Ringing Forums

I think the stalling relates to a few things:
1 motivation - why do people ring
2 ambition - do people see the opportunity to progress
3 confidence - do those who are stalling have the confidence to push to the next level
4 opportunity - is there an opportunity to progress

I’m currently stuck somewhere around ringing stedman triples and Cambridge minor.

Can I push to the next level, probably… do I get the opportunity, rarely!

In my branch, I’ve ringers suffering from 1-4, I’ve helped to breakdown 4 as much as I can for them, and they’re struggling with 1, 2, 3

But a number of our ringers more ring for a social purpose, than a ringing one

Ok, I have only skimmed the above but

Yours making an assumption, that we stop “teaching people”, by which I’m defining as developing there skills and offering learnings.

I learned to ring in 2001 (ish), I would like to ring I have wisdom imparted to me weekly by Manchester Cathedrals ringing master and I’ve just attended the NW Course (again).

I think part of the teaching model is a separation between learning and doing, which in my professional opinion as a software developer and coach is flawed.
We shouldn’t stop learning, and therefore being taught, we should simply transition to a different style of learning which is continuous and peer driven.

Perhaps the expectation being given to people is you learn to ring, then you ring, rather than a lifelong pursuit of development of a skill.
Personally I try to talk to my learners about continuous improvement.

Fully agree there
Although I do think it is a bit verbose.
The one thing I’ve learned about teaching, is you can’t make it prescriptive. Everyone learns differently at different paces and ways.

But we do need some consistency around telling people what is ringing, in terms of quality and complexity.
The ART 1 & 2 don’t quite focus on this

Definetky readiness is a factor but also awareness
None if the tower knew about the ringing world and there was no real awareness of peals and quarters, as well as development of ringers.

While, as you mention, learning the ropes covers this I’ve only been to a couple of towers that adopt the scheme

I think there a few factors here…
How long has peal ringing been in decline for, while we’ve seen healthy peal numbers until Covid.
When I was a young ringer, I don’t think I was ever encouraged to move towards peals.
We did encourage quarter peals though and I rang a couple.

Fast forward to my local tower, only one other member of the band has rung a quarter and most can’t ring touches.

So are we training and developing ringers to be become peal ringers, or even quarter pealers.
Is there sufficient encouragement to make the progression?

Yes quite
Our striking is awful, because people are waiting for a given rope to have pulled off… I keep telling people just pull, don’t stop but they’re fixated on the rope

The other issue I see is people fixating on their rope and missing their place. They’re out EVERY hand stroke because they don’t put their backstroke in place …

I find this is because teaching gets rushed to make progress not good progress

Residential courses are a good idea, but you’d still need to practise and retain the knowledge.
But do help to get you over the initial hurdle

I’ve had the same…
I enjoy the teaching side, but I do find myself saying the same thing every week. My local band had been doing plain hunt for a year and really isn’t making progress. It’s the same errors every week.., partly due to a lack of practise at it but also too many learners ringing at once.
The way the learning is happening is holding people back.

But in general I to other towers for learning methods, it takes some finding but I go to Manchester cathedral too.

Perhaps a coordination page is needed where towers can say where they’re upto and help they need. I know the basics are on Dove but it needs to be more frequent and detailed

Sorry to also be a dampener but I had the same.
I asked if they’d like me to help elsewhere and the branch leadership weren’t all that aware of what was going on.
I’m supporting my own tower but it seems like we need to collaborate and communicate more.
A lot of problems appear to be long standing bands who don’t have email. We also don’t get much input to the branch level either

Thanks, interesting perspectives.
I’m definitely keen to help find and facilitate.

I think there’s definitely an opportunity we could try to fix

Our local branch itself is very primarily focussed on call changes and plain hunt.
I think the branch has only 1 other ringer who can ring peals …
Whilst I would, if I have the time, engage more and search them out. My point is we aren’t encouraging those who don’t have the confidence.

I’d agree that Ringing associations might not be filling this role at present. But with their footprint they could have that impact and authority.
Finding your own group, while it sounds good would be harder, especially for lesser connected ringers.
It would be good if we can facilitate these groups

Thanks well I’m definitely keen to progress to surprise and peal ringing. But the options are limited. I can venture to towers further afield but *work* … currently.

We definitely need to think about more branch level practises, but that’s going to need a critical mass of people to pull together.

It needs leading from the association level, as my branch isn’t even ringing quarter peals.

I'm a "returning ringer" ... I took a 4 year break, mainly due to relocation.
I've not rung any peals (confession) ... am I still welcome?
But I've rung a few quarter peals!

I really enjoy ringing quarters, or just complex methods with touches!

But I'm really only ringing basic methods these days, and although I love it, I wish I could ring more advanced methods. But I do feel loyal to supporting my own band, and I have a job.

However, to get more peals (and quarter peals) we need to provide opportunities for ringers to ring more advanced things.
We need to provide more stepping stone options for people