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Southern District Winter Outing

Southern District Winter Outing 2019, organised by Matt Cousins

The winter outing was centred on the Basingstoke area. We started at the furthest Tower, All Hallows’ at Whitchurch, which was not too far for most of us although some were travelling from the other side of Surrey, from around the Caterham area. The day was cloudy but dry and not too cold, we started ringing promptly at 9.30, with encouragement for good striking on these 10 bells. A break in the proceedings took place for the numbers club prize draw with one of the group winning £25. However the second draw caused some consternation as the bag containing the numbered balls was ‘squeezed’ too tightly and quite a few shot out and landed on the flagstones of the ringing chamber so we had great fun trying to catch them as they scattered and bounced around.

We set off for the next tower at Church Oakley and arrived in plenty of time and waited for the chap with the key to open up. We admired the Church Yard, some of us made coffee and we waited…! It seems the chap opening up had advised us he would do this on his way to his Christmas Lunch, but it appears he went directly to lunch without passing the Church! Unperturbed we contacted the next tower’s key holder and she not having the contact details of our missing chap, agreed to open up early for us and so we all set off into Basingstoke.

The next tower was St Michael. Three of our ringers had made other arrangements for the rest of the day but we were joined by others to boost our numbers to 11. This was a lovely ring of 8 bells.

Lunch followed at Wetherspoon’s in Basingstoke and having nicely refuelled we set of for a nearby tower, All Saints, a lovely ring of 10. As our numbers were a bit on the low side it meant that all hands were needed on deck so there was not much in the way of sitting about. This was a good tower for the group photo.

The last Tower was at Odiham a ring of 6 and a lovely end to a great day out. A big thank you was given to Matt for organising the day and we were assured that there will be a summer trip and another winter tour at the end of the year. Many thanks to those who were kind enough to do the conducting throughout the day.

Tricia Hughes

Surrey Strikers on Tour

Saturday 30th November saw the last adventure for the Surrey Strikers in 2019. We were very lucky to be welcomed to St. Paul’s Cathedral by their Guild of Bell Ringers.

Thank you to Dave Bassford and Phillip Ridley for putting on a very interesting introduction to some of the inner working of the Cathedral and the Guild itself. After mingling with the tourists we were escorted off the tourist route on to the Triforium. From here we had a spectacular view along the length of the Cathedral. As the light was already starting to fade, the lights in the cathedral were magical, and with the organ started to play, we were all certainly in ore! From here we went into the belfry and then up to the bells. With such a clear cold day, the views across London were spectacular. Much fun was had trying to spot London landmarks as well as admiring the impressive sight of the bells so close. Within the belfry, some aspects of ringing caught the imagination. Taking 4 ringers to ring up the 62 cwt tenor and not being able to talk for 4 hours during a peal were two of note!

Despite frequent requests, the Surrey Strikers were not allowed to ring the bells at St. Paul’s, so we had a brisk walk down to St. Katherine Cree passing other towers with famous rings on the way. At Cree we were met by Louise Booth with hot drinks and a variety of biscuits including Kit Kats….very welcome.

Note for your diary: January 11th will be a Docklands Outing which has been organised by Frazier and Thomas as part of their ringing development, see website for details. We will pick up our ringing practices again in January 2020, so keep an eye on the website and messages for news.

Caroline Prescott

Trainers Conference

Barnes 9 November 2019

The Association was very pleased to welcome Clare McArdle from the Birmingham School of Bell Ringing to be our guest speaker for a conference for Surrey trainers and tower captains at Barnes on Saturday 9 November.

Some 24 Surrey delegates were welcomed by Noel Gibbin, Master, and Ian Griffiths from the Surrey Training Group. Each delegate was asked to say who they were and what they would like to get out of the day. Nearly everybody was interested in how to move learners on from rounds to method ringing and to share ideas with other leaders from the day’s events.

Clare gave an update on the very successful Birmingham School of Bell Ringing which she had helped cofound in 2013. She had been motivated by struggling to cope with large numbers of learners turning up at her home tower of Harborne and other towers who were also struggling to train new learners. Clare enlisted the help of stellar ringers from Birmingham to form an organised training school based on four towers – each moving the learner on to the next stage of development with ART Learning the Ropes program as the basis.

