Most of you will be looking forward to Easter as the first major holiday of the year and I hope that if you making visits where there are bells join in with local ringing. So often our “home” ringers are away and visitors can often make the difference in fulfilling our role proclaiming Easter Sunday.

Several important events have taken place recently, the first of which was the Public Relations Conference held at Wellesbourne on 25th February. The event was well attended, Christopher O’Mahoney, Council Vice President supporting Caroline Stockmann and Kate Flavell.

On the day, I had to make a choice and attended a Ringing World Board meeting in Andover, as is my custom. The Board will be reporting at their AGM in May but suffice it to say that every effort is being made to maintain the financial viability of the publication including review of content and attractiveness. All the Ringing World team should be congratulated for what has been achieved to date.

The now annual ART conference was held at Old Basing with an impressive array of speakers and many new teaching materials on sale. The conference was reported fully in the Ringing World issue of 24th March, it was a really inspiring day.

The Central Council Review is nearing completion and Council Officers had the opportunity to hear initial findings at its Administrative Committee held in London on 18th March. The Review plus other pre-conference matters meant a long meeting but the with the interest of all ringers at heart.

The following day I had the great pleasure of attending the dedication of the new ring of 12 bells at St Mary’s Taunton. It was a sumptuous occasion with the Bishop of Bath & Wells, Lady Mayor of Taunton and Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Somerset all in attendance. There was ample time after the service to sample a specially made “bell cake” and to ring on the new bells – a wonderful day.

Safeguarding issues are still to the fore and questions regarding “vetting” of visiting ringers are being followed up. We still await an outcome from the process of appointing a new band at York Minster.

With the Council meeting in Edinburgh now advancing, I would remind all Council representatives to make sure they have booked for any meals and events.

Finally, have you yet “subscribed” on the Central Council’s new website? By doing so you will be in direct contact and be set to receive information and news, thus becoming part of what is intended to be a nationwide network.

Chris Mew, March 2017