Ringing Forums

have we really moved so far away from the original purpose that bells were hung in church towers — Mary Jones

Why do people keep referring to this? Until the Victorian clergy decided to take over ringing in the late 19th century ringing as we know it was a secular pastime, separate from church worship.

Alison, you can access the intent online on my website. After it went out of print I converted the content to web pages. The Tower Handbook

And if it were a rock climbiung environment we would want the nice sprngy nylon that the brainless AI said could be used for top ends. Not sure in what environment we would be using calipers to measure the taper though.

you don't get a chance to go back and edit it — Simon Linford

But they can't edit it either to twist what you said. Kate Flavell was once interviewed during the Olympics and the broadcast version was selectively edited to suit the 'story' - that the CC was being negative by not telling all ringers to go out early in the morning and ring for 3 minutes as part of a so-called work of art - cutting out the positive things she said about what we were doing. I did a an interview around the same time, with the interviewer pushing the same line and me pushing back, but it was live so they couldn't edit it (and after I went off air one of the presenters said he thought he agreed with me).

Interesting example of AI mindlessly assembling a mix of mostly tru facts in a rather boring way. It slightly overstated the meditative aspects but didn't say anything downright wrong, ulike when I asked it about splicing!
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Any tips on splicing bellropes
Splicing a bell rope involves joining two ropes together to create a longer rope or to repair a damaged rope. Here are some tips for splicing a bell rope:
_1._Start by preparing the ends of the ropes by unraveling the strands and flattening them out.
_2._To splice the ropes together, you will need to create a "tucking" pattern by alternating between tucking the strands of one rope under and over the strands of the other rope.
_3._Use a marlinspike, a pointed tool used for splicing, to tuck the strands in place. Alternatively, you can use a screwdriver or a similar tool.
_4._Once you have completed the tucking pattern, you can use a hammer or a mallet to gently tap the splice to help secure the strands in place.
_5._Finally, use a whipping twine to tie a few tight wraps around the splice to hold everything in place.
It's a good idea to practice splicing on a scrap piece of rope before attempting it on a bell rope, as splicing can be a challenging task that requires patience and precision.
How much taper?
When splicing a bell rope, it's important to maintain a consistent taper, or slope, along the length of the splice. The taper helps to evenly distribute the load along the splice and helps to prevent the splice from becoming too bulky or uneven.
The amount of taper will depend on the specific requirements of the bell rope and the type of splice you are using. In general, a taper of about 1:10 is a good starting point. This means that for every 1 inch of rope, the splice should taper down by about 1/10 of an inch.
It's a good idea to measure the taper using a ruler or calipers as you work to ensure that the splice is consistent and even. You may need to adjust the taper slightly based on the specific characteristics of the ropes you are splicing and the type of splice you are using.
Really?
Yes, it's important to maintain a consistent taper when splicing a bell rope in order to evenly distribute the load along the splice and to prevent the splice from becoming too bulky or uneven. The specific taper required will depend on the specific requirements of the bell rope and the type of splice being used. A taper of about 1:10 (1 inch of rope for every 1/10 of an inch of taper) is a good starting point, but it may be necessary to adjust the taper slightly based on the specific characteristics of the ropes being spliced and the type of splice being used. It's a good idea to measure the taper using a ruler or calipers as you work to ensure that the splice is consistent and even.
What about synthetic top ends?
Synthetic materials, such as nylon or polyester, can be used to create the top end of a bell rope, which is the portion of the rope that is held by the bellringer. Synthetic materials are often preferred for bell ropes because they are strong, durable, and resistant to abrasion, moisture, and UV light.
To create a synthetic top end for a bell rope, you will need to splice the synthetic material to the natural fiber portion of the rope using a splicing technique called a long splice. This involves joining the two ropes together by unraveling the strands and interweaving them together to create a seamless, continuous rope.
It's important to maintain a consistent taper along the length of the splice in order to evenly distribute the load and prevent the splice from becoming too bulky or uneven. The specific taper required will depend on the specific requirements of the bell rope and the type of splice being used. A taper of about 1:10 (1 inch of rope for every 1/10 of an inch of taper) is a good starting point, but it may be necessary to adjust the taper slightly based on the specific characteristics of the ropes being spliced and the type of splice being used. It's a good idea to measure the taper using a ruler or calipers as you work to ensure that the splice is consistent and even.
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without knowing what he actually said its hard to assess that comment.

that's true of course, but in local band peals the dynamic can be the other way, with people who could ring, and have done so in the past, declining to do so.

