Ringers from Winchester Cathedral who are leading our project, plus ringers from Alresford, Kings Worthy, Sparsholt and Stockbridge, and the Diocesan Guild’s Vice Master undertook a fact-finding visit to the St Clement’s Ringing Centre in Cambridge on Saturday 8th November.
Cambridge has an active 12-bell band, the 300-year-old Society of Cambridge Youths, that ring advanced 12-bell Surprise methods. They regularly reach the finals of the national 12-bell competition, having won the competition four times since 1979, and came fourth in the final this year.
There is also an active University Society who since 2016 have used the Charmborough Ring at the Freshers fair to recruit non-ringer students who would like to learn. A large number take up ringing, as some of our group found out on Friday evening when they visited the practice at St Bene’t’s, where over 20 students were present.
St Clement’s Teaching Centre was the brainchild of Barry Johnson a Wykehamist and member of the Society of Cambridge Youths. The centre has a new peal of six bells and has been operational for the past three years. It employs a part-time manager, Lynne Hughes, who coordinates the teaching activities.
These cater for ringers from a wide area, with people travelling for an hour or more from all parts of Cambridgeshire and sometimes further afield. Sessions cost £5 per hour for a group lesson to £10 per hour for individual tuition. Most of the sessions cater for people who would like to learn or improve their handling, focusing on foundation skills exercises, up to plain hunting and plain bob doubles. Everyone gets on well and tower captains are more than pleased that additional tuition and coaching is available for their ringers outside their own towers.
The bells can easily be silenced and there is a simulator which ringers can book to use, even some of the crack 12-bell band have been known to use it before the big competition!
There are also new toilets, a kitchen and a meeting room. The centre has a group of nine teachers that they can call on, plus a group of over twenty ‘helpers’. They use the Learning the Ropes scheme, which provides a structured framework for teaching, and helps with monitoring progress.
The centre also works with year 5 and 6 pupils from the local primary school, and the Ely Diocesan Association’s Youth team the ‘Fen Tigers’. They have just held a day’s ringing at three towers in Cambridge at half term for young people.
Each day between 2pm and 3pm members of the public can drop in to find out more about ringing. The centre charges £8 (adults)/£4 (children) for a half-hour bell experience session which is advertised throughout the City and received a ‘fourth most popular in the city’ ranking on Trip Advisor.
Everyone came away enthused and keen to do something similar in Winchester.
Next we have a Zoom call booked for Sunday 23rd November at 7.00pm with Nikki Thomas who manages the Mancroft Ringing Discovery Centre in Norwich to find out more about their teaching centre. All welcome. If you would like to join us, please contact Jill Fuller jill.fuller@winchesterbells.org
We will also be holding some consultation events with ringers from the Winchester District and further afield early in the new year, as we develop our business plan for the St John’s Teaching Centre in Winchester. More details to follow.
