Ringing Forums

Thank you for your advice. As a relatively new ringer I'm always amazed at how generous everyone is of their time. However it doesn't prevent the frustrations associated with learning to ring, as for me it had been very slow.

My comments re bell handling refer to my initial experience. I have not had a fear of handling for several years now and our current teachers have rectified it with beginners. But I wanted to emphasise how important an awareness of that is in agreement with the previous comments. Compared to how I feel now I realise it would have been much more enjoyable and successful without having that initial fear of losing control.
Regarding general confidence I think it's an age thing because at my age newly learned things don't stick. Therefore something as complex as ringing, without a lot of repetition, is difficult. The situation with the availability of rope time with good ringers in my opinion is the chief problem for beginners, but not a criticism. At every level everyone wants to progress and depend upon ringers ahead of them in ability. I wish there were more intensive courses. But very grateful for the dedicated teachers I have.

As a ringer of 7 years achieving a very modest ringing standard (I am old ish ) and a teacher by trade, I definitely know how I could improve. I have a great deal of frustration when, despite the dedicated tower captains, the opportunity for practice with experienced ringers is limited. I am mainly ringing with people around my own ability and feel there is a wish to discover a talented ringer, which I am not. I strongly agree with the last comment regarding loosing control of the bell. I lived in fear for a long time because when it happened to me someone rushed over in what appeared to be a panic to grab the rope. A confident ringer I am never going to be and I think this is closely linked to age. But I know now that it is essential, to make good progress, the skills to retrieve control are given early on so that ringing doesnt feel so dangerous.