Bellringing
English style church bellringing is a fascinating activity that requires physical co-ordination, a sense of rhythm and good listening skills. It provides mental and physical stimulation, along with the social aspect of working with other ringers. For those that are interested, there is a wealth of opportunity to become involved with many different aspects of ringing (teaching, organising, conducting, composing, theory, technology, history, ...). There is a brief introduction to ringing on the website of my home tower. The animated image is courtesy of Fortran Friends (using a RISC OS computer). You can see six ringers ringing in sequence here .
I learnt to ring in 1959 at St Wilfrid's, Kirkby in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire (see picture) where I grew up. I lived in the overlapping territory of two ringing societies - the Southwell Diocesan Guild and the East Derbyshire and West Notts Association - so I joined both and benefitted from their different cultures. Kirkby only had five bells in my day, but was augmented to eight in 2001, and I was privileged to be in the band that rang the first peal on the eight.
I was tower captain briefly before I went to Cambridge University ( Sidney Sussex College) where as a member of the Cambridge University Guild of Change Ringers, my ringing developed rapidly. I rang at Guildford Cathedral for a year and was married there. I rang very little for the next ten years. I now ring at All Saints Wokingham , which has been my home tower since the late '70s.
I have been involved with training ringers for many years. I am a member of the Education Subcommittee of the Oxford Diocesan Guild of Church Bellringers , and training co-ordinator for the Sonning Deanery Branch. I am one of the Guild's representatives on the Central Council of Church Bellringers, and was chairman of the Council's Education Committee from 2000-2007. I am currently a member of the Council's Public Relations Committee and its Biographies Committee. I led the working group that set up The Ringing Foundation .
My most unusual training assignment was to teach the actors who played bellringers in the Midsomer Murders episode called ' Ring Out Your Dead', described here.
I have written several books on ringing (mostly available from CC Publications) including four volumes of The Learning Curve, a monthly page about learning and teaching that I wrote from 1999-2007 in The Ringing World. I have produced training aids, including CDs and software to help ringers develop the difficult but critical skill of accurate listening. This software !Strike runs on RISC-OS . More recently I was invited to give a talk on music in ringing to a group of musicians, and subsequently to write a series of articles for their newsletter.
My latest book 'Living Heritage ' covers the history of bellringing in Wokingham over the last 300 years.
Like most ringers, I have rung in hundreds of different towers in UK and abroad, enjoying the universal welcome that is characteristic among ringers. You can find details of any ringing tower in Dove's Guide.
I have taught many ringers, and for many years I have used modern teaching aids such as a simulator. I have also tutored ringing courses, and run courses on listening in many different parts of the country.
Some years ago, I made a counter-rotating dumbbell (which works with a simulator). Although I didn't realise it at the time, it is based on a similar principle to that used by my namesake, the 18th century John Harrison in his marine chronometer. Even longer ago, I built some interesting models that represent the way change ringing works.
If you would like to know more about ringing, there is a good summary for non ringers on my tower's website. There are also lots of links on the Change Ringers Resource (much of this is for ringers, but there is plenty to interest non ringers as well). There is a changeringing Wiki . Ringing is also among the talks that I give to local groups and societies.
50 years after I learnt to ring, I arranged a celebratory peal of Kirkby-in-Ashfield Surprise Major (named after Kirkby-in-Ashfield where I learnt to ring). We rang the peal at Wokingham, where I have rung for most of my life. The band included people who rang with me in Kirkby, and at Cambridge University, as well as current and former Wokingham ringers.
Pictures
Click image to enlarge.
** Copyright Nikki Mahadevan and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence .
