Chairman's Chatter - August 2016

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

Reflections on ART Courses

I have run 10 ART training scheme day courses since the last edition of ART WORKS as far apart as Manchester, Suffolk and Somerset and it continues to be a privilege to meet so many people keen on teaching new ringers. Not all are new teachers – many have taught before and are keen for a skill update or refresher - but all are motivated to go away to find and teach new ringers. So inspiring to see actions and not just words!

For those that have attended initial courses do remember that the presentations are on SmART Ringer if you need a reminder of what was covered!

Volunteer's support ART update

One of our hardest working volunteers over the last couple of months has been Richard Booth, our new membership secretary. Richard has put in hours of hard work updating and checking our membership list. Well done Richard. One of the spin off benefits of this is that our online membership directory is now up to date. This is important as we get quite a number of enquiries from potential new ringers looking for teachers which are passed on to our members from the directory list. This is an important added benefit of being an ART Member – we do not pass on the enquiries to unaccredited teachers or non-members.

Registering a new ringer should be carried out soon after their first lesson as it gives them access to information about ringing and contact with other new ringers. This is designed to give them useful information from day 1, and to encourage them to share
experiences.

Module 2 well worth considering

Whilst there are a good number of Module 1 courses being booked there are less Module 2F and 2C’s . This is a concern as no doubt those teachers who benefited from completing Module 1 are progressing to teach foundation skills (2F - Bell handling) or Rounds to Plain Hunt (2C). Module 2 courses have a lot to offer so do take the opportunity to follow though to the next stage.

2017 Conference in the planning

If you were at the 201 6 ART Conference you would have experienced a really great day. The venue was not a typical one for a conference but despite its idiosyncrasies it provided a great backdrop to the sessions. Thank you John Taylor & Co. for your generous sponsorship of the day. The 2017 Conference will be at Old Basing on Saturday 11 th March by invitation of the Winchester & Portsmouth Guild. On the Sunday a hand bell teaching session and mentor workshop are planned. More information to follow in the November edition of ART WORKS.