Chairman's Chatter - June 2018

Chairman’s Chatter is published in the quarterly ART WORKS magazine for ART Members and those on the ART Training Scheme.

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The AGM and Conference was as popular as ever – however attendance was affected a little by the weather. This affected some presenters and delegates but after a slow start about 90 attended during the day. A very flexible approach to the planned programme was taken which saw most subjects dealt with. In the early evening, Stephanie Warboys and Stephanie Pattenden hosted the ART Awards ceremony which recognised excellent work and results, with cash prizes given to support future initiatives. The Sunday sessions on Simulators and New Technology (run by the CCCBR Education Committee) were pretty much fully attended and very well received.

In this edition you will see the last of Pip Penny’s “Teaching Tips” all of which are available online Here. Pip’s research and commitment to this large project has been invaluable and made a huge contribution to teacher’s understanding of the critical issues that she has tackled. I am sure we will have not seen the last of Pip’s work but as this is the last of these tips − thank you Pip for your fantastic work.

» Teaching Tips

The 2019 ART Conference is already booked for Saturday 2 March 2019 at the Worcester Cricket Club conference facility and those speakers we missed this year will be there, along with many others. There will be an opportunity to visit the Cathedral Ringing Centre and it is hoped the CCCBR will once again organise the Sunday event.

The use of the Learning the Ropes scheme for ringers has increased very significantly this year with record numbers of certificates being issued. Are your ringers working towards their next level? Are you ensuring that certificates are presented? Are you registering your ringers so they benefit from our sister newsletter Tower Talk and all the other information available on SmART Ringer?

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The “50 Ringing Things” challenge is proving increasingly popular, with people of all ages carrying out activities that they would never have considered before – fully engaging with all aspects of ringing. Do have a look in the Hall of Fame through the website and make sure that your ringers claim their Bronze, Silver or Gold certificates.

I am pleased to see an increase in enquiries for Module 2 courses. As soon as your new ringer can ring rounds there are a plethora of useful ideas in both Module 2 courses to help you fully establish basic foundation skills and embed progress in a structured and fun way. A good strategy is to aim to attend a Module 2 course about 6 months after your Module 1. There seems to be some confusion about whether or not the Module 2C course covers foundation skills – it does! The two Modules (2F and 2C) work alongside each other so there is no requirement to do both!

New data protection requirements come into force in May and you may see a few changes to screens and messages. Leslie Boyce is working hard to make sure we get this right. He has carried out a big mapping exercise and worked through the changes we will have to make. Outwardly we hope that not too many things will need to change.

» ART data protection and insurance update

ART is continuing to receive a steady stream of new ringer enquiries helped by the Ringing Remembers initiative. This provides a pool of new interest and ART’s professional and structured teaching methods will give them the best start to their ringing journey. Remember to think about providing a good environment: teach in groups where possible; teach intensively; and use the teaching skills we have all learned. I hope that this will enable a new group of competent ringers to develop and come through to teach the next generation.

» Ringing Remembers resources