Ringing Forums

We had an approach from an American university who had a London summer placement to explore music and heritage. They paid, based on wedding fee rates for six and something generous for the tower and the cost of the ART Discover books, for a one hour experience.
That was fairly targeted because they were specifically in London to link music to heritage and that lends itself to an introduction to bellringing talk.

If you can only provide two ringers then you are more limited but you could still get them chiming in rounds with the bells down, possibly use handbells for some called changes and depending on your tower kit show a video of full circle change ringing.
Lots of people find the simple experience of climbing a spiral staircase to a room the public don’t normally see exciting. If you can add in some local fun facts or a view from the tower they will enjoy it.

On the other hand… I went on a mystery picnic which was a birthday gift and it was well put together to take you to independent shops and collect picnic ingredients, visit a herb bed at the park and see some sights. So I can see how something similar with a bellringing experience could work. People who choose this sort of event are likely to be curious and open minded so it could be a combination of PR and recruitment.

We received an enquiry via ART from a group of non-ringers who wanted a 'bell ringing experience'. We were delighted to arrange this.

I explained that I could offer a tower tour and what it would entail. There were just half a dozen of them. We can accomodate more and if necessary split them into smaller groups and operate a shuttle service up and down the tower.

We have CCTV and were able to show the bells ringing from the ringing room, but when in the belfry we can safely ring a silenced bell too.

Our tower tours include a visit to the clock room and the belfry, finishing with chiming the bells or trying backstrokes.

We asked some of our ringers to come along too, to chat with our visitors and demonstrate ringing.

It was a very successful morning lasting 2 hours 9:30 to 11:30am. They all throroughly enjoyed it.

Before the visit they asked us how much it would cost and I asked for £10 each donation. They were very generous and gave us £90. I make the point here that I think it is important to charge at least a nominal amount.

Also ahead of the tour check that photos are ok and published on social media (always good PR for the tower), and be mindful of any safeguarding requirements.

We also advised them to wear suitable footware and clothing e.g. no open toed shoes or slip ons, and no skirts/dresses.

We do tower tours quite a lot. It may be one or two people, or goups. We have risk assessments in place for such visits. In fact, today, I was in the ringing room (behind glazed tower arch screen) cleaning up and visitors in the church waved hello. Next thing I hear is 'hello' from the bottom of the stairs. As is my wont, I nvited them up. I spent the next hour showing them around. No ringing on this occasion - you could call it 'tower tour lite', as I was on my own but they enjoyed the banter! Ad hoc visit - ready to go any time!

We offer 'Experience Bellringing' sessions to every wedding couple, who join us at a practice and bring their wedding bell fee. Most come along (some with children/parents) and thoroughly enjoy it, with many staying for the majority of the evening.

We also offer sessions for team-building and interest groups. One local group nearly came but it was difficult to find a suitable date for them, so it fell by the wayside.
Of course we have had numerous School and Scout groups.

I agree, we should push this more. Corporate groups would be a good source of extra funds too!

During the WI's Centenary Year (2015?) our local WI had added 'Discovering Bell Ringing' to their list of '100 things to do in the Centenary Year and they arranged for a party of about 20 a visit to the tower.

To explain what was 'upstairs' we projected a 3-4 minute Powerpoint show on to a whitewashed wall. It showed photos of the bells, the clock room and the views from the tower roof and recycled every 4-5 minutes throughout the evening.

As an opening demo' we rang r&cc and plain hunted on 6 with simple explanations - sufficient to demonstrate the principle of change ringing. Our two tutors ensured that every visitor had an opportunity to ring some assisted backstrokes and those who showed some proficiency with the basics of rope-handling were offered the opportunity to ring assisted backstrokes in rounds on six bells. I think we rounded off the evening with a course of Stedman Triples as a closing demo. We didn't expect to draw any recruits from this group but they all enjoyed the experience and afterwards their organiser sent a very appreciative letter.

WI visit to Marske-by-the-sea (8, 6-3-21)

Friends in the City - a group of Philadelphia based seniors who are involved in a variety of activities/courses etc. contacted us about a Saturday morning visit. There were about a dozen who came, listened and chimed. They paid a nominal fee and we expanded the awareness of bellringing in the city. Afterwards the group had brunch with some of us at our local where we continued our conversation. No new recruits, but a very enjoyable session. This could definitely be repeated several times a year for different social groups.

Many thanks to all the contributors to this thread - lots of ideas here, and ways to make a really rich experience.