2024
Radley poster 2024
Radley course 2024
This year’s course comprised of 5 groups – 2 bob doubles, 1 grandsire doubles, 1 bob minor and 1 bob major. We had 5 tutors, 26 students, 39 helpers, 15 towers, and of course Daphne and her wonderful team who looked after us at Radley at the start and finish of the day. If you have been wondering if you should apply to future courses, below is a student and a tutor’s perspective of the day.
The student’s view:
“Having been fortunate to secure a place on the Plain Bob Minor course back in January, it was with mild trepidation and a little nervously that I set off for Radley Church rooms last Saturday morning. Would I be good enough? Would I make a fool of myself? Would I mess it up every time?
Well I needn’t have worried at all!! On arrival, there was coffee and biscuits and an excited buzz of anticipation in the church rooms. We gathered in our groups and met our tutor, in my case Joe, and organised getting to our first tower. On arrival we had an hour’s tutorial where Joe patiently and brilliantly explained the mechanics of Plaint Hunt and then Plain Bob, there was a kind of Eureka moment when he explained bobs and singles!!
During this our helpers arrived and we then got to take it in turns to ring some Plain courses of Plain Bob, with Joe standing by. T his repeated for each of the 5 students and carried through the 2nd and 3rd towers gradually introduced bobs and singles, until we were all ringing touches at the end of the day. The helpers were wonderful, both ringing and standing with us learners. It was then back to Radley Church rooms for supper and presentations to round off a really excellent and very well organised day. Thanks to Lindsay and all the tutors and helpers involved and I’m already looking forward to next year.” Andy Dudley
The tutor’s view:
“As a new tutor, I was not quite sure what to expect, but it was a great day and superbly well organised. I was given details of my students several weeks before the course and so was able to speak to each of them individually before the day of the course to understand what stage they were at, and what they were looking to achieve on the day. I was encouraged that they all seemed so keen and were looking forward to the day itself!
After coffee and a general introduction to the Course from Lindsay we split into our various groups. In our group we had a theory session where we discussed a number of “pointers” to use whilst ringing to help guide you to the next “piece of work” and we discussed the areas people found most difficult – and what tips people had to help with those. Our first practical session was on the excellent bells at Radley where everybody had several opportunities to ring the method.
Lunch was at a local pub which gave us chance to get to know each other better as well as having some nice food!
Our first tower after lunch, Sunningwell, had slightly more challenging bells but all the group did well on them and we tried some different exercises to do some intensive dodging practice! Our last tower of the day were a delight – ringing in the extensive organ loft at Chilton. These were lovely bells and even had a tutor room next to the ringing chamber and a kitchen immediately below for afternoon refreshments. All the students were able to ring Bob doubles well at this tower with minimal assistance so it was great to see the progress which had been made during the day.
We then gathered back at “HQ” for a meal together, and de-brief on what everybody had been up to during the day.
It had been a really great course. I was so pleased to see the progress the students made during the day – so they could go back to their towers much more confident in ringing Bob Doubles. Many thanks to Lindsay who had done so much of the mammoth organising task to ensure the day went smoothy and to the volunteers who provided a great meal for us in the evening as a lovely way to end the day”. Chris Mundy
It was a very successful day in all the groups – the feedback across the board was excellent. If you are thinking of applying in future – please do, we would love to see you.
Lindsay Powell