M1 Refresher: 29 January 2022 - West Lavington
On Saturday 29th January at All Saints, West Lavington, we held a refresher workshop for ringing teachers who had previously attended a Module 1 day course and who felt they might like to revise some of the teaching techniques or just to gain a confidence boost following such a long break from teaching due to the pandemic.
I had been approached by Lesley Belcher, Chair of ART, back last Autumn to see if I would be willing to consider leading such a workshop, which at that time was in the development stage with ART. After much consideration and discussion with a member of the ART Management Committee who was involved with the creation of this workshop, I agreed to take on the task and things were set in motion to find a tower willing to accommodate us, sort out local arrangements such as silencing of bells, refreshments, etc, and advertise it on the ART Events Website. Julia Russell kindly made the local arrangements, for which we are extremely grateful, and she was there to greet us when we arrived with warm drinks on a rather cold morning.
After our personal introductions to the group, we were reminded of the safety aspects of ringing which need to be carefully explained to new recruits and how important it is to realise what we as more experienced ringers see and recognise as a hazard is totally alien to a new learner and needs explaining in detail. We then discussed Safeguarding and what training was now required within the Diocese since the changes which came into force in January. Our Guild Safeguarding Officer had kindly supplied me with the latest requirements which I was able to share with the group and it useful, as some of the group were from the Gloucester and Bristol Diocesan Association, to have the Safeguarding Officer from that Association in the group, and to hear how different requirements were Diocese to Diocese.
Most of the rest of the morning was spent on practical exercises revising parts of the teaching bell handling which seem to cause teachers and learners the most problem. I deliberately, when splitting the group into threes, put people with others they would not normally ring with, to try and learn from each others experiences which seemed to work extremely well and created a relaxed and fun atmosphere. By working in groups of three one could take the part of the learner, one the teacher and one the mentor, changing roles every few minutes to experience the different parts of the teaching experience. It was at this point we were very pleased to welcome Lesley Belcher, ART Chair, who had driven over to join with us as she was keen to try to get an idea of how teachers were feeling about returning to their role after the pandemic.
We practiced raising a bell part way up with the teacher having the coils and lowering again and then handed the person acting as the pupil the coils and repeated the exercise with the teacher looking after the sally. We looked at the last coil release on a dead rope (bell down) and finally we took the bell right up to the balance with the learner having control of all the rope, the teacher only intervening if the learner had difficulties. The role play was very important with the learners introducing errors and difficulties they had experienced with the learners in their own towers which made the exercises very realistic and good teaching revision. Before a very welcome break for hot drinks and pastries and cake we simulated one of the more difficult elements of teaching, “putting it all together”. This was a great deal of fun with some of the more experienced teachers in the group ringing their bell under the balance and then occasionally deliberately missing the sally or lifting their hands on the up stroke quicker than the rope is rising to make the teacher and mentor react to gain control.
The final practical session was “Ringing Down”, basically a repeat of the first exercises but in reverse. There was a lot of discussion in this exercise and it was obvious that it was one of the more difficult elements of bell handling, the making of the coils being the part which required most practice to get right.
We concluded the morning up with a discussion on what to do next, how to move forward to attract new learners and how as teachers we move on so we can take the learners forward once they have achieved the bell handling stage.
I was encouraged very much by the enthusiasm of all who attended and the eagerness amongst the group to take their teaching forward, especially in those who had not yet returned to any teaching since the easing of restrictions. I am grateful to all who attended and made the morning so enjoyable, to Lesley for her help and input on the day, to Julia for all her hard work in making the local arrangements and supplying the refreshments and to ART who devised the workshop and gave us the opportunity to partake of something positive.
David Hacker
Workshop Leader: David Hacker
Comments received from some of those who attended:
'Congratulations on leading yesterday’s very successful Refresher course. I enjoyed it immensely (despite the chilly environment) and found the opportunity to discuss training hints & tips with other trainers very informative and encouraging.'
'Thank you for arranging and running the refresher course today. It was very good and comforting to know others have similar problems and to share thoughts on how to overcome them.'
'Thank you very much for the course today, I gained a lot from the very useful exchange of ideas and the practical elements, although I have not had a good week and today the cold really got to me and I was struggling to get my old bones and joints moving. Nonetheless I still found it enjoyable and worthwhile and was glad I went.'
What is an M1 Refresher Workshop?