KCACR County news

District news items appear separately but topics of general KCACR interest are listed below, with the most recent items at the top of the list. Click here if you can't wait to see all the latest local news. If you think your District's offering (or indeed the county stuff) looks a bit dated don't shoot the messenger — send something in!

County 10-bell challenge (update)

The County 10-bell challenge (originally a sort of needle match between Lewisham and Ashford) will be held on Saturday 29 November at St Alfege, Greenwich, with the draw at 2:30pm. The touch is 315 Stedman Caters, as detailed below.

All Districts were invited to enter a band earlier in the year via the quarterly Kent meetings and says Rupert Cheeseman, local organiser I’ve had confirmed entries from Canterbury, Maidstone and Tonbridge. Presumably Ashford the original challengers are entering, which leaves just Rochester.

The judge will be Richard Pearce, ex of Kent and now of Woking.

Rupert adds: Parking in Greenwich is a nightmare. The nearest CP is Burney Street (http://www.greenwich.gov.uk/Greenwich/Travel/Parking/CarParks/ BurneyStreet05.htm) although there are other ones as well as on-street parking (http://www.greenwich.gov.uk/Greenwich/Travel/Parking/). If you are prepared to walk then I think you can park a bit further out of town for nothing. I'll try to remember to check that next time I'm passing. Personally I'll probably take the train on the Woolwich Arsenal / Greenwich line, and of course there is the DLR and buses as well (http://journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk/user/XSLT_TRIP_REQUEST2?language=en).

It shouldn't directly affect things in Greenwich or on the A2 but Charlton are at home at 3pm that Saturday.

Peter Romney's ringing books

Following the death of Peter in September his widow, Margaret, has asked Webmaster to dispose of his ringing books. She wishes all proceeds from sales to be donated to the KCACR Bell Restoration Fund, a project with which Peter was associated for many years. The first part of the sale closed on 3 November, but click here for details of what's still available.

Quarter peals

Quarter peal secretary Anthony has processed a total of 601 quarters recorded on the database for the first nine months of 2008. This is 3% up on last year's 584. Oddly the increase year on year for the first three months was 28%, and for the first six it was 12½%, so things have slowed a little, but the overall trend is still upward. The figures for the first nine months of 2006 and 2005 were 547 and 544, with a mere 480 in 1998, the first recorded year. He has just (1 October) done a brief report on the period. Go take a look (click on the item on the left).

If you're really into trivia you might think it interesting to note the most popular methods this year, 2007 and 1998 (all first nine months). The field in each year was led by Plain Bob with 23.3%, 30.4% and 25.8%, followed by Grandsire in second place with respectively 18.6%, 18.7% and 20% in the three years. The method in third place is either Stedman or Cambridge. In 1998 for instance 10% of quarters were of Cambridge against only 4.7% this year. Stedman is a tad more stable with figures ranging from 4.9% in 1998 to 6.8% and 6.7% last year and this.

County six-bell competition 2008

On a beautiful sunny afternoon on 27 September all six Districts met at Aldington in the Ashford District. The draw took place at 3.45pm with ringing commencing just after 4.00pm.

The judges, Jonathan and Anne Franklin from Ringmer, Sussex, found a suitable place just outside the churchyard from which they could hear the bells but could not see the participants. Both judges tried out the bells before the competition started.

For those of us just listening the bands produced good ringing with no one firing out.

The local ringers produced a magnificent tea on a running buffet basis so as soon as a band had rung they could partake of a welcome cup of tea and food. Our thanks go to Judith de Leeuw and ringers from the area.

After all bands had completed their test pieces the judges gave their comments before giving the results. Jonathan said we had given him a hard task as the ringing was very good. He made comments on all the bands and generally said that the small bells were clipping at backstroke. The speed of the ringing varied and one team actually rang an extra 60 changes which were of course judged and led to extra faults. He then gave the full result which made Chelsfield of the Lewisham District the winners. The trophy was then presented to the winning band.

The chairman thanked the judges and the local ringers for providing the tea.

The full results are set out below.

Margaret Funnell

Click on the thumbnails to display photos full size

Chairman David Manger with Jim Rooke of the Chelsfield band

Judges Anne and Jonathan with Philippa and Jim Rooke

The winning band: Nick Wilkins, Rob Pruden, Sue Fisher, Karen Barter (didn't ring), Jim Rooke, Philippa Rooke and John Barnes

The Essex Trophy 2008

This year's Essex Trophy took place on Saturday 13 September at Southover in Sussex. The test piece was a plain course of Yorkshire Surprise Royal. Unfortunately two bands pulled out during the preceding week. Judge Paul Mounsey of St Paul's Cathedral placed the remaining bands as follows:

Congratulations to the Guildford Guild. The 2009 competition will provisionally be hosted by the KCACR on 12 September 2009. Further details are not yet available.

The full Essex Trophy results are now available on the EACR website at www.eacr.org.uk/essextrophy. Summary results are at the bottom of the page as before and a new detailed table is now available by following the "Full Results" link.

Peter Romney We are very sorry to have to report that Peter Romney died peacefully just after midday today (14 September). Further details are on the Tonbridge District page. Our thoughts are with Margaret and the family.

Is there a calligrapher in the house?

