Remembrance Ringing

#bellringing traditions run deep. From Christmas morning, New Years Eve, weddings, funerals, but especially Remembrance Sunday.

In 2018 I was the project coordinator for the #Ringingremembers campaign, an initiative to recruit at least 1400 new bellringers to symbolically replace those that were lost during WW1, on the 100th anniversaryof the Armistice. The project was a massive success due to the community spirit in wanting a way to remember those who had died, as well as the hard work put in by the #bellringing community, who recruited and taught new ringers in the months leading up to the anniversary. So successful was the campaign that we recruited over double the original target.

Fast forward 2 years and it was a very different story this Remembrance Sunday. Due to lockdown restrictions #bellringing has been severly curtailed since March, and there hasn’t been a full return to ringing since the first lockdown yet.

Therefore #bellringing this Remembrance Sunday featured the lone tolling of one bell to mark the Nation’s tribute to the fallen. For many ringers this has been one of the most painful days of not being able to ring.

What is worrying is that all the efforts put in 2 years plus ago, might be undone, as we’re nowhere near a return yet. And when we do return, how many of our number won’t? Whether age, infirmities or loss of interest, those who can’t or who have found other things take up their time, I’m sure the number of ringers will have diminished.

The Central Council of Church Bellringers is working hard to keep things going and formulating plans for a return to ringing, but there may not be another hook for us to regain a recruitment campaign in quite the same manner.

As with most #bellringing activities the rewards are commensurate with the amount of effort put in. In the coming months and years we are going to need to put in a huge effort to reap the rewards.

Time to get the thinking caps on and start planning.

We did a thing

When lockdown #1 began back in March, #bellringing, like so many other things was put on hold. Fortunately, some very clever people thought up RingingRoom, an online virtual belfry that enabled groups of people, from anywhere in the world, to join together to practice.

For a while I wasn’t particularly interested in it, thinking it was a bit too techy for me to get the hang of. But as time went on, and there seemed to be no return to the usual rhythm of practice nights, meetings, quarter peals and peals, I decided to have a closer look.

From some time in May, I invited a small group of my siblings (the ones that ring), my hubby, and some friends, to a regular Thursday evening virtual #bellringing session. Each week we’d try to get the hang of ringing using a keyboard instead of a rope, and learn a different set of visual clues.

One of my siblings has always had it in her head that should could never get the hang of ringing Cambridge Surprise Minor. She had, in the dim and distant past, rung it and even scored a quarter peal of it, but it had never stuck and she rarely had the opportunity to try. I therefore made it an early mission of this group to get her to be ringing it without fuss.

We took a circuitous route, using different methods to introduce different parts of the work and build up gradually. In the meantime, she had also put out a request for anyone else to help her, during her own organised sessions, with extra practice during the daytime.

With this additional help, it wasn’t long before she’d got a plain course sorted and was trying touches. Then someone suggested going for a quarter peal attempt. There were a couple of failed attempts, either technology failures, or brain failures. She eventually changed her day time sessions to a Friday so that I could join in too on my day off.

On our Thursday evening sessions, we have moved on from Cambridge to Ipswich, Primrose and now Norwich. From someone who didn’t think she could ring Surprise Minor methods, she’s now got several under her belt.

It so happened that her hubby had the week off work and it was his birthday on Friday so the suggestion was to try for a quarter peal of Cambridge again. With some trepidation 6 of us gathered, from the comfort of our respective homes and started ringing. It was going very well. Only a few clips here and there but nothing o worry about. There was quite a hiccup quite near the end, but we all stuck with it and managed to come out of it in the right order.

After 49 minutes, a very reasonable quarter peal of Cambridge Surprise Minor was scored. As you might imagine she was really chuffed. Everyone was really pleased to have scored it, especially as a birthday compliment to her hubby too.

Another #bellringing milestone ticked.

Having a clear out

We’re having a tidy up of the study to make room for a second office desk and chair.

Over the years what was step daughter #1’s bedroom became the spare room and eventually we moved the computer out of our bedroom and into this room, therefore redesignating it as the study. However, it also became the junk room.

Over years and years, more and more stuff has been pushed in there as either being “useful one day” or “file it later”. To the point where we can’t actually get anywhere near the other end of the room, and now have no idea whats there. To be honest, a bit embarrassing.

With lockdown #2 now underway and the potential for things to change for me at work, it might be possible, or desirable, for me to work from home from time to time. It would also be more beneficial as I do more #bellringing stuff. C is on the computer quite a lot doing whatever it is he does, so if I had a desk and set up too, I could get on with things. I know that I could sit on the sofa with my laptop but that’s not conducive to a nine and a half hour working day. I need a proper chair and desk.

So, desk and chair have been ordered, although the desired chair was out of stock, so was the second preference, so ended up with third choice, which of course was more expensive, but they’re giving it to us at the same price as the first choice, for the inconvenience.

