In the British Isles there are more than 5400 rings of bells (with 5 or more bells) but only 22 of these are in Scotland. This means that towers are very sparse. From Dumfries in the Southwest to Nairn in the Northeast is 235 miles (a 41⁄2 hour drive). From Haddington in the Southeast to Tulloch Ringing Centre in the Northwest is 151 miles (a 31⁄2 hour drive). You can see on the map how far apart some of our towers are!

Despite this, there is a healthy number of people learning to ring in Scotland. We all belong to one association (the Scottish Association of Change Ringers) which is not split into districts. We have three ringing meetings a year, a training day and a weekend festival at Inveraray, as well as
monthly 12-bell practices and advanced practices, all well attended. We have one ART tutor, seven fully accredited ART teachers and several more teachers working towards accreditation.

Learning the Ropes certificates awarded so far are:

Level 1: 29 ringers

Level 2: 15 ringers

Level 3: 3 ringers

We all like the LtR scheme – it really helps ringers to measure their progress, and in the April edition of Tower Talk you can read some of their stories. Why not download a copy? 

We recently rang for a wedding in Inveraray on the west coast where there is no band. Ringers travelled about 70 miles each way to ring for 20 minutes for the wedding.

Scottish Ringers are certainly dedicated and we do travel a lot!

This article originally appeared in Tower Talk – why not Subscribe here to receive future copies of this free quarterly magazine?