M1: 17 Mar 2018 - Pinhoe

Weather forecasts in Devon for the weekend of 17th March promised to be a repeat of the ART Conference weekend at the start of the month. Nevertheless, all 12 students booked for this Module 1 (Bellhandling) Day Course made it successfully to Pinhoe, near Exeter on Saturday 17^th. Despite the cold and some lunchtime snow, we braved it out to the end of the programme, though a hot pre-booked lunch at the warm “Pinhoe Hoard” pub was much appreciated.

The group was a diverse one with students ranging from very experienced method ringers from Dorset to Devon call change ringers from Plymouth, North Devon, Dartmoor and Exeter. It was gratifying that, whilst recognising the differences of the two ringing traditions in Devon, all participants were very much agreed on what constitutes good handling and style for either “scientific” or call change ringing. All agreed that it had been a valuable opportunity for a sharing of experience and the evaluation forms returned at the end of the day showed how much people had appreciated the programme and the discussion.

Here are some of the students’ comments:

“Great course interaction and feedback discussion – learnt a lot. Many thanks.”

“Excellent day, very informative, very useful. Good mix of participants, especially useful given the two ringing traditions within Devon. Would heartily recommend it to others. Thank you.”

“Excellent course. I’ve learned much more than expected.”

“Incredibly well-organized and executed.”

It was good to receive these comments at the end of a long, hard-working day in the cold!

Les Boyce, Tutor.