Ringing Forums

I imagine that birch ply will probably have different properties from solid birch.

Fifty years ago I mader a stay from laminated plywood. It broke rather easily, probably because it wasn't very good quality plywood. For a while I have had it it mind to try again using good quality birch plywood, which I have some experience of using in other applications. It is available in a range of thicknesses, which would allow stays of various thicknesses to be made, but buying several sheets would be quite an investment so I haven.t tried it yet.

In the meantime I have a local,sawmill which can supply fresh sawn ash at a price which allows Gay's Stays to remain competitive. I have sold a hundred stays since last October

I agree. The timing of the pull is critical. As John says, if in their eagerness to get a good pull, they pull even slightly too soon, it is counter-productive, and stops the bell from rising. On the other hand, a delayed pull ,means there is nothing to pull against, so very liuttle effect. This is why very gentle tension is needed in the uoswing, so as not to inhibit it but make it easy to detect when it stops.

I think one of the problems with raising and lowering is that many learners are not taught to do it soon enough. Raising and lowering are often seen as peripheral skills rather than esential ones. Confident control of tail end length is a critical skill for good ringing.

When running courses on raising and lowering in peal, I often have to spend the first half of the course making sure that students are competent at raising and lowering a single bell.

With my learners, I introduce lowering without making coils at the end of the first lesson, and raising with coils in the second lesson, initially with me helping by looking after the sally. Learners then do at least two raises and lowers in each lesson. For the first few attempts at lowering I look after the sally a) so that the learner can concentrate on the tail end and coil making, and b) to make sure that the lower doesn't go too quickly.

I think the main cause of problems with the last coil is anxierty about when to do it. Too soon and there is a danger of slack tope at the time when it will cause most trouble, and too late when there is a likelihood that the learner weill be setting the bell with a coil in hand and only one hand on the sally..

Releasing the coil in the way described already is essential if slack rope is to be avoided. It works best if done as the backstoke is being pulled, so that the coil can be sent forwards with a flick of the wrists.

I apologise if the is all old hat, but I suspect it is not.

This discussion has raised a number of interesting issues, and I would like to comment on some of them from my own expeience.

1) comparisons with other activities.
I'm not sure that running and cycling are entirely approipriate, as both are almost entirely physical activities, whereas ringing involves quite a lot of mental acrtivity. It is also a control activity, with interaction between the ringer and the bell. I think a better analogy is music, which also allows comparisons concerning the level of performance which is achieved. Lots of people learn to play simple tunes without progressing to more demanding pieces.

2) call change ringing.
I think the statement that Devon call changes are rung with bells below the balance id a common misconception. Do the arithmetic on a 40 minutes quarter peal compared with call changes at 32 or 33 to the minute, allowing for the handstroke gap. If call changes were rung with all the bells below the balancve, speed changes would be harder not easier.

3) teaching with bell up or down?
I have changed my teaching style so that I no longer do handstrokes on their own. Catching the sally is all about timing, and if you are doing that without doing the backstrokes, the long interval between successive catches makes timing very difficult. Once the learner is comfortable with backstrokes, I get them, with the bell slightly below the balance, to catch the sally with one hand, initially without pulling and then with pulling. There is no timing issue with this because they are continuously active. Once this is being done safely, I ask them to catch the sally with both hands. Initially there will be problems with finger and rope positions, but these can be sorted gradually. Once the are competent with all the movements, I get them to let the bell go higher until it is going balance to balance

In parallel with this I do a lot of raising and lowering. At the end of the first lesson, lowering without making coils, with me looking after the sally and spare tail end, then in lesson two coil making and raising, with me looking after the sally, so that they can concentrate on looking after the coils and I can help to control the speed. In this way they acquire competence in adjusting the tail end length, a crucial aspect of bell control.

4) use of mini rings
I don't think this is helpful, as the control is totally different if the bell can be allowed to go a long way over the balance. However, in spite of them not having stays, I have had some success teaching bell handling on light rings - Lichfield Mobile and Woodlands. These are heavy enough to give plenty of feel, and slow enough to use both hands on the sally. Before embarking on teaching a youngster at Woodlands, I asked Paul Jopp if he had had any difficulty transferring from light bells to full size bells. His answer was that it was so long ago her couldn't remember, which I think means no.

Phil Gay