Hazel Basford, KCACR librarian and historian extraordinaire, is looking for a calligrapher. If you can help her, or know anyone who could, please contact her at hazel@basford.com. She writes:

While at the RW Roadshow I spoke to Alan Regin about the CC Roll of Honour books and was interested to see the book for the ringers who died in WW2. There are quite a few from Kent and the calligrapher of the book was also a Kent ringer. I have asked Alan to let me have a list of the names of the Kent ringers and I will then see whether I can gather the same information for them as I have for the WW1 ringers. There is room to add the names to the book at the Cathedral, but I will have to find a calligrapher to match the standard of Jack Peppiatt's work. I am confident that the Association will agree we should have a record of our losses in WW2 to match that for the earlier war.

The publicity poster used at Dover

Heritage Open Days Heritage Open Days celebrates England's architecture and culture by allowing visitors free access to interesting properties that are either not usually open, or would normally charge an entrance fee. Every year on four days in September, buildings of every age, style and function, ranging from castles to factories, town halls to tithe barns, parish churches to Buddhist temples, throw open their doors to the public. This year's dates were Thursday 11 to Sunday 14 September, but the details have been left in place so that others may get an idea of what HODs are all about. Organised by volunteers — usually property owners or managers — for local people, Heritage Open Days is England's biggest and most popular voluntary cultural event. Last year the event attracted up to 1 million visitors. The Civic Trust gives central co-ordination and a national voice to the event, which is made possible by funding and support from English Heritage. Details are at http://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/about/ This was raised at the recent meeting of the General Committee and members heard about plans to open the churches at Hythe, Speldhurst and Dover. The latter, for one, will take visitors up to the clock chamber, from which they can safely see the bells. The meeting agreed that if ringers are participating, it's best done within the context of the local programmes of events. However, the Committee felt that it could still be sensible to register the Association as an organiser for next year's Heritage Open Days, to assist towers who wish to participate in localities where there are no other initiatives. Peter Dale, County PRO

Training officer

The long and short of it is that we currently don't have one. We are in need of one however, someone to take on a really satisfying and truly worthwhile role. Catherine Lewis, who did the job for 15 years, says she really enjoyed it, but felt she'd probably got in a bit of a rut and a change was needed. She has written some notes on the skills/qualities she thinks are necessary, along with a few words on how she did the job (just to give an idea of how it can work) — they are available here.

All about ringing for experts and nonringers alike — update

Are you an established ringer with questions about ringing that you were afraid to ask? Are you new to ringing? Are you just visiting this site by chance and would like to find out a little about this amazing bunch of people?

There is now a worldwide freeby ringing encyclopedia on the Internet, called Changeringing Wiki. This covers just about every ringing topic you could ever think about, and then some (and it's gowing all the time). This is written and edited by ringers (mainly Graham John at present), so it's far from the usual sort of stuff you find in newspapers. Try the link on the links page (or click here if you're keen to get started).

County 8-bell contest 2008

The Association 8-bell competition was held at Westerham on a sunny afternoon which enabled ringers to laze around in the churchyard and listen to the other bands. Despite asking about 40 different people from outside the county, Margaret Funnell, Association Secretary, had been unable to find any judges. As the Rochester District had not entered a band she offered her own services as a judge and was joined by Association Chairman David Manger who opted out of ringing in the Ashford District band (which fortunately still had eight ringers and was therefore able to ring).

The test piece was 210 Single Oxford Bob Triples. David gave comments on the ringing and Margaret announced the results as follows:

posn	District	rang	faults	judges' comments
1st	Tonbridge	5th	14	Very nice ringing except for the bit where someone fell asleep!
2nd	Lewisham	1st	26	Pleasant ringing but with a few inconsistencies especially slowness in 7ths place
3rd	Ashford	2nd	27	Started and finished well; clippy in the middle
4th	Canterbury	4th	30	Much quicker than the others "falling over themselves" in first half; a crunch in the middle, but then settled down
5th	Maidstone	3rd	60	Nervous start and never really settled

Chairman/judge David (right) presents the winners' trophy to Tonbridge captain Eric

Eric, David and Margaret after the presentation

The winning band: Anthony Leeves, Frank Lewis, Catherine Heathcote, Catherine Lewis, Eric Roughley, Ann Jenner, Stan Jenner, Peter Dickinson

Our thanks go to the Tonbridge District officers who organised the event, to Westerham and Sundridge ringers who provided the tea, and to Margaret and David for stepping in at short notice to judge the competition.

Anthony Leeves

For anyone interested in trivia, a photo of the trophy and a list of winners appears below.

Tower listings on website

New portrait of Redleader

Webmaster recently received the attached photo from an anonymous KCACR PRO chappie. The suggested caption went something like this: "The Bell Restoration Officer's discussions may sometimes be of a rather technical nature." As ever, the opinions of our contributors do not necesssarily reflect the views of the board of directors of the KCACR website.

Whitechapel on the box

On Thursday 10 April the BBC2 Working Lunch programme at 12.30pm visited the "the east London foundry which made the bell Big Ben on this day 150 years ago". A link to this programme is featured here. Choose "Full archive of past programmes" and then select Thursday 10 April, and "Watch full programme". You then need to choose your media player to run it. The item on Big Ben starts at minute 24 on the time line. Have fun.

County AGM 2008

This year's AGM was held at St George, Christ Church, St Paul, Perry Hill in the Lewisham District. The weather was not exactly helpful as there was a snow blizzard for most of the journey to Perry Hill, but if we must have Easter this early (next time will be 2228, so most of us won't need to worry), then we may have to expect this sort of thing. The Trafford mini ring had been set up in the lobby of the church due to the snow. Everybody wanted a ring and before service a short touch was rung. The service was at 12 noon and taken by the curate Father Robert Stanier. The readings were given by the Chairman and the County Secretary, while Karol Leeves led the prayers. Graham Long played the organ. The service was very uplifting.

