Central Council of Church Bell Ringers

Annual Report for 2009

1. The Central Council of Church Bell Ringers (“the Council”) was founded in 1891 and is a registered charity, no. 270036. Its address is that of its Honorary Secretary for the time being, namely 11 Bullfields, Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, CM21 9DB.

   The constitution and conduct of the Council is governed by its Rules.

2. The Council’s Trustees during 2009 were as follows:

   President	Mr A P Smith
   Vice-President	Mrs K Flavell
   Hon Secretary	Mr I H Oram (until 25th May)
   	Mrs M Bone (from 25th May)
   Hon Treasurer	Mr D Harbottle

3. The Council’s bankers are Lloyds TSB, Westminster House Branch, Dean Stanley Street, London, SW1P 3HU. Its Independent Examiners are Mr J D Cheesman and Mr R J Wallis.

4. At the close of the Annual General Meeting on 25th May 2009 the Council’s membership comprised 6 Life Members, 23 Honorary Members and 198 Representative Members representing 65 affiliated societies. Since then 1 Representative Member has died and her vacancy has been filled; two other Representative Members resigned and their vacancies have been filled; 5 Honorary Members retired and 3 who had been elected at that meeting took office; 2 Honorary Members have died; a vacancy in Representative Members has been filled; there is 1 ex-officio Member. Subject to any further changes, at the start of the 2010 Council meeting there will be 6 Life Members, 19 Honorary Members, 199 Representative Members and 1 ex-officio Member. There is one other vacancy.

5. The Object of the Council is to promote and foster the ringing of bells for Christian prayer, worship and celebration and in furtherance thereof:

   (i) To promote awareness of and educate the general public in the ringing of church bells and the art of change ringing;

   (ii) To make available advice, assistance and information to church authorities, ringers and ringing societies and to promote good practice on all matters concerned with bells and bell ringing;

   (iii) To encourage development of the art of ringing through innovation;

   (iv) To bring together ringers to discuss matters of common interest and to represent ringers both nationally and internationally;

   (v) To encourage high standards of performance in ringing;

   (vi) To recommend technical standards in change ringing and maintain such records as may be necessary to uphold these standards;

   (vii) To assist in the provision, restoration, maintenance and transfer of church bells.

6. The work of the Council in pursuing this object is for the most part carried out by its sixteen committees and by working groups appointed by them. Summaries of their activities during 2009 are given in the committee reports, which appear elsewhere on the Council’s agenda and are being published in the 30th April 2010 issue of The Ringing World.

7. The public benefits from the following areas of activity of the Council: the promotion of public worship by the ringing of church bells, the preservation of the tradition and heritage of change ringing, the encouragement and promotion of high standards of ringing and providing financial and specialist knowledge in the support of belfry repairs and maintenance.

8. The Accounts for 2009 show Total Funds at the year-end of £393,965 of which £220,786 is in Restricted Funds. The income for the year totalled £20,009, compared with £76,675 in 2008. The 2008 figures include the income from the Ringing Roadshow held in September 2008, the net cost of this event was £3,793 see note 8 to the accounts. The Trustees have the power to invest money and adopt such measures as seem to them necessary in the interest of the Council. They do not have any power to borrow money.

9. It is confirmed that the Council’s assets, together with the expected income for 2010, are available and are likely to be adequate to fulfil the object of the Council in that year.

10. Reserves policy:

    (i) General Fund - the balance on the General Fund is invested to produce income which, together with member societies affiliation fees, provides sufficient funds to support the work and activities of the Council. The balance also facilitates cash flow and enables the development of new projects and initiatives.

    (ii) Education Courses - the balance provides cash flow to enable the Education Committee to run various training courses, in general the costs are recouped from attendees.

    (iii) Bell Restoration Fund - the balance is fully allocated to bell restoration projects and paid on satisfactory completion of the work. Grants are made in proportion to the types of applications received and in accordance with priorities agreed by the Council and reviewed annually.

    (iv) F Dukes International Bell Fund - Grants from the Fred Dukes International Bell Fund are made in accordance with the terms of Mr Dukes’ legacy. Grants are awarded from the interest on the legacy and reviewed annually.

    (v) Publications Fund - the balance represents the stock of publications held and a cash balance to facilitate the production of new titles and the reprinting of existing publications.

    (vi) Library Fund - the balance represents the value of the library which is maintained for use by council members and affiliated societies.

11. Funds are invested in low risk investments and bank accounts. The need for regular income from investments is considered important to support the work of the Council.

12. No significant fund-raising activity has been carried out during the year.

13. The Council had no employees during the year. All of its work is carried out on a voluntary basis.

Mrs M Bone
Honorary Secretary

April 2010

CENTRAL COUNCIL OF CHURCH BELL RINGERS

Registered Charity Number 270036

Statement of Financial Activities for the year ended 31st December 2009

CENTRAL COUNCIL OF CHURCH BELL RINGERS

Registered Charity Number 270036

Balance Sheet as at 31st December 2009

Derek Harbottle
Hon Treasurer April 2010

Central Council of Church Bell Ringers

Notes to the Accounts for the year ended 31st December 2009

1 Basis of accounting

The accounts have been prepared under the historic cost convention and in accordance with applicable accounting standards and the Statement of Recommended Practice on

Accounting by Charities.

2 Accounting Policies

The accounts have been drawn up in accordance with the going concern, accruals, consistency and prudence concepts.

2.1 Incoming resources

Interest is accounted for when receivable.

Donations, grants and legacies are accounted for as soon as the Council is notified of the legal entitlement and the amount due.

2.2 Resources expended

Expenditure is included on an accruals basis.

Grants are accounted for when paid over.

3 Consistency

The accounts are prepared on a consistent basis with the exception of the valuation of the Library Collection.

The revaluation due in 2008, was undertaken in 2009 and the revaluation is included in the accounts for 2009, see note 6 below.

4 Funds

The General Fund is unrestricted. The Education Courses Fund and Publications Fund are designated funds.

The Bell Restoration Fund, the Fred Dukes International Bell Fund and the Library Fund are maintained for restricted purposes.

5 Transfers between Funds

There were no transfers between funds in the current year.

6 Tangible Assets and Intangible Assets

The major tangible assets of the Council are the Investments in National Savings Income Bonds, the Fred Dukes International Bell Fund, which is invested in a CAF Bank Limited Gold Account and the Library Collection. The Library Collection is valued at a replacement cost of £105,200. The revaluation was undertaken by J M Farringdon at March 2009. The policy is to revalue the collection every five years. It is being depreciated for accounting purposes at 2% per annum. An asset register is maintained for other tangible assets. The policy is to treat assets of an individual cost up to £1,000 as fully depreciated in the year of purchase.

The major intangible asset of the Council is the copyright of Dove’s Guide.

7 Interest Receivable

The interest was received from

8 Ringing Roadshow at Stoneleigh - September 2008

9 Committee Expenses - General Fund

These were as follows

10 Grants

The Fred Dukes International Bell Fund awarded one grant totalling £2,500. One grant was paid during the year.

The Bell Restoration Fund did not award any grants in 2009. One grant was paid in the year.

11 Charitable Commitments

There were unfulfilled charitable commitments at 31st December 2009 in respect of three grants totalling £8,272 awarded but not yet paid by the Fred Dukes International Bell Fund and two grants totalling £2,200 awarded but not yet paid by the Bell Restoration Fund.

12 Publications Fund

Storage and distribution cost of £2,000 was paid to Council members.

13 Payments to Trustees

There were no payments to Trustees.

14 Emoluments of Employees

The Council had no employees during the year.

15 Central Council of Church Bell Ringers (Millennium Grants) Limited

The company was formed in January 1997 to receive and distribute grants to bell projects from the Millennium Commission. The company, having carried out the required ten years of post completion monitoring of the projects, was wound up at the end of 2009.

The Ringing World, April 30, 2010, pages 442 to 445

Administrative Committee

Since the 2009 Council meeting the Committee has met twice in London, in October and March. The arrangements for the 2010 Council meeting were discussed and agreed; the Committee has continued its practice of reviewing the work of Council Committees and received presentations from the Tower Stewardship Committee in October and the Compositions Committee in March. In March Committee chairmen advised which members would be retiring under the provisions of rule 14 (i) and the committee sizes needed for next year. Lots were drawn for those elected members of the Administrative Committee to retire this year.

From time to time the Committee is involved in matters specific to other Committees: in the past year this has included:

Ringing Roadshow - in October the PR Committee proposed an event in London on 26 March 2011 in conjunction with the centenary celebrations of The Ringing World. After considerable discussion the Administrative Committee decided that such an event could not easily be accommodated on that date, as The Ringing World event needed to take centre stage; however, the PR Committee should conduct a comprehensive review of the Roadshow format.

Library - the Chairman of the Library Committee confirmed that a member of the Committee was willing to succeed John Eisel as the new Library Steward in 2011.

The Committee considered the following item from the 2009 Council meeting:

Honorary members - the President prepared a paper on possible rule changes for discussion at the October meeting. Members made a number of comments and suggestions at the meeting and subsequently by email. A revised background paper and proposed rule changes were presented to the March meeting. After further discussion and revision these were approved by the Committee. The motion for rule changes appears on the Agenda.

Other matters reported on included:

Register of members’ interests - following comments received on this at the October meeting, the officers reviewed both the wording and suggested practice of the current guidance. The revised guidance was approved at the March meeting and is included as an Appendix to this report. Council members are asked to approve this as part of the Administrative Committee report.

