Podcasts about changeringing

What should you do if the number of ringers is falling, your towers are in dire straits, and you need emergency measures to give ringing any kind of future in your area? This was the problem faced in the Lizard in Cornwall prior to COVID lockdown, and in this episode, podcast host Cathy Booth talks to the team who, against all the odds, have turned the situation around. The first step, is seems, is to find a Hayley, Miranda, Andy, and someone called Bob who has lots of mojo! By coming together as a tightknit team with the right set of skills, the Lizard ringers have created a successful hub for ringing recovery, recruitment and teaching. Once you have someone to work on the spreadsheets and strategy, someone who seems to know everyone in the local community, someone who wants to teach and someone who wants to learn to teach, then everything else falls into place. Add Facebook, fun and cake into the mix and local ringing will not only recover but may even experience a resurgence! A very inspiring yet practical podcast for all those struggling with empty towers and cancelled practice nights. For more information and photos see www.funwithbells.com.At the end of this episode, we will tell you about our upcoming episode and about the latest news on our TikTok / Instagram competition.

In this month's fascinating episode, Simon Aves takes host Cathy Booth on an entertaining romp through Scotland's bell ringing history. You may be surprised to learn it is very different to England's.Who knew the Scots were so fond of peace and quiet? Cathy learns that in the past the best way to annoy people in Dundee was to travel up there and ring all their bells. And beware of the constable waiting at the bottom of the tower to arrest you for that very noisy peal you just rang. Or worse still, the constable might well follow you to the pub and then ban you from ringing, perish the thought!Of course, all of this is history - very colourful history and brilliantly told at that. First bells, first peals, first women ringers, colourful characters, court cases and ringers being sick after their eight pints, this podcast has it all.For  more information and photos see www.funwithbells.comAt the end of this episode, we will tell you about our upcoming episode and about the latest news on our TikTok / Instagram competition.

In this inspiring show, podcast host Cathy Booth meets Tim Sunter and hears about his amazing seven-year ringing journey from learner to teacher and Association of Ringing Teachers committee member.Who could have imagined that a thought-proving tweet in the middle of a field could have such a domino effect, propelling Tim on a path to both individual fulfilment and a new way to reach out to his local community. But such is the power of bell ringing.Tim shares the deep satisfaction that ringing can bring, both from the sense of achievement of learning to ring and bringing a tower back to life, to introducing local schoolchildren to the joy of bells and encouraging the local community to celebrate its heritage.Tim's enthusiasm is clearly infectious and no doubt this podcast will set off yet another exciting chain of events and ringing adventures for him, and possibly for you.For more information and photos go to www.funwithbells.com.At the end of this episode, we will tell you about our upcoming episode and about the latest news on our TikTok / Instagram competition.

This month, show host, Cathy Booth meets with three frank and formidable female ringers to understand the reasons why, although women make up about half of all ringers, they are greatly underrepresented in positions of responsibility and peal ringing, and conducting.Elva Ainsworth, Julia Cater and Tessa Simpson - who have all participated in ‘groundbreaking, record breaking and point breaking' ringing - talk freely about their own experiences and the self-fulfilling prophecy where lack of opportunity leads to a lack of confidence.Yes, women can ring heavier bells. Yes, women can conduct (and may choose to do this from either the back or the front). And yes, some small girls are just itching to have a go on the tenor, but the boys always seem to get first dibs.Rather than focusing on the negatives, though, this inspiring podcast offers some thoughtful suggestions about how to encourage greater equality of opportunity and how all bands can flourish with the greater participation of their women ringers.For more information and photos please go to www.funwithbells.comAt the end of this episode, we will tell you about our upcoming episode and about the latest news on our TikTok / Instagram competition.

