Following on from the successful call-changes and steeple-keeping courses held in the Mere branch earlier in the year, in June we held a Tower Captains’ meeting with special guest David Hacker VP who gave a talk on running a successful practice, together with an update on safeguarding. In August and September, the Mere Branch Training Committee ran a couple of Saturday morning Plain Hunt training sessions on the superb bells of Motcombe St Mary. Fourteen students in total attended over the two mornings. Their ability varied from never having attempted plain hunt before to having had learnt the very basics and ringing by knowing the numbers. Both mornings consisted of a PowerPoint presentation covering all aspects of the theory. The students were then split into two groups; one group went up into the ringing room, the other group completed a plain hunt quiz sheet and had a question-and-answer session with a couple of the helpers, then the groups swapped over. The students were ably supported by the Motcombe band and a number of enthusiastic ringers from throughout the branch. For the first time these students were able to attempt to ring plain hunt with a reliable band keeping their place to give them the best chance to succeed. Once the students grasped the changes of ringing speed required, the majority succeeded in ringing through a number of courses and were able to understand the necessity of counting their places. Thanks go to Judith, Len and Nick for organising the day, the Motcombe band for hosting, and our ever-reliable group of helpers giving up their time, some of whom travelled a long way.
Some student feedback on the plain hunt courses:
“Just wanted to say thank you so much for yesterday’s course – helpful, constructive and confidence building! And please pass on thanks to all those kind people who gave up their Saturday morning to help.”
“We found the theory session very useful, and the opportunity to practice ringing amongst a team of experienced ringers hugely enjoyable”
“I felt very well supported by the helpers and ringers who put up with the idiosyncrasies of the learners all morning. Please express my thanks to them, it was what I needed and now I must try to put it all into practice.”
“Thank you so much for the plain hunt session this morning. Initially very nerve wracking, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and it was a great kick-start for me”
Our Friday evening All Ringing Together practices continue to be well attended, attracting up to twenty attendees of varying experience, all of whom support the branch and our up-and-coming ringers really well, which we are most grateful for. These practices are an opportunity to ring at different towers, meet fellow branch ringers, chat over a coffee, grab some ringing resources or to ask advice, and have a go at ringing something that maybe you can’t at your home tower. At our last practice at Mere, it was great to see one of our plain hunt students ring plain hunt on 7 very competently.
The re-introduction of the branch minor practice has proven to be successful. We decided to name it “Moving on to Minor” to emphasise it is not solely for those who can ring minor methods already but for those who can ring doubles comfortably and would like to attempt minor. We were not sure how much interest there would be but with a number of experienced ringers joining the Guild in the last few years, along with some ringers making great progress, numbers at these practices have been good, averaging sixteen. We ring a lot of Plain Bob and St Clements, progress is being made with Kent and Cambridge too.
Nick Dallison
Mere Branch Ringing Master
(on behalf of the Mere Branch Committee)