Had a phone call at 07:30 (!) Thursday morning saying that desk will arrive tomorrow. Eek, better start making room for it then.

Why does tidying up always create more mess? C is making a start as the first hurdles are his. Most of my stuff is at the back of the room, so he’s got to make some headway before I can do much. This is going to take some time. He seems to be checking everything and reading things, and deciding that “that would be useful to hang on to” despite the fact that’s its clearly not been used in many, many years.

There are now bin bags, recycling bags and piles of other stuff accumulating in the lounge, ready for the next phase. This is going to take a while.

Time to Ramp Things Up

On Thursday evenings I run a RingingRoom virtual #bellringing session with a small group made up of family and friends. We’ve been doing this since about May, in leiu of actual bellringing in a tower on real bells.

Over the months we’ve been building up our repertoire of methods having started off ringing various Minor methods like Double Oxford, Buxton and Pinehurst before moving on to Surprise Minor methods, Cambridge, Primrose, Ipswich and Bourne.

For some of the group, including myself, it’s the first time that we’ve rung some of these methods so it has been a massive achievement for the group.

Some weeks are better than others. Sometimes the technology is a bit flaky and let’s the rhythm down and sometimes one or more of us isn’t quite on top form. The point is that we stick with it. Each week we have a core 8 or 9 people, so each touch requires one or more person to sit out. But that’s just what it would be like in a real tower anyway. We spend about an hour or so ringing and I use a simple matrix (pictured) to try to make sure that everyone gets a fair go, and gets to try the method from every bell.

Now we’re more proficient at ringing some Surprise Minor methods, I asked everyone how they wanted to proceed. The options were to either a) stick with Surprise Minor and work our way through some of those methods, b) to move on to ringing Major methods, starting with something basic to help us get into an 8 bell rhythm, or c) to go for a combination of both, to add some variety, but that might mean sometimes learning 2 methods at the same time for some people. I want everyone to feel that they get something out of it, enjoy it, but not to feel pressured too much that they spend all week stressing over it.

The resounding result was to try a combination of both. We then agreed that the 2 methods should be “methods of the month” so we spend every week in the month consolidating those 2 methods before moving on. So for November our methods of the month will be Norwich Surprise Minor and Little Bob Major. Hopefully we’ll be able to give everyone good go at both of those throughout the evenings.

And after an intensive ringing session, we all head down the virtual pub for a good natter to catch up with what everyone’s been up to. Just like a real ringing session but without leaving the comfort of home.

Thank goodness for the advent of RingingRoom and Zoom.

Focus, focus

Wednesday evening’s #bellringing meeting agenda had 15 items on it and the meeting was scheduled for 2 hours with 9 attendees. Focus and a good Chairperson was going to be required in order to get through that lot in the time allowed. The meeting platform of choice was Zoom.

Usually this particular meeting is well managed and several email and offline discussions would have already taken place, so a lot of it is for informational purposes, but sometimes assigning actions to move things forward, and the odd formal bit of business that requires sign off.

There are some quite major projects on the go as well as needing to ensure the core business activities are kept on track. Fortunately this group are all well versed and good humoured, so the meetings don’t tend to feel like they drag or are unnecessary.

The meeting rattled through, including some sticky subjects, business duly conducted and only 10 minutes over published time. I think I only got one action out of it, so all good. 🤣

One of the things I can’t help but notice during these types of meetings is people’s refreshment choice. There were several glasses of wine in evidence, a couple of reds, 1 white I think and possibly 1 rose. There were a couple of mugs, presumably with tea or coffee in, unless they were cunningly disguising their beer or wine. My own beverage of choice was red wine, but it was wine Wednesday in our house after all 😀

Which platform?

Yesterday I had a number of virtual meetings both at work and for #bellringing in the evening. This has consisted of using various different video conferencing platforms.

At work we use Starleaf which enables meetings and video conferencing, screen sharing and so on. You have to send your attendees a link with a meeting ID and password and you can dial in on a phone instead.

We have a fortnightly Skype meeting with family members and our daughter. You need a log in for that and connect with other users first.

We use Zoom for #bellringing meetings and to support RingingRoom sessions. Similar to Starleaf with the ability to run polls and breakout rooms as well. I have acpaid Zoom account which often means I’m the one setting the meeting up. Again you can send attendees a link to access the meeting or dial in.

Tuesday evening I was on a meeting with the Communications & Marketing workgroup and we used MS Teams for the first time. It seems to have similar functions to Zoom and Starleaf although it did take a bit of getting into. It wasn’t particularly intuitive at first. Once you get into it it made a bit more sense but I haven’t figured out how to add files or calendar dates yet but probably need to spend a bit more time rummaging around it to get myself acquainted with it. We’re supposed to be getting this rolled out at work eventually.

There are so many different platforms being used for various things sometimes it’s a wonder that it all works. So many log in IDs and passwords to remember.

The Week Ahead

I turned the page in my diary to look at the week ahead. Its going to be a busy one.