Council Finances - the deficit on the General Fund in the 2009 Accounts was lower than forecast. However, interest rates continue low, committee expenditure is forecast to be higher and the deficit for 2010 will be greater. The Hon Treasurer will speak on this, after presenting the 2009 Accounts.

Application for affiliation - an application from the Four Shires Guild has been received and recommended by the Committee.

Church Buildings Council (formerly Council for the Care of Churches) & English Heritage - at the meeting on 3 April 2009 EH suggested that these meetings be combined. The first joint meeting was held on 9 October 2009. Matters discussed included the next DAC bell advisers conference on 10 June 2010 at St George’s Southwark; CBC draft bell frame recording guidance; EH consultation guidelines; heritage protection reform; cases of difficulty at Great Malvern and Sandiacre; and Taylors, Eayre and Smith in administration. The next joint meeting will be held on 23 April 2010 and the Committee for Redundant Bells will be invited to attend.

Appendix
Guidance for Central Council members in managing actual, potential or perceptions of conflicts of interest

Conflicts of interest can arise, or be perceived to exist, where members have a financial or other business interest in an organisation that operates within the arena of bellringing, hanging, manufacturing, restoration or maintenance of towers and bells, as well as other areas such as publishing or IT, referred to here as bell-related trades.

A business interest of this sort does not preclude Societies or the Council from electing such members to represent them or to hold office within the Council. However, for the avoidance of any possible misunderstanding, members are asked to follow this guidance.

1. The Council shall maintain a Register of Members Interests. All Council members shall advise the Hon Secretary of any financial or other business interest they have in any bell-related trades. In the event of uncertainty as to whether disclosure is needed, disclosure shall be made.

2. The Hon Secretary shall circulate the Register of Members Interests to the Council Officers and Committee Chairmen.

3. During the conduct of Council business, such as (but not limited to) the Council’s annual meeting or committee meetings, members with such interests shall always declare any relevant interest in any proceedings.

4. Any concern arising from an interest not being declared shall be referred to either the President or the Vice-President who shall resolve the matter taking such advice as they consider necessary.

Biographies Committee

The Biographies Committee has been working on two different fronts during the past year. Much work has been done writing up and printing biographical records in an effort to clear the backlog of these. At the same time we have been contacting past and present Council members in an effort to ensure that in future it will be easier to write biographical records using more up-to-date information. Once someone has died it is invariably time-consuming, and not always easy, to find salient facts about their ringing career, particularly if that person has had to give up ringing for some reason and there is no obituary. I would like to thank those people who have completed forms and returned them in the last year, and urge those who have a form which needs to be completed to fill it in as soon as convenient and submit it to the committee. I would also like to thank those who have helped us by providing information for biographical records.

At the Council meeting in May it was decided that in future the Biographies Committee would keep records of the ringing achievements of ringers generally and not just of Central Council members. Because of the committee’s widened remit, we are now actively investigating the best way of keeping biographical records of any ringer who has made a contribution to the art. We are grateful to members of the ICT Committee for their help in this respect. We are exploring the idea of keeping records on-line, using a wiki for ringers to make direct contributions. This should make the information available to anyone who is interested in it and will make research easier for future ringing historians. We have to ensure that information given is correct and that nothing malicious or untrue is posted on the site, which will require careful monitoring. In the past members of this committee have needed to be interested in researching details of the ringing careers of Council members; it seems that, in addition to an interest in the past, future members of the committee will need to have greater expertise in working on-line and monitoring a wiki. We are eagerly looking forward to the time when the wiki is up and running and hope that its existence will encourage many ringers to submit details of their ringing achievements. In addition to this we are intending eventually to put scanned images of the biographical records of deceased Central Council members online.

During the year an article outlining the work of the committee and seeking feedback on suggested future developments in the work of the committee appeared in The Ringing World. Most of the feedback was positive, though one person feared intrusion on the privacy of ringers.

The committee met briefly at Worcester in May and more fully at Pattishall in October. Mike Chester came to the October meeting to listen to how we would like to present information in connection with our widened remit and to help us to understand what would be possible in that respect. Thanks to Mike for his time and also thanks to Hilary Aslett for hosting that meeting.

Jenny Lawrence, David Stanworth and Kathryn Tucker wish to resign from the Committee at the 2010 meeting. I would like to thank them for the work they have done whilst on the Committee.

The following former Council members died in earlier years, but their deaths have not been previously reported:

• Alfred James Battin, Romney Marsh and District Guild, 1930-1932, attended one meeting, died 1957.

• Charles Arthur Binyon, Worcester & Districts Association, 1927-1929, attended two meetings, died 1963.

• Harold Jeffery Clark, Truro Diocesan Guild, 1932, attended one meeting, died 1981.

• William Charles G. Jinkins, Scottish Association, 1932-1950, attended no meetings, died 1975.

• Graham McKay, Cumberland and North Westmorland Association 1959-1965, attended 5 meetings, died January 2001.

The following current and former Council members died in 2009:

• Alexander James Martin, Chester Diocesan Guild, 1957-1959, 1966-1978, 1980, 1991-1995, attended 13 meetings, died 18 January 2009.

• William Reginald Curtis, Truro Diocesan Guild, 1975-1977, attended 2 meetings, died 31 March 2009.

• William Hillyard Jackson, North American Guild, 1978-1995, attended 12 meetings, died 12 April 2009.

• George Edwin Feirn, Lincoln Diocesan Guild, 1945-1986, attended 42 meetings, died 18 August 2009.

• Carol Anne Hardwick, Bath and Wells Diocesan Association, 1988-2009, attended 20 meetings, died 11 September 2009.

• Jean Sanderson, Honorary member 1982-1997, Ely Diocesan Association 1998-2007, Honorary member 2009, attended 22 meetings, died 30 October 2009.

• Lionel Barrington Ward, Honorary member, 2005-2009, attended 5 meetings, died 20 December 2009.

Compositions Committee

The Compositions Committee held a face-to-face meeting at Worcester and agreed a programme of work for the year.

The Stedman collection now consists of around 100 pages of Stedman and Erin compositions and is almost ready for submitting to the Publications Committee. A foreword will be written by David House.

In light of new composers claiming existing work as their own, a paper is being prepared on the Authorship of Compositions, taking into account Armiger Trollope’s Treatise on Variation and Transposition and the increasing trend for compositions to be generated by computer software. The Compositions Committee will make recommendations concerning the authorship of compositions for future reference.

Reviews of compositions regularly appear in The Ringing World and we are additionally intending to include columns of quarter peals.

The diary collection of compositions is under review and some amendments will be submitted in time for the 2011 Diary.

The on line collection of compositions on the Central Council Website continues to be updated on a regular basis and currently stands at over 13,000 compositions. We welcome submissions of new compositions and these should be sent to compositions@cccbr.org.uk

The Ringing World, April 30, 2010, pages 446 to 447, correction September 17, 2010, page 938

Education Committee

In addition to the eleven members elected at Worcester, Gill Hughes, who has a particular interest in attracting and training young people, joined us as a co-opted member in June. The Committee met three times at Wellesbourne, Warwickshire, and other work was done using our email discussion list.

Much time and thought was taken up this year in consulting with The Ringing Foundation. There have been many major issues to consider. The Committee was well represented, both as contributors and attendees, at the RF networking seminars on teaching in both London and Birmingham in the autumn.

Before one of our meetings we had a 3-hour workshop on our teacher training courses, for everyone to broaden their experience and to discuss ideas. We covered some of the established Teaching the Teachers Course (TtT) modules (on teaching Bell Control, Beyond Rounds, Methods, and Raising and Lowering in Peal) and the new experimental Integrated Teacher Training Scheme (ITTS). We also had a practical session with a Saxilby dumbbell, working specifically on teaching bellhandling. Work continues on improving courses generally.

There was a first pilot ITTS day course in November. There are differences in approach between this and the TtT courses, which will need to be considered in time.

Conduct 5040, our email-based initiative for individually mentoring aspiring conductors, continues to work well for those who are signed up to it.

Network for Ringing Training and the Belfry Forums continue to be used.

The new book, Teaching Tips, which, as its title suggests, contains much hitherto unpublished wisdom about teaching beginners, was completed in August. The New Ringer’s Book, the long-awaited replacement for The Beginner’s Handbook (1981), was completed in December. We would like to thank John Harrison, who retired from the Committee in 2007, for continuing to play an important part in the production of this book, and also to Frank Lewis, who retired in 2008, for proofreading it. Work has begun on a new publication on judging striking competitions and also an updated edition of Simulators and Teaching.

Learning - what helps, what hinders, a series of articles for The Ringing World, is being written to cover the social and psychological aspects of teaching and advice on helping people with particular difficulties. It should begin to appear early in 2010.

Information and Communications Technology Committee

The CCCBR website remains perhaps the main public face of Council.

The webpages of the Education and Library Committees continue to be managed by Claire Bell and Paul Johnston respectively. Richard Allton manages the webpages for the Peal Records and Compositions Committees. We are willing to provide FTP access to the server to allow suitably qualified representatives of other Committees to maintain their sections of the website.

As noted as an intention at the 2009 AGM, Andrew Craddock and Peter Trotman seamlessly transferred the Felstead database to the CCCBR server during the latter part of the year, ready to be maintained by the Peal Records Committee in the future.

