(On the relationship between recruitment, branding and publications, thinking of new ways to do things, and the Great Chain) 

In the watery, pale, and late-morning light that is a Glasgow dawn, I was shocked to see snow on the ground.  Why shocked?  Well, we live comfortably inside the urban warming zone and don’t often see the stuff.  A good excuse to get down to the serious business of blog-writing (in my pjs and under the duvet).   

From my mailbag (if we can call the various digital channels a ‘mailbag’), I’m not the only person spreading my geek across more than one hobby.  I’ve now learned that the plain hunt pattern exists in knitting as well and is called the ‘great chain’.  It’s a grander name, could it catch on?  Go Great Chain Doubles?   

Also from my mailbag I’ve just seen the ANZAB peal commemorating the anniversary of the first ladies peal for the society.  Among some nice firsts was the fact that Pam Brock rang in both performances.  Wonderful.  The organiser commented that it all took some planning – the peal itself was the end of a what seemed like a marathon process.  It’s still worth it.   

The marathon view of ringing development also featured in the ART strategy day this month, which I was privileged to join.  We discussed the three pillars of Ringing 2030, in particular the recruitment pillar.  I think we agree that this is both a long task, a necessary task, and an exciting one.  One of the many excellent questions was around how to support towers and teachers who were overwhelmed with learners after a recruitment campaign like Ring for the King.  

Building an effective recruitment network does have to consider capacity, and capturing this requirement early helps us.  I’m pleased to say that detailed planning work has started on this chunky project.  It’s not too soon for ringing areas and associations to look at regional capacity ready to feed into the larger network.  Please feel free to email me at , and I’ll be sure to circulate to the project team.   

Moving not very far from recruitment, and onto marketing, I had a sneak preview at the new bellringing logo and branding developed by YellowYoYo.  These are being finalised so I can’t share them yet.   It has been fascinating following the creative journey behind the design decisions.  Thoughts included ways to express teamwork, music and listening, bellringing patterns, even right and wrong bell shapes.  We have been able to see ideas as banners, logos, and on t-shirts. 

The branding will be available for any ringing organisation to use, and quite a lot of thought is going into creating guidelines that work across many different applications.  If you have an organisation ready for a refresh, get in touch about being an early adopter.   

I enjoyed reading, via another excellent issue of The Ringing World, about the Guild of Devonshire Ringers series of taster sessions with the Women’s Institute at Buckfast Abbey.  The aim of this was not recruitment per se, but on raising awareness of bell ringing. It was interesting that the message about the skills and dedication of bellringers was most appreciated when seeing actual ringing. It looked great, and I love the ambition behind it.  There was also a certain amount of altruism in it too.  A lot of work went into something that didn’t bring obvious direct benefit in terms of new ringers.  A good example of vision at work.  It’s important.   

Also thinking out of the box is the Scottish Association, which is asking the question – what is the purpose of the Annual Report?  Does it need to be a collection of statutory reporting and ringing records?  Can it be something more valued and create a more vivid picture of what the Association accomplished?  Can we tell a better story about ringing?  I’m looking forward to seeing what comes out of it. 

And still more change is afoot.  After many years of dedicated service, the team behind Central Council Publications has decided to retire at the end of March.  They’ve earned it and deserve our thanks and appreciation for operating a well-oiled service that didn’t cause any serious heart jitters for successive Council Presidents.   

That means we are looking for a new team.  And we would like you to help shape what a new publications group could look like.  There are other active publishers in this space, such as ART, The Ringing World, and the Whiting Society.  You could ask yourself:  is the Council redundant in this space?   

The Executive believes there is still an important role for its own Publications group, and one with a wider remit.  We need to have a complete service of offering titles in a range of formats, both digital and offline, and a sustainable way to manage the content between them.  There is still the problem of making publications truly accessible outside of the UK.   

What we also lack are good publications about bellringing that can reach out to people who currently are not ringers.  In the past these have been done by other publishers (think Shire Publishing).  Could we do this instead?  Or can we negotiate a collaboration with other small publishers (Pocket bellringing guides?).  The potential is huge and contributes to our Pillar one – of marketing bellringing.   

You might ask: Do I need to give up my living room and spend my spare hours posting books?   No you do not.  We would love, at the start, 2 or 3 people some experience of editing or publishing, but the right attitude, enthusiasm and willingness to try new things is also important.  It could be a nice line on a CV for someone looking to move into that direction or is at the start of their career.   

Me, I’m looking forward to using the YellowYoYo branding to make Central Council Publications a recognisable imprint.  I really liked the classic ‘Double-C’ design of days gone by; it would be great to have something like that again.