Firmly a human activity
I have been preparing for a ringing tour by looking up the details of the towers to be visited. In my younger days, the only and very valuable reference was an edition of Dove’s Guide, which listed each tower and some basic information about the bells. Since then, the computer and software skills of a number of ringers have brought us Towerbase and now Dove’s Online Guide (dove.cccbr.org.uk/). This is an amazing encyclopaedia of tower information, for which I for one am very grateful. Whereas in earlier days, one had no idea about the nature of the bells, now we can find out all sorts of detail, even down to the fact that a tower has a double helix staircase!
I remember from the 1980s our tower captain arranging a day trip for our young teenage learners. We carefully chose light six-bell towers nearby. What we discovered was that most of them were hardly rung or even maintained – at one tower, several of our young ringers could not even pull off the treble! With the patiently collected information all set out online today, this would be unlikely to occur now (or perhaps you can tell me that it does!).
In addition, photos, local association information, pubs, maps and distances are all available on websites, greatly enhancing our ability to prepare trips and visits.
While computer wizardry and AI and the like has enabled all of this, actual ringing remains firmly a human activity, relying on personal interaction, encouragement, guidance, cooperation, and of course skills.
It is a feature of ringing that it is a human personal activity, with all the faults and weakness, as well as skills and experience, that are part and parcel of what we do as people. We gain considerable reward from our achievements, at whatever level, and from sharing with others in the process.
At this time in the church’s year, we celebrate the hope and humanity that the resurrection of Christ has freely offered us, especially when we are able to visit, ring at and enjoy the often quirky old buildings that stand as witnesses to the Christian faith (even when we can’t pull off the treble!).
David Grimwood