The learners benefited by the joint experience of the helpers and with practical and theoretical resources of the training school. The tutors benefited by sharing the workload, sharing and improving their training experience and being able to pass on the knowledge to new trainers. It has created excellent social and training networks in the area. As the learners are charged £5 per session, all the towers have benefited with donations and new books. Over 100 new ringers have been trained for local towers during this time.

Clare and her assistant Tracy then moved onto a series of entertaining and practical exercises for delegates, both ringing the bells and also using cards and dominos etc as training aids. These were great fun and certainly good ideas for people to take back to their own towers. A lot of the tower exercises were based on the ART M2 course and this should encourage those who haven’t done ART to have the confidence to take part in the courses. A lot of training resources are available for free on the ART and Whiting Society websites.

Martin Crick, Training Officer, engaged the delegates in a discussion about what future training events the Association should hold specifically to help newer ringers. He thought the biannual training days had outlived their usefulness and thought that intensive sessions, say 5-6 consecutive Saturday mornings focusing for example on Plain Hunt would be more constructive. Paul Beeken in the Southern District had indeed started such practices but there was nothing similar in the Northern District as yet. Some delegates felt they had benefited from the more intensive courses and had subsequently rung quarter peals of Bob Doubles.

It was agreed that some training events are appropriate at Association level – e.g. ART, Conferences such as this one, steeple-keeping courses etc. Other training events should be more localised – helping individual towers or local clusters. Simon Beirne commented that the friendly striking competitions were bringing towers and therefore cooperation closer together.

Everybody agreed the Conference had been worthwhile and many thanks were given to Ian for organising it, Clare and Tracy for their training, and of course to Trisha and her helpers at Barnes for hosting the course and laying on wonderful catering.

Paul Flavell

Kingston upon Thames

For advice and information about training please go to training.surreybellringers.org.uk or email training@surreybellringers.

Wrambling towards Walthamstow

The Surrey Northern District event on Saturday 19 October took the form of a Ride, Ring and Ramble to the east of London.

The day started under a sunny sky with around 30 ringers avoiding TfL cancellations to arrive in time for ringing at St Botolph without, Aldate. A brisk walk then followed along with the delights of Brick Lane (not often seen in daylight) to St Matthew’s, Bethnal Green - a tower famous for peal ringing feats around 100 years ago. The narrow entrance to the stairs and into the belfry saw Surrey members stooping low to gain access. A yomp to the lunch time location in South Hackney saw us passing into a quieter environment after crossing the Regent’s Canal and skirting Victoria Park. A variety of hostelries, cafes and restaurants were suggested with the party splitting into groups according to requirements. The youth element quickly consumed their food with a bus ride being undertaken to fill the remainder of the 90 minutes allowed for lunch, while older participants managed to pass the time over a pint and food at one of the outlets.

The nearby bells of St John of Jerusalem, South Hackney were next on the ringing programme where we encountered an interesting stairway in three distinct stages to gain access to the belfry. The clock mechanism intersecting the belfry was also interesting given the need to climb over it to ring on different bells – especially as this was the first tower after lunch!

A happy band arrive at St Saviour’s Walthamstow

To give the party a rest from walking, a bus ride to Walthamstow was then taken passing the ten bell tower of St John at Hackney en route. Unfortunately, these bells are currently out of action while extensive restoration of the church takes place. The ring of St Saviour at Walthamstow was a new tower for the majority of the party. Here a new way of learning the blue line for methods was observed as evident from the diagrams shown below.

Plain Bob Doubles

Stedman Triples

The final tower of the day was the newly restored bells of St Mary, Walthamstow. The bright day provides fantastic panoramic views of the City of London which were enjoyed, especially by the photographers in attendance, from the top of the tower. There were also some interesting peal boards in the belfry. One from 1898 recorded a performance of Grandsire Caters where the band, the composer and two churchwardens were all called William. It was also interesting as one of the ringers, William Elson had sung in the choir at Putney with a young Michael Uphill. Another gave the name of the vicar at the time, who Carole Cooles later found out was the grandfather of one of her friends. One of the joys of visiting new towers on an outing!

After walking over 15,000 steps and ringing on many bells a hardened few of the remaining party then adjourned to the Nag’s Head opposite the church where the next few hours were spent socialising underneath Madame Zandos’.

Thanks to all those who helped in organising the day, Russell, Peter, Guy and Chris and all those we have forgotten!!

