M1: 30 April 2022 - Lanteglos
Module 1 of the ART Training Scheme is a very useful programme for teaching correct Bell Handling. The pretty church of St Julitta’s, Lanteglos was the perfect setting and our group of 8 was warmly welcomed by Les Boyce and his lovely partner, Sheila.
The aim of this course is to be able to train a new ringer to handle a bell correctly and safely, a key skill for any Tower Captain or designated trainer.
With the bell down, the trainee first learns the correct arm movement: arms up, arms down by making a ring around the sally with their fingers and lowering their arms down the rope, then back up again. From here the trainee can rise the bell, without coils, the trainer slowly releasing the tail end. This is essential for the trainee to experience the weight of the bell above them.
To build skills for the handstrokes, the trainee is taught with the bell half up, avoiding the danger of breaking the stay. Combining the two strokes can be a tricky moment, but by first practising the hand movements with the bell down, then shadowing your arm movements as you demonstrate the action, then taking it in turns to pull the sally (mine, yours) is an effective progression.
One of the most useful parts of the day was Les and Sheila showing us how to correct some common handling problems. The Teacher’s Guide to Learning the Ropes handbook, which was in the Course Pack, contains most of these problems and solutions. The Course Pack also contains a very useful little Learning the Ropes Ringer’s Personal Progress Logbook for our new trainees, in which they can monitor their own progress.
As experienced ringers, we all need the confidence to train a new ringer safely and effectively and this course provides the clear and safe steps required to achieve this.
Jo Barnes, Stratton
What a great Day!
Module 1 of the ART course provided a great insight to how we can all be better and more professional in our teaching.With some theory to kick us off, we were soon putting into practice our own skills and those demonstrated on the bells.
The methods employed made me much more comfortable in how I would teach new ringers and confident that it would be gradual and safe.Being a reasonably new ringer myself, having only been ringing for 5 years, it gave me the tools to structure my teaching in easy steps.
The added benefit of learning as a group, allows for the sharing of ideas and I am already using some stolen ideas, such as the A-V arm positions and part raising ropes to develop rope control.
An insightful, useful and information packed day I would recommend to all who want to teach effectively.
Bill Willis, North Petherwin
Course Tutor: Les Boyce
Teaching Bell Handling
Practical advice for teachers, right from the first lesson.
» Find out more about Module 1