Give it a go

I hosted our district virtual #bellringing practice last night. It’s tricky in that you’re never sure who is going to turn up and what their ability is. There are some who positively indicate they’re coming then don’t turn up and those who don’t indicate they’re coming and do turn up. We ended up with 8 ringers, we did have 9 but she had internet issues so logged off.

One lady was new to us, we’d not seen her before or knew where she was from but we made her very welcome. We enquired where she rang and what sort of thing she was capable of. That really is one of the best things about #bellringing, you can pretty much pitch up anywhere and join in and are generally made welcome.

This particular lady said that she could ring plain hunt doubles, one of the first more complex things that you start to learn, it forms the basis of everything to come as you progress through more complex stuff. I assigned her to one of the bells and other ringers around her and off they went. She rang really well. To be honest I was pleasantly surprised.

With other people we rang a range of different things, some with greater success than others, but some of that was technical issues. Then I asked this lady if she’d ever tried plain hunt minor, the next step up from what she’d rung earlier. She said she’d never rung it before but recited the pattern perfectly using places rather than what number bell to follow. I assigned her to a bell and the rest of the band and she proceeded to ring it flawlessly. She said it was genuinely her first attempt at it. We rang some other things then I suggested she had another go at it from a different starting position. Again, she rang it brilliantly. I think she was also very pleased to have done it too.

To join in with a different group of ringers you don’t know takes some guts, especially as a relative learner. To then ring something you’ve never rung before as well was just fantastic. I do hope that she feels able to join us again on the next virtual practice. I think she could gain a lot from ringing with others apart from her own band.