. Getting 3 hours in one go ... Is it the same as ringing 4 quarters in one day — Rosalind Martin

No, because if you misjudge the clothing/temperature you have to suffer much longer in a peal!

Talk to the sort of ringer who can ring a decent repertoire without any mistakes, and you are probably talking to a peal ringer. Building the sort of mental and physical fitness required to ring a peal (or many peals) is very go — Rosalind Martin

I'm sure there's a correlation but is there causation and if so which way? The obvious way is that extended periods of concentration in peals hones tingers' skills and makes them more competent ringers, But could it be the other way round, that only if you are competent can you relax enough to last a peal, and ring well enough to get the reward from ringing needed to make up for the time and effort spent?

The death or demise of ringing is not the right peg on which to hang a recruiting story. Very few people want to join a failing organisation — Peter Sotheran

I agree, but round here it's not a popular view. The number of times I've been told 'what's the point if it doesn't get any recruits' to suggestions of spending money or effort on raising public awareness.
That partly motivated the series 'Us and then' that I wrote some years ago, the first of which was headed 'Begging bowl or welcome sign'. See: https://jaharrison.me.uk/New/Articles/UsThem/index.html#Top

I'm not optimistic about ringing for the Coronation.
When we really pushed peal ringing in 2015 we got a big increase in first peals, but it was just a blip, not sustained.
Also, when we last had a 'recruit to ring every bell' event in 2000, the resultant influx was perceived to have lower aspirations and ability on average than the normal run of recruits, so not mostly budding peal ringers. And the focus on a single day led some recruits to feel they'd done their bit when it was over.
It would be nice to think this time will be different, but it's not clear what will make it so.

I extrapolated the chart of the decline in peal ringing and peal ringing finishes in 2050 — Simon Linford

How did you extrapolate? Linear extrapolation to zero is unlikely to be reliable, even if 'the same' conditions prevail.

That's not what I meant, I meant that GDPR compliance is often considered to be so scary it prevents people from doing things like setting up electronic membership systems, or email distribution lists. — John de Overa

I agreed with that main point in the first part of my comment, but I wanted to correct the misconception that everything has to have explicit (ie written) consent.

The basic principles are that the data has to be consented to, — John de Overa

That's certainly true. I suspect many of those who quote it haven't actually read what it says.

GDPR is often misunderstood and sometimes used as a reason for not doing things — John de Overa

That's not actually true. Consent is only one of the legitimate reasons for holding data, and not the first choice advised.

if all you know about a member is a name then you don't have a GDPR proble, because it only applies to personal data that you hold. If you don't have any you can't lose it and you can't get it wrong. If anyone did pop out of the woodwork and demand to know what info you had it would be an easy question to answer.

We have no list of such members, so our return for the Central Council is based on our alumni mailing list, which is only probably 1% of the possible total members. — Tristan Lockheart

That's a separate issue. The membership declaration to the CC is used to determine the contribution it should make, notably its affiliation fee. For societies with an annual subscription it is fairly clear cut, and obviously relates to ability to pay. For societies that don't have an annual fee that doesn't work so the membership is based on the number of 'active' members, typically the number who participate in one or more of the society's activities during the year. As well as being 'fair' that also avoids the problem of members the society has lost track of, because they aren't counted.

ODG used to have life members, where after a number of years you got free membership. Around ten years ago that was abolished, partly because with an aging demographic the number was expected to rise. At the same time the a Guild created a category of distinguished membership, awarded to a member who has been a Resident Ringing Member for at least 30 years and who has given mecritorious service to the Guild or a Branch. This init automatic, and has to be formally proposed, justified and approved.

I can't see any reason why it should be a GDPR nightmare.

a journalist's role is to write stories that will sell, not to act as free PR for ringers, and it's a sad fact that that bad news sells better than good news.
We need to be aware of this, and try not to provide any hooks on which to hang a bad news perspective. But since people will still come up with negative stories anyway so w need to be able to defuse them.
I once wrote a series of articles called 'A Reporter Called', each describing how a journalist turned up with a negative story, and how the ringer from whom he wanted extra details managed to turn the story round and send him (or her) away with a positive story. I was over ruled because it was considered unwise even to mention anything negative.

someone once told me that the difference between Devon call change ringers and the r st of us if that they often go and listen to other bands ringing. I don't know how true it is, but it was an interesting comment.