The Scouts Minehead Jamboree project is definitely on. Ringing is going to be one of three activities the 1000 or so attendees can try out over the course of the weekend (6-8 January), so we are now working on how we deliver an engaging ringing experience to so many young people in a short amount of time. We’ll need a team of maybe 30 in various roles so the tentative request for people who are either in uniform or experienced in running ringing for young people becomes a definite one. We’ll be using mobile belfries, single training bells, handbells (tune and methods), eBells, and maybe even Ringing Room.

A key challenge with this type of ringing promotion is follow up – how to get the contact details of interested young people when you cannot ask for their email address and phone number. We will know which packs are coming, so can have warmed them up, and those who show interest will be able to tell us which pack they’re from, so we should be OK. The Scouts and Guides tower visit video should come in handy.

Ringing 2030 is generating interest following the initial article on the subject in the Ringing World and CC news release. Initial meetings of the branding/marketing group have gone very well and have shown that while there may be a chap down the pub who thinks we’ve already called last orders on ringing’s future, others see a bright future worth striving for.

Facebook reintroduced me to Matthew Turnock, one of my old friends with whom I learned to ring at Cannock. We also played in the same youth orchestra, even playing in Dubai when there was nothing but sand and one hotel! Unlike me though, he chose his music over bell ringing, believing that you cannot really pursue both at the highest level. What might entice him back? Focused practices without regular commitment and pressure so he doesn’t get sucked back in might do it – so a deal of him doing some ringing and me getting a cello is gestating. “You don’t need a cello, you’ve got handbells” – Charlie.

The London 12 bell contest has been going since 2009 and it’s amazing that the bells of St Paul’s Cathedral can be rung for so long on a Saturday for our own pleasure. The sound of St Paul’s fills the air around and must be as awe inspiring for members of the public as it is for ringers.

Not for everyone though. A producer from Three Counties Radio had just sat down for a quiet pint in Paternoster Square when the bells opened up, leading him to start a debate on complaining about ringing on his radio show. Local ringer Steve Stanford picked this up and managed to get interviewed himself, turning a potentially negative story into an excellent piece of ringing PR. A whole seven minutes talking about bell ringing on the radio, with presenter Roberto Perron comparing the St Paul’s ringers with the London Symphony Orchestra or perhaps Manchester City! (Clip can be heard after 1h 38, and this may open in the right place)

It has been a week of considerable ringing PR. The Council’s PRO Vicki Chapman managed to get ringing both on the early pages of The Times and also on Saturday PM on Radio 4. This was announcing the launch of a campaign to “Ring for the King” with a hook being an opportunity for a multitude of new bellringers to join our ranks in time for the Coronation. The photographs accompanying the Times piece were taken at the Brumdingers practice in Moseley, with eight young ringers testing the patience of the photographer, who must have had easier assignments herding cats. Those initial pieces are now snowballing into more TV coverage.

I am sure we will find some scouts and guides from the Jamboree who will go on to ‘Ring for the King’, but that is only the first landmark on a long ringing journey. Using specific events to recruit gives focus, but we must be careful to recruit those who are then motivated to continue. We have plenty of time between now and May to teach new ringers well, so ringing for the Coronation will be something they remember doing early in their ringing careers.

The challenges of marketing ringing to youngsters continues to be apparent. On a Brumdinger outing we were looking at what videos come up if you search for bellringing on TikTok, and it’s not good. Top is a mad film of an Italian being lifted up onto a bell like a performing monkey (I won’t give it further publicity by linking to it!) – worse than the worst caricature of ringing you could imagine. Charlie said one of her best friends doesn’t really get bellringing because she’s only seen the Mars Bar advert (or that one). How much damage has that advert done?! Maybe we should offer a bounty (get it?) to anyone who gets a decent bellringing video onto the top of a TikTok search. £250 – there, I’ve done it.

I spent an enjoyable couple of hours in Hanley Wetherspoons (not a sentence I thought I would ever write) with John de Overa (not his real name) discussing the challenges facing ringing. John is a prolific contributor to debates on the Ringing Forums and other media, with valuable experience from the ‘older learner wanting to progress’ perspective. We didn’t solve all ringing’s problems, but agreed on a lot, much of which could be solved by well managed sending of the elevator back down.

One of the other things we discussed in passing was how much you would need to pay someone to be in charge of a national ringing organisation in order to attract the right calibre of person, a discussion that turned out to be on the day a paid post was advertised at the new St Clements Cambridge ringing centre. The latter is a very interesting development, which while it doesn’t quite set a precedent given the MRDC has a paid manager, will certainly be thought provoking.

Simon Linford
President CCCBR