As part of setting up the Guild Newsletter as a blog, I have also set up a YouTube channel for the Guild. As well as being somewhere to upload the videos that are used in the newsletter, hopefully it will become an online presence for the Guild, and reach a different audience of people interested in bellringing in Leicestershire.

At the moment there are not a lot of videos on the channel, but with your help we can create a library of videos for people to view, showcasing ringing and the ringing community in Leicestershire. As ringing for the jubilee, and for the passing of the Queen, shows, it is so easy these days to make a video, and I am hoping that you will all be able to help to grow the channel.

I have started a project to kick start the channel – I am aiming to get a recording of the bells at all of the ringable towers in Leicestershire. I decided to only record the audio, as I know not everyone would like to appear on videos on YouTube! I then take a picture of the outside of the church, to add to the finished video.

Here is an example of a video I made of ringing at Barrow upon Soar:

As you might have worked out, this is rather a big job for just one person to do, with 181 ringable towers in the Guild! – which is where you come in.

As you are ringing at your own tower, or are out and about at guild events or district practices, please think about adding to our library of recordings. All you need is a smart phone: download a voice recording app and you’re all set. Don’t forget to snap a picture of the church on your way in (or out), preferably landscape way round. You can then send the recording and picture to me and I can put it all together to create the finished video.

And if all the ringers are happy to appear online, there’s nothing stopping you from recording a video of the ringing too.

The beauty of YouTube is that these videos don’t have to be the definitive video – it is a snapshot of the ringing and the bells at that time. If bells are recast, or augmented, we can make another video. Or even if we get a better recording at a later date!

I can also provide a QR code, which would link to the video on YouTube. If a tower would like to add it to a poster on the church noticeboard then visitors to the church will be able to use the link to hear what the bells sound like, even if they visit when there is no ringing happening.

Please visit the channel at:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6NDLBynzozQhqooZK8kyIg

For more information about sending videos to appear on the channel, please get in touch with me.

Rebecca Banner
LeicesterGuildNews@gmail.com