Ringing Forums

Robin sums up the reality of the situation very succinctly.

What is the risk of some associations/guilds, especially the smaller ones, disassociating themselves from the CCBR rather than meet the demand for higher affiliation fees? Out here at the grass roots of ringing I reckon only one-in-ten local ringers (if that) is even aware of the CCCBR.

Yes, Jason is absolutley right. I should have mentioned that we promoted each our sequence of events on the local FB pages too. Incidentally, our next 'Teddy Bear Death Slide' is in mid July - see poster attached.

You need to come out with 'all guns blazing'! A single poster campaign or open day may have some effect but if you combine several events you may well find that their combined effect is somewhat greater.

During the summer our church has a monthly 'Tea on the Lawns' - the church ladies serve afternoon teas once a month to generate a few hundred pounds for the church's funds. One month (July) we ran a 'Teddy Bears Death Slide' - a zip line from the tower roof down to the church porch. Children were encouraged to collect sponsorship for the 'Dare-devil Soft Toys' to shoot down the line. This attracted 50-60 people to the church and raised awareness of the tower. It also raised over £600 for the church!

The following month we opened the tower and invited the public to bring their children and grandchildren to visit the ringer’s room. We weren't specifically seeking to recruit the children but we wanted them to draw their accompanying adults into the room. We had one bell set at backstroke so that the rope was out of the way and we used it to demonstrate to the adults while the children were allowed to have a few assisted pulls to chime one of the trebles.

The third month, September, we had an Open Night specifically aimed at recruiting. This was deliberately held on our normal practice night; there is no point in attracting a new recruit who then says 'But I can't come on a Wednesday' or whatever is your practice night!

We have a brief PowerPoint slide show that gives some basic information about the tower and ringing. We project it onto the whitewashed walls of the ringing room and it loops round continuously every 5-7 minutes. Before we raised the bells, the visitors who wished to, climbed to the bells on the floor above in escorted groups of 3 or 4 (our access is very easy). Then we demonstrate ringing rounds & call changes and finish with something like a bob course of Plain Bob - there is no need to 'show off' with something more exotic because it is all a mystery to the visitors. Finally, we invite each of the visitors to pull a few assisted backstrokes usually in rounds.

Last year we attracted over 30 visitors; 8 expressed an interest and attended our basic learners' sessions for a few weeks; of them 3 stayed the course and have joined our Sunday service band.

Attached (I think!) is the poster we use - based on a CCCBR design.

The top of our tower, the clock and bells were destroyed by fire when a mass of nesting material caught fire on Easter Day 1902.

It makes a bit more sense. When I first joined, the Associate Members paid a lower subscrirption than the Full Members. Allegedly this resulted in a number of ringers never admitting to having rung a 720 or a QP in order to avoid the higher subscription rate!

We've tried various combinations of open and closed shutters over the years. I might repeat the exercise to see if we can effect some improvement.

The louvers are already boarded up. Each vertical 'slot' in the wall has 4 panels each abour 1m sq x 75mm thick and filled with rockwool. The lowest section of each column of panels is hinged to open and is usually left open. (I was going to insert a photo but can't find how to do it!)

If we can reduce the strident note of the tenor when heard outside, we can, if necessary, also adjust the internal acoustic layer between the bell and the ringers to compensate.

Yes, that's a fair point Roger; there is another tower nearby where the quality of the sound varies considerably depending on which side of the tower you stand.

Internally, the sound in the ringing chamber is quite acceptable but outside, particularly on the south side - where the tenor is located - the 'mix' of the sound is dominated by the tenor.

I might try getting a local engineer to reduce the weight of the alternate clapper that we still have tucked away somewhere. I'm a bit wary of trimming too much off in case it weakens the shank of the clapper.

It can often be a combination of ringing skills & confidence. There is a heavy eight (23cwts) near us that have recently come back to life after hanging dormant for several years. Very few of the ringers have the physical strength or handling skills to ring them accurately to a plain hunt, let alone to methods. So we stick to the front six while we introduce them to basic change ringing and use the full eight only for r&cc.

Stella, I can see that our different conditions are causing similar but different problems. Mine is the lack of mucle-power to raise one arm to full height; yours is the far greater discomfort of arthritis grinding away against movement. Good luck in July!