Aidan Hopkins continued as “Server Administrator” and we thank him for all his work. He mostly dealt with emergencies and routine items, (such as making sure the security certificates are renewed when due). He continues to monitor and manage spam problems and still hopes to adopt the Sender Rewriting Scheme when this becomes fully supported. Aidan is busy managing other projects as well as the CCCBR website and we remain anxious to recruit someone with Linux and Apache skills to provide him with backup in maintaining the server, or indeed possibly taking over his role.

Peter Trotman has continued to manage the rest of the website. He upgraded the Rolls of Honour for both the 1914-1918 and 1939-1945 wars to use a MySQL relational database. This is more efficient in the use of server resources and also simplifies the coding of the web pages, thereby facilitating future maintenance. Research is underway to facilitate the expanded mission of the Biographies Committee and we hope to be able to see the results of this during the next year or so.

Michael Wilby, elected to the Committee at the AGM, has brought significant professional, website and database management experience to the Committee and is bringing this to bear on plans for the future of the website. He also restored The Belfry Forums to work after a crash due to a software upgrade.

Don Morrison, Tina Stoecklin and Andrew Craddock remain willing to provide technical advice to this Committee on a “Consultant” basis and we are grateful for this.

We lost Mike Till and Geoff Emerson as members of the ICT Committee at the 2009 AGM and we thank them for their work on our behalf. We still have room for more members on the Committee and ask that Representatives with suitable ICT skills consider putting themselves forward for election at the 2010 AGM.

Library Committee

Sadly, we begin this report with the loss of Jean Sanderson. John Eisel wrote a tribute to Jean that appeared in The Ringing World on 11 December 2009 in which he painted a picture of a strong personality, who gave a huge amount of her life to ringing and books. Jean joined the committee in 1981 and, at a critical time when Bill Cook died suddenly, she became chairman 1992-1999. Latterly, she was responsible for maintaining the list of Friends of the Library. Ian Self has taken over the co-ordination of “The Friends”, to whom we are forever grateful, in order to fund projects that keep the Library very much alive.

We would like to thank Mike Davies for his four years as chairman of the committee and Stella Bianco was appointed to take his place at the May 2009 Council Meeting, when we also welcomed Alan Glover to the committee. In 2008, John Eisel gave three years’ notice of his intention to retire, as Library Steward, and we are grateful to Alan Glover for allowing his name to go forward as a successor at the Council Meeting in 2011.

Paul Johnson has made considerable progress towards producing a DVD of the early Ringing Worlds (1911-1940), which will be advertised for sale via The Ringing World and www.cccbr.org.uk, including a special price for Friends. An index will be included, albeit not as comprehensive as that supplied with the Bell News DVD, but all files will be searchable. Alan Ellis, who supplied the Index from which Paul has extracted the relevant years, has assisted this project.

The Obituary Index from 1881-2000 is now accessible on the Library website via www.cccbr.org.uk and will be updated to 2007, in due course. Subsequent years are available via a link to The Ringing World website www.ringingworld.co.uk

This project has been greatly assisted by Alan Ellis supplying 1998-2007 data.

It was decided, with permission from Margery Wratten and the Trustees that we could dispose of the duplicate set of The Ringing World. This will be publicised and take place in 2010.

The last time the Library Committee held a seminar was in 1997 entitled “1668 and all that”, so it is hoped that the format planned for the “Book Day” on 27 February 2010 appeals to Guild/Association Librarians, Friends and ringing book lovers.

The Library Steward reports that loans (26) have decreased again from the previous year (31), but this in no way reflects a reduction in activity, rather a shift in usage. In many cases, the information required to answer a query can be quickly scanned into the computer and emailed to the enquirer. This avoids packing books to be posted and risk to the stock.

Information has been provided for the Biographies Committee and, on behalf of the Peal Records Committee, Alan Baldock has taken on the mammoth task of checking the earlier Felstead peal records and trying to sort out any difficulties about dates etc. He has made considerable progress with this and it has been a pleasure to be able to help.

We are grateful for the accessions received during the year and to Alan Ellis for giving the library copies of the facsimile reprints of early texts, which he has published. Also, Fraser Clift has kindly donated a bound volume of the Bath & Wells DA reports for 1890-1901. As well as being an archive, annual reports are a very valuable source of information and are used as much as any other section of the library. Indeed, a number of the queries raised by Alan Baldock have been answered by using them.

The library stock is in very good condition, and the programme of binding annual reports is as up to date as it can be. The library received a donation of Ely DA reports from Jean Sanderson’s effects, so a volume from 1921-51 has been bound in her memory.

The Library Steward’s annual Essay (No 16 in the series) on “Change Ringers’ Guides” (Dove’s Guide and its predecessors) accompanied the 2009 Newsletter to the Friends of the Library.

John Eisel has spent a number of years preparing Cyril Wratten’s considerable collection of eighteenth century newspaper extracts for publication. Illustrations have been added and it is hoped to publish it, as a limited edition, in 2010. The committee has earmarked funds for publication, so whilst there is a healthy balance in reserve, this will change with the publication of this book and the RW DVD.

Methods Committee

The Methods Committee held one face to face meeting, in Cambridge on 21 February. Members have been able to discuss committee matters electronically using a mailing list established by Leigh Simpson.

The committee continued to update the methods pages in the Ringing World Diary. We revised the Plain Bob Triples diagram and touches, and we have introduced grid diagrams for some of the Surprise Major methods, as we feel that these provide a good way to show the construction of a method. We have been asked about the rationale we use to select methods for these pages. Our approach has been to maintain a core set of the frequently-rung “standard methods”, and in addition to feature a selection of other interesting methods so as to encourage bands to try ringing something new. Our policy is to change this selection from time to time, and so this year we replaced some of the Surprise Royal and Maximus methods.

We have answered a steady stream of enquiries on the email address methods@cccbr.org.uk and have been analysing these with the intention of publishing a “Frequently Asked Questions” section on the committee’s webpage. The topic we get asked about most frequently is the procedure for naming new Minor methods.

We are very grateful to Tony Smith for continuing to update the on-line method collections at www.methods.org.uk. These provide an invaluable resource for ringers and Tony updates them on a weekly basis. Progress on the new edition of the printed Doubles collection has been slower than planned, but we hope to have this book completed in 2010.

We also plan to reissue a printed version of the four-way table of Minor methods.

Roger Bailey left the committee at the Council meeting, having served for 19 years. We would like to thank him for his contribution to the committee and welcome Richard Edwards who was elected in his place.

Peals Records Committee

During the last year we have continued our three main duties of the Peals Analysis, the recording of record length peals and peals in new methods together with maintenance of the Felstead database. We have not met formally during the year but have conducted our business electronically.

The Peals Analysis

We have recorded a total of 5030 peals rung in 2009 and published in The Ringing World, of which 4262 were on tower bells and 768 on handbells. The revised total for 2008 was 4913 - making a net gain of 117. Full details are included in the methods table that accompanies this report. The Yorkshire Association has overtaken the Oxford Diocesan Guild to become the leading Society for peals with 433 peals (an increase from 318 in 2008). They had a spectacular increase in handbell peals from 14 in 2008 to 79 in 2009. The Oxford Diocesan Guild, in second place, rang 323 peals in 2009 (359 in 2008). Fifteen societies rang 100 or more peals in 2009 compared with 17 in 2008. Please see the separate table for details of peals rung for individual societies.

Record Peals

Although there were a number of peals of over 10,000 changes in 2009, there was only one record peal, of 10080 Anglia Surprise Royal for the Norwich Diocesan Association.

Peals not complying with the Decisions on Peal Ringing

We have identified no peals published in The Ringing World as peals that do not comply with Decision D (Parts A-D) relating to peal ringing.

A touch of 5040 changes of Grandsire Variable Treble Triples, rung on November 24th 2009 for the St Martin’s Guild, was published as a “Miscellaneous Performance”. It consisted of 5040 true changes, without jump changes and was published as a Miscellaneous Performance merely because it could not be readily described within the current definitions of methods and calls. It seems to us to be an interesting innovation and we have included this peal in our analyses (as “Other Triples”) given the issues of definition alluded to above.

Methods and change on year

The accompanying table incorporates a summary of the more popular methods with an analysis of the year on year change in the numbers of peals rung on each number of bells. All individual methods where 15 or more peals were rung in 2009 are included. An “Other” category is included for completeness.

A total of 228 methods were rung to peals for the first time in 2009 (2 of these were rung in hand). A further 9 methods that had been rung previously on tower bells were rung in hand for the first time, and one on tower bells that had previously been rung in hand. One peal (Odell S Major) has not yet been published in The Ringing World, but the record of the first peal in the method is included here to ensure completeness of the new methods record.

A list of the new methods and when they were rung is included alongside our report.

Towers

The following 78 towers had 10 or more peals in 2009: (77 in 2008):

First pealers and firsts as conductor

There were 188 first pealers in 2009 (178 in 2008) and 33 firsts as conductor (29 in 2008). We congratulate all those involved in these performances, particularly where several firsts were included in one peal.

Corrections to the 2008 Analysis

There are a number of alterations to the 2008 Analysis due to late publication as detailed below.

Corrections relate to tower bells except where specified.

The amended methods analysis for 2008 is shown in the 2009 methods table, which forms part of this report. Revised totals for 2008 are: tower bells 4224, handbells 689, total 4913.

The Felstead Project

Many people are unaware of how Canon Felstead organised his record cards. The main set were for all peals from 1881 onwards (i.e. those published from the start of Bell News) while another recorded all peals of Triples and above pre-1881 and a third set all peals of Doubles and Minor pre-1881.

When we originally received the photocopy cards, there were no pre-1881 copy cards for the Greater London area or for any towers coming before Birmingham in the alphabet. Neither were there any copies at all for the pre-1881 Doubles and Minor peals. We believe that there was a simple omission in the original photocopying of the cards. Alan Baldock has therefore borrowed the original cards from John Eisel and photocopied those that were missing. He has checked the data on those cards against the database, making corrections where necessary. It would appear that the data from the Doubles and Minor cards were omitted from the system when the original inputting was done so that has now been corrected.

Due to this work, and the steady stream of corrections from ringers that we receive each week, the files for between 30 and 60 towers have been corrected each week since the last meeting. We are indebted to a number of ringers around the country for their help in resolving queries but should make particular mention of John Eisel, with whom Alan was in virtually daily email contact throughout that time and without whose ever ready help he could not have corrected many of the records. Chris Pickford has also been of particular help in supplying information from his records.

Public Relations Committee

The committee met four times during the year and communicates regularly by email between meetings.

Perhaps the greatest success of the year is the relationship which has developed with the producers of the BBC Bells on Sunday programme. Since the Council meeting at Worcester, Michael Orme has taken on the role of liaison with the programme makers, with whom he is in weekly contact. Michael has carried out a full review of all the recordings held by the Bells on Sunday team. He is the contact person for advice on making recordings for use in the programme and he will supply information on request. More recordings are required as some areas of the country have no presence in the archive department’s CD library. Recordings should be sent directly to Michael.

Scheduling is now done on a monthly basis to meet the Radio Times print deadline. Recordings appropriate to the occasion have been suggested for such as Ascension Day, Easter Sunday and Remembrance Sunday. During the year there have been several innovations, including Devon Style Call Change ringing, which will be a regular feature, and bell recordings which are heard both from the churchyard and then the ringing chamber, so the listeners hear what the ringers hear.

We are grateful to the Editor of The Ringing World who publishes the forthcoming schedule of broadcasts each month. The current broadcast is usually available on iPlayer during the following week. Occasionally, we understand, it may be possible within financial constraints to include a picture of the band or the tower. There is also a project to collect sound recordings of good quality half-muffled and fully muffled ringing.

The committee continues to distribute stock of recruitment leaflets. The design of the leaflet has been reviewed but feedback suggests that the current design is popular and there is no immediate need for a new design.

The Complaints Helpline continues to provide advice to all on matters relating to complaints about ringing. Links are maintained with university ringing societies and with ringing societies outside of the UK. The committee also has links with the Education and Tower Stewardship committees through members who serve on both of these.

The committee collaborates with the ICT committee with a watching brief on the content of the CCCBR website. A new feature is a “Things to ring for” page which, we hope, will carry dates and details of events to which bands may wish to dedicate their ringing.

There have been several requests from the media, notably a large number from television production companies wishing to include ringers and ringing in a wide range of programmes. Many of these do not progress much beyond the initial enquiry stage, but we offer as much help and advice as possible.

There have been a number of requests for display materials, for example from the team organising the fund raising scheme launch for new bells at Moseley. Although we no longer provide ready-made display boards we are able to source images of good quality as electronic media which can then be processed locally to meet the needs of the users.

Early in the year, we were requested to prepare a proposal for an event, possibly a Road Show, in support of The Ringing World centenary celebrations taking place in 2011. The initial proposal for a two day event, taking place on a Saturday and Sunday, was presented to the Administrative Committee in March. This was approved in principle but with a change of days to a Friday and Saturday and referred back to the committee for further consideration. This resulted in a review of the purpose of the event and a fresh proposal, for a joint event with The Ringing World on the day of the centenary celebration in March 2011, being presented to the Administrative Committee meeting in October. We were very sorry that the Administrative Committee decided it could not support our proposal and passed a resolution “that a Central Council sponsored event should not be combined with The Ringing World centenary and that another Road Show should not be held; the PR committee should conduct a comprehensive review”. We had thought that our plans to work with The Ringing World to show the Council celebrating the Ringing World’s centenary provided also the change of Road Show emphasis that was sought. The committee will begin a review of the Road Show after the Ringing World celebration event has taken place.

International Reports
ANZAB

2009 has been a busy year for the ANZAB Executive following the decision to review some of the most important aspects of the Association. Most of the preparatory work has been done and it remains to review and consolidate proposals for discussion at the AGM in Melbourne in June.

The AGM was held in Brisbane for the first time and was very successful. The new 12 at St John’s Cathedral were put to good use. Many of us enjoyed the lovely old eight up in Maryborough for the first time, together with Lismore in Northern NSW and St Andrew’s in Brisbane city. At the AGM Julie Doyle was elected President to replace Roger Lubbock who has done sterling work for ANZAB over the past three years. At the AGM we also took great pleasure in ratifying the new Victorian branch of ANZAB.

In October the bells of All Saints’ Cathedral Bathurst were dedicated by the Governor of New South Wales in an impressive ceremony. The commitment of the local ringers, diocese and the broader Bathurst community were inspirational in making the project come to fruition. Ringers were very involved both on the installation side and also in teaching the new band. There are now three towers - Lithgow, Orange and Bathurst - within a reasonable distance of each other.

The sad news from St Paul’s Cathedral in Bendigo is that the bells are unlikely to ring again in the near future as the building requires substantial structural work.

In Tasmania, the bells of Holy Trinity, Hobart are now ANZAB’s first ring in a Greek Orthodox Church. The local ringers have an excellent relationship with the incumbent who is very supportive of the bells. The ringing room contains a considerable amount of memorabilia of early ringing in Hobart and its links with the UK.

The 2011 AGM is scheduled to be held in the North Island of New Zealand. The NEANZAB Branch is working on the 2012 AGM in Sydney when we will celebrate the 50th Anniversary of ANZAB’s first AGM. We are anticipating a big celebration and look forward to welcoming our ringing friends from around the world.

Central European Association

While there have always been occasional expatriate ringers in Central Europe, there has never been any sort of formal organisation. This has been changed by the development of handbell ringing in southern Germany, the installation of a proper ring of eight in Dordrecht in The Netherlands and the transfer of Tony Parry’s mini-ring to Brandau in Germany. In May 2009, we took the plunge and formally founded the Central European Association in the course of a three day meeting at Dordrecht. The officers are Paul de Kok (President; Dordrecht, The Netherlands), Brian Diserens (Ringing Master; Brandau, Germany) David Ockwell (Treasurer; Eindhoven; The Netherlands) and Rodney Yeates (Secretary; Dietenheim, Germany). On this occasion, a peal of Cambridge Surprise Major was rung - the first peal ever by ringers resident in central Europe.

Since then we have managed to meet about every 6 weeks at centres as far apart as Geneva, Dordrecht, Winterthur and Ludwigshafen. Resident peals have been rung in various Surprise Minor, Major and Royal methods including 21 Spliced Surprise Minor and 8 Spliced Surprise Major at Dordrecht and Yorkshire, Lincolnshire Surprise Major and Kent Treble Bob Royal in hand. We currently have hand bell groups in Winterthur (Switzerland) and Ludwigshafen (Germany), as well as a tower bell group in Dordrecht (The Netherlands) and Brandau (Germany). There are clearly major problems, not only in the amount of travelling involved, but also in the limited number of ringers. Any expatriate (or anyone knowing an expatriate) is invited to send an e-mail to Rodney Yeates at rodney.yeates@t-online.de.

Irish Association of Change Ringers

There were three notable anniversaries celebrated in the Irish Association and all took place in the Northern District.

St Patrick’s Ballymena, Co Antrim celebrated twenty-one years since the dedication to the ring of twelve bells. To mark this event, a peal of 5060 Plain Bob Cinques was rung in March.

Celebrating one hundred and ten years of the bells was St Comgall Bangor, Co Down. Two quarter peals were rung in September of 1260 Plain Bob Doubles and 1240 Plain Bob Triples.

In November, sixty years of the bells were celebrated at St Donard’s, Belfast. A peal of 5040 Surprise Minor (7 methods) was rung by the Society of Royal Cumberland Youths in October.

Moving from anniversaries to a notable “first” was the election of the first Lady President of the Irish Association, Jean Jeffery. A peal of 5024 Bristol Surprise Major rung to celebrate the completion of recent restoration work at St Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick was also dedicated to Jean’s election.

There were also a number of “firsts” recorded for peals and quarter peals throughout the Association which is a great achievement for all concerned and a healthy sign for the future of bellringing.

JUNE KELLY

The North American Guild of Change Ringers

The North American Guild had yet another extremely successful year in 2009. Two new rings were installed - a ring of ten in Orleans, MA, and a ring of eight (plus nine additional chiming bells) in Shreveport, LA.

During 2009, the NAGCR lost three founding members Bill Jackson, Bob Stokes, and Paul Cattermole.

As with last year, each month of the NAGCR calendar was filled with at least one of a wide variety of ringing offerings to satisfy all levels and in all geographic regions.

These included ringing festivals, regional meetings and our annual AGM this year held in New York City.

In addition, many towers have held unique recruiting events and provided local ringing as an adjunct to annual and ongoing civic and cultural occasions. Many NAGCR towers participated in the most recent presidential inaugural by ringing. Three towers (First Presbyterian, Texarkana, AR; Stetson Chapel, Kalamazoo, MI; and Trinity Cathedral, Miami, FL) celebrated their 25th anniversaries; and Melrose School, Brewster, NY their 35th anniversary.

Personal accomplishments by members included one member conducting a peal for the first time (as it turned out the Guild’s 2500th), one member conducting a quarter peal for the first time, two members ringing their first peal and 23 members ringing in their first quarter peal.

New initiatives for the Guild include the website redesign, which is now complete. The Clapper is now available to members and subscribers online, along with a host of new and enhanced components for members and more information for the general public.

We look forward to continue to host visitors from overseas and for more information on any of our events and tower details go to www.nagcr.org.

SCOTT STRICKER

South African Guild of Church Bell Ringers

Members of the South African Guild have continued to ring regularly for services and practices at the towers at their disposal. The condition of the tower at St Paul’s, Durban, has forced a temporary halt to ringing: it is part of the fabric of the tower which is suspect, not the condition of the bells. Woodstock, where the bells are not in good shape, was further hit by the loss of the waterproofing on the tower causing rain to shower down even into the ringing chamber: a restoration project there, which is in mind, is still a few years off implementation; in the meantime, the bells are rung once a month. A band is being built up at Four Ways Gardens with the help of the well established band of St George’s, Parktown. The future at Grahamstown is uncertain, following the decision of Colin Lewis, the prime mover there, to move to his homeland.

We continue to welcome visitors; included in their number in 2009 were two larger groups, one led by Andrew Wilby, the second by Bruce Butler. It was the presence of the first group that provided the environment in which two of our members in Johannesburg were able to ring their first peal. But 2009 saw the death of one of our most experienced members, Ian Knox of Johannesburg.

Three bell installation projects are in varying degrees of planning, only one in an existing ringing centre. The other two are in remoter parts where many members of the guild see little prospect of lively bands being trained or maintaining themselves. This parallels a malaise in the exercise in the country since even in some existing ringing centres it is not being possible to train an adequate pool of younger ringers. The Guild itself in the past has done little to organise training opportunities and an attempt in 2009 to provide an extra day for ringing at the time of the annual general meeting was not successful. Clearly, the question of training within the country will have to be addressed by the Guild. The annual general meeting held in Cape Town drew too small a number of members from other centres; those present enjoyed themselves.

E. D. ELDERKIN

Veronese Association

Since the last Council meeting attended by Paolo Avesani and Alison Hodge as ASCSV representatives, ringing in the Veronese Association and its more local “Zones” (= our branches or districts) has followed its normal pattern - regular ringing, teaching young people, teaching teachers (remember that ASCSV have a formal programme to train their “Ringing Masters”), competitions, tower visits, tower augmentations and refurbishment, and social events. Many of these activities are recorded in their high quality quarterly colour bulletin (Tuttocampane). While much of the news in Tuttocampane is about local achievements, issues and the inevitable ringers’ births, marriages and deaths, some of the news reflects events of international significance. One article, for example, commented on the earthquake in L’Aquila and the fate of a church and its bell.

There has been at least one party of English ringers visit Italy during the year as reported in the January 2010 edition of Tuttocampane, when English ringers visited Fabio Giona’s area of Colongnola Ai Colli in October 2009. Individual ringers from Malvern, who were in the first groups to make contact in Italy, have maintained their contacts with friends there through personal visits more socially, but inevitably with some ringing! Giancarlo Tommasi, similarly, has paid a return visit to Malvern. Sadly, Anna Maria was not able to join him on this occasion.

2010 marks the 25th Anniversary of the first visit by Italian ringers to England and a short visit to England is being planned by some of our Italian friends to mark this later in the year.

ALISON HODGE

Zimbabwe Guild of Bellringers

In Harare we are still locked out but managed to ring once during 2009 on the day of the consecration of the new Bishop. This was only able to be arranged during the Consecration Service in the Sports Stadium. The Tower Captain managed to locate three ringers so they joyfully rang three bells. We have had a few sessions of ringing handbells.

In Kwekwe in mid year it was noticed that the plaster was falling off the outside walls of the tower so they stopped ringing until such time as the only structural engineer in the city was able to look at it and make a written report.

By year end this had not yet happened but at the time of writing I understand that he has been and the written report is awaited.

We hope to travel to Kwekwe for our AGM once this is available. We do greatly appreciate all the support we have received from ringers around the world.

Thank you all.

ANNE M. PHILLIPS
Central Council Representative

Publications Committee

See Stocklist overleaf

For the first time in many years no new publications were produced. This was a major contributory factor to the large fall in income from sales.

Nine titles were reprinted: Raising and Lowering, Beginners Plain Bob, Ringing Circles, Ringing Basics for Beginners, Standard Eight Surprise Major Sheets, Will You Call a Touch Please Bob, Tower Captains Handbook, Teaching Unravelled, and Giants of the Exercise Vol 1. It was pleasing to note that Ringing Circles continued to sell exceptionally well.

At the beginning of the year we had a very constructive meeting with Tim Jackson, representing the Stewards of the Dove Database, to discuss the production of “Dove 10”. We remain in close contact with Tim and await a suggested draft of the book. The final draft of “The New Ringers Book”, a major new work which has been in preparation by the Education Committee for several years, is expected in the near future.

The income from sales of £8,300 dropped sharply from £13,300 in 2008 while the value of stock held remained steady at £10,700. Expenditure exceeded income by £1,150 and the total cash available remained steady at around £15,000. A small amount of slow selling stock was written off. Despite the drop in income the fund remains in a healthy state and should be adequate to support forthcoming major projects. Bulk discounts were offered in March as usual, and advertisements were again placed in a number of Association reports.

We were very saddened to lose Jean Sanderson during the year. Jean had been a full member of the Committee for a great many years, and a co-opted member in recent times. Her hard work and expertise will be greatly missed.

Committee for Redundant Bells

The Committee has continued to work on its role of monitoring the developments within the Church of England and other churches concerning the fate of redundant bells in churches by endeavouring to establish a working relationship with the Church Commissioners, the Church Buildings Council and the Churches Conservation Trust.

This is hoped to encourage a regular flow of information to the Committee on behalf of the exercise and to enable the Committee to ensure that bells in redundant churches are dealt with appropriately and not passed over.

The Committee also administers the Rescue Fund and there is a separate report relating to this.

The number of churches declared redundant continues stable - fairly matched by the number of new churches. The total declared redundant under the Pastoral Measure in the last 41 years is 1791. Of these 388 have been demolished; 342 transferred to the Churches Conservation Trust (plus 10 to other preservation trusts) and 1051 converted to new uses. Twenty nine churches were closed as redundant in 2009; significantly fewer than in previous years.

Bells from churches demolished are now invariably saved for alternative use, the Keltek Trust having a vital role here as elsewhere. Bells in churches transferred to the Churches Conservation Trust are also safe and the policy of the CCT is to ensure that they are kept at the church and conserved along with the other fabric. Bells in churches converted to other uses remain at risk. The present policy of the Church Commissioners generally is to require the bells to remain in the church building even if it is converted to secular use. However, the new owners are not always sympathetic to having a ring of bells especially when the new use is as a residence. Layston, Peterstone Wentloog and Monkton have been three specific cases that have involved the Committee this year. The Church Commissioners have tended to rely on the covenants imposed at the time of sale or lease to ensure not only that the bells are safe but available for ringing. It is questionable how enforceable these covenants really are. Alan Frost of the Committee has taken on a role within the Committee to continue to develop the Committee’s discussions with the Commissioners.

The Committee is also in meeting with the Churches Conservation Trust and these have been encouraging in the hope that the ringing of bells within churches in the care of the Trust may feature more. The programme of ringing to mark the 40th anniversary of the Trust was significant in this respect. Robert Lewis is leading the role of the Committee in developing “bells awareness” with the Trust and ensuring that the Trust knows and uses all the facilities and help that the Council’s committees and its constituent ringing associations have to offer.

The Committee needs to ensure that such information as it obtains in discussions with the various institutions is passed to ringing associations and to that end Julian Newman has taken on a task of keeping in touch with ringing associations and guilds whose area covers churches, redundant or programmed for redundancy, where the future of the bells is in question.

The Committee continues to receive a number of enquiries concerning individual redundant bells and requests for bells. The Committee is continuing negotiations regarding the bells at Oxford St. Cross, Brighton St. Peter, Bollington and Chatham as well as at Hanley.

The Keltek Trust is an integral part of any discussions or decisions concerning redundant bells and the Committee is fortunate that David Kelly of the Keltek Trust is readily involved with the work of the Committee as a consultant.

This report is not complete without a tribute to the late George Massey who was a member of the Committee from 1978 to 2005 and Chairman from 1993 to 1999 as well as serving a turn as Chairman of the Rescue Fund, and to Jane Wilkinson who, with others, moved the formation of the Committee and of the Rescue Fund and was its guiding light throughout her years on the Committee - many as Chairman.

Stocklist at December 31st 2009

The Ringing World, April 30, 2010, pages 448 to 456, correction September 17, 2010 page 938

Ringing Centres Committee

The emphasis during the year has been on the reassessment of the requirements of the established Ringing Centres and the ways by which the committee is able to help them attract and teach new ringers. Three of the committee resigned at the Council meeting in May and the continuing members were unable to meet to reallocate responsibilities and collect committee papers until August. At that meeting, besides electing a new Chairman and co-opting Janet Edwards to our numbers, a plan of action was agreed to explore ideas for supporting the work of existing Ringing Centres, including the collection of course notes and teaching aids, and of hopefully attracting more Centres to operate within our terms of reference.

We agreed to arrange a series of regional meetings with the intention that these would be opportunities for us to discuss some new ideas with the Centres and for them to advise us of what they would wish to see from ourselves. We hope that these discussions can include the use of any money allocated by The Founders Company to support Ringing Centres. We understand that this would still be available on our recommendation for its effective use.

We are conscious that whilst we wish to raise the number, effectiveness, standards and the professionalism of all Centres, we do not wish to burden them with unnecessary administration or control and would wish to proceed forward with the approval and co-operation of the present active Centres if at all possible. We see advantages in Centres being able to be aware of and copy the practices and workings of other Centres with perhaps the ability to combine their strengths and to be represented by one body for particular matters such as grant applications. But such may require standards to be fixed and guarantees available as to the quality of teaching.

A News Sheet designed to give information as to Ringing Centre activities was prepared and distributed with the intention that future editions should receive contributions from Centres direct and include details of their successes and plans and perhaps featuring some of their students.

A Marketing Strategy was prepared and distributed to all Centres with the intention of stimulating further thought into the operation of Centres. The committee wishes to pursue other suggestions to assist the attraction and retention of ringers. The Public Relations committee would be contacted in connection with this to see if there was a justifiable need and the best way for it to be progressed.

The Founders Company offered a prize to encourage the growth of Young Ringers groups. The committee agreed that this should be offered for new and original ideas for attracting and retaining young ringers. The competition would be announced in 2010 with the winner to be declared at the Council meeting in Derby.

By the end of the year our database of Centres, contacts and facilities were updated but we do ask for us to be notified of any amendments (especially to Email addresses), as we would like to stay in contact with each Centre on a regular basis and Email is a convenient way of doing this.

Ringing Trends Committee

See Figures 1-6 overleaf

The Committee met in February 2009 and have maintained contact electronically since then. At the Council meeting in May one of the existing four members stood down leaving just three permanent members. In addition, Jennifer Holden, who is not a member of Council, acts as a consultant. Over the last two years she has carried out an important piece of work on University Societies and the findings are presented in this report. Against the background of an ageing (but active) ringing population it is refreshing to see these results.

Survey Results

Last year graphs were presented which reflected responses from just under 7,000 ringers. Since then responses have been received from four more societies, the Oxford Diocesan Guild, the Essex Association, the Sussex County Association and the Yorkshire Association. As a result we now have information covering nearly 12,000 ringers. We are very grateful to all of the Societies involved in this survey for their considerable help in assisting with data collection and inputting information into spreadsheets.

All of the data received over the last year continues to be consistent with earlier data in showing a trend towards a much older ringing population with 62% of ringers over the age of 50. 54% of ringers are male and 46% female. It is interesting to note that some towers have all female bands. The age range of ringers is shown at Fig. 1. These figures are compared as percentages with information from the 1988 survey at Fig. 2, In the 1988 survey just 17% of ringers were over 40 when they learnt to ring and 58% were less than 20 years old, current figures show that 34% were over 40 with 43% under 20. The difference is demonstrated in Fig. 3, which compares figures obtained from the 1988 survey with those of today. Of the ringers that have responded so far nearly a quarter of them have been ringing for less than 5 years. The age of people learning to ring over the previous three years is consistent with earlier information and is shown at Fig. 4.

All of the current information has been reconciled with the base data received from each area.

Over a third of ringers surveyed have retired as shown in the graph of ringers’ occupations at Fig. 5. The upsurge of peal and quarter peal ringing during the week, together with weekday outings demonstrates how many retired ringers spend their leisure time. Information from Andrew Craddock of pealbase.co.uk indicates that fewer people ringing more peals is the current trend and information on average ages of peal ringers indicates that the average age of peal bands has gone up significantly over the last fifty years. Improved health and more leisure time amongst those who are retired are also factors and greater wealth means people are more mobile than they were before.

There are 79% of tower captains over the age of 50 with 20% between 25 & 50 and just 1% under the age of 25. The state of ringing in towers surveyed remains the same as last year with 68% of bands steady or prospering. There are many towers particularly in rural areas that have no band and more work is needed on this aspect.

University Ringing

University ringing societies are being used as an indicator for ringing amongst university students and a questionnaire survey of university societies in the United Kingdom has now been

virtually completed using questions similar to those of the main ringing trends questionnaire together with other questions particular to university societies.

There are three kinds of societies: active, touring only and non-active. Non-active societies exist in name or by use of a contact, who connects students up with local towers and/or retains documents related to previous incarnations of the student society. The Open University and Welsh Colleges are touring societies. Active societies practice once a week in some form. Some societies share practices, two societies are responsible for two towers, one society for three towers. Of the practices reported on for the questionnaire 146 people attended of whom 76% were members of the university societies. The total number of bells under university ringing societies is 128 (plus a 12 bell mini-ring owned by Southampton University Society). This information gives a figure of 1.25 ringers per bell in university society towers. The proportion of students attending practices is around 2/3. The majority of ringers attending university ringing society practices are between 20-25 years of age, with more males than females.

The main course type being taken by university ringing society student members is undergraduate studies (72% of all students). The courses undertaken by student ringers are mainly sciences and engineering (75% of all students), followed by humanities (13%). The subjects of courses taken by students are shown in Fig. 6. The high number of science and engineering disciplines mirrors the results of the main survey of ringers in the UK as a whole.

The majority of ringers in university societies learnt to ring under the age of 30 with the largest proportion learning to ring under the age of 12. 63% of ringers attending university society practices learnt to ring under the age of 20. 57% of ringers at university society practices have been ringing less than 10 years, of 79 new learners just under half are still ringing. Qualitative research shows that this relatively high retention rate is due to being able to ring with people of a similar age and active society social scenes. As one University of London Society fresher remarked “I never knew there were so many other young ringers.” Over half (55%) of ringers who ring with university societies have a ringing relative. Ringers who ring with university societies have opportunities to ring methods at all levels, the majority of societies ring surprise. Peals have been rung by 50% of university society members and quarters by 76%. Seventy-three percent of ringers at university society practices ring with another tower or association at some point during the year.

University ringing practices are not just attended by students. The longer established societies have non-student officers to assist the student officers and also provide a source of assistance and continuity. Six societies are represented on the Central Council. Universities play an important part in the training of young people providing opportunities to progress in ringing terms and to take on positions of responsibility while the ringing societies also ring for Sunday services. The outlook for young ringers from the position of university societies is mainly optimistic. However, by the nature of their members university societies are subject to fluctuating membership numbers, with a student being in a location for three or four years and then, often, leaving the area. Conversations at SUA with society officers from societies in different situations (prospering, staying steady, declining numbers, starting off) show that the opportunity to socialise with other university societies is useful, but formal courses were thought not to have the potential to be useful.

The next steps for the University Trends work are to chase up the final questionnaires in order to produce an article for The Ringing World and the University Societies themselves. From the results of the questionnaire further investigations will be planned using individual surveys and qualitative methods to investigate specific findings concerning retention, recruitment, officers and post-university ringing careers. The information obtained to date will be shared with the Education Committee.

Conclusion

The Ringing Trends Committee decided last year that, because of the consistency of the information obtained so far, that once all of the results from Phases 1 & 2 had been analysed a final report would be prepared. Work will start on this shortly.

The plan for the future is to undertake some sample surveys of individual ringers and possibly undertake wider surveys to get a view of what encourages ringers to “stick” with ringing. In addition, a fuller picture of city centre ringing is considered essential. To move some of this forward it is planned to use online surveys.

Figure 1: Ringers responding to the survey by age and gender (Number surveyed = 11.700)

Figure 2: Comparison of ringers’ ages

Fig 3. Comparison of age that ringers started ringing

Fig 4. Age range of learners over last three years

Figure 5: Occupations

Figure 6. Courses Taken by Students. UG: undergraduate e.g. BA, BSc, MSci; PGT: post-graduate taught e.g. MA, MSc; PGCE; PGR: post-graduate research: PhD, DPhil.

Information obtained from this survey is shared with the Ringing Foundation, CC committees and ringing societies in general.

Towers and Belfries Committee

Three meetings were held during the year, at Evesham, Wingrave, and at Christ Church, Oxford.

Jim Taylor, Chris Povey, Bernard Stone, George Dawson and Peter Bennett retired on rotation at the last meeting and all were re-elected.

We have received enquiries from all around the country during the year, and also from Australia and New Zealand. Some of these require a simple reply and some require more but we have also completed inspections and submitted written reports in respect of five towers. Some of the enquiries were in respect of the possibility of installing new ringing peals.

The committee’s major event of the year was the Seminar on Sound Control held at Duffield in September. Mike Banks is owed particular thanks for doing all of the hard work; thanks also go to Alan Frost and George Dawson for supporting him on the day. The event seemed to be well received and was attended by ringers, bell advisors, architects and surveyors etc., from all around the country. There seems to be sufficient interest to warrant running the event again and so we are planning to do so in the London area this September 25th.

We have not been able to carry out any tower movement surveys during the year but we have just one request outstanding and intend to complete this one and restudy another during 2010. The restudy is a trial to verify predicted tower oscillation against actual.

The committee has been represented at several meetings during the year, between English Heritage and the CCCBR, and the Church Buildings Council and the CCCBR. In order to save time and expense, these meetings have now been combined, with the cooperation of EH and CBC. For those interested in the subject matter discussed, the Secretary always publishes an account in The Ringing World.

Peter Bennett had observed that the remains of a timber ship in Newport (Mon.) was being surveyed by electronic equipment, and wondered if this could be used to survey timber bell frames for archive purposes. We are aware that EH have decided not to pursue a similar approach but Peter had studied the Newport equipment and method, and produced a report for the Committee. Members felt that it was worth pursuing but costs and other practical considerations seemed to rule it out; at least for the time being.

The Committee has also researched the current situation in the trade (as far as it could), with the use of non-metallic clapper shafts. It seems in general that experiments are still in progress but with small bells as well as large; clappering problems being common with both.

Following the tragic death of a churchwarden, arising from a fall from a vertical iron ladder whilst accessing a bell tower, members considered how best the situation might be addressed. The favoured advice was that vertical ladders should be avoided wherever possible but there were ways of offering protection to users of these, depending on local circumstances.

Maintenance courses were arranged by The Bath & Wells Association and The Salisbury Diocesan Guild, and instruction given by the Chairman and Alan Frost. The committee feel that this work is important and if Guilds and Associations are unable to arrange speakers/instructors for their own courses, we will try to make a member available.

The committee’s website continues to be monitored, and we are content with the advice that it offers at this time.

We are not aware of any particular problems with rope supply other than the long delivery period. We are aware of at least two people who have made some ropes and are trialling them at the moment. We would like to think that at least one of them is able to develop their trial into a full scale operation.

Tower Stewardship Committee

Introduction

The Tower Stewardship Committee was formed in 2006, in response to a perceived need to offer guidance in the general areas of tower management within the wider community recognising Church and Common Law. Membership is drawn primarily from those with an interest in the Committee’s work. We’re fortunate that this has drawn members who also bring valuable qualifications and experience to the work of the Committee.

Guidance Notes

A key outcome of the Committee’s remit has been the production of a set of Guidance Notes, as follows:

• GN1 Insurance and Ringing
• GN2 Tower Management
• GN3 Child Protection in Towers
• GN4 Tower Safety and Risk Assessment
• GN5 Church Law
• GN6 Fire Risk Assessment and Protection

All Guidance Notes are reviewed annually. At the time of writing, updated versions of all Guidance Notes (2009 - revision 3) are being uploaded onto the Central Council website.

Child Protection

A major focus for the Committee over the past 18 months has been previewing the implementation of the Government’s Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups legislation.

We are indebted to Chris Mew for his work on this - liaising with relevant government departments, the House of Bishops and other ecclesiastical bodies, drafting recommendations for ringers, publishing frequent updates in The Ringing World, and presenting summaries to the Central Council. Our sense is that communication to the ringing community has been timely and comprehensive. We have communicated these recommendations in a variety of ways - through the Central Council website, through The Ringing World, and through email shots to association secretaries.

Website

Peter Trotman has been enormously helpful in keeping an up-to-date and fresh look for the Committee’s work. All Guidance Notes can be found there, along with any supporting documents and guidelines; all Reports to Council are there; there are contact details (including photos!) of all Committee members; cross-referenced links are good, enabling visitors to find our material through a variety of links.

Meetings

The number of meetings varies from year to year - always at least two, and occasionally four meetings per year. Since the 2009 Central Council meeting in Worcester, the committee has met twice. Members of the Committee are very comfortable with electronic communication, and a lot of work happens between meetings via email.

Other work

• The Committee has offered advice to a number of towers on such subjects as child protection, noise abatement regulations, dealing with complaints and how to complete risk assessments.

• The Committee is always willing to share information on these various subjects, and is willing to attend association meetings, etc. to give presentations on them.

• The Committee maintains valuable communication links with other Committees - in particular the Public Relations Committee and the Towers & Belfries Committee.

• The Committee also maintains communication links with other relevant bodies, such as EIG (Ecclesiastical Insurance Group).

• We are presently looking into the production of two further Guidance Notes:

  • GN7 - Noise (in alignment with advice already provided by Public Relations and Towers & Belfries)

  • GN8 - Planning Applications.

Conclusion

From small beginnings in 2006, the Tower Stewardship Committee has carved a valuable niche in the provision of practical and timely advice in its areas of expertise. As well as being pro-active in offering assistance, we are also very open to suggestions and recommendations from all areas of the Central Council regarding our remit, our communication methods and any other component of our work.

Bell Restoration Committee

The Committee met three times in 2009; in London in February, in Worcester in May during the Council weekend, and in London in October.

Membership

There have been several changes to the membership and composition of the Committee during the year. Sadly, Carol Hardwick, our Chairman, died in September after a courageous fight against cancer. Many tributes have been paid to Carol both for her personal qualities and for the work that she has done in many aspects of her life, not least in connection with ringing.

The Committee has felt her loss very deeply. Robin Shipp has now taken over as Chairman and his place as Secretary has been taken by Peter Wilkinson. Laith Reynolds offered his resignation to the Committee in October due to his involvement with the purchase of Taylors, Eayre and Smith Ltd. and to avoid any possible conflict of interest which may have arisen. This was reluctantly accepted but with thanks to Laith for all his work on the Committee. Jay Bunyan was co-opted to the Committee at the same meeting.

Ian Oram will stand down at the 2010 Council but will make himself available for re-election. We were delighted to hear that Jackie Roberts has reconsidered her intention to stand down at the 2010 Council.

Robin Shipp, the new Chairman of the CC Bell Restoration Committee

Provision of Information and Advice

We continue to maintain contact with parishes and individuals across the United Kingdom, and occasionally from overseas. Mostly, these are requests for general fundraising advice but we are also pleased to receive news of ongoing projects. We had more than 65 contacts during 2009 and these included 31 initial contacts. In addition to contact by telephone, email and letter, Committee members also make visits to parishes where such contact is thought to be useful. One such visit was made last year and was much appreciated by the parish concerned.

We still provide a service for searches using the FunderFinder system and it is pleasing to note that the level of both enquiries and searches shows a slight increase from last year. During 2009 we received 32 enquiries (21 in 2008) and completed 12 searches (9 in 2008).

Information useful to parishes and/or ringing societies continues to be notified widely through the pages of The Ringing World. During the year such matters included Gift Aid, the requirement for charities to provide a statement of public benefit and the Give As You Earn scheme.

We continue to work on updating the Appendices to “Organising a Bell Restoration Project” with the intention of publishing these on the website. This will help us to ensure that the information can then be updated as often as necessary.

A useful “How to Fundraise” website has been identified and a link has been included both on the CC website and also on the Ringing Info website.

Administration of Funds

As reported previously, no further grants will be made from the Manifold Trust. Two grants were paid during the year and two outstanding grants remain to be paid on completion of the work.

Two grants offered from the Central Council Bell Fund in past years have now been paid on completion of the projects and two further grants remain outstanding. Despite the fund remaining at a relatively low level, it was decided that applications for grants should be invited as the money deposited in the fund is receiving very little interest due to the current economic circumstances and is, effectively, losing value. A notice was published in The Ringing World setting out the criteria for making grants and inviting applications by 17th January 2010. We were pleased to accept the donation of a large number of the remaining Oranges and Lemons prints from the ASCY and SRCY. These will be offered for sale at suitable opportunities with proceeds to the Central Council Bell Fund. The continuing sale of Jigsaws has, once again, made a valuable contribution to the Bell Restoration Fund. The Committee wish to record our thanks to the ASCY and SRCY for their kind donation of the prints and to Stella Bianco for generously donating the proceeds of Jigsaw sales to the Central Council Bell Restoration Fund.

In accordance with the terms of the Fund, the Fred E Dukes International Bell Fund offered the following grant: St James Anglican Church, Menangle, NSW, Australia: £2,500.

One grant to All Saints, Fourways, Johannesburg, South Africa was paid; one grant remains outstanding and one grant has been withdrawn as, despite continued efforts over a significant time, no contact with the applicants had been possible. Further applications for grants have been invited.

Carol Hardwick who died in September 2009

Future Work

Sadly, some work in progress was lost due to the untimely death of Carol Hardwick in September and this has delayed completion of some projects.

Work continues to make the considerable amount of material in paper form that the Committee has acquired available in a downloadable form on the website. This will support the information in the booklet “Organising a Bell Restoration Project.” As has been mentioned, the appendices for the booklet are also being revised with the intention that they, too, will be available on the website.

As stocks of the OABRP booklet are beginning to run low, the Committee will, in liaison with the Publications Committee, revise and bring up-to-date the text of the booklet with the intention of printing a revised edition before existing stocks run out.

The Committee is preparing a checklist to assist parishes when considering and comparing estimates to help ensure that like for like comparisons are made.

Committee Members

Report of the Stewards of the Carter Ringing Machine Collection

A stock list of all the items of the collection updated towards the end of 2008 proved invaluable in labelling all the artifacts belonging to the Council when the company of Taylors, Eayre & Smith went into administration in September 2009. In mid-October UK Bellfounders Ltd. began trading from the premises and indicated their desire to have the Museum return to its former layout. In view of the upheaval involved, the Machine has not been demonstrated recently, but it, and all the other effects, have been taken care of.

The death in December 2009 of Barry Ward, (a Steward of the Collection for several years) leaves a serious void in experienced maintenance and operational personnel.

It is hoped that in the summer and autumn of 2010 the demonstrations of the Carter Ringing Machine will be resumed at the Bellfoundry Museum. Two of the former Stewards have offered assistance in training.

ALAN BERRY

The Ringing World, April 30, 2010, pages 457 to 461

Report of the Steward of the Rolls of Honour

The two Memorial Books are kept in their display case at St Paul’s Cathedral; they are in good condition and the pages are regularly turned.

The website has received a good deal of attention during the year; a complete overhaul of how the Great War information is stored was completed to match that of the more recently added WWII details. A large number of photographs have now been added, mainly of cemeteries. Great thanks are due to Peter Trotman for his work in this respect.

I would particularly like to thank Yvonne Cairns for her continuing help in this project along with David Underdown, a ringer from Putney who works at the National Archives. David has been researching particularly the 48 soldiers commemorated in the Great War Roll that we have not yet been able to identify and we are now much closer to identifying some of these because of his work.

A number of ringers and non-ringers have been in contact either enabling me to add more details or asking for information about those listed - this has increased since the information has been made available on the website.

An article was published in The Ringing World in early November 2009 which looked at memorials to ringers in a number of towers across the country.

The Great War volume was removed temporarily towards the end of 2009 in order to obtain professional advice on the addition of more pages. The advice received was that the book was a wonderful example of bookbinding, leather bound with vellum pages, amongst the best seen, and that the addition of more pages would not be satisfactory as it could damage the book. In view of this I have considered how those that continuing research will reveal should be commemorated; some 63 names have been found since the last addendum was written and I anticipate that there are still a large number that will be brought to light over time.

The Commonwealth War Grave Commission (CWGC) continues to commemorate those newly found in the same way it has since its formation. Perhaps the best example of this is the building, in 2009, of the new Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery in which the remains of 249 soldiers have recently been buried. The cemetery was the first built by the Commission in over 50 years and has been built to the same high standards of the existing CWGC cemeteries that date from the 1920s to the 1950s. All the soldiers have individual graves and all were buried with military honours. Standard CWGC headstones are currently being prepared.

I feel that we should follow the lead of the CWGC and therefore believe it would be wrong if we commemorated newly identified ringers who died in the Great War in a different way to those that we have remembered already.

I propose that the Central Council commission a new Great War Memorial Book, to be made to match the existing book in all respects and that, in due course, additional names be handwritten to the same high standard of those already recorded. This will ensure that future names will be commemorated in the same way as in the past.

I intend to raise funds for this book from ringers and towers across the Country, thereby increasing ringers’ awareness of the Rolls of Honour. I ask Council members to support this proposal.

ALAN REGIN

Report of the Stewards of the Dove Database

The rate at which changes are made to the data within the database underlying Dove seems not to diminish: in February 2010 we passed the milestone of 11,000 changes made since March 2003 (the earliest routinely stored update that we have on file), some three years after Edition 9 was published. This represents a rate of more than four altered entries each and every day over the last seven years. Each reported change is not only carefully scrutinised for authenticity and probability but also recorded so that any subsequent question arising as to its accuracy or origin can be answered. This makes it a significant and time-consuming task. So also is the concomitant need for self consistency of the data: it is inherently error-prone. For example, we try to remove indication of a practice night when we learn that the bells are undergoing restoration … and then we have to try to remember to put it back once we learn that the job is completed. All this work is carried out by John Baldwin on the underlying database.

Many thanks go to Tim Jackson for keeping a watchful eye on every change made (and also suggesting some that need to be made) and for ensuring that wherever possible any inconsistencies that do remain are identified and speedily eliminated. For those which we fail to spot, please accept our apologies and let us know about them, and do so quickly. Thanks, too, go to Ron Johnston for his continuing expertise, and to Sid Baldwin for his most valuable work on the software behind our internet presence. It is our perception that, altogether, being a Dove Steward must be one of the most onerous of CC tasks that is performed on behalf of the Exercise.

Similarly the large amount of proto-National Bell Register data now instantly available via the internet is also kept as accurate as possible. As installations change, with new bells replacing old ones, and as overhauls and augmentations are carried out, this too seems to be a never-ending job, quite apart from the as yet far from completed task of adding data that is still missing. Interestingly, there still remain (at the time of writing) four 6-bell and ten 5-bell rings for which we do not have even a tenor strike note (let alone its nominal). We leave the question of precisely which those are as an exercise for the reader; there is an easy way of doing just that: try going to the Dove website and working out for yourself how to do such a search. Are they all unringable towers? While we leave that to you to answer for yourself, being unringable shouldn’t necessarily mean that a tenor cannot be sounded and its note ascertained. If one of these instances is a tower near you, or in the area covered by your association, do please see if you can make good that deficiency. Among the larger number of noteless 4-bell towers, two would appear to practise regularly and so there can be little excuse for that information not being determined and submitted to us.

Those who watch the Dove webpages closely and the changes that take place will have seen that since our last report to Council, we have added data about bellframes. Taken together, we confidently believe that the database information, and the data taken from it for display on the internet is, as we enter 2010, more comprehensive and accurate than it has been at any time in the past. For that we pay tribute to the untiring efforts of those who regularly feed us the necessary information, for that too is an essential part of the process. We are grateful, too, to The Ringing World for their reminders about the facility and the aim of having accurate, comprehensive, and up-to-date details.

As has been mentioned on previous occasions, the underlying database is a DOS product but, demonstrably, it is still “fit for purpose”. During 2009, progress continued to be made on developing a more modern basis for what is now a sizeable corpus of information (more than 35Mb) and which should be extremely useful to the Exercise for years to come. All this development work is being done by John alongside keeping the present design in step with developing needs as they emerge and all of the data changes referred to in the preceding paragraphs.

Finally we are acutely aware that the time has come for another printed edition of Dove even though the data is readily available via the internet. To that end we have had discussion with the Publications Committee and are very much hoping that such can be available in time for the Christmas 2010 market. We hope that would-be readers are equally aware that the next printed copy, whenever it appears, will inevitably be out of date by the time a copy reaches the first purchaser’s hands!

The Ringing World, April 30, 2010, page 462

Rescue Fund for Redundant Bells

The full name of the charity is:- CENTRAL COUNCIL OF CHURCH BELL RINGERS RESCUE FUND FOR REDUNDANT BELLS

The charity is not incorporated. The constitution derives from rules adopted on the 29th May 1979 and amended on the 26th May 2008 and registered with the Charity Commission on the 22nd October 1979. The Charity’s registration number is 278816.

The principal address of the Charity is that of the secretary namely:- 8 LEBANON GARDENS, LONDON SW18 1RG.

The principal object of the Fund is to advance the Christian religion by the rescue of redundant bells for the purpose of their being rehoused elsewhere for ringing in churches.

The Trustees of the Fund are the members of the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers Committee for Redundant Bells namely:-

The Revd Dr. J. C. Baldwin
R. J. Cooles
A. J. Frost
I. Hastilow
R. Lewis
J. Newman
The Honorary Secretary is: R. J. Cooles
Honorary Treasurer is: The Revd Dr J. C. Baldwin.

The Trustees’ report of the Fund’s activities for the year ended 31st December 2009 is as follows:-

As contemplated last year the schemes with loans extant at Wickersley (South Yorkshire), Moseley (Birmingham) and Northampton needed to be brought to a resolution. Wickersley decided that the proposed scheme could not go ahead for the foreseeable future and the redundant bells from Highfield were accordingly passed to the Keltek Trust and, on the initiative of this Committee, three of the bells were then passed on to St. John’s Merton in the diocese of Southwark to form part of a new ring of eight.

St. Mary Moseley decided to go ahead with the scheme but using different bells. The Cradley Heath bells previously secured for them were thus passed to the Keltek Trust and the loan refunded.

The Northampton project proved more intractable. The parish was unable to repay the loan and it fell to the Fund to dispose of the bells at a time of depressed scrap values.

However, it was fortunate that the new proprietors of Taylors Bell Foundry where the bells were stored were able to broker a sale of the bells to Eijsbouts Foundry for a sum sufficient to repay the Fund’s loan. Sufficient was paid promptly to enable the remaining individual loans to the Fund to be repaid. At the time of writing the balance remains outstanding but it is anticipated to be paid shortly.

Hanley has been the source of some drama. The hope expressed in the last report that the future of the ring of ten bells was secure was dashed when the Conservation Officer of Stoke City Council ruled that the bells could not be removed. The only alternative was for the bells to be bricked up in the tower on the conversion of the church to secular use. Despite this apparently unalterable decision the Stoke and Stone ringers plunged into battle again and at the time of writing this report the hope is that the decision may yet be reversed and the bells removed for rehanging at Stone. A campaign to help achieve this and the possibility of a loan from the Fund to assist in the cost and removal may well be necessary.

Once Hanley is settled the Committee hopes to resume co-ordinating arrangements with the Rescue Fund of the Keltek Trust to maximise the potential of “rescuing” redundant bells.

The Committee is ever grateful to those ringers who have undertaken to provide loans for the Fund and they are always quick to provide a generous response when loans are requested. As always the promises of loans are welcome and the Committee hopes Council members will consider offering loans by so notifying the Treasurer.

Rescue Fund for Redundant Bells

Registered Charity No 278816

Note 1:
One loan to a parish remains outstanding, viz £10,000

Note 2:
All outstanding loans from ringers were repaid during 2009

J C Baldwin
19 March 2010

The Ringing World, April 30, 2010, page 463, correction September 17, 2010, page 940