Ringing Forums

I think tracking attendance is a good idea, although some people might be off put.
But understanding trends is valuable
Do people push back
What do you capture

I’m hoping we can get something going at a higher level
Currently there are patches … but it’s not enticing more people to join and progress

I do suspect he might have learned “who to follow” but always goes on about places counting.

It sounds like your towers are going well, but because of certain proactive individuals. We need more of them.

I am planning a better structure of ringing as part of wearebellringing

I think everyone at a practise should get a balanced amount of ringing

However some focussed practises are advantageous.

But there needs to be focussed practices for all levels

that’s interesting, in my tower the TC just wants to focus on Grandsire, but won’t encourage people to learn the method.
He also refuses to learn touches wanting to focus on the plain course, but always rings the plain course on the same bell and messes it up.
Unfortunately bad habits are to blame!
But as TC won’t encourage others to progress, j have to do this as the area ringing master … but it gets a bit delicate

you raise a good point on progression.
I think the lack of a “career path” a stumbling block to a lot of people

ART have their levels and other schemes have other milestones. But it’s down to the teacher currently to use a teaching framework.
In my tower, people don’t see progress because the whole band has issues, some lack commitment but ultimately they’re is nothing to look up to

We need role models for ringing

fully agree
Worryingly … I’ve seen some quarter peal opportunities going this way

that is very true
The efforts need to be tied to that
But to develop young peal ringers, you need to attract them. So perhaps teaching adults who are their parents/granparents is a strategy
As well as developing bands to support whoever wishes to ring going forward.

However one concern I to have, is regularly my local tower doesn’t ring on Sunday because the band can’t commit, and when they do ring they can only do jump to changes so it actually sounds … poor!
While it’s nice they ring, it doesn’t reflect well on ringing

We do need to be encouraging progression in ringing
Or there won’t be welcome towers or bands to support people

while yes it is part way through its journey…
The aim was never to have done the recruitment done by 2030 but set it up with structures and plans in place.

The reason there is a lack of visible progress and delivery, is due to a lack of resources and engagement.

Ringing is led by volunteers, and there’s been a struggle to get contributions to the tasks.
Personally, I do what I can .. but I have a full time job and a tower to teach

interesting
I’ve got rung a peal, and only been offered 1 attempt.
I barely ring quarters due to lack of opportunities and ringers. Which is a shame

People say build your own opportunities, but I can’t get ringers of 5 years to ring PB5 and they’ll only bring plain G5…
After 5 years!

Branch events im lucky to get G5 due to poor engagement

with respect, Ringing 2030 is solely about growing grass routes ringing in a sustainable way. But also keeping the grass routes growing, as people have joined and faded due to poor opportunity.

The work I’m doing is all about getting new people onto towers, getting a better balance and with better awareness.
If there’s any other ideas to fixing the grass routes please suggest and get involved

very true
I’ve been trying to fix that but it’s hard work…
The problem?
In my opinion people don’t take ringing as serious hobby with commitment.

indeed
There are a lot of problems to fix, and we need people to come together and agree to the future.
Ringing 2030 addresses that partially, but that relies on its leaders driving it on

I keep meaning to look into the data of peals and quarters but i never get time

With all this discussion … what efforts have we made to encourage peal ringing ?

I’m 38 and only had 2 opportunity to ring a peal!
Tbh I’ve not rung that many quarters either.

For me, I spend a lot of time teaching people to ring, who aren’t progressing to this state.
There are issues in some areas with people putting the effort into ringing to progress and elsewhere people not getting the support and aspiration.

My area also has a solely older ringing population, I’m the youngest ringer and one of the most experienced. So some of this comes down to recruitment.

But from my area, we don’t have enough effort to get people to ring touches!
I’m running a basic training day, but only 1 person offered to support organising.
We need to get a strategy to improve peal ringing

As someone working on Ringing 2030 ... We do need to hurry it up, and pull together but it's run by volunteers! :(
There's lots of moving parts to Ringing 2030 and we need to solve the complex issues of ringing.

If you can support ringing in your area please get involved

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?