The Diocesan Guild Bell Ringers' Newsletter

Issue 36 Spring 2018 HOT NEWS The Cathedral Band won the 2018 ART award for Effective use of Technology in Ringing.

Well done, David Horne and the cathedral band! See report page 19

Contacts: Editor - chrisdecordova@gmail,com Guild Secretary - [email protected] Guild website - carlisle-dgcbr.org.uk

1 EVENTS CALENDAR 2017/18

Sat 17th March Tower tba Surprise Practice Tues 27th March Western Branch Quiz Sat 21st April Guild AGM Sat 21st April Wigton Surprise Practice after AGM Sat 12th May Tower tba Striking Competition Fri/Sat/Sun 28/29/30 Sept Tower tba ART Modules 1 and 2, delivered by Heather Peachey

Don't forget Codgers - the 2nd Thursday every month, and a few days away in August Contact David Horne to get on mailing list.

On Facebook? Why not join the 'Bellringing in ' group and share your tower news and photos?

2 CDGCBR 50/50 Club Draws Appleby News Monthly prizes 1x £20, 1x £15, 1x £10 The installation of the new ringing floor at Appleby church is well under way and promises to be a remarkable project. Not only will the bells no longer be a ground floor CGDCBR 50/50 Club Winners ring but all the construction work is in oak - including a September, October, November, December 2017 bespoke staircase.

Four draws done at the Guild Meeting, A sound proof wall has been installed between the (13 January 2018) ringing room and the organ pipes and the ringers will now £20 Prizes be able to hear their bells when the organ starts playing. Keith Amey However, the installation of the wall means that the treble Helen Speight rope will have to be drawn some 14 inches by the use of Chris de Cordova two ground pulleys but I am hoping that the bell handling Charles Thornton will not suffer greatly. £15 Prizes Ron East Doug Sim David Horne Mike Rodger Bellringing Anagrams, Rosalind Amey by Andrew Moncrief £10 Prizes John Proudfoot CLAMP YOG NOA = ______Robin Humphreys LED SIR = ______Sandra Evens SAND ROT HEK= ______TAYS = _ _ _ _ Laura Wren LEAP = _ _ _ _ LASLY = _ _ _ _ _ BAKES ROCK T= ______TOM SHED = ______BERT LE = ______NOT ER = _ _ _ _ _ New subscribers always welcome. PORE = _ _ _ _ LATE DIN = ______£12 per number per year. COST LIER = ______contact Anne East. answers page 14

3 News from Barrow Barrow has been awarded the maximum grant of £3,000 under a new Heritage Lottery Fund ‘Microgrant’ scheme, being piloted/launched in Barrow to promote and involve people in the rich and varied heritage Barrow has to offer, while minimising the ‘overhead’ usually associated with grant applications. Our grant covers six elements which focus on access, training facilities, and the heritage of the bells. 1) The handrail to the ringing room will be extended to the top of the tower to help visitors safely navigate the spiral staircase and reach the viewing gallery in the old belfry where the visitors can see the dramatic spectacle of the bells ringing just a couple of metres below them. 2) A new 8 bell simulator will provide a training facility that can be used to provide extra training sessions to help people of all ages learn the skills involved without disturbing neighbouring residents. The branch 6 bell simulator currently installed at Barrow (inherited from Flookburgh) can then be reused at another tower in the branch. 3) A brass plaque to celebrate the contribution of long serving tower, captain James E Burles, will be unveiled after a peal attempt on 28th July as tribute to Jim and for the anniversary of the bells a few days earlier. 4) The grant also covers the cost of printing two different trifold leaflet designs introducing bellringing, and describing the heritage of the Barrow bells. 5) A 70 page photobook describing the restoration project in photographs, newspaper clippings, and some supporting text is nearly complete and the grant covers the cost of copies for the tower, the church/open days, and the local records office. The book will cost £64.75 + postage at full price, but a discount should be possible, especially if we order more. 6) Sound control: Some acoustic rockwool slabs and melinex acoustic membrane to make a modular ‘mat’ to lay down on grid floor in old belfry to act as limited sound control when ringing more than an hour purely for pleasure such as visitor peals (rather than service, regular practice, or ringing for some special community or national event)

Once the handrail is installed, we hope to have an open day this spring (and possibly again in the autumn for Heritage Open Day) and we would welcome any help and support. This will also link in with the government-backed campaign to recruit 1400 new ringers nationwide in time to learn to ring for the centenary of Armistice day in November. The ‘Ringing Remembers’ website https://a100.cccbr.org.uk/ introduces this project.

