workshops

M1 Refresher: 29 January 2022 - West Lavington

Mon, 07 Feb 2022 11:15:00 +0000

Conducting - 2 November 2019

Sat, 02 Nov 2019 08:47:00 +0000

Conducting - 26 October 2019

Sat, 26 Oct 2019 15:04:00 +0000

Listen & Strike - 3 August 2019

Sat, 03 Aug 2019 17:21:00 +0000

I’ve been ringing for just over two years and had the opportunity to take part in a workshop highlighting the importance of listening to improve striking and my ringing in general. It was held at St Mary’s church in Dallington, Northampton on Saturday 3rd August. 18 eager ringers, of varying experience, attended, looking for tips to improve their ringing. Led by Jennie Paul the afternoon began with some key theory concepts in relation to ringing and what can have an affect on striking. This included topics such as the size of the bell, the timing of your pull, and whether you are ringing a big bell over a small one and vice versa. The importance of being able to hear your bell when ringing was also covered with a couple of techniques to achieve this, such as making sure to count your place in rounds and watching where your hands are when your bell sounds. There was a very interesting and sometimes challenging exercise of listening to a number of recordings with reducing degrees of error, which helped in tuning me in to which bell was either slow or fast, and whether this was at handstroke, backstroke or both. Whilst I’m generally a fairly co-ordinated person, a clapping exercise for placement, timing and rhythm seemed almost beyond me, but it showed the importance of listening and working together. Then it was on to the bells themselves. This was somewhat of another challenge for me, having not rung for the best part of three months. As the experience in the group differed quite a lot, we started off quite tentatively, but by listening, our striking and rhythm improved as we went along. As Jennie pointed out, you have to be able to hear your bell, recognise the error, so that you can improve your future blows. Having had a break for tea, we moved on to the mini striking competition. Being slightly handicapped, my group had a go at handbells. The same concepts apply, and it was a little easier on my shoulder. We practised away in our corner of the church, and then performed a short series of rounds. Of the three teams, we were judged to have won. Another certificate for my growing collection. All in all this was a fabulous afternoon. No matter how experienced or inexperienced you were, you could learn something from this workshop. For me, one of the most important things was to keep doing what I have been doing, and that is watching and listening when I’m not ringing and counting away to methods that I know. Ringing is a team effort and if we all listen a little closer we can improve ourselves and help others around us.

Conducting - 18 May 2019

Sat, 18 May 2019 15:22:00 +0000

Tower Maintenance - 4 May 2019

Sat, 04 May 2019 16:54:00 +0000

Course delegates attending the ART Bell Maintenance course back in May had travelled from across Sussex and Kent to attend the one-day event and we numbered 11 in total. St. John The Baptist church in Kirdford, West Sussex, has a six-bell tower and a first-floor ringing chamber with an open balcony overlooking the congregation. Access to the bells is via a spiral staircase which is part wooden and part stone. Safety awareness is paramount when working in and around a bell chamber, especially so for a complete novice like me who is new to the surroundings. During the first classroom session on “Health & Safety”, and before anybody even thought about ascending the stairs to the bell chamber, many of the potential hazards and “do’s and dont’s” were presented. The assembled group was just the right size to promote a good discussion on many of the points raised. A second session introduced much of the terminology of the day – headstocks, clappers, gudgeons, bearings, hammers, twiddlers etc and then, after a quick cuppa, it was time for the first practical session of the day. As a fairly recent newcomer to bell-ringing I’ve always been fascinated by the history and tradition recorded in the numerous plaques, certificates and photographs that cover the walls of many ringing chambers. So to have the opportunity to get up close and personal with the bells was especially interesting. Delegates were encouraged to check over the bell installations with a view to identifying any problems or irregularities, and then any observations or questions were reviewed and discussed as a group under the guidance of course presenter, Roger Booth. All too soon it was time for lunch, so the group packed up and took the 15-minute drive over to Billingshurst, West Sussex ready for the second half of the course. The lunch break was rounded out with a rope splicing demonstration by Roger, followed by some hands-on practice for those who wanted to have a go. The afternoon session kicked off with a short classroom session on compiling a maintenance schedule, and then the remainder of the afternoon was given over to visiting the second bell installation. St. Mary’s, Billingshurst has an eight-bell tower. The first-floor ringing chamber is accessible via a steep wooden staircase and from there entry to the bell chamber is gained using a vertical timber ladder fixed to one wall. Given the potentially dangerous climb all delegates were provided with a safety harness and fall-arrest equipment, so it took quite a while to get all of us up to the bell chamber. At Kirdford we’d seen that all 6 bells were mounted in the same plane, which we were told is quite unusual. The bells of St.Mary’s are mounted four in one direction and the other four at right angles. This helps to limit the horizontal load on the frame during ringing. The eight bells are mounted on metal headstocks unlike the six-bell installation, which has timber headstocks. Once again course delegates were encouraged to check over a bell or two and then any observations about each bell were discussed in turn as a group. Of course a bell is a bell is a bell, but I found it very helpful to be able to contrast the two installations in terms of layout, accessibility and condition of the hardware. The course ended with a short roundup and Q&A session over some very welcome tea and cakes. In the days following the course a number of very helpful handouts were circulated to course delegates by the ART team. These covered everything from issues identification and management, working at height, rope splicing, sound control and fire safety. The documents will serve not only as a useful reminder of the course content but also a handy reference tool for the future. I’m sure that all those who attended would join me in thanking Roger for a thoroughly enjoyable and informative day out, which absolutely flew by. Thanks are due also to Vicky Chase, Tower Captain at Kirdford, and Kevin Quigley, Ringing Master at Billingshurst, for their excellent organisation and provision of refreshments and facilities during the day. I would heartily recommend this course to anyone with even the slightest interest in what’s going on above their head when they ring a bell. I came to the course as a complete novice and it quickly became apparent that other delegates were more experienced. Nevertheless, I gained a lot from the day and have been left with an enthusiasm to learn more and improve my knowledge further still.

Simulator Awareness - 13 Apr 2019

Sat, 13 Apr 2019 07:36:00 +0000

Listen & Strike - 30 Mar 2019

Sat, 30 Mar 2019 17:43:00 +0000

Calling Bob Doubles - 30 Mar 2019

Sat, 30 Mar 2019 11:07:00 +0000

Listen & Strike - 16 Feb 2019

Sat, 16 Feb 2019 18:41:00 +0000

Simulator Awareness - 2 Feb 2019

Sat, 02 Feb 2019 12:54:00 +0000

Simulator Awareness - 19 Jan 2019

Sat, 19 Jan 2019 20:28:00 +0000

Simulator Awareness - 24 Nov 2018

Sat, 24 Nov 2018 08:59:00 +0000

Bell Maintenance - 10 Nov 2018

Sat, 10 Nov 2018 15:55:00 +0000

Listen & Strike - 8 Sep 2018

Sat, 08 Sep 2018 09:31:00 +0000

Listen & Strike - 25 Aug 2018

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 14:13:00 +0000

Conducting - 4 Aug 2018

Sat, 04 Aug 2018 10:48:00 +0000

Tower Leadership - 21 Apr 2018

Sat, 21 Apr 2018 09:56:00 +0000

Listen and Strike - 7 Apr 2018

Sat, 07 Apr 2018 09:10:00 +0000

Tower Leadership - 28 Oct 2017

Sat, 28 Oct 2017 10:28:00 +0000