First there were Seven. Then there are Five. Now there are Four.
“Can you teach a mother a daughter, Amanda and Hannah to ring?” Asked Reverend Cannon Karen soon after I had returned to ringing and was helping the struggling ringers at Scaldwell. Yes, was my immediate reply, then panic set in!
For a few months I had been teaching most of the band to strike and handle better. Julie had only just started ringing when I joined them and needed a lot of help, in fact over time I took her back to basics. I was a qualified teacher, how hard should it be, practically, teaching handling a bell from the beginning, safely, was I found very different!
Scaldwell Church
First I found the DVD online, and then I did the sensible thing and enrolled on the A.R.T. Module One course. With additional help from other ringers in the district and a mentor, I gained confidence and found we really liked the small steps that the training and the booklets sets out, it doesn’t overload teacher or learner with doing too much all at once.
That also gave my learners a clear path to follow with goals and certificates, which surprisingly the adults as well as my teenage ringer have really taken to.
Bellringing suddenly became the talk of the Benefice, especially when I persuaded the Scaldwell ringers to ring on Sundays at Walgrave and Scaldwell, both downstairs rings and very visible to the congregation.
Our Lay Preacher mentioned that she would like to get the unringable Old bells ringing again, jumping in the deep end; I said ‘it’s no good spending money on the bells until you have some bellringers in the village’. So Alex went to the Old pub quiz and recruited four more people for me to teach! Moira is the only one left, but she is a walking advert for ringing in that she spreads the word to everyone she meets in Old.
Of course they have not all stayed the course, but five have achieved level 1 and four are going on to do level 2, with some of my original struggling Scaldwell ringers now wanting to join the scheme as well to do level 2 – and all wanting to know when they will be good enough to start level 3! Now that will be a big step for this band!
Hannah Deacon, Moira Hornby, Elaine Greatrex, Julie Haytack and Amanda Deacon
Rounds, Call Changes and Kaleidoscope are now rung regularly. Having almost everyone at the same stage can be difficult, but also easy, in that I treat it as a lesson and I can give a talk before we practice, give handouts to reinforce what I said and everyone can concentrate on one small aspect of say, kaleidoscope, small steps being the order of the day, especially after a busy day at work for most of them!
The certificates for the level one are going to be given out at the beginning of a service at Scaldwell in the near future. ‘No pressure to stay to the service’ Reverend Cannon Karen said, knowing most usually leave before the service starts.