We may try and apply for another grant next year to restore the approx. 77 handbells dating from 1870 in time for their 150th anniversary; seek additional funding to fill in a few of the ‘gaps’ to make a more complete set; and work with ‘Octopus Collective’ sound art organisation to commission a new piece of music to use the bells. Watch this space! In the meantime anyone who can offer any advice from their own experience for handbell restoration, please feel free to get in touch. Andy Pollock 4

Guild Training Day 2018

A student's point of view

On Saturday 3rd February a lot of bell ringers attended the Guild Training Day at Hensingham Church Hall.

There were about 4 different groups who went to ring at 2 different towers. Group 2 went to ring at St James' Church in that morning. We did different methods on different bells which I enjoyed. Before we left to go to the Lowther Arms at Hensingham we were ringing rounds on 6 bells, 8 bells, 10 bells and then all 12 bells. I had a lot of trouble setting the tenor. Afterwards we went to Lowther Arms to eat. When we finished and paid for the food we then went to St Mary's & St Michael's Church5 in Egremont. The first thing me and Colin Gates did was to pull off the clock hammers. We rung bells 5, 6, 7 and 8 up. I was ringing the tenor up; again I had trouble setting it. The other 4 bells were rung up. It went well but unfortunately we had a disaster with the 6th bell. But we carried on ringing until 4pm. I was on the treble for Bob Minor and I thought it was easy. At the end we rung the bells down and me and Colin put the clock hammers back on the bells.

Finally we went back to Hensingham to have food and drinks. I would like to thank the staff for the tasty food and coffee, Chris and Richard for a wonderful day (despite it raining) and Colin. Andrew Moncrief An organiser's point of view......

Each Training Day is different and, apart from the basic structure of the day, each year we are working to a blank sheet, which starts to take shape as we get the applications for a place ... and the vital offers of help. 56 people took part (with four drop-outs on the day) but there were far more students and not enough helpers, so we reduced to four groups and did the best we could, rather than turn anyone away.

This year we tried an online booking system which some people found to be unsatisfactory, but which saved hours and hours of work as I did not have to type everyone's details and requests into a spreadsheet. Unfortunately, two people had not completed the form properly so their info was not recorded. They turned up unexpectedly on the day and were added to the most suitable group. (But that meant that two groups had too many learners (7) and there were many comments that they did not get enough goes)

Online feedback via the same kind of form has been very helpful and much easier to collate and a few key points made, other than the lack of helpers and too many students, were: coldness in some towers, too short a time for lunch for one group, and that Egremont proved to be a poor choice. There were several comments about people not being able to manage their bell, and in the group I was in, a considerable amount of ringing time was wasted whilst we waited for individuals to get to grips with their bell; some were simply unable to manage the bell well enough to ring their plain hunt, or whatever it was.

6 Some people found they had progressed since they filled in the form and although we had a number of emails flying around in the last couple of weeks, asking and sharing information about current ringing, there sadly were expectations that were not met.

However, most people felt they had benefited from the day, some more than others and we will have to work on the failings in the organisation. (Each year we seem to get some things improved but other problems crop up!!) There were some very helpful suggestions, though, including getting some of the students to do some of the organisational work. I'd be happy with that!!!

By far most comments were very positive, though, with most saying they enjoyed the food, the bells, the tuition, their own feelings of improvement or consolidation and the company! It is always a good day to take part in, getting more ringers together than any other single occasion, other than, perhaps, the Striking Competition! It's great to see so many people wanting to learn more and to improve their ringing, and so many willing to give up a day (usually very tiring) to help them!

There were three highlights of the day for me: 1) seeing what superb handling skills, Bridget Kelly and Heather Pitt, (two new ringers from Bampton) have. Most impressive! They had no problems managing any of the bells, despite not having rung at many towers.

