Ringing Forums

it's the sad story of my ringing life :wink:

I'm teaching someone to ring up and down at the moment - I'm using the ART "Small, Simple Steps" ethos and I'm working on getting them to be able to continuously drop and make coils whilst keeping the bell at exactly the same level whilst they do it. We'll see if it helps :smile:

Don't you have to ring a peal or something similar before you can join ART? — J Martin Rushton

No, neither as a teacher not as a learner.

I remember there was some comment in the RW maybe 10 years ago that ART was irrelevant to change ringing towers. — J Martin Rushton

Someone in RW talking out of their arse? Surely not! :joke:

If you mean http://www.learningtheropes.org/ it's the exact opposite, it's for beginners. There's a lot of very good stuff on it.

I think it very much depends on the skill level of the band, particularly when it comes to bell control when well below the balance. My experience is that if the band is weak and the raise is bad, the lower will be even worse. The usual cause is the inability of the front ringers to keep actively ringing the bell once they are one-handed on the sally and just letting it flop down, compounded by the first coil chaos when they take in great gobs of rope and the bell then drops like a stone. It's usually the case that the weakest ringers are round the front which compounds the issues. The back bells have zero chance of keeping up so they either end up dangling from the ceiling as they desperately try to drag their bell down, or they just give a resigned sigh and ring down at a sane pace. The result is chaos either way.

And another short segment on ITV News at 10 about the shortage of ringers...

And another interview with a ringer: https://fb.watch/hFHnlifjJE/

it is sometimes hard to correct someone without raising your voice. It needs to be done quickly or the touch will disintegrate — Sue Marsden

Agreed, but the tone and intent still comes across very clearly, even if the volume is necessarily high.

I have hardly ever (can't really remember an occasion) when a learner is shouted at maliciously, though it can happen. — Sue Marsden

I have, both as a target and as a bystander. It's much worse than just being ineffective as a form of "help", it's the exact opposite and it's guaranteed that the target will have even more difficulties afterwards. If it's directed at me I calmly ask the shouter to stop, and if they don't, I'll set my bell and leave.

It's usually reserved for an experienced ringer who should know better. — Sue Marsden

And it's inexcusable even then. One of the most reprehensible bits of ringing "culture" is this behaviour, although it is a small number of ringers that indulge in it and seems to be getting less common over time, which is to be welcomed.

Here's what it has to say about ringing Plain Bob Doubles. Not quite so impressive, hmm?

Give instructions for ringing Plain Bob Doubles on church bells

To ring Plain Bob Doubles on church bells, follow these steps:

Start with the "tenor" bell, which is the largest and lowest-pitched bell in the tower. This is typically the bell that is rung to mark the time or to signal the start of a service.

Ring the tenor bell in a slow and regular rhythm to set the pace for the rest of the bells. This is called the "pace bell" or "conductor."

Starting with the bell next to the tenor in size and pitch, ring the bells in the following sequence: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8. This sequence is called the "plain course."

After ringing the plain course, ring the bells in the following sequence: 5-8-7-6-3-4-1-2. This sequence is called the "bob" and is the most characteristic feature of Plain Bob Doubles.

Repeat the plain course and bob sequence until you reach the end of the piece or until the conductor signals to stop.

When ringing the bells, hold the sally (the wooden handle attached to the rope) with both hands and pull the bell down to the full extent of the rope. Then, let the bell swing back up to the "balance" position, where the clapper (the metal part inside the bell that makes the sound) is level with the mouth of the bell. The bell should be allowed to swing freely for a few moments before being rung again.

Remember to listen carefully to the other bells and try to maintain a consistent pace and rhythm. This is called "keeping good bell rope length" and is an important part of bell ringing.

I hope these instructions are helpful! Let me know if you have any other questions

Ah, the robot plagiarist, yet again :roll: What's the point of this post please? It's just regurgitated content from people with an actual intellect.

A quick look at this year's first pealers summary on Pealbase shows that out of 130 so far just 15 rang Plain Bob Minor; there were 10 Plain Bob Triples; 10 Grandsire Triples, 9 Plain Bob Major and 23 of Surprise Major. There were even 2 ringing Surprise Royal for their first peal. — Roger Booth

Hmm, I crunched the numbers by stage irrespective of method - I discounted the one handbell peal and the numbers for up to Minor and above Minor are 64 / 65, so pretty evenly spread. Minor versus Major was 38 / 35 and Double versus Triples was 25 / 21.

I think your points about "the skills gap" and "risk aversion" are on the money, along with bands getting stuck at the PB5 level. Plus your points about people getting there eventually, and advanced ringing being outside traditional structures - basically I think everything that you said is right. :grin:

However I'm a bit cautious about using peals or even QPs as a measure of ringing's general health, although they are one of the few data sources available. It seems like a badly lagging indicator - as you've said many peals are currently rung by ringers who are at the tail end of their careers, and there's a long lead time for towers like mine, which is building from a CC start, to ringing QPs as a tower band - if indeed we ever do. But we are nonetheless making more progress than the band has in 40+ years, even though it's impossible to determine that from outside. I think that's one area where a survey will help - not just details of what level bands are at now, but also in which direction they are heading.

