As bell-ringers, most of us are quickly introduced to changes, initially into call-changes, followed by the intricacies of change-ringing, with a multitude of methods to remember if the rest of our local band is ‘up to it’. We learn a host of
new expressions, such as going in quick, or slow, and enthusiastically hearing the jubilant ‘That is all’ at the end of our first quarter-peal.
All this comes to mind as I pick up my weekly issue of The Ringing World, now with its oh-so-thin biodegradable wrapping, in perfect condition, a welcome change from its previous plastic wrapping – far better than that of distant times. A well-struck weekly, it might be claimed, worthy of coming top of other magazines that come through our letter boxes.
The many months of the coronavirus lockdown has caused most of us to lose the feel of a bell rope in our hands, but long may the gains continue in the contents of our weekly RW, with the host of exploratory articles advancing our knowledge of ‘how to do it’. That might well change the effect of the sound in the ears of passers-by, leading them round into the building where we feel so much at home, and adding one more voice to the sound of prayer and praise expressed by the band of worshippers.
And more: the possibility of an enquiry into ‘How do you do it – will you show me?’, as worshippers talk to each other after the service, though with refreshments not yet at hand. How refreshing a new learner would be to our band in the tower – a new ‘method’ of changing and increasing our ability to announce the impending worship of the Christian Faith. This, after all, is what the bells are there for.
MICHAEL STEPHENS
Guild of Clerical Ringers