A splendid buffet lunch was served by Trevor Pike and Margaret Exley to about 50 ringers. The meeting commenced at approximately 2.40pm with 72 members and visitors in attendance. The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting after which the usual reports were given. Our Treasurer, Cathryn Hills did not seek re-election having completed 12 years in the post. The chairman thanked her for all her efforts over the past years. The new Treasurer is Patricia Phipps who was welcomed to the committee. The remaining committee members were re-elected save for the Training Officer, James Hardy, who was not at the meeting and had not advised he was seeking re-election. No one put themself forward for the position and it was agreed this matter would be taken to committee together with the task of appointing an auditor.

Fifty-year certificates had been gained by Ian Oram, Honorary Life Member, Patricia Barton, Rochester District, and Ann Jenner, Tonbridge District, but unfortunately none of them was able to be present. The certificates will be presented at District events. The Chairman thanked Craig Huxley for the Handbook, copies of which were available for the Districts to collect and distribute.

The day was a great success and the Lewisham District and all involved with the organisation are to be congratulated on a job well done. Officers for the coming year were elected as shown on the officers page.

Margaret Funnell

There are a few piccies below. There are no bells at Perry Hill, and we were delighted to welcome Chris Trafford's mini ring (details at Trafford mini ring) for people to try out. Let your mouse cursor hover over the small image to see the caption, and click on it to see a larger version, then click on the <back> button on your browser to return to the thumbnails again. Once on the large version you may right click and choose to save it on your own computer.

The Jubi Peal Walter Dobbie's portable Silver Jubilee ring (the Jubi Peal) is now being looked after by Charles Tassell at Ulcombe. Requests to borrow this equipment should be made to Charles on 01622 858733 or email to charles@tassell.co.uk. There is no hire charge, but a donation to the BRF will be requested. As from March 2008 the Jubi Peal will be assembled inside the church for the foreseeable future. Anyone wishing to borrow it will therefore have to dismantle it at Ulcombe and put it back together when they return it. However, this is an opportunity for any visiting bands to come and have a ring, even if it's only for 10 minutes or so. Charles will be more than happy to be available for anyone to come and ring the Jubi Peal, and if time is short, he says he won't be offended if they would rather give his "big bells" in the tower a miss. A "passing" team has already taken up the opportunity to have a go on the Jubi Peal, and left a donation for the Bell Restoration Fund.

The Jubi Peal in action

KCACR at Lambeth Palace

Comments have sometimes been overheard to the effect that our President, the Archbishop of Canterbury is not aware of his position in our Association.

So it was a very pleasant opportunity recently to put the record straight, when the Chairman, David Manger, received an invitation to a reception at Lambeth Palace, hosted by the Archbishop, Dr Rowan Williams. The Chairman was accompanied by his wife Pam, Hon General Secretary Margaret Funnell and Public Relations Officer Peter Dale.

An enjoyable evening was spent in the most impressive surroundings of the Guard Room of Lambeth Palace where Dr Williams received representatives of the invited organisations. It is a sobering thought to realise that he is the President or Patron of 320 organisations, of whom 40 were present on this occasion; eight similar receptions were being held in order that he could meet representatives of all such societies. It was indeed most interesting to meet so many people from so many diverse organisations.

Sadly, no photo opportunity arose, but it was most impressive to walk down the corridors lined with paintings of former Archbishops, the more recent of whom were, of course, Presidents of our Association. At least we now know that the present incumbent does recognise our existence and the role he fulfils within it.

David Manger

Archbishops obviously have some of the tendencies of London buses — see article below.

Association President at Leeds

A band consisting of frequent ringers at Leeds attempted a quarter of Grandsire Caters to mark the visit of the Archbishop of Canterbury on 16 December. Unfortunately it came to grief about halfway through, just after the Archbishop came to see how we were getting on!

He came back up to the tower a little later on to be introduced to the ringers and spent a few minutes chatting about the bells and leading us in the Association prayer. He then took the carol service in the packed church.

Peter Sims

Country Living article

The January 2008 edition of Country Living magazine is now on the news stands. It includes a 4-page article about ringing by a journalist who herself is a lapsed ringer and features ringing at Darley Dale in Derbyshire. Apart from one caption to a photo, the piece doesn't have any of the usual gaffes associated with the media. The author really seems to have caught the flavour of ringers and ringing, and she sees us as "a well-mannered tribe". Many ringers would also recognise the feeling when she describes a bob as altering "the ringing order with goalpost-moving confusion for those not used to it".

Well worth a read.

County events in 2008/2009

KCACR gets its 60,000th hit

Congratulations to Alex Britton of the Lewisham District who, on 25 November 2007, initiated the 60,000 hit on the KCACR website since the end of 1999. The clip above is the screen dump he sent in to prove his claim to the magnificent trophy he's seen clutching in the photo on the right. The 50,000th hit was on 5 April last year, so this means that folk are visiting the site at the rate of around 42 per day, which is pretty good for an association website. Thanks to everyone who supports us — just keep on coming! People of an inquisitive nature may wonder why the counter starts at Christmas Eve 1999. Well, there used to be a previous counter which started out about two years earlier, but for some unknown reason the outfit that ran it pulled the plug just before Christmas in 1999. The webmaster, in true nerdish webmaster form, decided that fixing the hit counter was a much more rewarding and challenging task than wrapping presents, so he searched around and found a new counter which was installed just in time for Santa to check out ringing times after doing his rounds in 1999. So there it is. Some of the information above is true, and some isn't, but you'll have to do the differentiation yourself.

