The three months since the last newsletter have absolutely flown by and it’s been nice to see ringing in most places returning to a pre-COVID normality. Most districts have resumed their monthly meetings, opting for airy ringing rooms, and attendance is good on the whole. I’ve enjoyed visiting several meetings and having the chance to socialise “in person” rather than by Zoom.

The Guild General and Sub Committee meetings have continued to be held by Zoom and this is proving an effective way to get through a wide range business without members having to drive around the county. I was particularly impressed by the Bells Committee meeting, chaired by Mark Pendery, where there was a very long list of towers that the Guild has inspected, given advice and is involved in ongoing work. Without the hard work of this group, many rings of bells in the county would be in a much worse state.

The Education and Recruitment Committee is also very active and is involved in a number of initiatives. An ART (Association of Ringing Teachers) course has been arranged for October at Hathern. This course (M1) is all about the teaching of bell handling and it has been so nice to see that all 10 places have been taken by Guild members who want to learn about teaching others to handle a bell. There was so much interest that another course is being planned for next year.

I will be a student on the course and I’m really looking forward to it. Although I’ve taught dozens of people to handle a bell over many years, I’m keen to explore new methods. I’ll report back next time!

I enjoyed attending the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers’ Road Show at Nottingham Trent University. I was assisting on the Benfield Bells stand, where visitors from all over the world marvelled at the workmanship that Lewis had on display. This ranged from fully restored sets of handbells and handmade leather muffles to a large bell on a newly made headstock hanging in a handmade frame. To think that that bell was in my garden just 6 months earlier!

To mark the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, most rings of bells in the county have been rung or tolled. It was incredible to see just how much was achieved at short notice and how well bands cooperated and shared ringers across towers to make sure that this important period in our history was appropriately marked. The general public truly appreciated our ringing at such a sad time.

The muffling and unmuffling of bells was quite a challenge. I’d particularly like to single out Lewis who spent a lot of time travelling around the county fitting muffles at many towers. He helped at Loughborough Parish at around midnight and he still had another 2 towers left to visit. He even made muffles that were used at the cathedral (with a lot of help from his Mum, who did all the hand stitching) and was then employed to help Avon Ropes turn around a lot of ‘Big Wilf muffles’ orders in a very short space of time.

The Guild recently hosted the Robert B Smith 12 bell competition at St Margaret’s, Leicester. A huge thank you to Robert Watson, Carol Franklin and their band of helpers who organised the event. Great catering, great beer – and we even won the trophy! A perfect day.

Thank you to everyone for the very important and valuable role that you play within the ringing community. Lots of members of the public have been coming forward to say how much they missed the bells during lockdown and how nice it is to hear them ringing again.

Sally Brown
Guild President