I would like to start by paying tribute to our seven districts. This is where much of the work of the Guild takes place: running practices, holding training and social events, organising peals and quarters and supporting their towers. This only happens because of the hard work and dedication that you put in each week and month.
I am a firm believer that things happen best at a local level, but we have three priorities that we need to focus across the Guild as a whole: recruiting new ringers, building a safe ringing community and making sure we have bells to ring on.
We are facing a nationwide decline in the number of ringers, largely due to the fall in the number of new young people learning to ring. The Central Council of Church Bellringers estimates that the UK has lost 10,000 ringers over the last few decades. We are tackling this problem in several ways:
We have youth ringing initiatives at both Guild and District levels and you can read about the continued success of our young ringers in the report from our Youth Ringing Committee. I would like to congratulate Andy and the committee and all the young people involved and to thank their parents and helpers who support them.
Our districts also have programmes to improve skills and develop ringers of all ages, including training new recruits for towers where there has been no regular band. The districts are supported at Guild level with training organised by our Education Committee. Please look at their programme and encourage anyone who you think will benefit to take part. Districts now retain an increased proportion of the annual subscription specifically to use for recruitment and training and to help remove financial barriers to new learners.
The Central Council has launched a strategy called Ringing 2030 that aims to make a significant increase in the number of ringers by the year 2030. This is through a mixture of publicity and marketing initiatives, including school outreach, followed up by provision of additional training opportunities. We need to take advantage of this and do our part in welcoming new recruits and training them.
Given the decline of ringers nationally we also need to make sure that our towers are safe and friendly places. It’s important that we all work to provide a welcoming environment in our towers - one where new recruits and established ringers feel welcome regardless of their abilities or personalities.
Safeguarding remains a very important topic, to ensure the safety of all our ringers, to conform to our legal requirements and to make sure that we continue to be allowed to ring in our churches. This year we will be revising the Guild’s Safeguarding Policy to bring it more up to date.
I know that this may seem some way off, but 2029 will see the 150th anniversary of our Guild. Our new Honorary Secretary Alex Blissett has already started to think of ways to mark the event. Alex is also planning to relaunch our Guild Newsletter so please support him, by providing him with a stream of news and other content.
As well as needing ringers, we also need bells to ring on. The Guild helps with grants from its Bell Restoration Fund and its Belfry Stewardship committee is available to inspect and give advice, but we all need to do our bit to make sure that we keep our bells in good ringing order and our ringing rooms attractive for new recruits.
Over the last few years, the average amount paid out in grants by the BRF has been exceeding its annual income and we have been using up its financial reserve. If we want to continue making grants at the current level we need to raise more money for it, for example through fund-raising initiatives or personal donations.
I would like to close by thanking my fellow officers and the executive committee for their support and to thank all of you for choosing me as Guild Master last June. I genuinely feel that it is a privilege and I look forward to meeting more of you during the coming year.Peter Niblett