What's got 40 members, stretches across a large part of the country and is a brilliant way to have fun, improve your ringing and make friends? Well, if you are a young bell ringer, the answer must surely be the Liliputters.Not, as host Cathy Booth discovers, a group from the fictional kingdom of tiny people, but an exciting national Guild for young ringers.In this upbeat podcast, three Lilliputters - Simon, Molly and Euan - talk enthusiastically about the Guild, what it means to them and the joys of going on tour.Sounds inspiring? Well if you're between the ages of 10 and 30 and don't want to miss out, why not join up now!For more information and photos see www.funwithbells.com

Just as change ringing on handbells requires each ringer to have two bells, this perfectly formed podcast on the subject has two guests. Host Cathy Booth chats with Tina and Simon, authors of the latest must-have handbell manual.As always, this podcast asks all the right questions. What is best, tower or hand bells? Will online ringing last post lock-down? Is bell ringing music? And should you start with hand bells and then move onto tower bells, or vice versa?As well as addressing the big issues Cathy also finds out the fascinating process behind writing and publishing their book, discovers the joy of e-bells and gets insider information on the progress of Volume 2 and likely publication date.Think handbells aren't for you? Then listen to this podcast and think again.For more information and photos see www.funwithbells.com

In this fast-paced episode, podcast host Cathy Booth meets 20-year-old ringer, Oliver Lee, and discovers his passion for ringing and ringing history.Oliver is clearly fascinated by all aspects of ringing and takes Cathy on whistle-stop tour of a huge range of ringing-related subjects, ranging from Ellacombe chimes, through belfry reform and on to John Warner and Sons bell founders.Oliver also talks about his autism and the support he has had from the ringing community, reliving his positive experiences of the striking competitions he’s taken part in. Good times make great memories.And just like any other ringer, he vents at the inaccurate depictions of bell ringing in the mainstream media. Did somebody mention Midsomer Murders?Finally, on the question of Cumberland or College Youths? Looks like the verdict is still out ...For more info and photos - see www.funwithbells.com

One of the very best things to have happened over the past year is the development of the online ringing platform, Ringing Room. In this special Valentine’s podcast, host Cathy Booth interviews Leland and Bryn, the driving force behind this amazing achievement and now one of ringing’s most famous couples.Of course, for Ringing Room to have happened, Leland and Bryn had to have met. Cathy wastes no time in finding out the details of their burgeoning romance and discovers that going a transatlantic ringing tour just three weeks into dating might well have been a definitive moment!Although the interview focuses on their relationship, this podcast is also very much a paean to ringing itself. Both Leland and Bryn are so clearly in love with bell ringing and gladly share the joy and fulfilment that it brings to their lives.Of course, Leland and Bryn are not the only couple to have been brought together by ringing. A study conducted in 1989 assures that simple eye contact could make a person fall in love with you. Remember this the next time you find yourself gazing into the eyes of the conductor during a peal ...For more information and photos see www.funwithbells.com

Love is very definitely in the air at the Fun with Bells Podcast this Valentine’s Day, as host Cathy Booth explores ringing’s tender side.First, we hear the heart-warming story of Jo and Graham, whose romance continues to deepen from Ringing Remembers, through Ringing Room, and to a very memorable lockdown proposal. Be warned, if you get invited to an unexpected Saturday practice, there might well be something afoot ...Cathy also reveals the results of her special Valentine’s survey. Are bell ringers romantic or not? Listen in for all to be revealed. It won’t be giving too much away to say that there might well be a market for a ringing dating app. You too could find love through Dove!Finally, we hear a Valentine’s message from one ringer to another - there is one very lucky Guy out there. Whether you are a romantic ringer or not, you’re sure to be whisked off your feet by this episode.For more information and photos - see www.funwithbells.com

For Don McLean over in Ireland, one of the joys of bell ringing is teaching others and delighting in their achievements. In this charming episode, Cathy Booth, podcast host, shines a light on Don’s motivation and his own considerable achievements, including masterminding the training of 17 new recruits at St Mary’s Kilmood on ‘The Peace Bells’.Don is passionate about teaching and, as Cathy discovers, he has spent a great deal of time out and about supporting bell ringing teachers across Ireland. As Cathy and Don chat, we get a fantastic overview of the structure and culture of bell ringing over Ireland’s 37 towers.And what does Don do when he is not teaching others to ring, organising training sessions, or working hard to get cancer patients the priority treatment they need? Well, he sits down in his garage with the doors open and the mini-ring in action, hoping to lure in new recruits. What about the neighbours? Well of course they would be most welcome to take a seat and join in!The neighbours are not the only ones to be invited in. Just like towers around the world, Irish ringers would welcome you with open arms and gladly give you a rope. COVID can’t be over soon enough so that Don can get on with his latest ambitious training initiative and we can all book our ringing tour over to Ireland. Get your name down on the waiting list at Kilmood now!For more information and photos - go to www.funwithbells.com