The Nag’s Head, Walthamstow village

Essex Trophy 2019

It had long been one of Frank Lufkin's ambitions to see the Essex Association competing with bands from other ringing societies and it was eventually decided that such an event should form part of the Essex Association's Centenary celebrations in 1979. A working party, under the direction of Stephen Halliwell, chose the venue (St. Mary's, Prittlewell) and the date (September 29) in the hope that the event would not clash with other ringing events. Despite this, in order to get acceptance from six bands, they had to ask more than twice this number.

The draw took place at 12.45 pm and, when the judges were safely installed, the bands were given a scheduled starting time, allowing half an hour each team, the test piece being a course of Yorkshire Royal of which only the last seven leads were marked.

The trophy is of a model bell and fittings in a frame made by Bob Leavett (of Tollesbury in Essex) for Frank Lufkin.

Four associations (Essex, Kent, Surrey and Sussex) agreed to host the competition in rotation and this tradition has been followed over the past 41 years, supported by regular invitations from the Guildford Diocesan Guild and the Hertford County Association and occasionally from other associations.

Methods rung have ranged from Grandsire Caters to London No.3 Surprise Royal, with the most popular method being Yorkshire Surprise Royal.

The competition has been held in 33 different towers during its 41 year history (Bletchingley, Guildford (St Nicolas), Horsham, Leeds and Southover have been used more than once). Over 65 different judges have deliberated over the ringing and it is believed that only 8 have taken part more than once. The competition has been held every year since its inception, with the exception of 2001 when it was cancelled as it was due to be held the weekend following the September 11th attacks in the USA. The 25th competition was held at Hornchurch on 11 September 2004, in the Essex Association's 125th Anniversary Year.

The Essex Association refurbished the trophy in 1997, the year that Frank Lufkin died, and provided brass plates listing all the winners, leaving space for winners up to 2029!

Frank Lufkin was a ringer for over 70 years, a Life Vice President and Past Master of the Essex Association and a representative on the Central Council for 50 years, being made a Life Member of the Council in 1995. He was a prolific peal ringer, ringing over 1000 peals, the first predominately Essex ringer to do so. He conducted over 700 peals, including a number of long lengths in the 1950s and early 60s, as well as attempts for the extent of Plain Bob Major.

The competition this year was held at Southgate this year, and the results are below. The judges this year were Surrey’s own Paul and Kate Flavell.

Caroline Prescott

The results were:

1 Kent County Association 51 faults

2 Guildford Guild 68 faults

3 Sussex County Association 70

4 Essex Association 73

5 Surrey Association 75

6 Herts County Association 86

Photo: Surrey Association band for 2019 Essex Trophy

Ringing Up & Down in Peal

Training DaySaturday 7th September 10.15 am – 1.00 pm Christchurch, Colliers Wood Under the direction of Martin Crick and four helpers, six (all female!) learners began to get to grips with art of ringing up and down in peal. This session was particularly helpful for me; I have, ever since I started learning to ring just over a year ago, found ringing up and ringing down my least favourite aspect of bellringing. Martin took us through the skills required to ring up and down at exactly the same time as him on the treble. In groups of three we took turns to try to keep with him, beginning to understand what to do if we found we were getting ahead, or getting behind. Most of the session was on clamped bells, but near the end the clamps were removed and we had the chance to ring up and down on open bells. I am sure that although we did not come away from the session having totally nailed the art of ringing up and down in peal, it was clear to see we all made progress and went away with a few key points to enable us to make further progress in our home towers. Thanks go to Martin and his helpers Ian Griffiths, Paul Beeken, Oli Thompson and Bernard Fanthom for giving up their time so willingly. Martin Crick

Listen and Strike

Association of Ringing Teachers ‘Listen and Strike’ Workshop 3rd August 2019@ St. Katharine’s Church, Merstham

The participants of this fully subscribed workshop had all arrived promptly at the delightful church of St. Katharine’s Merstham. In fact, we arrived amidst a veritable hive of activity as our bell-ringing coincided with the working party which meets every first Saturday of the month to work on the upkeep of the churchyard!

After a welcome cup of coffee, Louise Booth introduced herself and the course and took us through the steps to striking well with the use of a PowerPoint presentation and the enthusiasm of her delivery. Louise was sympathetic and clear about how to improve our listening and, therefore, striking. There was useful input from Martin Crick, The Surrey Association of Church Bell Ringers Training Officer (Richmond), Noel Gibbon (Caterham St John) and Ian Griffiths (Oxted) to help us to understand and reinforce the various points raised. Ian Griffiths had set up the PowerPoint facility.

