I think that we have been spoilt this year by the vibrant Autumn colours and, as the clocks change this weekend, we are reminded that Winter is on the horizon as we start to look towards Association events in 2026.
However, we have recently had one of the main Association events with the six-bell striking contests. These took place on the 27th September at Barming. Only three Districts, Rochester, Canterbury and Lewisham, were represented in the Six-Bell Inter District Striking Contest which was judge by Brian Meads from the Essex Association. The winners were the Lewisham District, represented by Beckenham, with 27 faults. St Dunstan’s represented the Canterbury District and came 2nd with 40 faults. In third place was Milton Regis, who represented the Rochester District and they were awarded 54.5 faults.
The afternoon saw five teams enter the 6-Bell Call-Change Competition. The winners were Bredgar, who also won last year. In 2nd place was a team representing the Kent Young Ringers who narrowly beat a team from the Ashford District. A Ladies band came fourth and Boxley were fifth.
I was, unfortunately, unable to attend the competitions and my thanks go to Tim Ford for standing in for me and to Brian Meads for kindly agreeing to judge the event.
The reason for me being absent was that I had been invited by the North Western District of the Essex Association to judge their annual Stan Clark Memorial Call Change Striking Competition. Normally, I wouldn’t comment on events outside of the KCACR but I feel that this one was worthy of comment due to the number of entries.
Fourteen teams representing at least 14 out of 41 towers participated. Most, if not all of the participating teams were either novice bands or included ringers who were not very experienced and one was a team of the young ringers in that District.
The teams were very supportive to each other and the atmosphere was very positive. When I look at our own Districts and the competitions that take place within them, I wonder if there is something that we could do as Districts to encourage the sort of participation that I saw in Essex that day.
Whilst thinking about encouraging newer ringers, I really should mention something that has been going on for some time here in Kent. As many of you know, I am very much an advocate for training and training opportunities. One thing that I don’t think I have mentioned much is the teaching hubs that we have around Kent.
Currently, there are three in operation, one based in the Staplehurst/Lamberhurst area, one at Milton Regis, near Sittingbourne and the third is in Ramsgate, at either St Laurence in Thanet or St Peter’s in Thanet.
These hubs are aimed at new ringers. I have first hand experience of the difficulty there can be in a practice night trying to give everybody a ‘prime ring’, that is something which hopefully consolidates or extends learning. The hubs do not replace a practice night but do offer opportunities for newer ringers to focus more on specific areas, be it bell handling, call changes or branching into plain hunt. All of these skills are linked to the ART M1 and M2 training courses the hub leaders are all accredited ART Ringing Teachers.
The benefit of these sessions can be immense. As a result of the Ringing Discovery Day back in August, I organised a Ringing School for those who indicated that they would like to find out more about ringing. After a preliminary hands-on training session, they were invited to participate in four further teaching sessions. Whilst not all decided take up this offer, those who did have made remarkable progress and it really did demonstrate for all of those who were involved in helping with the training how valuable the intense training was and how working together really helped to provide an excellent teaching model. Perhaps you might be able to consider starting something like this in another area? It would be really beneficial for our less experienced ringers if we could establish more teaching hubs around the Association. If you are interested in coming along to one of the hubs either as a new ringer or as an experienced ringer, do get in touch with one of the hub leaders. Details are on the KCACR website under the Training link.
Many of you may well have seen the posts on the KCACR website and in the digest email about the forthcoming Evensong at Canterbury Cathedral. There will be refreshments available beforehand in the Community Studio, inside the Cathedral Precinct, from 3:30pm.
Whilst Evensong is a public service and we will be joining other members of the public at this service, it is essential that you pre-book the ringing. Last year, the Canterbury Cathedral Company of Change Ringers were slightly overwhelmed by the number of attendees. To their credit, I think that everybody did manage to ring who wanted to, however this highlighted some issues of overcrowding which the Canterbury Cathedral Company of Change Ringers have had to address this year.
Should you wish to join in the ringing before the service, you must register your details using the Cathedral’s online Visiting Ringer’s form by 5pm on Tuesday 10th November. This form needs to be completed even if you have completed one before or have visited the cathedral previously.
Upon registering, you will be allocated a timeslot to ring which will be posted in the Community Studio from just after 3:00pm. Ringing will be from 4:00pm until about 5:15pm after which a band will ring a service touch prior to lowering the bells. If you do not register beforehand, it will not be possible to ring at the Cathedral on the 16th November.
Evensong will be in the Quire and admission to the service will be from 5:00pm. We have been asked to be seated by about 5:15pm. As already mentioned, there is no need to register online to attend the service.
Don’t forget that Rona Joiner and Philippa Rooke are holding a meeting on 1st November at Chelsfield for women who are interested in conducting. This might be just saying ‘Go’ or ‘That’s All’ but it is hoped that it will also begin to explore conducting at different levels from calling a simple touch through to conducting a quarter peal or full peal.
The first session will be primarily aimed at getting to know each other, understanding the barriers that women are facing, and working together to gain the tools to overcome these. It will be held at St Martin’s, Chelsfield on Saturday 1 November from 10 am to 12 noon. If you’d like to come along, please RSVP to so that they know how much coffee to provide!
Neil Jones
KCACR Chairman