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Lewisham District |
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| District towers |
The Lewisham District has its own website which provides loads of stuff about meetings, practices and so on. This is being maintained by Rupert Cheeseman and is accessible directly by clicking on the link above. Give it a go and let Rupert know what you think. The KCACR site will continue to publish odd snippets, but the really up-to-the-minute stuff will be accessible via the link above.
The January 2012 edition of the District newsletter is now out and accessible from the link above, as are all issues going back to January 2001.
The KCACR BRF gang visited Farnborough on Monday 2 January 2012, and when they left the tower was short of a bell. More details may be found here.
On Saturday 19 November, just four met up at Sidcup for the annual call change competition. It would have been three if there hadn't been a slight bending of the rules to allow Anne to ring for two teams. Peter Jasper and Nick Hartley from London had agreed to come along and judge. Once they'd had a ring and found a place to listen, the draw was made and the competition began. Each team completed their test piece while Yvonne kept those not ringing supplied with tea, coffee and biscuits.
Peter and Nick then gave their comments and the results. Peter started by saying how nice it was to be invited down to the wilds of Kent to judge the competition. He felt that all of the bands should have been proud to have rung like that for Sunday service. He felt that from their brief try out that the bells were tricky and loud so he sympathised with the conductors. Nick then gave comments on each of the bands.
Team 1: The practice was confident and this continued into the test piece. Most faults were
picked up in the leading and after the call changes.
Team 2: The test was better than the practice. The rounds at the beginning and end were very good but there
was a crunchy patch in the middle.
Team 3: The faults were not all picked up for the same thing. Not as good as felt it could have been.
Team 4: No serious faults but lots of little ones which added up.
The results were then announced as follows:
| position | team | tower | faults |
| 1st | 1 | Chelsfield | 39 |
| 2nd | 2 | Horton Kirby | 57 |
| 3rd | 3 | Eltham | 64 |
| 4th | 4 | Crayford/Dartford | 68 |
Philippa with the trophy, flanked by the judges,
Nick (l) and Peter (r)
Congratulations to Chelsfield for winning the call change competition for the first time in many years. Thanks again to Peter and Nick for giving up their time to come and judge it and to Yvonne for providing the refreshments and venue.
Rupert Cheeseman
The 2011 ADM was held at Bexley on 8 October and officers elected for 2011/2012 were as follows
The Lewisham and Tonbridge Districts joined forces and ran a joint outing up to the Smoke on 13 August 2011. We shamelessly lifted the following writeup from the District newsletter (thanks, Sue). Thanks also to Rupert Cheeseman for some splendid photos of the day's events.
On 13 August members of the Lewisham and Tonbridge Districts met up in London for an outing. Tonbridge had held one the previous year but this was the first time for many years (ever?) that Lewisham had been on one. Throughout the day 30 ringers took part with a fairly even split between the Districts.
The day was intended to be done by public transport so Bermondsey underground station was where most people emerged to ring at the nearby tower. The ringing room is compact but there was just enough room for everybody and there was some good ringing to start the day ranging from rounds and call changes to Surprise Major.
Next it was a short walk along Jamaica Road to Rotherhithe. Having worked up an appetite lunch was next on the agenda. There was no set pub but a few suggestions so people headed off in different directions. We walked along the river to The Ship. Unfortunately there was going to be a long wait for food so we had to make do with a drink and watched the boats going up and down the Thames.
Having had trips on the new East London overland line and the DLR, everyone met up again at Limehouse to have a ring on the first 10 of the day. There was then a short walk to the final 10 at Stepney where we rang up to Grandsire Caters and Little Bob Royal.
There were two alternative options for getting to the final tower at Cornhill — bus or tube. People tried both and the bus turned out to be slightly quicker but only by a minute or two. After much debate, it was recently decided to replace the old ring of 12 at Cornhill. The new ring are a vast improvement on the old bells both in sound and the ringing circle. Bearing in mind the lack of experience of our band on 12 bells, we didn't do too badly and even managed a plain course of Stedman Cinques. The day then ended for the hard core in the Cross Keys.
Thanks go to Tim and Catherine for organising the day and to everyone who turned out and made the day such a success.
Rupert
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It is with the greatest sadness that we report on news of the death of Mark A S Jones.
Mark had been ill for some time and passed away at 7.00am on Tuesday 5 July, at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London. Mark learnt to ring at St Nicholas, Chislehurst and he was a member of the KCACR, the CUG and the ASCY.
Mark's funeral service was on Thursday 21 July 2011 at St George's Church, Beckenham http://www.stgb.net/, followed by a private (family only) service of burial. There was open general ringing before the service, and a single touch by an invited band afterwards.
Instead of buying flowers, you may wish to make a donation to one of the following charities:
Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Lucy, his parents and his three brothers.
Congratulations to the Lewisham District on winning the County 8-bell striking competition for 2011. Full details are available here.
Not to be outdone by the Maidstone District's discovery of a ringable three at Ditton in 2010, Dickon Love sends us this item covering a similar find in the Lewisham District.