2) seeing Andrew Moncrief ring the treble to Bob Minor for the first time, having only rung plain hunt on 6 for the first time the night before. He had no problems ... and it was a touch too - not a plain course! Well done, Andrew! and 3) hearing how well Anne Denwood had done in group 1. She had only rung on a tower bell three times but was ringing rounds on 8 by the end of the day. (She learned to handle on a dumbbell before trying a tower bell)

7 The Guild handbells - in use!

At Dean School... For the past term and a half I have had the privilege to teach a wonderful and well-behaved class of junior-aged children at Dean C. of E. School. Therefore, when Chris de Cordova suggested that we have hand-bell sessions as part of the curriculum in the run up to Christmas, I jumped at the chance. Consequently, myself and Jeanne Clements spent several weeks teaching the children how to ring Twinkle Twinkle Little Star‘ and Away in a Manger‘. I want to say a big thank you to Jeanne for giving up her time to help me with the children, I think she had as much fun as the children and I did!

The children ended up being so good that we decided to have two ' gigs', one of which was to introduce the infant nativity play and one was to perform at the annual community Christmas lunch which was held at school. Both events were a huge success. Lucy Sutton And at Moresby Family Fun Day, one of the 'Moving Mountains' events

Five of the new Moresby ringers

Barbara Southwell, one of the new ringers at Moresby, with some of the children

8 Simulators, Dumbbells and Coaching, by Chris de Cordova - doing the same with me ringing the silent bell as a guide for if they got out of sync In Nov 2013, I began to put together the equipment and gather money - trying it alone and getting scored for accuracy, examining the striking for an 8-bell simulator at , to allow for practising without review for constant speed errors that could be corrected. annoying the neighbours. I have just re-read my bid for guild funding - the same process with treble bob hunting for the remaining amount needed, and I am appalled at how short-sighted I was, not realising the potential of the equipment at that Anyone could ring their chosen method on their chosen bell, with the time. I had quoted using it for individual sessions teaching and computer ringing the other bells, to practise before ringing with real improving handling, changing speed (dodging etc) and to help people people. I practised 8-spliced surprise and Cleator Moor Bob Triples that improve their striking and for not annoying the neighbours. This last is way, ready for peals or practices! Others chose Stedman, Plain Bob, etc. possibly the least beneficial use of the equipment and the least useful teaching aid there is! Stedman Doubles ringing really improved with some regulars, which then benefited others in their own tower as well. During the time it was there, many people came for individual sessions for help with one thing and another, from a number of others towers, When ringing with others, some people can hear when striking is not some travelling over 50 miles each way. Amongst the targets for right but cannot tell if it is themselves or an adjacent bell, and even if individual coaching were: they know it is them, they do not always know how to put it right. When ringing with the simulator, it can only be you, so, we used the - improving bell control, striking review to playback and evaluate a piece of ringing which had - keeping rope taut with longer pulls, just been done by them. We would play it back to see what being late - better hand transfers - hand from sally onto tail end looked like in terms of the placing within the row whilst listening to the - getting the tailend on the correct side of the sally. effect of it, at the same time. The colour bands for each blow are also - getting used to different bells and adapting quickly very helpful to see how good or bad your striking is. If the ringer has - taking and losing a coil when ringing a bell up and down, the same software on their computer at home, we can save that piece - the whole process of ringing a bell up and down, of ringing and email it to them or transfer to a memory stick so they - striking evenly when ringing a single bell in rounds, with the can study it more at home. computer ringing five others - covering to doubles, With no more than four ringers at any one session - they could all be - accurate leading very encouraging and supportive of each other, and applause was common! We could often work on ringing 3-4 bells up and down in Most of those were to get more practice or to solve a specific problem peal, as well. and only needed a few sessions. Others wanted to work more on the things they didn't get enough time for in a busy practice, such as: Around 20 people came to Cleator Moor over the months to improve - dodging and place making with me, when the computer ringing four individual aspects - and they did! Others tried a session but gave up, other bells to keep six-bell rhythm saying they couldn't do it. Nothing worth having is easy to get and - getting speed changes right in plain hunting, by ringing a silent bell those who persevered made obvious progress! And during this time, aiming to exactly match me, whilst i rang a sounding bell with the the equipment was only used for fully silent practices about twice! computer doing the rest 9 Whitehaven When Cleator Moor bells were removed, the equipment went - Computer rang bob minimus without a cover - we looked to see who temporarily into St James, Whitehaven, where, with headphones, it was rang first in each handstroke, then each backstroke, then every stroke. often used with learners practising covering to doubles, whilst they - Other questions included "Who is ringing after 2?", "Who is ringing third were not ringing in a touch. This kept them occupied purposefully in a in this row?" - lots of this sort of thing! busy practice with rather too many learners at times, We had a score board and people began to add their scores and update them as they When someone couldn't spot it, we slowed it down. got a better one. It was very popular, especially with the youngsters and Eric, our 87 yr old, had many goes on it, too! He enjoyed the - Next I got the ringers on the computer to ring PB4 very slowly and I challenge as much as any of the youngsters! It worked on the treble of paused it after each stroke, (as if the bells were standing at every stroke) the 12, a rather difficult bell to handle, which gave opportunities for The group had to write down the order the four bells had rung in, and working on improving handling - specifically, length of pull and compare with each other. keeping tension on the rope! All this got them looking at the order the ropes were pulling in and All this work was done by rhythm and listening. I acquired a larger referring to places. (This work was then transferred to the tower bells, first monitor, but no one seemed to get to grips with using it for ropesight. with tutors ringing it, then with them ringing plain hunt by places in call changes etc.....) (I would add here, that I learned a LOT from the other Tulloch tutors during these weeks, as I always do when watching other good Then...... I went to help with tutoring weeks at Tulloch, and found teachers and discussing what they do - and some even learned from me!! ) myself assigned to do the simulator work. At first it was usually correcting handling faults, then later with small groups taking turns at Moresby improving their striking in rounds. Always people wanted to ask The Cleator Moor kit was removed from St James in November 2017 and questions, often about something else - and one about ropesight and put into use at Moresby with the newly acquired dumbbell, to teach what to look for prodded me into us watching the computer ringing on learners there to ring, in advance of getting their own bells. Up until the screen, rather than someone ringing it. This was a lightbulb Christmas there was just one, Anne, who was ringing it on her own by her moment for me, and started the path that later led to almost instant third lesson. All the usual refinements for handling were done and we ropesight for one of Whitehaven's learners! also did a lot of looking as described above!

