Bellringers' Training

Silent Bell Ringing

“Silent bell ringing” sounds like a contradiction! However, a  bell simulator and associated software, purchased with a legacy from former Tower Captain Betty Jackson, allow bellringers to be trained without the bells being heard outside the bell tower during the following teaching sessions:

Local Improvers

(Monday mornings, 9.30am)  This is for a group of ‘improvers’ drawn from local towers (currently Addingham, Otley, Skipton, Fewston, Pateley Bridge). They have all learnt to ring a bell in the last few years, and need to spend as much time as possible ringing bells in order to improve their bell control and other ringing skills.  They are only able to ring for approximately 15-20 minutes a week during their home towers’ practice nights – because of the need at those practices to offer lots of people opportunities to practise at a level of difficulty suitable for them as individuals.  As a result they make relatively slow progress; they are all retired and (as I know only too well!) learning new skills takes longer the older you are.  At the practices I run on Monday mornings, the ‘improvers’ each spend about an hour and a half mixing bell control exercises with ringing together as a band.

Addingham/Ilkley Improvers

(Wednesday evenings, 6.00-7.30pm)  This is for ‘improvers’ from our own band (the joint Addingham-Ilkley band) and they do much the same as the Local Improvers group which meets on Monday mornings.  There are currently five of them.  Four of them are of working age and therefore unable to attend the Monday morning sessions, so I run a special practice for them before our usual weekly Wednesday evening practice.  It allows them to make more rapid progress than if they only had opportunity to ring briefly at our usual weekly practices.

Learners’ Bell-Handling Practice

(various days and times)  These are sessions for new recruits who are learning how to ring a bell.  It takes between approximately six and twenty hours of one-to-one tuition to teach someone to ring a bell safely on their own and the dates and times of the approximately weekly sessions vary to suit the availability of all involved.  Currently Sue Green (the Tower Captain at Ilkley) and I are teaching two learners, usually together, who will probably become ‘improvers’ in six to eight months time.  Whether or not these “Learners’ Sessions” continue after that will depend on whether we recruit more people who want to learn to ring.

Advanced Methods Practice

(third Monday of each month, 2.30 – 4.00pm)  This is a new event intended for experienced ringers who would benefit from an opportunity to ring relatively difficult methods (as our ‘tunes’ are called). Most local bands have too few experienced ringers to tackle these methods on their practice night so it is necessary to bring together a group drawn from several towers if these are to be learned. The tutor travels from Calverley, experienced ringers from Ilkley and Silsden act as helpers and the learners (including me) are currently from Addingham, Ilkley, Otley, Skipton, Haworth and Low Bentham.  This is a fortnightly practice which alternates between Silsden and Addingham, so meets at St Peter’s once a month.