Ringing Forums

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 ;-)

Our spire is empty above the bells and the wind tends to spiral inside and dislodge anything loose from the stonework. Before the rehang we had literally inches of stone dust and dirt on the floor under the bells. Apart from the damp it traps, it can also get inside pulley bearings - our old ones were rubbish anyway, but where destroyed by grit ingress. About every 6 months or so I vacuum all of it up.

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

The general public definitely do know the difference between good and bad striking, because round here they actually tell me when it's good. Latest example was last Sunday when we rang to open the Xmas fair - we had a couple of "ringer" ringers as we were short, and the ringing was better than usual as a result, and people noticed :roll:

As for why it's generally an issue, I think that unfortunately it's an inevitable consequence of how ringing is taught, which is overwhelmingly by vision. From the very start it's drummed in to people to "follow the bell in front". Unquestioningly. Ringers who have been ringing for much longer that I have will tell me "X was holding up" and when I say "Just ring over them" then they simply can't bring themselves to. The result is entirely predictable, one bad striker in a band where people solely ring by vision and it's game over.