Category: Training

Saturday 2nd November at Shrivenham saw an enthusiastic gathering of ringers from across the region. The event was the ODG Ten-Bell Course and the focus was Grandsire Caters.

Whilst the rain lashed down outside, the ringers were dry and warm and full of excitement for the achievements to come. I was there as honorary tenor ringer but in the usual VOWH spirit of learning and development I was encouraged to ring the treble – partial success was gained for me and the other ringers who were able to keep steady whilst the treble was elsewhere!!

The students had ample opportunity to ring with expert support and by lunch time had all improved their practice.

An excellent lunch was provided at the Prince of Wales which allowed for ringers refuelling and to have a critique of the morning’s achievements.
The afternoon’s activity was to include 4 quarter peals – two at Longcot and two at Shrivenham. The first Shrivenham group successfully got their ten bell Grandsire Caters (Pictured) with firsts for a few of us – including me being my first Quarter on 10.

Despite Gallant efforts the other three quarters were lost: one in the last minute! Nonetheless the objective of improved ringing skill on ten bell methods and lots of fun was achieved.

The other quarters rang were:
Shrivenham 1= Grandsire Caters – Got
Shrivenahm 2 = Grandsire Caters
Longcot 1 = Plain & Little plus St Clements
Longcot 2 = Cambridge Surprise Minor.

Thank you to Tony and others for organising and supporting such a successful fun day.

It was a lovely sunny blue sky day in the South Oxfordshire village of Checkendon when a group of keen belfry maintenance personnel met up in the grounds of St Peter and St Paul. Carrying timber wheels, bells, clappers and headstocks, along with tool bags and overalls – it can only mean one thing… – the day had arrived for the much awaited Towers and Belfry Maintenance day! For me it was my first time at such an event and as a newly appointed apprentice steeple keeper of Shrivenham and Longcot Towers, I was keen to learn!

After introductory coffee/tea and biscuits and a welcome from Anthony Williamson – T&B Secretary, the day started with a few words of thanks and encouragement from Katie Lane; Guild Master.

Tony Crabtree then provided an introduction of the day, followed by Len Palfrey who gave an interesting presentation and facilitated discussion regarding health and safety essentials within a church tower. This included undertaking and documenting risk assessments and showing what a belfry maintenance persons tool kit should consist of – top of the list being a decent head torch! We then broke off into groups where we had lively and enthusiastic discussion about issues in our own towers and some useful suggestion to remedy certain issues.

Next we took to the ringing chamber to get a feel of the bells we were going to assess. Raising the bells, ringing, then lowering gave us the chance to assess for any odd struckness, flighty rope drops, sound problems etc. After this we split up into two groups – one group looking at the wheels, ropes and bell gear brought into the church and the other group went into the belfry. The group entering the belfry seemed much larger in numbers and I did wonder if we were going for a record of how many people we could safely house within a belfry. We entered the belfry armed with our assessment sheets which guided us through the standard maintenance of a tower bell, focusing on all the vital components such as headstock, bearings, clapper, stay, slider, wheel, pulleys and of course, the bell frame. We had opportunity to witness a bell being rung whilst tied and understand the moving parts. During the belfry inspection we managed to put our assessment documents to good use and identified a few issues such as a few loose clappers, and a wearing rope which were duly reported. Tony Crabtree had also spotted some odd struckness on the 4^th and using the “Twiddle Pins” demonstrated how to improve this.

I really enjoyed the day and have since joined the T&B committee. The useful balance of theory and practical application provided for me an insight to the mechanisms of ringing and an understanding of how a bell works. This, combined with how it feels and rings and then linked with guided assessment provides much more depth and the ability to sort out issues which can improve the experience for the ringer and reduce risks of parts falling off or breaking and the associated damage. We all left with new knowledge and some useful course materials and a maintenance schedule.

What’s a Module 2F?

If your new recruit can safely ring a bell and is just starting to ring rounds then this course is for you.

In some ways this stage is the hardest part of learning to ring; the excitement and rapid progress associated with (semi)-mastering bell control has passed and time on the rope can be limited if the only practice is once a week with a mixed ability band.

This is where this course helps. It introduces lots of fun exercises to help your ringer develop the foundation skills for method ringing; fine bell control, listening and ropesight. There is plenty for your new ringer to practise and measure their progress against whilst stimulating (and sometimes testing) the rest of the band. For bands who don’t aspire to method ringing it gives lots of ideas for Service or wedding ringing which sound good whilst keeping the band interested.

The Birmingham School of Bell Ringing has shown that those who spend longer consolidating foundation skills before learning methods progress more quickly later on.

Saturday 31 August 2019

SMV, Longcot, SN7 7TL

Book your place on the course directly: www.smartringer.org/public/daycourses

Or contact Lesley Belcher for more details: lesleyjbelcher@gmail.com

ART Training Course (M2F) – ODG Poster