The Association Prayer

The Association Prayer has been under discussion quite a lot over the past two or three years. Districts have debated the abandonment of the current version and have decided that most people would like to keep it in being. However it was generally agreed that another, more modern, version might be acceptable as an alternative. Towards the end of 2006 the General Committee was offered such an alternative produced by a ringer at Staplehurst. This was forwarded to Districts earlier this year (2007) for them to discuss, but nothing much seems to have come of this, so we are now printing this new prayer so that all members may read it and hopefully discuss it at District meetings.

New tower listing

There is now a new file containing details of all towers in Kent with five or more bells hung for ringing (plus a number of threes and fours, more of which will be added as time goes by). This is accessible from the link called "Tower listing" on the left. Each tower listed includes a Grid reference to take you to a map showing the location of the tower, while the link to "Details of the bells" leads to Dickon Love's Church Bells of Kent website, which gives a vast amount of detail about the bells in nearly all Kent towers.

Contact names are given where we have them, and where people have agreed to have their details on this site. In a number of cases there is just a name, with no address or email. These are people whose addresses or phone numbers are available but we don't have their permission to publish them. If you spot any inaccuracies, or if you should be listed and aren't (or vice versa), please let Webmaster know. You'll notice that email addresses are not linked (ie not underlined and blue). If you want to use an email address, cut it and paste it to your email system. Apologies for the hassle, but this is done to try to prevent spam. If correspondents do start getting spam please let me know and I'll use another method.

The same file is used to generate a new version of the practice night listing (see left again), and there is also now a list of all towers in each District. As you might imagine, there is quite a bit of graft behind all this, and there will probably be a few initial teething troubles — but please let me know if all is not well. In particular I'd like corrections and additions to contacts, so that we can ease the life of folks trying to contact Kent towers. Any constructive help anyone can provide will be welcomed.

It just occurs to me that ADMs are coming up — could some of you mention this on that occasion. It really would be good to get a better coverage of tower contacts, but it's down to individuals to make it happen. In advance, thanks for any help people can provide.

Frank Lewis, Webmaster

Appreciative thoughts from Tunstall

The following appeared in the September 2007 issue of Tunstall Parish Magazine, and is reproduced here with the permission of the Rector of Tunstall, to whom many thanks. Ringers frequently get brickbats, often giving the Press field days, but the item below is surely more typical of the views of the public at large. The trouble is, that this sort of story doesn't sell newspapers.

Evening bells

On Friday evenings the bell ringers practise in Tunstall church nearby as they have during all the 25 years we have lived in our house. The sound of the peals floats across the park and above the trees into our garden and through the windows of the house, always giving me deep pleasure.

The ancient sound of these English peals speaks of the continuity of Christian worship in this place. On Sunday mornings the bells call the faithful to services as they have done for centuries.

They have a wider role too. Joyful chimes greet weddings and national victories. The single bell has tolled for funerals in the community and for the loss of national figures. On Millennium night the bells rang out as hundreds of people converged on the field beside the church where the bonfire sent great flames into the sky. The bells gave the occasion proper glad ceremony.

The advancing centuries have not altered the sound of the bells; their message is the same as it always has been. Here is your church where you can worship God, it is time to come.

So although I am a Quaker who doesn't attend Tunstall church, I am thankful to all the ringers who have practised their art over the years to such profound effect.

Helen Allinson

. . . and thank you, Helen. We do appreciate your thoughts.

Hard hat area

The shot on the right shows a safety fence erected around building work at St Martin-in-the-Fields. Should we be proud that a ringer is being used to demonstrate safety measures? Or is the recent spate of dodgy publicity having the wrong effect? Thanks to Brian Butcher for the photo.

Cloches de verre

The photo on the left shows one of those typical French enamelled advertising panels, this one having a fairly topical content for ringers. We've come across ceramic (flowerpot to you and me) bells, but there must be a case [pun noted, but not necessarily intended] for producing bottle bells. This particular panel is available for sale on one or two websites, and it looks as though it might be going for a couple of hundred euros. Thanks to Fraser Clift of Kemsing for spotting this one

Mills & Boon in Kent?

At the service at a recent District meeting we were intrigued to see that one of the hymns appeared in the service sheet as "As pants the heart for cooling streams". Will the ripping of soft silk blouses come next, we wonder?.

YouTube

We hear a lot these days of dubious bits of video footage being uploaded to the Internet from kids' phones, but not all of this output comes into the category of video nasties. In fact there's a growing stash of video clips relating to ringing, and some really local stuff has just come to light (actually it's been there for a while, but no one told us about it, and it was only the eagle eyed Tom Barlow who pointed this out to webmaster). Have a look at http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=maidstone10 to see what we mean. There are clips of call changes at Benenden, Stedman Cinques at Canterbury Cathedral, as well as other stuff from Guildford Cathedral, St Michael's, Maidstone, and, inexplicably, from Stoke d'Abernon. In fact the whole site is a delightful mishmash of all sorts of ringing-related bits and pieces.

HOWEVER, it's very easy to get into a whole load of rubbish, and we don't reckon to do rubbish on KCACR, so it may be that the link is removed in due course. Let us know what you think.

Following the appearance of the posting above we had a very encouraging response from a teenage KCACR member, who says

Hello, Just thought I'd mention this in case you hadn't found it already: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzLUyLEyaBc It's a short film of some people ringing at Brookland in the Ashford District. I'm pleased that there are ringing clips on YouTube. It could perhaps be helpful in attracting more young people to ringing. Most people my age have no idea what ringing involves but are very familiar with YouTube and will readily watch videos when they are so accessible. Anyway, just thought I'd let you know in case you were looking for more clips :)

This could start a trend — let us know if you find any more interesting clips on YouTube.

Quarter peals

At the 2007 AGM Anthony Leeves took over from Steve Davis as Quarter Peal Secretary. In a remarkably short time Anthony has revamped the quarter peal site and it is now up and running.

Anthony writes:

2007 quarter peals have been entered as found in The Ringing World and on Campanophile to date (and also a few late published 2006 quarters). I will continue to add them as they appear from these media week by week, so the details should always be as up to date as possible. The data can only be as good as found in The Ringing World and on Campanophile and it is possible that I may miss a quarter or make transcribing errors, so please send any errors or omissions you spot to qpsec@kcacr.org.uk.

You will see that it is now possible for you to submit a quarter peal directly to the site, so there's no need for you to wait for me to pick it up and you can make sure it is correct! The system does not allow you to correct the entry once you have submitted it, but if you do make a mistake on the entry you can e-mail the correction to me and I will correct it.

The new site allows you to filter and analyse the data in many different ways, so have fun using this facility. All filters are available for all types of report because it is easier to have the same screen for all — some will be more useful and meaningful than others. Any comments, favourable or otherwise, on the new site will be welcomed.

Finally I would like to express my thanks to my son Luke for building the new site and transferring the historical data, to Dickon Love and Steve Davis without whose efforts there would be no historical data, and to webmaster Lewis for getting it all linked up to the KCACR website.

Child protection (update March 2008)

At the KCACR General Committee meeting on 22 November 2003, the question of Child Protection was raised, and it was suggested that the topic should be featured on this website. This has now been done, using a link to the Central Council's guidelines. These guidelines have, in the light of recent developments, been updated as of 29 March 2004, so if you haven't checked them out recently, now's the time. It should be emphasised that they are just what they say they are, guidelines, and local requirements will be laid down by dioceses and parishes. KCACR firmly supports the need for good Child Protection practice and expects all ringers to behave properly towards young and vulnerable ringers. The Central Council guidance is commended to tower captains A new facility added to this site early in September 2006 is a downloadable copy of a suitable Permission to ring form. This is the form approved by the Central Council and has been in use in Kent for some time. Anyone teaching youngsters is advised to get hold of a copy of this form and get parents/guardians/carers or whoever to fill it in.

Child Protection issues were discussed at District meetings in 2007. A survey of towers represented at the six meetings indicated that PCC representatives had agreed that good practice could be achieved by following CC guidance in over 80% of towers where CP issues had been addressed. In these towers a limited number of ringers had been required to provide CRB checks.

The KCACR expects all towers to work towards achieving local agreement on CP policy: ultimately the tower has to accept the PCC ruling. We are supporting national initiatives by Central Council aimed at securing agreement with the House of Bishops, seeking a protocol which emphasises the need for vigilance and appropriate behaviour but limits the need for CRB checks to those, locally agreed, who lead ringing and training.

If assistance or information is required in relation to the following issues please contact:

• Child Protection Nigel Spencer: np&mjs@fireflyuk.net or phone 01303 260524.
• Health & Safety Peter Sims: sps.petersimms@btclick.com (note that Sims and simms are correct!)

If infomation is required on any other issue please contact any of the officers named on the officers page on the left.

Framework for training ringers

The Education Committee of the Central Council has produced a Framework to help bands, whatever their local circumstances, to take a more systematic approach to the way they train their learners. The Framework covers all angles, but is not prescriptive. Its headings cover all aspects relevant to training, and the statements under each heading describe objectives that good practice will achieve, but it's down to each band to decide how to get the best results.

The easiest way to use the Framework is as a checklist. For each aspect, does the way you do things take account of it? Is it practical (taking account of your situation)? Do you need to do anything about it? Could you explain why you do what you do, if anyone asked?

The Framework headings can also provide the structure for a written code of practice for your tower, if you ever needed to produce one.

Articles describing the history and development of the Framework were published in The Ringing World on 21 October 2005 (p1010)*, 12 May 2006 (p446) and 9 June 2006 (p542).

*A copy (in PDF format) of this article is available here.

If you have any comments or questions, please please contact the Chairman of the Central Council Education Committee at edchair@cccbr.org.uk.

Lock up your lightning conductors

No, this doesn't apply to ringers of fast peals, but to those bits of copper that run down the side of your towers. With scrap copper fetching about £2900 per tonne (that is about £1.30 a pound in real money) easily nickable sections of lightning conductor (LC) are a worthwhile source of revenue for certain types of villain. After all, many LCs are in obscure parts of the church, often out of sight from the road, and all you need is a lightweight ladder and a pair of cutters and — bingo! — you can snip out about 10 quids' worth of copper in no time at all.

There has been a spate of this sort of thing for a while now. Several churches around the Stockton / Darlington area have been targeted, plus three towers (and the town hall) around Cleckheaton. Nearer home, Limpsfield Chart, just over the border in Surrey, lost about 20 feet of LC. The latest attack was at Brasted, where no fewer than three LCs were cut off in their prime. The perpetrators here weren't too clever, since one of the LCs was actually an aluminium one — but the damage was still done.

