't know. So it may be worth saying what the plan is.

I found it - chapter 10 of "The Bellringer's Bedside Companion". The two seem to cover same territory and the CC one has the advantage of being free ;-)

Hello Oliver, it's easy-peasy. If you have ever organised any outing whatsoever for self and friends then you can do this too.
Here's what I did my first time -
I picked an area fairly nearby, that I had already visited as a tourist, so I knew it slightly.
I picked towers that sounded, from the information I could glean, as if they fitted the abilities / interests of my band. Preferably ones that had some added attraction, e.g. cafe, views, interesting woodwork.
I picked a lunch venue in a popular tourist spot, so ringers' non-ringing families could spend the day there.
First and last towers were chosen to require fewer ringers. "Plum" tower was just before lunch. After-lunch tower was easy bells.
I then drove to the area myself, drove from tower to tower, writing down directions and times (Yes, on paper; this was in the dark ages!)
All went well. The experienced members of the band will look after you if any problems arise.
CHECK THE DAY BEFORE THAT EACH PERSON WHO SHOULD LET YOU IN HAS REMEMBERED. I once didn't - arrgh!
Good luck and have fun!
Barbara

This is how I organise an outing;
First get a date/Saturday which most/all can make, and confirm with people that they would like to come, which can be just the members of your tower, or a combined outing to make a suitable number of ringers. One local tower to me book a bus, and plenty of non ringers join them for a day out, visiting villages, etc.
Then I pick an area to visit with suitable towers ( not too far on your first outing)
I usually book some of the towers for 45 minutes, and others for 60 minutes, which gives time to ring up, ring various touches, and ring down. Even close towers to each other, allow 30 minutes travel, by the time people get to their cars, look at the map, etc. Nice pub/place for lunch, allowing 1.5 hours from finishing at the previous tower to arriving at the first of the afternoon. This seems a long time, but food orders can take a while, and it's always better to have a relaxing day, than rushing to make up time. Nice pub in the evening is always good. Tea/coffee/toilet break mid-afternoon is nice too.
You can ask the towers you're visiting if they can recommend somewhere to eat, as local knowledge is good. Have fun.

I certainly agree with Samual about keeping the day as relaxed as possible. I might be giving my age away with the following thoughts, but my formula for the perfect outing is to arrange 4 towers and keep them as geographically close together as possible. It think it's better to have 4 towers for 1 hour each than 5 or 6 towers for 45 minutes each. The first tower starts at about 10.00am and the last one ends at about 5.30pm. There's usually a bit of a journey to get to the outing's area and home again, so minimise travelling during the day and leave plenty of time for that travelling.

Also, have a long lunch break, at least 1.5 hours plus travel time. This is the main social part of the day, so allow plenty of time for people to have a pudding and/or coffee and to mingle/chat. There's a huge difference between people feeling rushed to leave the pub to get to the next tower, probably arriving late and resentful of missing pudding or coffee, or feeling that they've had plenty of time in the pub and are actually getting a little impatient to be ringing again. The difference is in the enthusiasm levels for ringing at that first tower after lunch. Have the lunch stop as close as possible to the next tower – within 5 mins walking distance is ideal, as long as it's a really good pub and the landlord agrees that you can leave the cars in the car park while you ring at the church.

Lastly, but not leastly, it's usually very much appreciated if at least the first and last towers of the day have toilet facilities available.