October Book of the Month

Tower Captain’s Handbook – D.E.Parsons

 – a Central Council Publication. 

This book was published in 1983, whilst some of the language is dated and views have evolved 40 years on, a lot of the needs and issues that face a tower captain still hold true in the 21st century, the size of band, recruiting, teaching bell handling, attendance, running a practice, maintenance and public relations are all covered in this 31 page, A5 sized booklet. 

The Introduction to this book opens with the statement, “Tower captains are the most important people in the Exercise”, it then goes on to explain that as well as the responsibility for the bells, if they prove incompetent, a likely result is the break up of the band and a silent, neglected tower. A tad dramatic, you might think? Perhaps not. Setting expectations whilst managing people (the ringing band & any visitors) and in turn their needs and expectations, is in essence the main role of a tower captain & should be recognised as such.

At this point, a bit off the review track, thank you to our tower captains, who put in the hours of time and effort to make ringing a satisfying and happy experience. We may not say it enough, thank you! 

Back to the booklet. The role of the tower captain as the link between the ringing band & church (incumbent, PCC & parishioners) is also covered and should not be neglected. As this book acknowledges, the function of church bells is to call people to worship. Many ringers support the church in ringing for services whilst not being active church members themselves, understanding that without an active maintained church there would not be bells to ring. Service ringing is the public performance and evidence of a band’s ability. To this end the tower captain is responsible for ensuring practices are run efficiently to give ringers of all abilities the opportunity to practice, improve their ringing and give their best performance. Section 12. Running a Practice has some useful tips and advice in this regard. 

The Bibliography at the back of the booklet recommends other useful titles a tower captain may find helpful, most, if not all, are still available. The Appendices I, II and III offer up some easy call changes, calls for touches of Plain bob, Grandsire and Stedman and a table to work out how long each touch should take, based on your speed of ringing, changes per minute and the number of changes in the touch.

Gosh! What a lot a tower captain has to do and remember. You might want to have this booklet to refer to. £2 cover price. 

Amanda Burch