BEDFORDSHIRE ASSOCIATION OF CHURCH BELL RINGERS

Update

Latest news and information for all towers and ringers in Bedfordshire

February 2022
Please forward to other ringers in your tower, and print off a copy for your tower notice board.

Ring a First in February
 

What are YOU hoping to ring
as your
First in February?

Here are some ideas:
•    First Quarter / First Quarter of … / First Quarter as conductor
•    Conduct call changes (eg to Queens and back)
•    A plain course / touch of Plain Bob Doubles (on the treble, tenor behind, inside bell or as conductor)
•    Treble to a course of Treble Bob or Surprise Minor
•    Plain course / touch of Cambridge Surprise Minor inside

•    Plain course of a new / tricky method that you haven't rung before (either as an individual or as a band!)

etc ....!

How to attempt your First In February:
Agree a realistic target with your Tower Captain (TC) / mentor, and discuss what "homework" you might need to do! 
Can this be rung on Practice Night, with help of local band / visitors?  
IF SO: Great! Go ahead and ring it!
IF NOT:
Contact your district’s representative.

     Bedford District: Sarah Ward  sarahlouiseward34@gmail.com

     Biggleswade District: Chris Williams christine.williams.bells@gmail.com

     Luton District: Angela Blackburn luton@bacbr.org.uk 

Can they help to facilitate, eg at a District Meeting? 
IF SO: Great! Go ahead and ring it!

IF NOT:
Please contact Linda on backtoringing@bacbr.org.uk and I'll do my best to facilitate.

If you are successful:
So that we have a record of and can celebrate everyone's achievements during February, please ask the conductor to submit details to BellBoard:   https://bb.ringingworld.co.uk
Once submitted it can be linked to the BACBR First in February event:  
https://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/event.php?id=14396

Any problems submitting to BellBoard or linking to the event, please email details of date, tower, no of changes, method, names of ringers, conductor and "first" footnote to backtoringing@bacbr.org.uk 

Do keep an eye on BellBoard to see what other ringers have achieved!

Good luck and have fun attempting your First!!

Forthcoming Training Sessions and Meetings

Please do support District Meetings. They are a great opportunity for

• less experienced ringers to progress and to consolidate what they may have learned at training sessions.
• more experienced ringers to support those who are learning - we were all learners once! - and ring something with other experienced ringers too!
• having a sociable time!

Don't forget - you are welcome to go along to meetings in any District, not just your own!

Second Saturday Training
 

at the R J Sharp Ringing Centre 
at St Andrews Biggleswade

Next sessions:
12 February and 12 March, 10.00 - 12.00

Open to all Bedfordshire ringers.  The sessions are aimed at less experienced, mainly adult ringers, who can handle a bell but want to improve technique, confidence and progress; 
For more details, please contact Philippa Whittington, pw48@btinternet.com or Sue Silver, vicepresident@bacbr.org.uk

Bedfordshire Young Ringers

Next practice:
Sunday 13 February   2 - 4pm at Clifton

All young ringers very welcome. For more details, please contact Philippa Whittington, pw48@btinternet.com or Sue Silver, vicepresident@bacbr.org.uk

Association Surprise Major Practice

Saturday 5 March, 10.00 - 12.00
at Campton

This is the first of what we hope will be bi-monthly Surprise Major practices at different towers across Bedfordshire. These will be advanced practices for experienced ringers who:

• can already ring Surprise Major inside

• or have rung the treble to Surprise Major and have learned Cambridge S Major

• or have rung Surprise Minor and would like to extend this to Major,

Focus methods: Cambridge, Yorkshire, Superlative, Lessness, Bristol

Donation of £2 per ringer requested.

To ensure that we have enough support for these practices, and to assist planning, it would be helpful if you could sign up asap via Eventbrite please:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/surprise-major-practice-tickets-259635044407

Dates for your diary!

70th Anniversary of HM The Queen's Accession to the Throne

Sunday 6 February

Is there ringing at your tower to mark this event?

If so, after you have rung please submit details to BellBoard, and then link it to the event: 70th Anniversary of HM Queen's Accession   https://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/event.php?id=14296

NB If your ringing contained a "First" you can link it to both this and the Firsts in February event (see above). Any problems, please email us with details (again as above).

We will send details of any Bedfordshire ringing that we are aware of to mark the anniversary to Buckingham Palace, to the Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire and to the Bishop.

As you are probably aware, there will be extended Bank Holiday, from Thursday 2 to Sunday 5 June, which will provide an opportunity for communities and people throughout the United Kingdom to come together to celebrate the historic milestone, and we hope that bells will play a part in these celebrations too!

Other dates:

General Committee Meeting - Saturday 26 February, 10.00 - 12.30 - via Zoom

Association AGM - Saturday 21 May at All Saints' Campton. Details to follow

Other News and Events

Bell Restoration Project at St Paul’s Bedford

An opportunity for YOU to gain experience on 10 and 12 bells!  Read on ....

About half of the required £500k funding has already been donated to the restoration project, including a very generous £200k grant from the Dorothy Porter Trust. 

Whilst this is very positive, all is not as it may seem.

There is currently very little ringing at St Paul’s and virtually no ringing on a Sunday. So, the obvious question is why would the PCC want to spend money on the bells? 

We would therefore like to establish some regular Sunday ringing. and at the same time provide ringing opportunities for those who are not yet experienced on 10 and 12. The objective will be to keep things simple and aim to ring reasonable rounds and call changes on 10 or 12. It will primarily be aimed at those who can ring rounds and call changes competently and reasonably accurately on 6 or 8. 

The ringing would be on Sundays at about 11.40 after the St Paul’s morning service, to allow people to ring at their own towers, attend church or go for coffee, and also ring at St Pauls. There are several benefits of this:

• An opportunity to ring on higher numbers for less experienced ringers with the help of more experienced ringers.
• St Pauls has some Sunday ringing – and the congregation and general public will be more aware of the bells. Good PR
• We eliminate the possible risk that the PCC questions the investment in the bells (that will include training facilities) because the bells are not rung.

Depending on the level of interest, it may not require everyone to commit to attend every week, although we will need to know each week in advance who can attend (to ensure sufficient numbers and also to comply with current Covid precautions), and we would need people to attend sufficiently frequently to be able to benefit from the practice and make some progress with their ringing.

If you would like to be included in this, please contact us as below by Friday 13 February so we can assess interest and numbers.
James Saunders: jrbsaunders@yahoo.com  Mobile: 07465 999448
Steve Stanford: steve.h.stanford@gmail.com  Mobile: 07742 871724

Steve Stanford

Plain Bob Doubles Course last month
This was a well attended course. 15 students attended the Zoom theory session, and the practical session at the RJ Sharp Ringing Centre at St Andrew's Biggleswade was fully subscribed, with 10 students. A really big THANK YOU to all the helpers!

Updates from the Central Council of Church Bellringers

Please keep an eye on the Central Council website for updates on the latest coronavirus guidance, plus lots of other helpful information!
https://cccbr.org.uk/

Latest coronavirus guidance:
The most recent guidance, dated 17 December, can be found here: 
https://cccbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Guidance-at-a-glance-2.6.pdf

Linda Garton
President, BACBR 
backtoringing@bacbr.org.uk

www.bacbr.org.uk

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