There probably isn't any way to stop this sort of thing, and we don't know if there are any means of protecting LCs. Also it's not too clear whether periodical checks by steeplekeepers serve much purpose (the s/k at Brasted checked about three weeks prior to the theft) but maybe ringers could provide a useful service to their churches by having a quick shufti at the LCs on their towers every now and then. The folk at Brasted were going to have a simulator practice the other night, but it had been a stormy and thundery day, so it was felt that it might be safer to abandon the event.

A great pity, really, to be held to ransom by a few mindless yobs.

The KCACR 8-bell competition trophy

By some lucky chance webmaster just happened to have the KCACR 8-bell striking competition trophy in his kitchen early in September 2006 and he decided to take a photo — after all not everyone in the county has had a chance to see it yet. So here it is in all its glory, with a list of the holders of the trophy over the past 23 years.

For those not too sure about the 8-bell striking competition, a few explanatory words might be in order. The 6-bell competition starts with a competition in each District, and the winners in each District represent that District at the County final. The 8-bell version, on the other hand, is organised around teams selected by Districts to take part, so there is no local contest. You'll notice that Lewisham and Tonbridge have quite often been winners and for quite some time there's been some pretty intense competition going on there — and long may it last!

The trophy		The winners
		1985 Ashford 1986 Lewisham 1987 Lewisham 1988 Lewisham 1989 Tonbridge 1990 Tonbridge 1991 Lewisham 1992 Lewisham 1993 Lewisham 1994 Ashford 1995 Tonbridge 1996 Lewisham 1997 Canterbury 1998 Lewisham 1999 Tonbridge 2000 Lewisham 2001 Canterbury 2002 Tonbridge 2003 Lewisham 2004 Canterbury 2005 Rochester 2006 Tonbridge 2007 Canterbury 2008 Tonbridge

Email addresses for KCACR officers

Following a suggestion made at a recent general committee meeting, generic email addresses have now been set up for Association officers. These addresses will remain static whoever actually holds the office. So, if Fred Bloggs takes over from Frank as webmaster, Fred's email address will remain webmaster@kcacr.org.uk.

KCACR and Bell Restoration Fund Rules

Know your rights! An up-to-date copy of the KCACR Rules is now provided on the website as well as in the annual Handbook. This will be modified as and when any changes are made, so the version here will always be the latest. To download your copy of the Rules as a PDF file click here.

Insurance update

Further to the note which appeared on this page during most of 2005, the following is a brief résumé of the Association's insurance cover.

The Association has two insurance policies to protect its members.

Personal accident insurance

This provides cover in the event that a member is injured in an accident, resulting in permanent or temporary disablement, or in death. The level of cover (as at January 2006) is as follows:

Temporary total disablement has an excess of the first seven days, and cover does not extend beyond 104 weeks from the date of the occurrence of the accident.

Members are covered while ringing, instructing, inspecting, or doing work of any description on towers and/or bells and/or their fittings and framework anywhere in the UK, including travelling directly to and from the church or up to wherever there is a break in the journey. Learners who have not yet been elected members are included whilst under instruction by a member of the Association.

Public liability insurance

This gives protection against claims from third parties for compensation following accidental injuries to persons and/or damage to property. The policy held by the Association provides indemnity up to £1 million for any one occurrence, or series of occurrences arising from one event. Property damage is subject to a £250 excess.

Members are covered while ringing, instructing, maintaining, inspecting, or doing minor repairs on towers and/or bells and/or their fittings and framework anywhere in the UK. Minor repairs in this context consist of any works not involving removing the bells from the frame, and are restricted to internal work only. Member to member cover is no longer provided, but this should be covered under the Liability element of a member's household Contents policy since the member would be acting in a private capacity and any claim would fall upon this insurance.

Major works will be offered to a church by the BRF subcommittee on the understanding that the church is responsible for insurance.

Note from the General Secretary

The above is only an outline description of the general circumstances that could give rise to a claim, the persons covered under those circumstances, and the maximum levels of cover to be expected. Please direct any questions about particular scenarios to me (margaretkcacr@aol.com) so that I can seek a definitive ruling from the insurers.

Guidelines for BRF grant applications and practical assistance

The KCACR Bell Restoration Officer has drawn up a set of guidelines to be applied by local fundraisers when applying to the KCACR for a grant towards work on bells.

KCACR can help with bell restoration in two ways

1. By practical help in doing some of the work or, in some cases all of the work, in the tower.
2. By financial assistance in the form of a grant.

For the full guidelines and the opportunity to download a PDF version, click here.

Giftaid and donations to the BRF

Did you know that if you pay UK income tax at the standard rate and give £100 to the BRF using the Giftaid scheme, then we can claim an extra £28 back from the taxman? If you pay higher rate tax you too can reclaim £23. So, if you are a higher rate taxpayer, the BRF receives £128 for every £100 you give AND it costs you only £77. This is an offer from the taxman that you just can't refuse. Note, however, that this applies only to the BRF, which is registered as a charity.

So what are you waiting for? Click on the logo below to download a PDF copy of the Giftaid form, fill it in and send if off with your generous donation before you forget (oh, by the way, the download has two copies of the form on it so you can give one to a friend too).

The Revenue people are delightfully vague about the expression "gift aid" — it's sometimes Gift Aid, sometimes Giftaid, and sometimes, as in their logo, "giftaid" — we don't care so long as you use it.

You do not need to fill in a new form each time you make a donation, because the Association will keep all forms, only producing them if the Revenue folk ask to see them. Technically if you've already filled in a form for another organisation then you don't need to do it again, but it makes administration so much easier if each fund has its own forms.