If you have trouble ringing the lighter bells, surprising as it may seem, you may have less discomfort ringing the mid-range bells. With lighter bells what you are missing is the bell's own momentum. I hadn't realised, until I damaged my shoulder, how much I relied on the momentum of the bell to help lift my arms, especially at backstroke. As your hands pass you chin on the way up to either stroke, the momentum of the bell helps lift them to the end of the stroke.

Our trebles weigh around 2-3 cwts. It is necessary to consciously raise the arms as not doing so is almost a prelude to ringing down! I now avoid the problem by ringing the mid-range bells.

After a bad fall, I had a biceps tenotomy* to my right arm - consequently that the arm has only about 60% of its former 'pulling' power and raising it to backstroke can be a real ache. Occasionally I apply Ibuleve gel before I go ringing, more routinely, I ring the back stroke with my left arm only and my right arm hanging, relaxed, by my side, and use both hands on the sally. This works well for me.
(* For those 'in the trade': it was a biceps longhead tenotomy with decompression and rotator cuff repair.)

NEW RINGERS FOR OLD!
Like most towers, we welcome new recruits of any age but there are drawbacks to taking on both younger and older woud-be ringers. Young teenagers tend to develop their skills more quickly, especially as they transition from rounds & cc to change ringing. On the down side, they tend to discover the opposite sex and/or leave the area for college or university. Older recruits are usually settled in the area and in their lifestyles but tend progress a little slower. Our most recent intake were people in their 50s - almost ideal!
As regards recruiting, we run two events most years. On a Sunday afternoon in the summer we often have a Tower Open Day. Visitors can visit the tower, climb up to see the bells (we have easy access), visit the clock room and even go onto the flat roof of the tower to take photos of the townscape. There is no attempt to recruit but those who wish may have a few pulls on a silenced bell. A short Powerpoint presentation loops round continuously, projected onto the white wall. For the avoidance of doubt (!) we have ringers stationed as stewards at every level in the tower to supervise and assist the visitors.

We follow this up in September with an Open Night for people who are interested in finding out more. This is always on our regular practrice night (we don't want recruits who 'can't come on Mondays') and is our 'serious' recruiting effort with trial pulls and demonstrations of rounds, call changes and method ringing.

Picking up Peter Scott's last point about incommunicative correspondents, I have come to the conclusion that the risk of scam, malicious or junk phone calls is seriously over-egged. During the 35 years I served as a magistrate my phone number continued to be listed in the phone book and during that time I received only one unpleasant phone call. For the last 50+ years my address and phone number has been visible on a small sign at the external tower door and - touch wood - I have yet to receive a single unwanted phone call or visit.

Until this week, the church website that I manage has included the name, mobile number and email address of all the 'public facing' church officials and leaders of the several church groups. Communication was easy. (And for the avoidance of doubt, each contact had previously agreed to their details being published). This week, an edict 'from on high' required me to remove all the contact details and require that all communications are made via the generic Contact Form which will all land in the Vicar's in-box. I hope that this not the kiss of death to the messages and that our incumbent can cope with them all.

Thanks for that Martin. The church struck a remarkable deal with Morrison's Supermarket chain. They sold the site of the the 1966 church and part of the deal included the provision of a brand new church, as illustrated in the booklet shown in Martin's post. The new building really is the 'bees knees' with community hall/parish centre alongside and a new vicarage too. The church organ is rated as one of the best in the region. Sadly no bells though.

Our new emergency evacuation routecost £9.95.

A good workable rule of thumb is to aim for the number of ringers to equate to 150% of the number of bells. Our 8 bell tower has 11 ringers at various stages from rounds & cc to Stedman5. Allowing for occasional absences this usually ensures that we have sufficient for Sunday mornings.

Yes, I can agree with Richard-N, although not an engineer, I would refer to the device as a 'cotter pin'. Perhaps the term is on the cusp of becoming archaic as common usage these days seems to prefer 'split pin'.

As regards the correct term for the 'TMP' (Tower Maintenance Person), I'm quite happy to be the steeplepkeeper of our steeple-less tower. I like the quasi-alliterative sound of the term.

Two illustrations intended for my earlier message about soundproofing shutters.

Peter Sotheran