These are the sort of exercises we did: Since Christmas the band has built up to 11 people learning, all at varying - Computer rings Stedman Doubles at 6 hr peal speed - the group had stages. Four are ringing rounds on 4 and working on changing their speed to pick out which two bells were dodging at the back. Easy, because when they get out of place, whilst the rest are still on handling. Learning they had 6 blows to do it. Then one bell goes and another joins the one to ring the dumbbell is a very fast process as it is so easy and forgiving, that is left for another six blows. No one had any trouble with this! and there are no stays to be broken. In general, it is taking 3-4 lessons for Even speeding the ringing up didn't bother most of them. This is a a learner to manage the dumbbell alone, although two ladies both good method for someone to start learning to cover with, by the way. managed it on their first lessons and setting it on their second! Obviously Easier to see than covering to plain bob doubles. there is a lot of refinement needed after that, but it is very motivating. I - Computer rang bob plain hunt on 3 bells with a cover - group had to am hoping that the skills will all be as quickly transferred to tower bells as tell each other who was last each pull. Only three bells to watch. it was for Anne, who was ringing rounds on 4 on her second visit to - Computer rang bob minimus with a cover - group had to pick out Whitehaven. which was last again 10 News from Moresby

Here are our beautiful brand new set of eight bells (tenor 5 cwts). They were cast in October & November 2017, and over 50 people went to watch one of the three castings. They are all named after saints and all have both headstock and bell inscriptions. Our dumbbell was installed by Ron East and team in November and since then, 8 people are at various stages of learning to ring.

We expect them to be in place ready to ring in June and that we will be ready to ring them by then!

It's fantastic that Mary Barrass, Secretary & Museum Manager at Taylor's, ended up casting ALL of the bells for Moresby - the first woman to cast a full set of bells since 1460! Mary Barrass

