A tower or local association outing is always a great day out, but needs good organisation to get the best out of it. Why not volunteer to help with one that is coming up? It’s a good way to learn what’s involved. If your tower just doesn’t get around to organising outings why not organise one yourself? A mini outing with just two or three towers and a nice pub for lunch is always popular and you feel a great sense of satisfaction when you come home and put your feet up!

There is so much to think about, even for a mini outing, so here is a useful timeline and checklist:

• Plan the ideal towers and meal location you would like to go. You can choose a popular pub and base the outing around this, or maybe there are some dream towers you have always wanted to ring at?
• Talk to other ringers about the protocols and etiquette of ringing at other towers.
• Assess the likely level of interest by talking to the core group of people, probably your own band or some other group you regularly ring with. It’s wise to include people with a range of ringing experience, as well as newer members.
• Come up with a date!

Then you can get on with the nitty gritty – planning the route and timings, contacting the towers, finding out where the handy facilities are (toilets, local shops, petrol stations), sorting out the tower donations, organising the meal. Dove’s guide and the local association annual report or website will give you the best means of contacting towers.

A spreadsheet is a handy way of keeping track of all the different bits of information you need to guide you as you go along the process. Of course this is only a grid, so it’s just the same if you draw a plan on a big piece of paper or a notebook. This will help you produce an enticing programme to send out.

When you’re on your outing, ask someone to be the photographer for the day and share your fun on facebook, whatsapp, on a blog or website.

If you were super organised and got your towers booked weeks beforehand, a couple of days before your outing, do just call back the tower contacts to double check it’s still ok for you to visit, it’s amazing how many people forget – resulting in a phenomenon known as ‘a lock out’ . This is when you scour the Church noticeboard for alternative phone numbers, or dash round the village trying to find someone with a key. Call again in advance and minimise the risk of this happening.

Of course, if you’ve organised an outing, you’ll hopefully be attending it too – so don’t forget to also tick off going on a ringing outing.

Things to keep track of

• Contact number for somebody who is going to let you into the church and any important information, for example what to do with clock chimes.
• Maps and directions, either using Satnav or grid references.
• Names of everybody participating and mobile numbers.
• Amount of tower donations.
• Parking advice.
• An idea of what you might ring and who is in charge of running the ringing for each tower saves a lot of time and helps things go smoothly.
• All correspondence with the pub or restaurant, including who has ordered what – this is often where things can unravel!

Completed one of your 50 things?

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