KCACR membership nomination form

An updated version of the membership form (version 2.2) is now available from this site, and may be retrieved by clicking here. This is only a slight modification of the previous version, but it includes the option to enter "associated" towers as well as the member's main tower.

Note that this form is in PDF format and requires Acrobat Reader to access and print it. If you haven't already got a copy of Acrobat Reader it may be downloaded from a number of Internet sites — or it often appears on CDs attached to computer magazines. If all else fails, get someone else to download it for you (they'll have to do your printing for you, too).

Mystery (well, partly) photo

[Hazel Basford writes:] I have been getting several old photographs in the Cathedral [Canterbury] belfry reframed and recently I took in a sketch of the old ringing room dated 1934. When we took the sketch out of the frame we found the photograph below had been used as a backing board.

On the back of the sketch was written "B J Luck from Miss Helmore, May 5 1973" which suggests that Bert framed it having been given it in 1973. I thought I recognised Bert as the young man on the left, and other people agree. I reckon it would have been taken before he moved to Canterbury in 1930, and therefore wonder if the other men were Lamberhurst ringers. I have a photograph of Albert Relfe as an old man and speculated that the man on the right might be him, although mainly prompted by the moustache! It has been suggested that the two men in the middle might be Lamberts.

Bert Luck rang for some years at Lamberhurst in the days when the local band, led by Albert Relfe, rang many peals of Surprise Minor, including the first spliced (they are also credited with ringing Bastow for the first time, again in a peal, but that's another story). Can anyone with a long memory, or a recollection of seeing an old photograph, throw any light on this photo? They're all dressed in their Sunday best, so it was probably an auspicious occasion.

The church bells of Kent

This is a site compiled and maintained by Dickon Love and contains details of all the towers within the area of the KCACR which have three or more bells hung for ringing. Each tower entry includes a tower picture, details of current and previous bells and tower history. In some cases there are links to tower home pages and pictures of the bells. There are also quite a few files of sounds of the bells.

So if you haven't visited CBofK recently, then here's yer chance. Click here to go there right away.

KCACR membership — what's in it for me?

[The following article by Peter Sims in an Ashford District Newsletter some time ago seems to answer a lot of questions we hear voiced from time to time. Any comments to webmaster or Peter would be appreciated. — Ed]

As a relatively long serving member of the Ashford District Committee and District Representative on the County Committee of the KCACR I am often asked questions like: Are there any benefits of me being a member? What do I get for my annual subs? Where does all the money go? or, Why can't I be a ringer without bothering having to join the KCACR? All very good questions and effectively asking, "What does the Association do for its members?"

For a normal member the fee is £9 per year (very cheap by anybody's reckoning — about 4 pints of beer, or 2-3 weeks average spend on the lottery). "But what do I get for it?" is the normal response. First and foremost the fact of being a member of a long established charitable ringing association — the only one that covers the whole of Kent, which in turn is part of the national Central Council of Church Bell Ringers. Maybe the objects of the Association should be used as a reminder of what it is all about:

The establishment, maintenance and encouragement of service ringing in the churches in its area: the recognition of ringers as church workers and the proper care and use of bells and belfries; the cultivation of the art of change ringing.'

How do we go about trying to achieve this? The answer is: in a variety of ways, but primarily the ringers from the Districts meet on a monthly basis to share time together, practise things they might not otherwise be able to ring and generally share good news and bad news alike, encouraging and helping each other wherever practical. Many members frequently go to other towers to assist at weekly practice sessions, and quite a few help out with Sunday service ringing at other towers in addition to their own.

But who gets my £9 per year? 50% of all subs goes immediately to the Bell Restoration Fund, whereby it is used to keep bells around the county in a suitable state for ringing. The latest grant was £4000 to Eastchurch - a small parish church with a population of a few hundred. Without this grant towards the overall cost of £16,000 for major works the bells would probably have fallen into a permanent state of disrepair. Fundraising for similar projects forms a significant part of our activities. Of the remaining £4.50 approx £1.50 is paid on insurance for all members. Insurance carried by individual churches for ringers varies considerably and in some instances doesn't even exist. The insurance via KCACR covers all paid up members for both personal accident (whereby the individual can claim for injuries they suffer as a result of ringing activities, including those suffered whilst travelling to and from ringing), or for public liability (whereby somebody may decide to sue a ringer as a result of some damage they feel has been inflicted upon them or their property during the course of a ringing activity). As most of you are well aware, in this increasingly litigious age, everybody thinks it is their right to sue for almost anything, so to have the knowledge of good insurance cover is very comforting. Full details of the cover should be available in your tower, but can be obtained from the District Secretary on request.

A further £1.50 is spent providing every member with their own copy of the KCACR Handbook. This was recently reviewed as "one of the best, if not the best, in the country". The massive work of preparing the Handbook ready for printing is done entirely on a voluntary basis. Approx 50p is spent on publicity and training material, particularly aimed at trying to encourage new ringers as well as generally spreading the news about bells and ringing. Another 50p is spent on officers' expenses attending national meetings (please note; nobody is paid by the Association and many of the officers pay their own expenses as well as giving up their time to attend these meetings). The final 50p is spent in a variety of ways, including postage, payment of auditors and general running expenses, Nobody derives any financial benefit from the Association and many give a great deal; this is typified by the fact that even this newsletter is paid for entirely by the generosity of various individuals - tower copies are distributed free and the money from any copies sold to individuals is donated to the Bell Restoration Fund. [Peter is speaking about the Ashford District here, but most other Districts work in much the same way. — Ed]

If you think the Association should be "giving more", the question is, "What more would you like and how much more are you prepared to pay for it?" The last time a significant increase in subs was put before the county membership at an AGM it was overwhelmingly defeated. If you feel strongly that the Association should be doing more, please speak out constructively. Perhaps the final question should not be, "What more can the Association do for me?", but, "What more can I do for the Association?"

