M1: 24 Feb 2018 - Wragby

A full house attended the ART Module 1 Day Course at Wragby in Lincolnshire on the 24^th February. I have already completed my Module 2C training and knew Gill from that, so I was looking forward to the day and the challenges that I knew it would bring. People attended from all over Lincolnshire and, indeed, there were several others from out of the County, including two people I know from ringing in Nottinghamshire.

I am glad I put my thermals on though! The ringing room at Wragby was nice and warm; however, the theory lessons took place in the main body of the church, which definitely wasn’t! Tea and coffee had been provided and was very welcome.

Starting with the basics of pulling a bell half way up, the constituent parts of both back and hand strokes, and then putting it all together; followed by handling techniques and then correcting any faults was very interesting and, I suspect, is going to be a very useful skill to have available in my arsenal of teaching tools. There were, as always, lots of tips and advice and the chance to swap ‘war stories’ (and success stories!) with other delegates to try and find ways around some of the more common and infuriating problems that arise with learning and improving ringers.

Helping others is something that I think is important, and if you have the knowledge and skills to pass on your experience then it would be selfish to keep it to yourself! The ART courses allow for that knowledge to be focussed and then delivered to others in a structured, bite size, way, so people are not overwhelmed by the learning experience, do not get bored and drift away and are kept interested and challenged. A great day, with a bit more ‘leg work’ to do and lots to build on moving forward!

Thank you to Gill and all the ART support staff in the background, time to get on with accreditation!

Claire Howard