Ringing Forums

that’s an interesting idea. I wonder how much demand there would be.
The nearest I know is something our branch has had for several years, a wedding volunteers list.
Anyone willing to be asked to ring for weddings (at other towers than their own) is on the list. Any tower that is short for a wedding can send details to the list and anyone interested replies to the sender.
About a quarter of our members are on the list, and it gets used occasionally, once or twice a year, though no one used it last year.

Hi there are many weddings currently not able to have the bells rung due to nothing being able to get anyone, sadly this is looking the case for mine as well. Even the church said that has it is so hard people have not stopped trying, will be such a shame if this tradtion goes.

In the Truro Guild we have a wedding “swop shop” via the Guild website. If a tower is short of ringers they put out the wider request for help to those on the wedding volunteers list.

Hi Andrew

thank you for your post.

Should I contact TDGR Membership Secretary to try and contact the ringers?

follow this link and fill the relevant form in.

https://tdgr.org.uk/swapshop/

I think this is generally tackled locally, because people don’t travel far to ring for weddings.
In general because there are less church weddings than there used to be finding ringers doesn’t seem to be a problem where I ring but I can understand that it is harder in more rural areas.
In general the local guild or association are likely to be aware of the churches which struggle to find ringers and there are regular conversations about how much it is reasonable to charge for ringing for a wedding. Whilst some ringers won’t give up a chunk of Saturday afternoon regardless of the money others will travel further to ring if the money offered does more than simply cover petrol costs.

Surrey Association towers send out a general email if short ringers for a wedding. In pretty much all cases another email will follow a short while later saying the band is complete.

In my area, most of the towers have their own WhatsApp group and many of us belong to more than one of these groups. There’s also a WhatsApp group that covers several towers within a local area. Putting in a request on one or several of these groups usually results in enough volunteers to make up a shortfall, or even a whole band, within hours if not minutes.

There could well be a sense that the fees offered are often derisory, and the length of time being frequently a moving 'feast'.
This applies to musicians, too. I am not alone in declining playing the organ for weddings - again the aspect of (a) unrealistic wishes for music from wedding couples, and downright offensive ditties, (b) the unreliability of start and finish, (c) distraction and interference from various photographers, and so on. Fees for wedding are almost general too small for the hassle involved. (Much better to take on even an amateur choir or orchestra for one reheaarsal and concert on the same day - thus naturally competing against wedding ringing.)