Ringing Forums

, it was all Geoff, and he does indeed deserve praise and recognition for that.

He had a rule of only asking people to commit to once per month, which probably helped keep people on side. Also, he would phone and ask people personally on each occasion - which was not easy to refuse if you didn't actually have a prior engagement. If you did he would immediately offer you an alternative! From the other side of the fence, he would listen to feedback from the volunteers (an advantage of doing everything by phone), and if there were issues, he would take them up with the tower captains concerned. We were in no doubt that we should not impose unduly, or take our helpers for granted.

We are trying to drag the scheme into the 21st century, with an on-line signing up system, but we are aware that the personal touch will still be needed. It will all hinge on gaining and maintaining a sufficient pool of volunteers. The pool had got quite small, and it was time that something was done about that in any case. We are just about to start a pilot, and hope it will be fully operational in the spring. As I said, watch this space!

For 18 years before lockdown, the Cambridge District of the EDA had a practice night support scheme, organised and run by Geoff Perryman. (The supporters rapidly became affectionately known as 'Perry People'). This was aimed at providing that extra one or two ringers that are so often needed on a practice night to achieve what the band are trying to learn. In one tower, it might be progression to surprise, but in another it may be just a steady enough band for call changes, allowing a spare to stand behind. This gave a lot of scope for 'ordinary' ringers to "help others in a wide range of ways from a relatively early stage in their own learning" (as Lucy says). We are about to re-launch this scheme. Watch this space!

I would also say that the scheme has many other benefits. Ringers at a fairly early stage in their careers will often find it valuable to them to go out and get some more rope time, operating well within their comfort zone, and they may be offered the opportunity to do things that they aren't offered in their own tower, like calling changes. It also results in integration between towers. Once the ringers in a supported tower discover that there are some friendly ringers out there, they will be more likely to go to other practices, and district and association events.

The value of social media is to communicate with the rest of the world, not each other, fun though that may be. A major problem we have faced over the years is invisibility. Bells are just audio wall paper, like the church building, they are 'just there' Most people don't think of the people ringing them at all. Just as an example (and I could give many more), how often are the ringers mentioned on, say, wedding orders of service? The officiant, choir and organist commonly get an acknowledgement, but ringers very rarely.

We do have a tower Facebook page, but the valuable posts are those on the Village page. Occasional shameless recruiting messages, but mostly just letting people know about what's going on, with pictures of bells and/or happy ringers, and some videos. That needs to be done on a very local level. Although most of the posts are mine, any member of the band is free to put something up, and do. I believe it is beginning to pay dividends - I have recently gained 5 new recruits.