Dear Friends,
Very special ringing has been well under-way to commemorate World War 1 and to honour those who lost their lives during that conflict. Ringers have done what they do so well by listening to the needs of their own communities and then offering their skills by way of special ringing.
In response to the all day special chiming involving many non-ringers at Town Church Guernsey, a great example of community appreciation was received from The Bailiff of Guernsey … “It was a wonderful, innovative idea that captured the imagination of islanders and visitors alike, including the passengers and crew of the visiting ship!”
How this reflects wonderfully well the following contribution received as a result of a Face book group discussion concerning how we need to issue our publicity to the media in a very positive way … “To ring bells is to do something significant - it is not just pulling ropes, having a jolly time and maintaining an ancient tradition. Ringing can convey messages of pride, joy and sadness across town and country in a way that words alone can’t!”
Two amazing long length peals - 28,512 Bristol Surprise Major in 13 hours 6 minutes - the longest ever peal for our Guild and the 4th longest tower bell peal ever and 20,160 Pudsey Surprise Major in 9 hours 15 minutes. Our congratulations to all the ringers and our thanks for being such a great inspiration to other aspiring ringers. We are very proud of you all!
Some will question the relevance of peal ringing generally. Maybe we need to consider where a good deal of our experience and teaching support comes from and that one of the our main challenges currently is of “Retention”. Peal ringers provide part of the pool of expertise on which we rely; if by peal ringing they maintain their interest in ringing and helping many other ringers, then excellent!
Once we’ve recruited new ringers and trained them well, we need to keep them interested, excited and motivated. It’s very worthy of note that three of the Guild’s first pealers in 2014 were aged 16, 10 and 8 - well done indeed! Experience shows us that young ringers, in particular, wish to constantly strive for advancement and love a specific challenge. In this way, the once-hobby becomes a vocation … we then have our constant supply of Sunday service ringers. Call changes, plain hunt, quarter peals, peals and excellent striking all have their part to play here.
A good deal of our Officers’ work has been in obtaining much feedback from ringers, including District Officers; this exercise was kick started in Winchester in March with the Have Your Say event. The recent focus has been in the drawing up of a draft Action Plan for the next few years; it tries to reflect the areas of need identified by members. This initiative will not be a magic wand, of course, but hopefully it will encourage us all to be actively involved in developing ideas to provide continuity, support for the Districts and our individual members and to help move The Guild towards being a more relevant body for all of its members.
Together with Christine Hill, I’m scouting for committee members currently in readiness for the Annual General Meeting in July 2015 so, please consider coming forward now to help us shape ringing for the future.
Happy Ringing!
Vivien Nobbs