September 1st to 3rd, 2023
This year’s CCCBR meeting was hosted in Ipswich by the Suffolk Guild. The Leicester Diocesan Guild was represented by Carol Franklin, Steve Millington and Sally Brown. It was Sally’s first meeting.
On Friday, development sessions were arranged around Suffolk for locals and CC members during the day. The format was similar to the LDG ringing course and those who attended found the sessions very useful. It’s worth noting that Council members are drawn from the full range of ringing abilities. You don’t have to be an expert ringer to be a council member!
Friday evening saw Carol staffing the help desk underneath St Mary-le-Tower Ipswich, giving out badges and meal tickets while everyone went upstairs to ring. This was followed by a social at a local pub. The buffet was plentiful but the bar queue was so long that nearly all the food had gone by the time Sally returned from the bar! There was plenty of opportunity to socialise, renew acquaintances and catch up with new and returning members.
The Hold, the home of the Suffolk County Archives, was HQ for Saturday. The morning saw everyone eager to book in for the day. This kept Carol, who was looking after reception, very busy! Stands and stalls were available before the meetings. Sally couldn’t resist buying various goodies including some books and a 3D printed model bell from the Association of Ringing Teachers and a 2024 Ringing World calendar. (See below for details of how to shop on line. Some great Christmas gift ideas!)
The Ringing World AGM took place in the morning and it was nice to see that the Coronation had resulted in lots of donations. A lot of work is going off at present analysing the demographics of subscribers and how the current format (weekly, printed) might need changing to meet future needs.
The CCCBR AGM took up the remainder of the day and we heard reports on how each of the workgroups were progressing. A very interesting debate was held about whether the current number of members should be reduced. The Leicester DG is currently allowed 4 reps and the various proposals would have reduced this to between 1 and 2. The motion to reduce the number of representatives was, rather surprisingly, overwhelmingly defeated just in time for the deadline to vacate the premises.
Saturday evening’s social took place at St Peter by the Waterfront, a redundant church that is now used for various community events. The format, a curry evening with beer and cider tasting, was very popular – though Sally stuck to Diet Coke!
Sunday morning started with a 5K run around the waterfront. Despite allowing for hundreds of participants, the numbers taking part were surprisingly low. Not a single LDG member. In fact, there were only 2 runners – the Central Council President, Simon Linford, and the Suffolk Guild President, Katharine Salter!
Sunday service ringing was well attended and several members went to watch the ringing at East Bergholt where the bells are rung full circle by brave ringers who stand on the frame. The bells have no ropes and the ringers just use the wheels, skilfully ducking as the bell whistles by their ears. Visitors are not allowed to ring!
The Sunday session of ‘Ringing 2030’ was over subscribed. Ringing 2030 is a major project, instigated by the Central Council in 2022, to create a sustainable future for change ringing, reversing negative trends and building on many positive initiatives. The presentation can be found here: https://youtu.be/DPLjCZ6VgEc?si=5jljhUgJcmaCtAN1 and further discussion will be taking place through the columns of the Ringing World. The goal is to hold seminars for webmasters, GDPR, etc so that we can share experiences and develop new ways. The informal discussion over lunch helped us to share what other Guilds are doing re membership and reports to save money. The afternoon continued with further development sessions.
The in-person meeting allows time for networking with like-minded people.
Information about the Central Council, including details of the meeting in Ipswich, can be found at https://cccbr.org.uk/
The council’s shop is at https://shop.cccbr.org.uk/ – there are some very interesting publications and resources for sale including all of the Association of Ringing Teachers’ materials and a fabulous 3D printed model bell.
The Ringing World’s web site is at https://www.ringingworld.co.uk/ and their shop is at https://www.ringingworld.co.uk/purchase.html
The 2024 meeting will be held in Exeter and 2025 in Yorkshire.
Carol Franklin, Sally Brown and Steve Millington.