The difference between young and old is that the young give up if they don't become rapidly competent whereas the old are more persistent so there are more of them to count as struggling. — John Harrison

I think you are have nailed an important truth there, one that tends to reinforce the confirmation bias about older ringers. It's overly simplistic to assume that there's a single factor at play in the problems different categories of learners face, or that if we could just recruit more young ringers everything would get better.

It's the other way round. First peal's these days tend to be in the higher stages e.g. more major and less minor. — Roger Booth

Wow, that's the opposite of what I'd expected - I've been learning minor because that's pretty much all that's available, due to the falling number of suitable practices in the area, and the falling numbers of people at those practices.

There has been a recent effort in one of the associations round here to run twice monthly joint Surprise Minor + Major practices, to help "bring on" people wanting to get into that level of ringing. It pretty quickly morphed into practice sessions for existing Surprise Major ringers to brush off the COVID rust and ring some new methods. The Minor bit ended up with all the learners stuffed in together into just a few plain courses, with the inevitable consequences. Needless to say I've stopped going. I appreciate the intentions but quite often association "Organisation of training sessions" consists of arranging a tower, getting someone to conduct and sending out an email. That's insufficient, there needs to be an identification of individual needs, a plan to address them, homework, goals etc. rather than just "Please turn up and we'll wing it".

With the squeezed middle, it is also more difficult than it used to be to find a band — Roger Booth

Just so - finding 5 ringers to support a QP can be tricky enough, 7 is even harder. Surprising therefore that most first peals tend to be major, it would be interesting to find out why. Perhaps some of that market research stuff... :wink:

all of the financial side, including the multiple VAT reclaims, was done by the PCC treasurer so we had separation and accountability. I'm not sure if ropes were itemised on an invoice although they were in the schedule of works. I can ask the PCC treasurer.

You provided our ropes but that was done indirectly by Blyth & Co who did the rehang and ordered them from you for us. The ropes hadn't arrived by the end of the project so we refitted the old ones and when the new ones arrived I fitted them. But I have no documentary evidence for that.

Ah yeah, I'd missed that there's a minimum of £1k. But I've listened to a few bands where I could believe that was a realistic spend :joke:

Presumably this will affect replacement stays as well.

In the case of peal ringing this is now quite marked — Roger Booth

As well as the decrease in the number of first peals, do you know if there has also been a change in the stages at which they are rung, e.g. more Minor and less Major?

Do you know to what extent (if any) the same trend has been reflected in QPs? As a relatively recent ringer, QPs are on my radar but I'm not interested in ringing peals, am I alone or is that a change in preferences part of the reason for the drop in first peals?

we seem to have a squeezed middle, with a missing generation or two of competent change-ringers, and lots of bands struggling to ring plain hunt, let alone steady Plain Bob or Grandsire doubles — Roger Booth

From my experience I think that's right. That gap is a double whammy - not only does it mean there's a set of ringers missing, it means that people currently coming along behind them can really struggle to get the support they need to keep making progress.

many of those who have recently taken up ringing are keen to make progress, and to become competent change-ringers, as they see it as a rewarding pastime. However nowadays many do not get the same opportunities to meet their aspirations, that their predecessors had. — Roger Booth

Yes, much as per above, that mirrors my experience. Most of my progress from PB5 to Surprise Minor has involved use of a tower sim, then "polishing up" with a band on the other side of Greater Manchester who have been kind enough to take me under their wing, but it's not been easy.

Although I'm a late starter, I've seen the same issues I've had affect people who have started young and as a consequence they've stalled in just the same way that received wisdom says older learners do. "Older learners take longer and don't get as far" may be true in part but I think it's used as a convenient and self-fulfilling excuse. Lack of support infrastructure affects everyone who takes up ringing, if support isn't available then it doesn't matter how young and gifted learners are, they are not going to progress as far or as fast as they are capable of.

constantly rubbished by the dyed-in-the-wool conservatives who "defend" the inner sancta of FCR. — Mike Shelley

You keep repeating that but I've seen no signs of it here, people have just shared their opinions and pointed out some issues. I assume you've have had bad experiences elsewhere (RW?) but I don't think it's relevant to keep re-airing them here.

ah sorry Jason, I didn't scroll back to the beginning of the thread!

Bearing in mind where ringing is now, and the fact that another survey is being planned, I think the answer to your questions seems clear. Hopefully this time round, some action will come out of it, as you say.

Some resources:

• https://cccbr.org.uk/resources/recruitment-and-retention/
• http://ringingteachers.org/resources/recruitment-and-retention

Individual associations may also have material available, e.g. https://derbyda.org.uk/resources/promoting-ringing/