Ringing Forums

Interesting thoughts, argument and counter argument here on the accidental ringer blog - https://dingdong887180022.wordpress.com/2020/10/31/should-we-charge-for-bell-ringing-lessons/

I think I agree with the horses for courses comment here. A lot of people are perfectly happy to ring practice and Sunday, if they get a go at something new, then that’s great. But I would agree that there are those of us keen to both progress others and ourselves. I like the sound of the tailored training plan, but before embarking on designing one I’d want to see some serious commitment and involvement from those it’s aimed at. It has to come from the individual, they need to really commit to it. I believe that you get out what you put in…

I don’t think charging a fee in itself is a barrier to entry, but considering how much more of a challenge it is to recruit, length of time to learn and retain ringers, I don’t think adding a charge would particularly help. Hence why I think charging the existing, relatively large base of ringers, a few pounds more would generate significant funds to dedicate to training, development, advertising or similar. Charging a small number of new recruits just wouldn’t get to the same level of funds to reinvest in those things.

An interesting article @A J Barnfield, not sure that I agree with it completely but there are some good ideas in there. I don’t think the way to attract new ringers is to increase the barrier to entry by charging for tuition. Perhaps a better way would be to charge existing ringers more to pay for the benefits that they have received and continue to receive by ringing. We just paid subs and it was £8 for a year, I spend more in a year on teabags or even coffee (which I only buy for visitors as we don’t drink it)!

I very much agree that we need to be better at self-advertising, trying to explain how much fun it is and trying to encourage new, as well as develop existing ringers. Young ringers need a network, I have delighted in seeing the new youth ringers association develop and believe that this will be one of the keys to the future of ringing. We can also learn from them, social media and network tools now allow for so much easy access and simple sharing that young people do it without even thinking about it. In old office terms this would all be about ‘brand’, but our young ringers do it naturally.

My last point for now would be on how we ring, yes there’s tradition, yes there is respect for the equipment we use, the purpose we do it etc. But, in the end, if it isn’t fun people lose interest. If people are having fun, developing and achieving they will stay, if not they slowly drift away.