11 St Blaise Society Becoming a Teacher of Bellringing - or just a Better One! Kirkby Ireleth, Cumbria St Cuthbert Two ART teaching modules in planning! Friday, 24 November 2017 in 2h37 (7–1–10 in A?) 5152 Hensingham Surprise Major Upcoming is another local opportunity to go on the ART courses (or Composed by S Humphrey simply attend again for a refresher) to find good or better ways of teaching people to handle a bell and ring changes. 1 Nicola J Turner The Association of Ringing Teachers' teaching bell ringing scheme, 2 Ruth Curtis Learning the Ropes, is now well-established and is proving its worth, as 3 Michael E C Mears statistics clearly show. The main data come from extensive and detailed 4 Colin M Turner records kept by the Birmingham School of Bell ringing which has now 5 Alan Regin been running for 4 yrs. 6 Robert J Crocker 7 Peter G C Ellis (C) To summarise the findings, people who are taught using the scheme 8 Paul F Curtis progress far more quickly than those who are not, and the retention rate Rung in memory of Corporal John Claude Dixon, is much higher. Cleator Moor, Cumberland Association. The main principles in the scheme are Died 24/11/1917 age 22. Border Regiment 7th Bn. a) get the foundations right before moving on Service No.14000. Commemorated at Tyne Cot b) learn in small steps Memorial, Belgium, Panel 85 to 86. Heather Peachey is coming to do the Handling module (1) and the Born 1895. One of seven children, six surviving at Change Ringing module (2F) over the last weekend in September. the 1911 census. Son of Annie Frances Dixon and the late William Dixon. If you have been on either or both but have not completed and been He worked as a grocer's assistant before enlisting. accredited, a refresher will re-inspire you and get you there. If you have He left for France on 01/07/1915. never been on one, they are truly inspiring! I have now been on three of Born: Workington. Enlisted: 31/08/1914 at Cleator each and always gain new ideas, to break up the learning journey into Moor. Resided: Seaton, Cumberland. small steps and make it easier and faster to progress. If interested in attending either or both, please contact me asap. We need to finalise Their name liveth forever. whether the two days are the Friday and Saturday (better) or if we need to use the Sunday instead of Friday. Chris de Cordova 12 Andrew Moncrief, of St James, Whitehaven, being presented with his Learning the Ropes, Level 3 certificate, by Jack McTear.

And the band that rang in his qualifying quarter peal: 1260 Doubles (5m/V) 240 each St Simon's, St Alban, Eynsham, 480 Elford, 60 Plain Bob It was his first quarter on a working bell, just ten weeks after first ever plain hunt on five!

Congratulations also, to Cameron Pollock, ringing his first quarter inside, 1260 Plain Bob Minor at St James , Barrow, on Sunday, 3 December 2017

13 Barry's Journey

I first entered Carlisle Cathedral ringing room on the last After helping out at a Tower Open Day using my new found Friday of October 2016. Little did I know that I was going to be knowledge on bell ringing when talking to visitors and completely hooked on a new way of life, with its own potential ringers, I was interviewed a few days later when language, and a great new set of friends. The following BBC Radio Cumbria paid a visit to the Cathedral Tower, and Saturday was a Tower Open Day and I had bell handling hopefully my passion for ringing as a novice was evident to lessons in between the tours while learning a lot from the tour listeners. talks. This was followed with 2-3 lessons a week enabling me to ring in the New Year with the rest of the band, who I then One of the highlights of the year for me has been ringing started to join for Sunday Service Ringing. I was beginning to for my niece's wedding at Grappenhall Cheshire; to be appreciate this was only the start, but I still had no idea how welcomed by the tower captain and his band (all strangers big a part of my life this new activity would be. to me) and given the privilege of ringing for her special day was truly fabulous. I was encouraged to join other practices, I have regularly practised at Thursby and I am now usually ringing 6-7 times a On the last Friday of October 2017, I rang the Cathedral week. I also enjoy the experience of ringing at branch Tenor (21-0-6) up and down in peal, rang the treble to a practices and the Cumbria Codgers outings. touch of plain bob minor and inside to a plain course of plain bob doubles - practice is paying dividends. I was elected as one of the steeple keepers at the Cathedral Ringers AGM and am beginning to learn the skills required in That's my first year of ringing - wow, what a year it has this role - fitting stays, splicing rope, and assisting at other been! In the few weeks since, I've visited Taylor's Foundry to towers, the latest being the preparation of the Bampton see the Moresby bells being cast, covered to my first tower to receive a new ring of bells. I am also one of the quarter peal and rung on half muffled bells for Border Mini Bells partners who have installed an 8 bell mini Remembrance Sunday. In the year ahead I'm looking ring at Powfoot. forward to my first Christmas ring, hopefully achieving gold award in 50 ringing things and maybe even Level 3 in Since joining the guild I have found the training day and Learning the Ropes! workshops invaluable. Barry Garrett

Some Bellringing Anagrams - the answers slider, stay, sally, methods, tenor, tailend, campanology, handstroke, peal, backstroke, treble, rope, cloister

14 The Bampton Bells Project (continued) The work at Bampton continues with the provision of clapper ties and the installation of a new simulator. The engineers from the Cumbria Clock Company are presently reinstalling the clock mechanism that will now be housed in the belfry. This will free up a very pleasant space for the ringing room although the pendulum will hang down through the ceiling. When this work is finished, Renwick Bros from Penrith will create a new floor with an access hatch a staircase into the ringing room and will box in the pendulum.

