When I was in the Cubs I was jealous of the Brownies because they had far more badges. Cubs seemed to have to work hard for badges (I still remember the trauma of not being able to thread a button whilst trying to get my Home Help badge) while Brownies got them for just turning up. In the Guides there was even a Bellringer badge although it was withdrawn in 1993.
Colin Newman’s Schools and Youth Groups Workgroup has been working hard on getting bellringing badges reintroduced to the Scouts and Guides. Scouts is proving very difficult, but we are delighted to announce success with Girlguiding, and the launch of Bluebell’s Challenge, in memory of Alison Regan (her Rainbow name was Bluebell). An introduction to Bluebell’s Challenge can be found on the Council website here.
I had started sounding like a broken record to Clyde Whittaker, who had been tasked with turning my idea for a publication that really explained bell ringing to clergy, PCCs and in particular Diocesan Safeguarding Advisers, into reality. “When can I send ‘How Ringing Works’ out”, I would say, only to get “We’re just reviewing version 27”. To be fair though, the final version 31, renamed “From Practice to Perfect”, is well worth waiting for.
It started after a two hour conference call with two DSAs whose opinion of ringing was jaundiced by having to deal with one of ringing’s problem cases, to the extent that their advice to the National Safeguarding Team and other DSAs had the potential to do very significant damage to ringing generally. We gained their confidence, but learned that they really had no idea how ringing ‘worked’ or was organised, and hence had no confidence that ringing was a well managed activity. I thought we needed something that explained it.
The journey from the first draft, which we were quite pleased with, but which got savaged by the aforementioned DSAs, to the version that has been distributed to all DSAs by the National Safeguarding Lead for the CofE, has been a long one. 31 versions! Thanks to Clyde for sticking with it. There is a link to it on the Council website home page, and it is well worth giving a copy to your clergy or Diocesan contacts.
At my local church’s Christingle service, when streams of children shuffle past the ground floor ringing room and gaze in awe at the ringing, I am going to be handing out our new ‘Future Bellringer’ stickers. Sue Hall designed them, and I tested them on some year 6s who came for a tour of the church. They loved them! So I have got Philip Green from CC Publications team to do a proper job of printing them on decent sticker paper and will be available in the CC shop in the New Year.
Ring for the King continues to provide focus for those wanting to recruit new ringers. I attended a Sunday evening workshop organised by ART and featuring the CC’s V&L Recruitment and Retention team considering the opportunities and challenges of getting new ringers. Key to this one is not to make mistakes of the past and let new learners think it’s a one-off. There is a specific website which is being used as a landing page for media enquiries and then other useful resources are on the CC website.
Some Mobile Belfry news. Firstly, there has been delay getting the trailer part of the plan completed due to lack of resource, but now we’re talking to a couple of trailer manufacturers (not just the ubiquitous Ifor Williams!) and have had offers of help following my previous appeal. Secondly, it has always been part of the plan to coordinate mobile belfry resources (specifically with the Charmborough Ring and the Lichfield Diocesan Mobile Belfry) once Mobile Belfry 2.0 is available for bookings. To that end, the board of Trustees of the Charmborough Trust has been expanded to add me, Alison Everett (former CC Trustee) and Phil Gay (representing Lichfield), with former Trustee Ian Kerwin returning. MB2.0 will be owned by the Charmborough Trust when it emerges from its chrysalis on its trailer, and there will be a common booking system.
The expanded team will proactively target events and not just respond to enquiries. Sadly the Minehead Scouts Jamboree which we been invited to attend and were working on has been cancelled, but we have looked at all forthcoming Jamborees and are going to target one in Nottingham next summer. Three mobile belfries in Sherwood Forest! If you go down to the woods today…
On a list of the UK’s questionable decisions regarding European participation is the decision not to take part in the convention for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage. “We have not seen any compelling business case for ratifying the UNESCO Convention, nor is it clear that the benefits of doing so would outweigh the costs.” The Spanish have managed to get their ‘manual bell ringing’ recognised. (Who knew ringing was a significant thing in Spain?) However, there is good news to compensate for our disappointment! UNESCO has added the French baguette to the list because apparently the whole end to end baguette process binds French culture together. Sacré bleu!
And so to thoughts about Christmas. For me, Christmas ringing brings back memories of being allowed to stay up late to ring for Midnight Mass (past bedtime now!), having an enormous audience of children at the Christingle service (get those Future Bellringer stickers out!), being a bit thin on Christmas Day at various towers as band members disperse, then maybe a peal or two in those quiet days when no one seems to be doing anything. So I hope everyone enjoys whatever ringing they do over the Christmas period. Our efforts are one of the sounds of Christmas, and are sure to be appreciated by those who hear us.
Merry Christmas to ringers everywhere.
Simon Linford
President CCCBR