For a lot of us, this hiatus in ringing has been frustrating, but it has been really great to see the efforts that some are going to to stay in touch with their ringers, to keep practicing their skills using software apps and playing virtual ringing games, and even keeping the after practice virtual pub experiences going.
Ringing Returns will be a campaign over the coming weeks and months looking at two areas:
- how we can make good use of the down time to learn something new so that once the restrictions are lifted we can put it in to practice by recording a performance, from call changes to peals and everything in between.
- how we can celebrate a return to ringing once restrictions are lifted.
Of course we don’t want this restriction to undo all the great work that has been carried out over the last few years with recruitment and training, and we want to celebrate our return to ringing in a time honoured way, by flooding the air with the sound of bells. We have been and will continue to liaise with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to get what information we can, and make use of their support in the promotion of bellringing when the restriction is lifted.
We don’t know when the restrictions will be lifted so trying to coordinate a specific date for mass ringing is difficult, and it may be at different times depending on which continent you are, or a gradual lifting rather than full scale. The Central Council Comms & Marketing Workgroup have been considering how we could achieve that given that we don’t know when and how restrictions might be lifted.
You could also be using this time to plan a recruitment campaign so that when the restrictions are lifted, you can invite your communities to share in the celebrations. There are some great resources to help with this on the Central Council website https://cccbr.org.uk/resources/publicity-material/ and the Association of Ringing Teachers (ART) has developed a large package of recruitment and retention resources which are available to everyone at http://ringingteachers.org/resource-centre/recruitment-and-retention/recruitment-success
Look out for more ideas and information via the CCCBR website and social media, and the Ringing World.
Vicki Chapman
CCCBR Public Relations Officer