2018 will be an important year for training new ringers, with the target of recruiting 1,400 new ringers and having them confident enough to ring on 11 November 2018 for the celebrations to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. The Association of Ringing Teachers is working in partnership with a number of Societies, including the Kent County Association, to put on a series of ART Module 1 teacher training courses.
- St Alfege Greenwich, in the North of the county on Saturday 6 January 2018,
- St Laurence in Thanet at the other end of the county on Saturday 24 March 2018.
Module 1 is aimed at those who already teach bell handling and want to update their skills and for those who have never taught anyone to handle a bell. It provides you with the skills and techniques necessary to take a ringer from their first lesson to having competent bell control.
St Alfege, Greenwich
You will learn through a mixture of practical and classroom sessions:
- How to teach a skill
- How to break down bell handling into easy stages that the new ringer can master
- About different learning types and how to adapt your teaching for them
- The benefits of intensive teaching
The practical sessions will give you plenty of time to practise your new skills in a safe environment. Working in pairs you will also have opportunity to hone your observation skills and receive feedback
Afterwards, each teacher is paired up with a mentor, who provides guidance and advice whilst you build your confidence teaching new ringers.
The tutor for the Greenwich course will be Graham Nabb, and we will be using the front six of this ring of ten bells, which are fairly easy to ring. The ringing chamber is at first-floor level, up a short flight of stairs. For the theory sessions, we will be using the Caton room, within the church, which is equipped as a boardroom.
Graham Nabb, Tutor
There is a charge of £20 to ART for the course materials, including a copy of ‘The Teachers Guide to Learning the Ropes’, plus an additional £15 to cover local costs including room hire, tea, coffee and a sandwich lunch. Often we find that local churches/PCC’s will cover these costs.
To reserve a space on the Greenwich Course, please use our online booking form here
St Alfege is in the town centre, close to Greenwich BR and Cutty Sark DLR stations. From North Kent there are train services direct to Greenwich BR station, or change at Lewisham and take a frequent DLR service to Cutty Sark. From Central London there are frequent services from Cannon Street, which is only 12 minutes away, or change from the Jubilee Line to the DLR at Canary Wharf/Herons Quay. For those coming by car there is parking available in the churchyard.
