Ringing Forums

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!

Local Tower:

Inviting all wedding couples to a ringing practice (bringing their bell fee). Introducing them to the ringers and to ringing (so they know what they're paying for!) and the history of the tower & bells, and (as our bells are easy-going) give them some goes at backstrokes then backstrokes in rounds (all assisted).

Annual visit to the tower by all of the local junior school pupils. Each year there's a 5-min interactive talk on a different aspect (e.g. History of the tower/bells, Maths: Factorials and time to ring them on different numbers of bells explained simply). All have a go at a few assisted backstrokes on a light bell. Then they all absolutely love trying to chime the tenor!

Special ringing (e.g. for the Bells' Centenary, Charity events, Thomas Linacre celebrations), Try Ringing sessions (e.g. The Big Help Out*) and fun ringing attempts (e.g. non-stop ringing relays).

The bells have an Instagram account - and share posts, including special/local ringing events, with church/local/BellringingDerbyshire social media platforms.

Colourful articles in local papers and free magazines with wide-reaching readerships.

We have had many recruits (*12 from the Big Help Out alone, 4 of whom are now key band members), and the local community appreciates the bells.

Local Association:

A portal for non-ringers from anywhere (https://bellringingderbyshire.org.uk/) and, to go with it:
- Matching social media - Instagram, Facebook* (sharing to numerous local groups) and Nextdoor.
*The Facebook page had 7,359 views in the last 28 days.
- Weatherproof hanging banners with the portal's QR code and URL, for towers to borrow.
- Matching business cards for all ringers to carry so non-ringers can scan the QR code or take a card.

With thanks to ART and the Len Roberts Award for the Promotion of Ringing 2024 for making the portal, weatherproof banners and business cards possible.

Providing a wide range of resources to help towers to do their own publicity: https://derbyda.org.uk/resources/promoting-ringing/

Gosh! Well done. I had no idea that ringing promotional cards (as opposed to flyers) were already being used elsewhere until someone recently mentioned that they use them locally. The Bellringing Derbyshire portal is also mostly generic.
I hadn't heard the term 'Push Cards' before, so googled it. It appears to be used mostly for political business cards. Business cards can also be called 'Palm Cards'. So perhaps the name differs depending on use and country (and what people are used to)?

Thanks John. Yes, I agree, too many bullet points for nowadays. I might revamp it sometime.
Indeed, it's very difficult encouraging motivation to do publicity - why I try to provide simple ideas and resources to make it easier, although it's not easy keeping them all up-to-date!
The most recent DerbyDA resource is the Bellringing Derbyshire portal, and business cards with its URL and QR code. I'm always heartened when I see a ringer carrying one in their wallet, ready for interested non-ringers wherever they come from (not just Derbyshire).
We also have matching vinyl outdoor banners, which are very versatile and extremely easy to transport and store, and Instagram (young people!) as well as Facebook, and use Nextdoor. More info.

I wrote, and illustrated, 'Engaging with the Public' in 2018 because I saw a gap in helping and encouraging ringers and towers to do their own publicity, including the use of social media.
It's still available here: https://cccbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/CCCBR_Engaging_with_the_Public_1-1.pdf

For the second, here's a fun exercise: Use the tower's empty sweet tubs - Put them upside down on the floor where each rope falls. Each ringer has to ensure that they pull far enough down at each stroke, and with enough of a chop (we find that 'chop' is a far more effective word than 'flick'), to make a drumming sound on the tub. It's fun and everyone can try it. (Depending on the size of the bells, two tubs stacked may be required, or only the tub lids).

The Derby DA pays their CC Reps travel expenses for attending the CC AGM.

The DerbyDA has a wide range of role descriptions here: https://derbyda.org.uk/role-descriptions/

As Jonathan says, it's quite understandable if the ringers don't wish to ring large tenors for whatever reason. If we make up the numbers so that all of the bells can be rung, we sometimes very politely/tactfully ask/offer to raise/ring the back bells if they would like us to. At one tower we visited on holiday, some of the newer local ringers hadn't heard all 8 for a very long time and were absolutely amazed at how lovely they sound compared to the front 6!

Introduce Grandchildren to Ringing
We have been discussing Ringing 2030 at district meetings and committee meetings.
Sadly, there are few younger adults with children to take ringing, so we thought about encouraging more mature ringers to take grandchildren ringing.
It's easier if they live nearby but, if they live further afield, it would also encourage them to visit other towers.
We will try to encourage this in our area.
We also have a young committee member who was taught by their grandparent, proving that this can be successful.

It helps us to explain the weight of the bells, especially the treble, to those who are not familiar with cwt: We have lots of non-ringing visitors :grin:

Being the size of a slight 12-year old (under 5' and less than 1cwt), I use body weight to pull bells off, going up to full body weight (technique described by Jonathan) for heavy/deep-set bells. If that doesn't work then I bounce them off. As a last resort I ask for help! (Muscles don't work for me because I'm lacking in that department!)

Indeed. Sadly seen too frequently nowadays.

It's backwards rounds. I thought that it was well known that ringing reverse rounds (for longer than normal) is a sign of invasion. Similar to flying the Union Flag upside down being a sign of distress.

As well as the other tips - Practise with a bell below the balance so you ring handstroke with just your right hand on the sally (like ringing up/down). Then you can concentrate on your right hand transferring onto the tail end without worrying about your left hand too.

Our rope heater is not 'home made'. It is a small oil-filled radiator on a timer. The ropes rest on a wire cage at a safe distance above, with the option of moving the tail ends to one side so they don't over-dry, while the gentle heat travels up the rest of the rope and reduces the chill in the Norman tower. The cage takes up very little space when not in use. Photo here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Y35pIjERUnNw5OZyw7q2YzHHfL9_WpC6/view?usp=share_link

Relax! is also a useful reminder for ringers who tend to 'over-think' (e.g. Plain Bob) and worry so much that they forget what they should be doing. It can be difficult to help them to relax, listen and allow the rhythm to guide them.

That picture is a Chesterfield District meeting at Old Brampton a few years ago. There were in fact 6 youngsters present. I took the photo because it represented the diversity of ringers in our local area at the time.

Try 'ringing' it on the stairs at home: Number the hallway 1 and the bottom 5 stairs as 2, 3, 4, 5, & 6. Then walk it through on the stairs. Going upstairs equates to ringing slowly, going downstairs relates to ringing quickly. To make it harder, allocate one foot as handstroke and one as backstroke. This will help you to see that the backstrokes go back the other way to make the dodge. NB please be careful, and I'd recommend not trying to turn round on the stairs, but to come back down to lead backwards. If you have no stairs it can be practised on the flat. It helps to keep you fit too :)

As PRO for the Derby DA my role has evolved to also cover Internal Communications, and we have a local (Derbyshire Bellringers) Facebook group. For external social media I set up the Bell Ringing Derbyshire Facebook page, and share posts to other local (non-ringing) FB groups/pages as appropriate. I've also set up an Instagram account for the tower where I am TC, as I've been advised (by a young ringer) that Instagram is the most popular social media channel for young people (and to avoid TikTok).