Ringing Forums

I’ve sent you an email with the Middlesex Association information.

I'm not clear what you mean by 'involved in maintenance work'.
In ODG a handful are members of the T&B Committee who do inspections, give advice and run courses. Each branch will have a few people known to be knowledgeable, who will help or give advice if asked. And there are several hundred steeple keepers (or tower captains where there is no separate steeple keeper) who by default do minor maintenance when required, and whose ability and knowledge will vary from minimal to considerable.
So which set are you trying to identify?

John - you are correct that the competence levels will vary widely but in the first instance we are attempting to find out some broad numbers for any / all those you suggest.

We hear that the number of people willing and able to do maintenance work in belfries seems to be reducing, and that their age profile is very high (mainly over 60). Their diversity is almost exclusively white male! So, what capabilities are available and what are we doing as ringers to make sure that we will have people in future who are competent to help maintain the bells that we ring?

So a few categories could be used even though these won't have hard boundaries -

eg

• - very basic checks and routine maintenance in home tower, those learning but with little experience
• - more major work, but still within the scope of Faculty Rules List A. Those with experience in a wider range of installations
• - more substantial work such as some items in Faculty Rules List B. Those able to advise and help others widely
• - significant involvement during major project work eg renovation / installation that would require a Faculty and professional bell hangers
  
  An indication of whether the individuals are mature (eg over about 50) or relatively younger would provide a further insight about capabilities for the future.
  
  Gender and ethnicity is likely to expose individuals so we must be cautious about collecting or sharing such data.

There's an Amateur Steeplekeeper group on Facebook, you could try asking there. There are some knowledgeable people in there who give sound advice, but also a number who have lots of opinions, but little of is is correct / useful. I think that's a problem you'll have wherever the information comes from.

When I went on the Derbyshire Association Steeplekeeper's Training day a few years ago I wouldn't say the gender ratio was equal, but there were a fair number of ladies there. And at my own tower, one of the primary volunteers in our 2018 rehang was a lady who wasn't a ringer but who had a keen interest in the practicalities, along with bags of ability. We of course told her that if she wanted to keep maintaining "her bells" she would have to learn to ring them, which she duly did. There can't be many people, of either gender, who have helped rehang a ring before they could actually ring them :grin:

Ely Association we have 4 District Bell Advisers plus an Association Bell Adviser. There are 5 other regular volunteers that we co-ordinate on a WhatsApp group. We have our own insurance through Ecclestiastical and maintain a competency register to determine who can lead which jobs. We will always try and get someone from the tower/local band to work with us to spread the knowledge.

We can do anything from full rehang down to inspection and rope work. (Last week was advising on bearing problem in CCT church and easing a stay that was rubbing the running board.) We also work as voluntary labour with the bell hangers where possible for skill updating and development.

Of the core team three are middle aged and 6 recent retirees all are male white. There are two female members in the wider associate group. The retirees tend to have 10 years working life but we are fairly cautious on manual handling - if we are carrying a lot of heavy equipment up a tower we will try and draft in extra help.

Sent to Workgroup Leader

What on earth has either the sex or the racial background of people to do with maintaining bells? All that matters is competence and availability.

to do the job I agree only competence matters. But if you are looking at the big picture, and concerned about the supply of interested people then knowing that half the relevant population is absent could be quite significant.

What on earth has either the sex or the racial background of people to do with maintaining bells? All that matters is competence and availability. — J Martin Rushton

One of Alison's points is that availability may be diminishing:

We hear that the number of people willing and able to do maintenance work in belfries seems to be reducing — Alison Hodge

And she highlights that the current pool of people is drawn largely from a specific demographic which covers substantially less than 50% of ringers.

their age profile is very high (mainly over 60). Their diversity is almost exclusively white male! — Alison Hodge

So if we want to expand the number of competent people then looking outside the current demographic is sensible/essential, as @John Harrison says.

Besides the goal of ensuring that there are enough component people we might also consider whether there are people who would like be involved in steeple-keeping, particularly woman, who lack the opportunity or encouragement to do so. This is a positive goal in its own right and worthy of spending time on. Fortunately the two goals align perfectly so its a win-win.

What on earth has either the sex or the racial background of people to do with maintaining bells? — J Martin Rushton

I can point you to a number of towers in London where the congregation is majority black Afro-Carribean, even the vicar and Churchwardents are non-white. I suspect that the same is true elsewhere outside London.

Precisely. People are people whatever their heritage, which is why I find Tom's dissection of the Ely team by age, race and sex irrelevant, except where it directly impinges on physical ability. Included in the latter caveat is continuity; an ageing team will need replacing eventually, as I well know having had to retire from ringing.