For those of you who do not subscribe to The Ringing World, here is the text of the article entitled 'The Sweet Sound of Bampton's New Six' about the completion of the installation of the bells at Bampton. It includes a lovely poem about the old bells composed by a visitor to Bampton in 1858.

The tiny communities of Bampton and Bampton Grange lie on either side of the old stone bridge that spans the river Lowther in the Lowther Valley in Cumbria. The picturesque church of St Patrick nestles by the side of the river in Bampton Grange. Most of the church as it is seen today, was built in 1726-1727 but it stands on a site where there had been a place of worship for eight centuries. It is first mentioned in 1170 when it was attached to Shap Abbey. The services were often taken by the canons of the Abbey but by 1291 Bampton was already a parish in its own right with a vicar whose stiped was £13-6-8d. The present church consists of chancel, nave and aisles, with a west tower, all dating from 1726-27. The previous church which had become unsafe, was pulled down in 1726 and the new church built at an estimated cost of £1355-10-6d, the money being partly raised by means of a 'brief' i.e. an appeal throughout the churches in the land. The interior, remarkable for its double row of elegant oak pillars, was extensively altered in 1885 when a major restoration was undertaken. The tower contains five bells that were hung for 'full circle' ringing. The first two are dated 1729 and carry Latin inscriptions meaning 'To God's Glory' and 'I call the people' and two more probably date from 1779. The tenor bell is the oldest and might be 16th century.

15 We know that the bells rang out a century later because, in 1858, a visitor to the valley, who signed him/herself simply as JFP, wrote this following poem:

The lark sings merrily in the sky, There one of three-score years and ten, When blossom is on the thorn, Goes bent with the weight of time, But merrier far are the Bampton Bells, And he thinks of his youth, and the friends who are dead, In the calm of a Sabbath morn. As he hears the old Bells chime. Sweet in the grove is the blackbirds‘ song, And there comes a maid by that hawthorn hedge, In the lull of the evening air. As fresh and fair as a rose, But sweeter the sound of the Bampton Bells, But her thoughts not with the old man go When they ring to the Vesper Prayer. To the past, where the dead repose. On Sabbath morn and on Sabbath eve, Her fancy paints, in brightest hues, The sound of sweet church bells, The future hours of her life, With a tremulous music floats away, And little she dreams of the woes wherewith O‘er the brows of the rocky fells. Those future hours are rife., And far, far off by the lone lake‘s shore, Long, long years you rung, sweet Village Bells, Their plaintive cadence falls, While ages have come and gone, Where the whispering wave, with its silvery voice, And each generation have flourished in turn, To the spirit of Solitude calls. And faded, one by one. Bright shines the sun, sweet sound the bells, Blest is your call, for you summon to God, And the village folk, all clad And blest those souls that hear, In their best array, at the summons come When the world‘s last funeral peal shall be rung, With lightsome step and glad. Those souls shall have nought to fear.

In 1909 a Bampton Grange resident, Miss Jane Dalton, gave a clock and chime by W Potts & Sons of Leeds to the church. The Potts catalogue at the time offered a choice of several chimes and Miss Dalton chose the Stoke St Gregory chime that been written by Dr (later Sir) George Martin, organist of St Paul's Cathedral, at the invitation of the Clock Committee of that church in Somerset. The clock strikes the hours and quarters on the bells and does so 24 hours a day. The community is much attached to the unusual chimes and the Crown and Mitre Inn offers ear plugs to any guests who stay in one of the front bedrooms overnight. The only other church to possess the Stoke St Gregory chimes is St Mary's Church, Walkden in Hertfordshire. 16 The bells sit in their original oak frame but have not been heard ringing 'full circle' since the 1980s when concern about the stability of the bell frame and the state of the bell fittings led to a decision that the bells should only be chimed. In 2016 Jim Crowther, a bell ringer from the Northeast of , proposed a scheme for a new ring of six bells beneath the existing five bells and offered to underwrite half of the cost of the project. His family had long-standing associations with the valley and had often walked its footpaths and stayed in the Crown and Mitre Inn only a few yards from the church. He had enjoyed a lifetime of bell ringing and wished to return something to the exercise through the offer of a new ring of bells at a church he knew so well. The PCC rose to the challenge and set up a Bells Committee. An application was made for a faculty at the same time that estimates were sought and John Taylor and Co Ltd was awarded the contract.

