Keeping a record

from my bedroom window…

We are a new band and when we started it seemed a good idea to keep some record of our progress.  I enjoy writing and since I was writing stuff anyway for other forums, why not include a copy in the tower book and some relevant photos? It would be an interesting record for us, and who knows, perhaps in the future another band of Reedham Ringers will enjoy reading about the day we rang by ourselves for the first time and the trials of removing a decade of pigeon poo from the silence chamber. It might help them to understand why the number 3 bell is as it is, and to watch out for the tenor because it really is one-of–a-kind.  I loved reading our only surviving tower book from the reformation of the Reedham band in the 1930s, through the war years, into the 1950s. They were clearly a tightly knit group, loyal to the tower and to each other through some very difficult times.  Despite the cessation of ringing for some years, all but one returned to the ringing room in 1945.  The tower captain sadly died in 1946 and one lady returned with a different (married) name, but with a few new reinforcements they continued to ring together.

Because of the records that they kept, last year we were able to recreate one of their summer outings.  I had hoped to try to trace their footsteps in another direction again this year, but sadly it is not to be. I have identified the graves of those that are buried in the churchyard of the church where they rang, and since none is tended by anyone else, I have adopted them. Canterbury bells for the summer and narcissus Golden bells  for the spring will be planted on each in recognition of their link with the bells and all that they did to preserve a ring at our church.  They raised the money in 1933 to rehang the bells even before the church got round to installing electricity.  Such was their passion.  I cannot imagine a modern day congregation sacrificing heat and light in favour of bells!

Records are important – they provide a link for those that follow and a tangible connection to the past.  Even in the short term, our tower book is useful.  We can check who was where, when and prove that things have been done that should have been done. In these times when the links between band members are weakened by distance, the book is a reminder of what we are and what we have achieved.  On Friday I was able to post on our ringers’ Facebook group May Day greetings and a photo of our joyful ring on 1^st May 2019. It is recorded in the book that we rang Weasels because there were only 5 of us ringing ( 1 being involved with grandma duties), reminding me that this must have been one of my first forays into calling changes, that one member had arrived on her bike (which she thought worth recording) and that every child in our village school joined in the celebration by dinging the school bell as they marched into class.  Later in the day I went down to the school and we attempted country dancing.  An event which it is probably best forgotten, although it was exceedingly funny to have 5 sets of 8 children dancing simultaneously in a not very large hall.  Social distancing might mean that such a foolhardy venture is never repeated.

As the year progresses I shall be able to remind people of our D-Day ringing (complete with a Legion d’honneur pinned to the tower board), the Sunday that an old friend of mine from the states joined in the ringing , despite the fact that I had no idea that she could ring (she hadn’t rung for 40 years but  is a much better ringer than any of us), our summer Bike and Ring outing, special services where we played our part, and the sad honour when we have rung for funerals in the village, in  particular the ringing for a much loved local GP, when we braved the 12 bell ring at Great Yarmouth to celebrate his life (although we only managed 8 of them on the day, since we wanted to honour him, not make a laughing stock of ourselves). We have celebrated birthdays (a certain teacher and accomplished handbell ringer will probably never forget our inexpert rendering of Happy Birthday on handbells), remembered loved ones, marked local and national events, entertained visitors, introduced a few newbies to the art (and then passed them on to people qualified to teach them), and even won a striking competition.  It is all written in the tower book.

The book is a comfort to me in this time when ringing has an uncertain future.  I can look back at what we have achieved so far and look forward to adding more to its pages.  I wish we had taken a photograph of our last practice on Monday March 16^th.  We finished just before 6pm and by 8pm it was likely that there would be no more ringing in UK churches for some time.  A few days later the Church of England locked its doors for the first time in 800 years, and it was clear that there would not even be any chiming in UK churches for some time. As we lowered the bells that last time, we had no idea of what was to come. If we had, perhaps we would have savoured the moment that much more and not worried about the fact that due to my “leading” the lower, we all ended up down at slightly different times…

If you do not yet have a tower book, or if you have one but no-one has bothered to record anything in it for years, now is the chance to develop a new habit.  When we return to our ringing rooms, why don’t we all come armed with a large scrapbook or something similar?  It does not have to be posh or lovingly calligraphied.  It just needs to be a space where notable band events can be recorded.  One day, in the future, you or someone else might be glad that you did so.

The first joyful entry could be the resumption of ringing following the corona virus outbreak of 2020.

What will you ring?  Who will have first dibbs on the ropes?  And if, like us, you are an inexperienced band whose members have not touched a rope for months, what could possibly go wrong?