World War I records

Hazel Basford, our County Librarian, has put an enormous an amount of effort into researching the lives and deaths of KCACR ringers during the First World War. How would you cope if half of your band was killed over a period of six months? How would you feel if many of your mates had disappeared, never to return? Have a look at Hazel's report. It's an eye-opener. New items are slowly being added as they come to light. The latest (November 2002) offering is a poem about the Hayesmore brothers from Rolvenden.

Wedding fees

There has been some discussion in the County over the years of an idea for BRF fundraising. One suggestion (originating in the Ashford District) was that wedding fees should be raised by £10 (per wedding, not per rope), and that this additional sum should go to the BRF. This is not intended to be an edict from on high, but is an idea that might be discussed at a local (tower even) level. I have no idea how often Kent bells are rung for weddings, but even if it's only a couple of hundred times a year that could bring in a couple of grand for the BRF.

The scheme also has the great advantage of taking some of the burden off ringers — who after all should not always be called on to fund restoration work (so far as I know organists don't have funds to repair organs any more than choirs raise money for surplices and music). The load is spread much more thinly over a much larger catchment area — after all another tenner on top of the thousands reportedly spent on weddings shouldn't be too much of a problem for the folks being married.

Obviously approval for this sort of venture would have to be sought from the local vicar/PCC, but if the situation was explained by the local ringers, I doubt if there would be many problems. What do people feel about this idea? Think about it. Raise it at your District meetings. Discuss it at your tower meetings. Tell this site about it. But do something.

[It has to be said that, since this item was originally written, quite a few towers now do operate the so-called "spliced fund", and nearly £1600 was raised this way in 2003. But this still represents only about 160 weddings, so we could still do better.]

Was Freud a ringer?

Our lives, like bells while clanging,
An ordered course pursue.

Thus ran the start of the final verse of the Ringers' Hymn as printed in the service sheet at a recent District meeting. One wonders what Mr Wilder put in the original version — have we been under an illusion all these years?

Ringers' grace before meals

This is an occasional service provided for KCACR clerics at a loss for words when it comes to saying grace before a ringing event. This particular version was compiled by the Bishop of Norwich for the 2002 Central Council meeting.

Tenors and trebles, sallies and stays
These are all part of our ringing ways
Plain Bob and Grandsire, methods and peals -
Ringers work hard, so deserve their big meals.
So God bless our table, and we trust he will
Bless all the members of our Central Council.

Bishop Graham (himself a "lapsed" ringer) preaches a pretty mean sermon and gives a very good after-dinner speech, so he won't have to rely on verse too much, but this grace did seem a bit different. Minor modifications for local use would be quite acceptable without breach of copyright.

Roger Bailey

One of the links on the Homepage is to Roger Bailey's Ringing Resources site. Roger has links to all associations, many towers, all sorts of Central Council stuff, methods, ringing software, ringers' email addresses, weather forecasts, railway timetables — you name it, it's there. In fact so comprehensive is the site that The Ringing World no longer bothers to maintain separate listings, but sends you off to RB. Give it a go, but allow plenty of time, 'coz you could spend a long while surfin' around.

People often ask about books available to ringers. Because we are a relatively small market you will never find ringing books in bookshops, but there are quite a few obtainable from the Central Council and other specialised outlets. Click on the book logo above to go straight to a detailed bibliography.

A bit of etymology

[The following article by Gerald Sinfield appeared in the April 2000 issue of the Maidstone District's newsletter, The Belfry, and looked worth reproducing here — Ed]

Nowadays, the word Belfry relates to a bell tower, either as part of or attached to a church or other building, or standing apart on its own; but initially the word had no connection with bells and is not directly named after the bells which are now hung inside. The word originated in the middle ages from the Germanic word "bercfrit", which itself comes from two old German words, "bercen" for protect and "frit" for peace, and refers to an item of the German military. The Germans built movable covered wooden towers which were then called "bergfieds", or peace shelters. They were used to attack castles, walled cities under siege, or other fortifications. Soldiers would enter the siege towers and move them from inside, whilst all the time protected from enemy archers and other attacks, until they were alongside the enemy walls. From that position, the soldiers would then break through or climb over the walls. They proved so effective that many other European armies adopted the idea, with the result that the name then appeared in their languages also.

By about 1500 the siege tower idea was imported into this country, but the English found the name "bergfied" difficult to pronounce and so it was altered, appearing as the Middle English word of "berfrey". When gunpowder was further developed and used as a propellant as well as an explosive, there were then better means of breaking through defended walls. The wooden berfreys were suddenly obsolete, but because of their robust construction, they were hauled within the walls of cities to serve as watchtowers instead. Here they were equipped with bells, so that the watchman inside could sound the alarm.

Over the years, people began to associate the word "berfrey" with the word "bell" and they began to pronounce it as "belfry". Later, when churches were built with bell towers, the name was used for them as well, and the word Belfry is so used to this day.

You can either email the webmaster (webmaster@kcacr.org.uk) or write to me at the address on the officers page.