It was made clear, and demonstrated, both through slides and practice, that we should use sight and sound aiming for rhythm when ringing the bells. Louise explained about ringing more quickly and more slowly to keep a rhythm. To ring more quickly, we should be pulling slightly less hard and taking in rope, with the bell travelling less high. To ring more slowly, we should be pulling slightly harder and letting the bell swing higher up to balance, letting out the rope. Above all, it is clear, we should always try to hear our own bell and adjust to strike at the correct tempo as a team with the rest of the band.

We had the chance to put these theories into practice through several exercises on the bells, with the experienced bell-ringers involved to help keep us in the right rhythm: thankfully the bells at St Katharine’s proved to be forgiving to ring. The three main points to remember from our training day are that: Ropesight is for seeing, Rhythm is for feeling, Listening is for hearing.

It was a well-organised, friendly and useful workshop.

Thank you Louise!

Eighteen Changes at Ashtead

The annual Surrey Call Change competition took place at Ashtead on Saturday 27 July. While only four teams entered the afternoon was an enjoyable experience with good company. The entrants comprised the Mercats (a joint Caterham/Mersham band) together with teams from Battersea and Redhill. The final entrant was a scratch band of hangers-on joining in the fun.

Teams prepared in different ways for the event. Anne Rueff who led the Redhill band had rung a peal in the morning at Bromley before hot-footing it back to Surrey. This was her 365 day of the year for a peal leaving her a single date to go to complete the calendar. Battersea undertook a mini-tour ringing at Cheam and then Kingswood with a compulsory lunch break in between at the Kingswood Arms which had served up excellent food and beer. The Mercats had been on the prowl, while the scratch band had turned up simply expecting to listen to some good ringing. In the event, the latter band was too enthusiastic ringing well in excess of the allocated time and number of changes just to make a point.

The judge for the day was Mike Bale who then gave a precise of the ringing before awarding faults and the following result:

1st Redhill - 10 faults 2nd Battersea - 11 faults 3rd Scratch Band - 15 faults 4th Mercats - 20 faults

He made the observation that the bells could either have been rung slowly for 8 minutes thereby ringing fewer rows reducing the risk of incurring faults, as opposed to faster ringing which had more potential for faults offset by a more steady rhythm. Redhill was duly awarded the Sid Saben Trophy with Battersea putting up some strong opposition with only one fault separating the teams.

The day concluded with Noel Gibbins thanking Mike Bale for judging, the Ashtead ringers for staging the event with Sue Dixon et al serving up excellent refreshments and home-made cakes. Noel observed that striking competitions offered a good focus for a band to practice the quality of their ringing and said it would be good to see more bands from the Association entering in future years.

Friendly Striking Challenge

The FSC got under way on Wednesday when a mixed band from Betchworth and Buckland came to Ockley for the first match of the season. Thanks to Anthony Vere Hodge for judging a win for Betchworth and Buckland, though Ockley gave a creditable performance. It was the first competition performance for three of the band, two of whom have only been ringing for a year.

Everyone enjoyed the refreshments and the friendly atmosphere, which is the aim of the challenge. Details of the competition are on the website or contact Sue Dixon [email protected] for more information or to enter a band.

https://www.surreybellringers.org.uk/about-us/striking-competitions/

Striking Competitions

The Association 6 and 8 bell method striking competitions were held at St John the Devine, Merton on Saturday evening (27th April).

In tight contests (beating Putney by 1 fault into 2nd place in both) Kingston regained both the 6 and 8 bell trophies.

The results were:

6 Bell

1st Kingston 25 faults 2nd Putney 26 3rd Benhilton 37 4th Croydon Minster 43 5th Battersea 44 6th Caterham St Johns and Merstham 58 7th Merton 80

8 bell

1st Kingston 35 2nd Putney 36 3rd Croydon Minster 38

Caterham and Merton tied in the entertaining Quiz set to pass the time.

Thanks to all the teams who entered, Merton for hosting, Caroline for organising, and David Perkins and Ryan Noble for judging and providing very positive comments for all bands.