Keen followers of the lists of ringable towers may have spotted that a new tower has crept into the Lewisham District, namely St Michael, Wilmington. It had always been said that the three bells here formed a chime, with rumours even that the wheels were half wheels. However recent inspections have shown that there are in fact three bells hung for full circle ringing. In November 2010 a group from the Lewisham District went along to inspect the belfry with members of the church, including the Rector, churchwarden and James "The Bellringer". There we learnt that the bells are normally chimed before service from the ground floor by James, chiming all three at once. The ropes (which the tower notice says date from 1981) have very short spliced-in tail ends which are ideal for this sort of chiming but quickly run out if anyone tries to ring the bells up very high, let alone to the balance.
Access to the belfry itself is very difficult as it involves propping a ladder up against a wall so that it comes within a couple of feet of another ladder that angles back across the tower to a central trapdoor. Climbing this ladder and then climbing across the gap between the two ladders is not for the faint hearted! A quick inspection of the belfry has shown the fittings to be in fairly good condition, although the frame can be heard to shunt around. The parish intends to put in a proper floor under the tower during 2011 so that access can be possible using a single ladder. At this time a better inspection will be conducted "with spanners" to establish how safe the frame is.
In the meantime, it was demonstrated that the bells could be rung up and stood, but only by the tallest people (the church doesn't have ringing boxes). The District has however made contact with James to encourage him to learn to ring. Visitors are not encouraged to go to Wilmington to ring the bells full circle until the frame has been properly inspected and tightened, and new ropes presented. However, once this is done, there is every likelihood that the three bells could be happily rung to changes, and the church is likely to be very welcoming. Watch this space.
More details about the bells and more photographs may be found on http://kent.lovesguide.com/wilmington.htm.
Rupert Cheeseman writes: The quarter peal rung at Ash on 3 October 2010 was noteworthy for a number of reasons. Firstly, it was Gabrielle Stook's first quarter at her first attempt. Secondly, it was the first quarter on the bells since they had been retuned and rehung at the beginning of the year which has made them much easier to ring. And finally, it means that all of the pealable towers in the District have now been rung to a quarter this year, which certainly has not been done for a while if at all.
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| Photo: (clockwise from bottom right) Gabrielle Stook, Treble; Brian Ashmore, 2; Cathy Cheeseman, 3; Andrew Sinclair, 4; Rupert Cheeseman (C), 5; John Stook, Tenor |
Details of the quarter can be found on Campanophile.
The following is an article which appeared in an earlier edition of the Lewisham District Newsletter, written by then editor Jeremy Byers, on how to recruit ringers. Everything he says is pure common sense, and should be obvious to anyone. Or am I being too naïve?
If it were that easy and I had the formula I would bottle and sell it!
This is one of the many areas that the current millennium committee [of the Lewisham District] is trying to help with but as usual there isn't an easy answer — if there was we wouldn't have a problem. This article is an attempt to give you some ideas that might help.
Looking at the world today one thing we notice is that everyone is very busy. As such when we are looking to recruit new ringers we have to appreciate that we are going into a market place where we are going to be competing with hundreds of activities all looking to utilise people's precious leisure time.
In order to stand a chance of attracting new ringers we have to make people aware that
General awareness
Making people aware that ringing exists and that new ringers are welcome is probably the first stage. There is a need to break down the general perception that "bells ring themselves" or that it is all mechanical. The average person's understanding and perception of ringing stops at the church door — it doesn't even get as far as the tower door.
So how do you get over this hurdle?
The Millennium and all the press and television articles have no doubt helped on a national scale. However you still need to follow this up at a local level. Articles in church magazines, the local press, tower open days and the like are all good ways forward. Remember, don't stop at one article and wait for the rush — keep putting articles in magazines — if people start seeing that you are an active group then they may become more interested.
Also what's your advertising like in the church? If you are anything like Beckenham, you might just find a faded KCACR notice advertising ringing times — if you can read it I bet it isn't up to date. With all the home PC technology there must be someone around who can knock up some bold notices to get welcome visitors into the tower. If you are hoping to recruit from the church congregation you have got to make them realise they are welcome — before they take their life in their hands and start climbing that spiral staircase.
It's so simple isn't it — not at all. I realise that this sort of effort is hard graft. Often with no apparent reward and you can easily start with good intentions and within two or three months have given up. Try it — if you get depressed about the response try talking to other towers in the District, see if they have come up with any cunning plans to recruit ringers.
Making it fun and enjoyable
Having got new recruits try to keep it fun and enjoyable. We all know that learning to ring is very difficult and at times soul destroying. You turn up to practice for weeks and weeks, get ten minutes on the end of a rope if you are lucky and seem to end up going backwards — result one ex-recruit who disappears very quickly.
The first and most important point is to get your new recruit's address and contact phone number. This means that you can phone them and keep up the contact — surprising what a difference feeling that you are wanted makes!
After that it is just a question of trying to use all the means available to encourage your new recruits. At Beckenham the use of One Per Learner has been the mainstay for several years yet it is only lately that we have used the Bell Club award packs. The use of individual progress charts have been useful at times when our learners have been looking fed up — it's surprising when you break handling down into stages how much they do progress.
In an attempt to help as much as possible I am going to try to put together some ideas and some sources for information and other information that towers might find useful. If you would like one (when I've written it) or have anything that you think could usefully included in it please let me know. You can email me on jeremy.byers@virgin.net.
[You could also have a look at the County Training Subcommittee's offering by clicking here.]
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