The appeal was launched in October, 2016 and within nine months the remaining half of the costs was raised - a remarkable achievement for such a thinly populated valley with no recent memory of full circle bell ringing at their church. A new band was recruited and teaching began at the tower of St Michael's Church, Shap at the same time as the project was launched. The teaching was later augmented by additional sessions at St. Andrews Church, Penrith where the simulator system proved very useful in moving the new band members forward with their ringing.

Preparatory work began to create a trapdoor in the old ringing room floor, to remove a floor beneath the old bells and to temporarily remove the clock and chime mechanism. In November, 2017 Martin Jones of Taylors came on site and with help from willing volunteers installed a new ringing room ceiling/belfry floor and cut the pockets in the masonry for the steelwork of the frame.

The old bells seen through the new frame Cutting the pockets

17 Two weeks later Steve Westerman, the legendary bell hanger from Taylors, arrived on site and over the next four weeks worked with the volunteers to install the new bells. The Bishop of Penrith, the Right Reverend Robert Freeman, hallowed and named the bells at a simple but moving service, to which all the sponsors of bells and the project donors had been invited, before they were raised into the tower.

The bells were rung for the first time for a carol concert in the church on Sunday evening, 17 December and are, quite simply, a delight both to handle and to hear.

Treble, third and fifth bells at the hallowing

Wheels 'Made in Cumbria' by Nick Meadwell

The Ringers' Bell

My thanks go to the volunteers Tony Hall from the PCC, Bell Name Note Nomin Diameter Weight al ins cwt.qtr.lbs John Proudfoot, Barry Garrett and Mike Rodger who Hz . gave their time willingly to make this project a reality, to Treble BAMPTON B 1985.5 20 1.3.26 the PCC for having the vision to back the project and, of 2 BOMBY A 1767.5 21 "2.0.17 course, to the many donors and sponsors of the six bells with their connections to local families, to the bell 3 KNIPE G 1573.5 22 "2.0.13 ringing community and to loved ones from the church 4 BUTTERWICK F# 1485 23 2.2.5 congregation. Their gifts are now enshrined in the tower 5 BURNBANKS E 1323.5 23 3.0.7 for centuries to come. Tenor LOWTHER D 1177.5 29 5.0.9 Ron East 18 Carlisle Cathedral wins ART Award

Five members of the Cathedral band are accredited teachers or mentors in ART - the Association of Ringing Teachers - and have learned a great deal about the teaching of bell ringing through the materials and guidance that ART has to offer. The scheme has been very helpful in structuring our own teaching and awarding progress, both for teaching the teachers and for teaching the learners. The Learning the Ropes and the Fifty Things (to do in 100 weeks) schemes have helped learners to measure and motivate their progress.

All the bells at the cathedral are fitted with sensors and so a lot of time is invested in teaching bell handling on a one-to- one basis that does not disturb the local residents and businesses. There are also up to three tied bell practices each week, again using the simulator, to move ringers on quickly into becoming competent service ringers. We have used the simulator in a number of different ways to aid teaching. For example, because the ringing circle is so large, it is difficult to get a circle for six bells in which all the ringers have a clear sight of one another but with the simulator some bells in the circle can be silenced so that ringers are not necessarily standing next to one another.

There are two video cameras in the bell chamber connected to a monitor in the ringing chamber that enable learners to see the action of the bell on which they are ringing. We put together all of our teaching strategies into an application to ART in the category Effective use of Technology in Teaching. We also submitted a bid for Recruitment and Retention. Ruth Gilbert, one of our ringers, planned to attend the conference (in Royston!) but could not do so because of the weather conditions and road chaos caused by 'The Beast from the East'. Ruth only learned of the award on the evening of the Saturday conference through a Facebook link. As I write, arrangements have yet to be made for the presentation of the award - a large, flashy yellow certificate and ….. a cheque for £500. Ron East