Ringing Forums

Thanks for your reply Simon. Sounds like both you, and they are working hard for them to do well. I hope they achieve the level of ringing they want to and that they do not feel limited by their age or any other factors.

At 303 I read the comments as dismissing older learners as not suited to learning method ringing. A bit oversensitive I now see, but I’d picked up the same message from the 2030 planning, discussed on this forum some weeks ago. My message is that some of us are ambitious and will make good use of the time spent training us.

I too was a bit put out by Simon comments. As an lockdown learning sexagenarian method ringer it has been very frustrating that there are few expectations of you. Despite his viewpoint I have been lucky to be ringing with some people who have had a more enlightened view and have been very encouraging. I do hope they look again at their 2030 planning.

I expect that’s how they rang the bells here before the 17th century

I was aware of this many years before I became a ringer in the context of WW2 in the case of an invasion. Makes sense that the locals would be alert to a sound they are not used to yet the invaders might not realise a warning had been given. Afraid I can’t help with a reference. I was told it many years ago from a generation who were around at the time.

In the context of the peasants revolt, makes sense as the defenders would assemble at the church where weapons would be kept. Thinking about it, maybe the backward rounds was a summons to the locals to assemble at times of trouble, in the same way that the lifeboat siren calls its crew from the community. No old bill then of course.

Were forward rounds even a thing then? Different bells meant different things?