We are planning a summer outing. We may be a new band but we already have "traditions" and one such tradition is that we enjoy a day out together in June or early July, before the tourists hit The Broads. and clog up the roads. We grab a few towers (still a novelty activity for most of us), scare ourselves silly on unfamiliar bells or suffer a severe attack of "bell envy", and visit a tea room –for some, the highlight of the day and only permitted once our ringing is done. Over tea and cakes we can relive our triumphs and disappointments and resolve to do better next time.
I have been tasked with planning the 2022 jolly. This year we are forgoing the bikes in favour of motorised transport, but where to go?
We are absolutely spoilt for choice in Norfolk. There are medieval towers all around and many have bells, both old and new. If you put a pin in Reedham and draw a circle, there are dozens to choose from within a 30-40 minute radius – from little round towers of 3 bells to mighty minsters with 12. We are like greedy children staring through the sweetie shop window – what to pick? where to go? whom to invite to join us?
I think that I have settled on a suitable list of 5 - ranging from a round tower housing 3 medieval bells with charming inscriptions, a novelty ring of 5, through some decent rings of 6 which are rung regularly by resident bands, to an excellent ring of 8. I did not expect the smaller towers to have active bands, although the 3 are rung regularly thanks to the dedication of a few ringers, but I was surprised to find that the most impressive ring of the lot no longer has a practice or a tower leader. I have only rung there once but in the NDA pre-pandemic listing for 2019 and 2020, there were 8 members of the association boasting over 600 peals between them listed at the tower. Now my request for a loan of the bells was fielded by a church warden who reported sadly that there was no longer a band, and could she be of assistance?
She certainly could, but could I be of assistance to her? Here we have a decent ring of bells in a largish town with a ground floor ring with, if I remember correctly, heating in the ringing room. Yet no one to ring them. How sad is that?
I can see how easy it is for towers to fall silent in this situation, with just the occasional visiting band passing through, or a summer wedding to provide the excuse for local ringers to be paid to ring the bells. But what a waste of a valuable resource. My own home tower was silent in the decades leading up to 2018, when an enthusiastic band of Ringing Remembers newbies took over for the centenary of the Armistice. We have stayed and although our striking is dubious and our repertoire limited, we make sure that the bells of St John the Baptist are heard every week. We also try to make sure that two other towers in our benefice are heard regularly. This means that we have to call on help from time to time, but the fact that we are an active band means that we have the contacts and the network of ringing friends to ask. Success begets success.
Once a leader is lost, in this case the ringing vicar and his wife moved on, if no one picks up the baton then what happens next? Of course, the past few years have not been typical ones, and things have happened which would not have happened in more normal times, but we should be able to find a solution. A fine ring of bells deserves a band and I would like to think that local ringers will work out a solution. It will take time to train up some newbies, but if no-one hears the bells in the town, then how will they feel their pull? With no band to train new volunteers, where will they come from? If a church and local community gets used to silence from the tower, how soon before they forget that it was ever full of joy and music?
As ringers we have to think about this, because I am sure that St Margaret's, Lowestoft is not the only church in this unfortunate position. Is there a plan to tackle it?
No comments:
Post a Comment