6 Bell bands (above) and 8 bell bands (below - Kingston, Putney and Croydon Minster)

Mighty Merstham hosts Stedman Triples course: 6 April 2019

The Surrey Association training programme has rolled on again, this weekend arriving at Mighty Merstham for practice at Stedman Triples. Four brave students arrived alongside eleven even more intrepid helpers and proceeded to “entertain” the gardeners while they cut the grass in the churchyard.

We were introduced to our Leader, Paul and all the other students and helpers and asked what we would like to achieve. The students brought a variety of experience in the method, so expectations for the morning ranged from consolidating plain courses to getting to grips with touches.

The session started with the theory of the construction of Stedman Triples and its terminology, especially quick and slow sixes and the names of the parts of the slow work, and this was followed by ringing some plain courses. So far, so good.

After a welcome cup of tea and fortified by chocolate biscuits, we returned to theory, this time the theory of the touches. Furnished with this information, plus pearls of wisdom from the helpers regarding how to count dodges and how to work out quick work from slow work, the students proceeded to tackle touches of the method.

The extent of progress for the students varied widely today. However, all could return to their home towers with plenty to think about, grateful for the experience. Further practice is required of course to consolidate the learning.

The students would like to thank all the helpers who rose to the challenge of ringing with us today, and as this was Stedman, this was not a job for the faint-hearted.

Loretto Puckey Benhilton

Group photo left to right: Shona Joyce, Sheena Boyce, Asher Kaboth, Oli Thompson, Alan Brown, Pam Donovan, Libby Powell, Martin Crick, Loretto Puckey, Paul Beeken, Katharine O’Carroll, Kate Flavell, Paul Flavell, Sue Bailey (photo Kate Willis)

Loretto also provided this picture!

SEECON 2019

A few years ago, the Guildford Guild initiated a South East England ringing competition for young ringers in the local counties. For the first time this year, The Surrey Strikers were able to enter a team. Teams taking part were:Sussex, Guildford, Kent, Essex, Berks & Bucks, and Surrey.

Hosted by the Kent County, competition pieces were rung at Horton Kirby. Of the six teams entered, all but one rang Call Changes. The Surrey Strikers were the youngest team to enter, with other teams seen driving themselves between the towers on the tour in the afternoon!

With great support from friends and family, we rang our best and came 6th on the day.

Before ringing, we challenged ourselves to ringing a mini ring set up outside the village hall...rather entertaining! Following ringing and an awful lot of cake, we sat down to a fish and chip lunch and results. All teams were given certificates and a large bag of Mini Eggs!

Some had to leave after lunch, but remainers joined other teams to ring at 3 local towers for open ringing.

The VERY keen then rang a 1/4 of Bob Doubles at Addington to round off a very productive day.

It was encouraging to see so many young people enjoying the art of bellringing and the social community that comes with it.

Well done to the hosts of Kent County!

Mitcham - What a welcome!

The Northern District went to visit St. Peter and St. Paul's Mitcham today, and what a welcome!

Posters on the door directed us which way to enter the tower, and the kettle was already on, what a start!

July 2018 saw the District help with an open day to encourage ringers to join the now silent tower. With the sterling work of Pam Donavan, Kate and Paul Flavell along with many others, they now have a very enthusiastic student band ringing on a Sunday.

Although we met only 11 (not all in the photo!!), we had enough to ensure that all the Mitcham learners were put through their paces, for some ringing more than they ever had! Half of those attending were ringing independently, and one, Heavenly Angel ringing Call Changes competently. It was a joy to see how hard work and support form more experienced ringers can allow a recently silenced church to be ringing loud and proud! Well done all those involved.

We drew the numbers club draw...well done to the Northern District!

Please continue to support events when you can so they can continue.

Caroline

Surrey Strikers hit Battersea

A well attended Surrey Young ringers practice was held on Sunday afternoon at Battersea.

There was great enthusiasm for the new name for our striking competition band ahead of our two upcoming events. The Surrey Strikers! We will be attending the SE Youth Striking competition at Horton Kirby in April and the National Striking competition in Liverpool in July.

Much of the practice involved ringing Rounds, Call Changes and Kaleidoscope. The group supported each other well, with teams calling some of the changes. We hope to organise some Young Ringer’s quarters in the future to consolidate the learning they receive in their home towers.

The next practice is at Merstham on Friday 22nd March 7pm to 8.30pm see you there!

Jason, Milica, Caroline and David

Spring Training Day, 9 March 2019

Some comments from students and helpers:

I attended my first training session run by the Surrey Association at Merton St John on Saturday along with two other learners (another was unable to attend). As always, all the helpers were most welcoming, encouraging and helpful in giving constructive feedback. The session was adeptly run by David Whitehead who took us through ringing up and down, call changes (up, down and places), kaleidoscope ringing (including ‘Mexican Wave’, which was lot of fun!), and an introduction into Plain Hunt on 4. It was a very full morning which I found extremely beneficial, as I am sure the other learners did too. Tim’s homemade chocolate brownies kept us going too! Many thanks to all involved for giving up their time to enable us learners to progress.

Wendy Archibald (Barnes)

Merton St John

This was my first time as a helper at an association training day, it was also my first visit to St Marys Barnes. This was an excellent venue for our session with its ground floor ringing chamber and constant supply of tea/coffee. We also had the use of the bells on simulator to enable us to keep any erratic ringing to ourselves.

Paul Flavell, our group leader, divided the students into groups. There were sessions on hand bells and ringing software which enables timing and methods (plain hunt etc) to be practised at home. I was kept busy working with the students to help smooth out their ringing and improve their handling where necessary.

Together with the students I found the whole experience very friendly and worthwhile. Thankyou Paul (and Kate) for running this event so smoothly.

Richard Fitch (Beddington)

Barnes Group learning Abel / Mobel

Beautiful venue (Fulham), excellent leader and 6 wonderful helpers from local bands.

A thoroughly enjoyable morning of learning and ringing with a strong band around all 4 learners, all at different levels of ability. Martin was calm, organised and encouraging and even though we got off to a rocky start at the ringing up, we soon familiarised ourselves with the heavier bells and each of us made good progress.

The one-to-one coaching allowed Martin and Asher to get their message across well by breaking down everything into simplified sections of theory and then supervising us putting it into practice. It also enabled the instructors to gauge our different needs and level of skill thereby tailoring the morning to get the best results.

Although Martin had said at the outset that it was a very common feeling amongst learners to feel a bit despondent at slow progress we all felt positive with the results of today’s training and looked forward to returning to our own towers and continuing to ring.

The 3 hours flew by (for us anyway) and we had some fun with call changes and standing the bell. There was lots of opportunity to ring and handle the ropes today and we really felt that the focus was on us. After the session, we gathered at a local eatery and had the chance to socialise and discover more about the learning opportunities available to us in the ringing community.

At the end of the day the consensus was that the day had gone well with every learner making progress and we all took away something new to help us with our ringing. Thank you so much to Martin, Asher & Kate, Trisha, Paula, Malcolm and Eddie who all gave up their Saturday to support us.

Maggie, Fiona, Claire & Sarah (Epsom Common)

Students and teachers at Fulham

We had three students and six helpers at Beddington, and the students took turns to sit out and learn the theory, then put it into practice with someone standing with them. At the end of the session all three learners managed to complete a plain course together - which was not possible at the start of the morning! Many thanks to all our helpers, and especially Noel, for explaining the method so clearly and using multiple different explanations to help our different brains!

I was delighted to be able to do a touch of Doubles and finish up with a touch of Plain Bob Minor without too many hiccups. It was a really useful session.

Sue Sullivan (Epsom Common)

Beddington

I've always wanted to ring at St Mary's Church Wimbledon having passed it many times over the years, so I was very pleased that this was the location picked for our Foundation Training skills event. Following introductions and a brief summary our ringing experience we covered the basic skills required for good bell control along with advice and encouragement from all the team.

We practised ringing rounds, trying to ring steadily and then moved on to long places. We also had an opportunity to go outside and hear the bells rung by the band so that we could listen to the sound of steady ringing compared to some bells ringing too fast or slow. It was a great listening exercise for the students although perhaps not for the residents of Wimbledon!

We were a mixed group of students with various levels of experience, but all of us were given time and attention to improve an aspect of our ringing. Including trebling to Bastow, ringing the tenor, and an attempt at plain hunt. By the end of the session it was clear that improvements had been made.

Following an early finish, we had time to go over some of the theory of plain hunt and Ian has some great props and techniques to help make the explanation memorable, which included pictures of fish (plaice versus place).🐟! Many thanks to Ian and the rest of the band for their patience, encouragement and advice.

Chris Mahalski (Streatham)

Wimbledon Group

Thank you for arranging the training session at St. Mary Barnes on Saturday. It must be a logistical nightmare! I much enjoyed the morning, both ringing and meeting other ringers.

