I was in York recently to attend the ART (Association of Ringing Teachers) annual conference. It was a busy couple of days with presentations covering a range of different topic linked to the topic of ‘Making a Difference’ aimed primarily at the difference that tower leaders and ringing teachers can make to their own band, district or association.
Who would have thought, for example, that ringing was like martial arts? Well, the president of the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers (CCCBR), Tina Stoecklin, made a very strong case for how the Sensei, or instructor, can have a huge influence on those that they are training and can influence the underlying atmosphere in a karate group.
A further presentation make a link between ringing and skydiving. Adam Lockwood, the presenter of this seminar, explained about the need for clear instructions, the benefits of EDIP (explain, demonstrate, imitate, practice) and the use of the whole-part-whole model where a particular aspect of a skill is explained, then broken into smaller part to teach before bringing the component parts together – something that many teachers of ringing try to do when teaching a ringer to handle a bell.
We were also challenged to consider whether ringing culture was a help or a hindrance. I know that it is common to hear ‘but we’ve always done it that way’ but just because we have does not mean that there is not a better way.
The final presentation on the Sunday was from Simon Linford, the immediate past president of the CCCBR, about the expected loss of churches in the next few years. He raised a few interesting points in his presentation, particularly with reference to the need to recruit more ringers as part of the Ringing 2030 project and the biggest issue to consider is that of training.
It is becoming more and more apparent that the number of ringers is dwindling and we need to action this. Such action does come at a cost – investment in training and teaching resources as well as finding ways to promote ringing in different ways. One suggestion that was made by Simon was to get associations to contribute more to training fund.
It is estimated that there is in the region of £4-5million invested in bell restoration funds across the country. These funds are necessary. Should a tower need financial help for repairs or improvements then they ought to be able to get support from their association. However, should associations also look at how they could support ringing through the training of new recruits and how that could be resourced? Should associations get ringers to contribute more to training funds?
The weekend ended with the opportunity to visit and ring at York Minster, a truly beautiful building with an excellent ring of 12. Many of the attendees, including me, took advantage of this chance to ring prior to Evensong.
Thinking about training, I want to mention the Ringing Discovery Day that I mentioned last month. This will be taking place on Saturday 2nd August at St Margaret’s, Rochester, running between 10.00 and 16.00. In due course, I will be asking for help from members in order to make this work. As well as people who are able to help with introducing members of the public to chiming a bell or ringing backstrokes on a bell, I will also be looking for help with stewarding the day, demonstrating ringing, talking to members of the public who come along and supervising some of the exhibits that will be in the church. I will be contacting some of you but it is also helpful to have a pool of volunteers that I could call on as well. Please email me at if you would like to know more about the event or get involved.
This is my penultimate Words from the Chair. As I have already said, the role of Chairman is traditionally a 3-year term and my 3 years are coming to an end. I am hoping that somebody will step up to the position and, should you be interested, I thought it might be useful to explain a little about the expectations of the role.
The Chairman’s main role is to chair Association meetings. There are four General Committee meetings a year (February, April, September and November) as well as the Annual General Meeting on Easter Monday. Additionally, the Chairman is, together with the General Secretary and Treasurer, a Trustee of the Bell Restoration Fund and as such has the responsibility of managing this fund.
The Chairman may decide to attend District Meetings across the Association and may also wish to attend the Association Competitions, although they may delegate these to another person.
During my tenure, I started these Words from the Chair as a way to communicate with members, but that was my choice and my successor may choose not to continue with these. I have been continuing to support Kent Young Ringers and have also been promoting ART in the Association but again, these have been my choice. It is very much down to each Chairman as to what they do beyond chairing meetings and being a trustee.
The AGM will take place at St Nicholas, Sevenoaks on Monday 21st April, commencing at 2.00pm. Full details, including meeting papers and a brochure detailing the timetable for the day (including open towers) can be found by following this link: https://kcacr.org.uk/association/agm/
We are trialling an online method for nominating Association Officers via this link: https://forms.office.com/e/NguMruuCpj It will, of course, still be possible to nominate Officers at the AGM.
Also on the website is a link to the touch for this year’s Association Inter-District 8-Bell Striking Competition which is a touch of 224 Double Norwich Court Bob Major: https://kcacr.org.uk/the-kcacr-inter-district-8-bell-striking-competition-2025/
On the subject of competitions, I would like to say a big ‘well done’ to the Maidstone District on their successful 6-Bell Striking Competition, the first since 2020. It was especially encouraging to see that seven teams took part and congratulations go to the East Malling band, who won the competition.
The Kent Young Ringers also held their Inter-District Striking Competition at the beginning of March. Five teams took part and congratulations go to the Canterbury District team on winning. This means that all three of the Association Competition trophies are now temporarily residing in that District.
The Kent Young Ringers are also preparing for SEECON (the South East England Striking Contest) which being hosted by the Berks and Bucks Young Ringers. Our team will be representing the Association and, consequently, the County of Kent in this contest and it will be useful practice for those in the team who go on to represent Kent at the Ringing World National Youth Contest in July.
Finally, congratulations go to Marilyn Barden of Ash-next-Sandwich on being awarded a Community Award for her work in training the band at St Nicholas and ‘securing the future of bellringing in Ash’.
I look forward to seeing many of you on Easter Monday.
Neil Jones
KCACR Chairman