I have the day job of course, 9.5 hour days Monday to Thursday. Then when I get home, apart from Monday evening, I have Zoom meetings or Ringing Room sessions every evening.

Tuesday a workgroup meeting, Wednesday an executive meeting, Thursday a RingingRoom #bellringing session, Friday a RingingRoom session, a joint workgroup discussion and a different workgroup meeting. Then Saturday a day off.

Its just one of those weeks when everything happens all at once. Thankfully not every week is like this.

Keeping busy is a great way to keep hopeful and motivated. Having something to occupy our time gives us something to talk about, something to learn from, something to share with others.

I know myself when I keep busy, I’m more motivated, have increased energy, more productive, more creative, more alert and more positive. When I have less to do, I get easily distracted by nothingness and lose focus, then just sit on the sofa playing games on my tablet.

Having said all that, of course it is good to have some down time, to relax and recharge. I have a week off work the following week which I’m looking forward to.

Brain drain

The brain apparently has the capacity for storage similar to that of an ipod or USB drive, but the way neurons connect many memories at a time, this capacity is exponentially increased. Why is it then, my ability to learn and retain a new #bellringing method is nanoseconds?

Learning new things is good for the brain. The younger the brain, the more space it has for new memory storage. As we get older it takes a bit longer and things become easier to forget quicker.

One way to learn is repetitive practice. It is suggested by some that spacing repetition over several weeks or months will have better longer term retention. There are tips and tricks on how to remember things more easily, if you can remember what they are in the first place. Exercice to clear your head. I don’t need exercise to clear my head, its pretty clear most of the time 🤣 Write down what needs to be remembered over and over again, just remember where you’d written it. Relate new things to what you already know, use some brain training app or game to sharpen your focus.

Lots of uber clever ringers remember methods as what the work is above and below where the treble is, or by thinking of it as a different method with bits added or chopped out.

Every time I need to learn a new method, I spend a while staring at the blue line, the pattern of the work. I sometimes even write it out a few times. Then I’ll have a go of ringing it on the simulator and do that over and over again.

Mt trouble is that I’m not very good at retaining it, so if I don’t then ring it for real very soon after learning it, I’ll forget it. I can also instantly forget it after I’ve rung it once and then have to learn it all over again for next time. And, when I learn it again, I have very little recollection of having rung it before, its like its completely new all over again.

I’m glad I get the opportunity to learn new methods and extend my repertoire, even if only temporarily. Apparently learning new things improves brain chemistry, increases learning speed, helps make connections between skill areas, makes you more interesting (😉) fights boredom and may help stave off dementia.

Just the two of us

With our area in Tier 2 restrictions the #bellringing community is once again advised to not meet in multiple households. So the decision was whether its worth #bellringing just 2 bells.

We went along to the Cathedral anyway. We met the Dean and other clergy who also asked if everything was OK last week as we didn’t ring at all then. We clarified that others had been ill so we’d decided not to ring, and explained that it would just be the 2 of us until restrictions changed.

C did try to chime 2 bells so we could try 3 between us but the musical version was too heavy to keep going, so we decided to stick to ringing the 4th and 5th properly.

We did a few minutes of rounds, ding dong, then swapped places, dong ding, then back again. Then we did some places dodging. Two blows in the same place, dodge, 2 places, then dodge, and kept that going for a while. The finished up with a couple more minutes of ding dong.

Although ringing 2 bells may seem pointless to some, we felt that it was important keep #bellringing going if we could. It seemed to have been welcomed by the Dean.

Fingers crossed these restrictions won’t last long and we can meet some of our friends again.

Self portrait

I’m going on a course soon to do with work and as part of the preparation they’ve asked me to send them a short bio and a photograph of myself to go in the course pack.

I HATE having my photo taken. There are very few of me about, I’m not photogenic and why the heck would any one want my ugly mug staring at them.

Also, the request for bio information stated “send a brief profile write up mentioning your role, hobbies and anything you’d like the other participants to know“. The first two bits are easy. I know what my job is and, well basically its bells and baking. But how would I know what other people might want to know about me. How far do I take this?

My favourite colour is burgundy, I like orange Smarties. I drive xx car, I have un frere et deux soeurs (as we used to trot out in French classes). Married, daughter, home…

How much could anyone possibly be interested in?

I turned to trusty old Google and typed in “what should I write in a short bio”. Google suggested that I should include my goals and aspirations, the 2-3 most impressive and relevant achievements and a quirky fact about myself.

OK, so the Smarties thing is in. Hmm, goals and aspirations. To get through life as best I can, you can’t see what’s coming round the corner. 2-3 impressive and relevant achievements. I don’t know. I’ve done some stuff and some of it has been OK but I’m not sure that it’s relevant to the course context.

I’ve kept my bio very short. It’s of little interest to anyone else I’m sure. It’ll be interesting in itself to see how much and what things others have written.