I found the first session with all beginners on the ropes a bit frustrating as I could not get into any rhythm ringing rounds. However the time on the simulator was very useful and good practice for me.

The final session of ringing rounds and call changes once the bells were unclamped was really great. I feel that that is now the practice that I need.

Jo Teverson (Barnes)

St Mary’s Barnes

We had over 40 applications for student places at Spring Training Day – not quite a record but enough to run eight groups including a special session at Barnes for new learners from 2018, and several groups for elementary change ringing. We could have done with some more helpers as ever, so many thanks to helpers and students who applied to come on the day.

Overall the feedback (above and feedback forms) has been very positive and we have learned a few lessons about organisation of future training days. The long morning only session is a bit more intensive but has generally been well received as people can relax over lunch and get home early. Also people do seem to prefer to travel straight to the towers and go straight home afterwards, although it is a shame that means there is no social gathering at the end of the day.

To make the day really productive, students should try and follow up their courses with more practise at practice nights and local meetings as soon as possible.

Paul Flavell Surrey Training Officer

[email protected]

Carshalton

Colliers Wood

Wandsworth, West Hill

A well placed peal

February is the month where we mark the anniversary of the first peal rung for the Association in 1881. This year the event was remembered with a peal of Yorkshire Surprise Royal rung at St. John the Divine Merton by a band of Surrey ringers scoring firsts for two ringers and a notable 350th peal for the Association for Michael Uphill. Follow the link for the full details: https://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/view.php?id=1272006

ART Simulator Workshop: Oxted, 2 February 2019

Saturday 2ndFebruary dawned bright and sunny (thank goodness!), after the snow and ice of the previous few days, so the ART simulator course went ahead with a full complement of 13 students and 2 observers.

We must thank Ian Griffiths for his kind use of Oxted tower and for the much appreciated coffee, tea and biscuits. Ian has recently set up a number of workstations in the tower and Oxted is thus an excellent venue for the ART simulator course. He has made his own magnetic sensors which are more reliable than optical sensors as they do not suffer damp, condensation or sunlight interference. The installation includes a splitter box which enables the simulator to be used either individually or as a team.

We were delighted to welcome Roger Booth back to Surrey to present this new Workshop, one of a number of Workshops now being offered by ART. See http://ringingteachers.org/get-involved/workshopsfor more details. Roger is an expert on simulators and Abel and gave comprehensive information on how to set up Abel and how to run the various exercises with it during the course of the morning. Ringers of all ability can use it to practice just rounds or up to complex methods, although this is more difficult than it looks!

The principle objective of this Workshop is to demonstrate how Abel, a bell ringing software program, can be used as an effective training tool that can significantly speed up the learning process and enable ringers to be able to listen and strike their bell and gain ropesight both in the tower and at home.

Roger said that there were some 460 towers with simulator set ups in the country, but only about half of these are in regular use. There is a Simulator Users and Suppliers Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/1441867412528870/, various websites and books and information on the ART website to share information and help people troubleshoot problems etc. http://ringingteachers.org/resource-centre/simulator-resources

As well as Ian’s equipment, Roger brought two laptops and workstations with him already set up to run Abel and compatible with the Oxted sensors. With six workstations set up, with headphones (and trailing wires), Roger, 13 students and 2 observers it all made for a rather crowded ringing chamber, something to bear in mind for future courses. Fortunately, all the equipment worked on the day and everybody was able to practise on the simulators, ringing anything from rounds to learning exercises and methods. Of course, when simulators are set up permanently the wiring can be installed much more discreetly in the tower.

Roger also gave a brief demonstration of other bell ringing software which can be linked to bells including Beltower and Virtual Belfry. Abel seems to be the software of choice though. All the students agreed it was a very worthwhile morning and everybody, including experienced ringers, had learned something about using Abel and all agreed it is a superb training tool for new students.

Paul Flavell Surrey Training Officer

Back row (l to r): Nick Wilkins, Elaine Merrylees, Jaime Hamper, Patrick Wills, Martin Crick, Nick Rata. Middle row (l to r): Noel Gibbin, Milica Reardon, Amber Cusick, Elaine Farrow, Adrian Fouler, Russell King, Kate Wills, Roger Booth, Ian Griffiths (photo Paul Flavell)

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