On Saturday 27th June, a ringing up & down refresher workshop was arranged & held at Stone by Helen Webb. She has provided the following report from the morning:
‘The purpose of the workshop was to provide attendees with the opportunity to discuss their concerns and address their own personal bete noirs with ringing up and down.
10 ringers from 6 different towers attended. The three “tutors” were Neil Jones, Kevin Mitchell and myself.
We started the morning with everyone having a go at ringing up and down with an experienced ringer standing beside them to observe, advise and then discuss their individual concerns. A group discussion was then held and we talked about the common themes: taking the first coil when ringing down, the worry about not being in control of the bell. One of the experienced ringers demonstrated that once the bell is below the balance, it can be effectively controlled with the back stroke if you pull through properly; for the purposes of learning how to take coils, the sally can be “ignored” at this point so that the ringer can focus on what they are doing with the tail end.
After the tea-break, kindly provided by the Stone ringers, we recommenced with everyone ringing up and down individually again.
The focus was on feeling when the bell gets to the balance when ringing up and below the balance when ringing down; particularly for ringing down, they felt more confident about focusing on taking coils.
Those who felt comfortable enough, then had a go at ringing up and down in peal on three bells, with the “learner” on the middle bell. Coaching on the technique of raising and lowering continued throughout. “Classic” problems arose e.g. letting out the final coil too soon and getting out of sync. with the other bells. This was a useful session for those who were sitting out to observe the causes and the recovery: when you are the one ringing, it all happens so quickly and you are focused on dealing with the rope.
It was a successful morning. Lots of thanks to Neil Jones and Kevin Mitchell, particularly as they did all of the ringing up and down in peal . And lots of thanks to the Stone ringers for hosting us.
Another ringing up and down refresher workshop will be organised later this year.’