In this podcast, historian Gareth Davies challenges everything you ever thought about the history of bell ringing in one of host Cathy Booth’s most engaging interviews yet.At times, Gareth makes being an 18th century ringer sound like everyone’s dream job. Fancy being paid £80,000 a year, enjoying a free tab at the pub paid for by the parish council and getting pension support in your old age?However, once you learn about the six o’clock starts, the fines for a no-show and the ringing room chamber pot you might well change your mind!This brilliant romp through the history of the Cambridge ringers is full to bursting with fascinating facts, eye-opening insights and colourful real-life characters.And as for bell ringers smoking, swearing and being drunk? Well, maybe some things never change ...For more information and photos - see www.funwithbells.com

For this episode, show host Cathy Booth stays close to home and interviews her ringer husband, Roger, a trustee of the Charmborough Ring. Not just your average mini-ring, the Charmborough Ring is the heaviest portable ring of bells in the country. Heavier, believe it or not, than some rings of tower bells. So how many people does it take to put up a portable belfry? Roger expertly talks us through the answer to this and all the other essentials, such as how much it weighs, how long it takes to put up and how big your car needs to be to tow it.As well as talking through all of the practicalities, Roger shows how portable belfries and mini-rings are an inspirational recruitment tool and can lead to ringing in the most exciting places. Anyone up for ringing a quarter peal on a boat?The message comes across loud and clear - if you can’t get people up to the bells then take the bells out to them!For more information and photos go to the show notes at www.funwithbells.com

Ever wondered what it was like to learn how to ring? Or have forgotten what it was like when you first started out?Discover, or rediscover, in this podcast, as host Cathy Booth talks to not one, but to two new ringers currently following the ART Learning The Ropes scheme.Linda simply answered an advertisement in village magazine posted by a fellow dog-walker. As for Annie, well two years sailing around the world obviously wasn’t challenging enough and so has now found her land legs and a new passion for bells.Both ringers talk enthusiastically about their newly found hobby, the patience of their teachers and the friendliness of the other ringers. Find out how ringing is good for your both your mind and your body and also what mischief you can causeFor more information and photos go to the show notes at www.funwithbells.com

Most Ringing Remembers recruits were thrilled to have rung at their tower for last year’s Remembrance Day but enthusiastic new ringer and amateur film maker Chris Richmond rang at seven!Podcast host, Cathy Booth, finds out that Chris’s enthusiasm initially stemmed from his interest in sound recording. His desire to record the sound of the bells led him up into a local tower, but it was the sound of the bells ringing down in peal was the final push he needed to take hold of a rope and learn to ring. From then on he’s been hooked.For photos and associated show notes see: www.funwithbells.com

Having worked at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry for 40 years, Nigel Taylor is the perfect guide to how to tune a bell, talking podcast host Cathy Booth through the whole process from design to casting and tuning. And if you’ve never considered the actual sound a bell makes before, this podcast will be a revelation.You might never use the word ‘dong’ again after you discover that a tower bell is inharmonic, which means although a bell appears to have a single distinct pitch, the sound is made up of a variety of different tones.As Nigel describes how this all works, Cathy gets the answers to a host of fascinating questions, such as why new bells sound different to old bells, how the shape of old bells makes a difference to how you retune them and which bells are the hardest to tune.Be warned though, after listening to this podcast you may well wish to scramble up a ladder into the tower to look at the bells, just as Nigel did as a boy.For more information and photos go to www.funwithbells.com

The world of 12 bell ringing on enormous bells is indeed a rarefied one, but that there is an overriding sense of outreach and community in Mark Regan’s in-depth and wide-ranging conversation with podshow host Cathy Booth. Being ringing master at Worcester Cathedral, having rung about 2,400 peals, helping set up the first bell ringing training centre in the country and being involved in an amazing number of bell rehanging projects there is a lot to get through!According to Mark, the secret to all successful bell projects is having a strong purpose and good communications, especially getting the Church and PCC on your side. Enthusiasm helps too and this interview may just well inspire you to aim higher with your own projects. Or even just to get to grips with routine tower maintenance.One of the highlights of this show is where Mark talks about the people that that both encouraged him and inspired him to become the ringer that he is today. And by the sounds of it, Mark has himself become a role model for a new generation of ringers – especially Sam who recently strapped Liverpool Cathedral tenor at the tender age of ten. Fantastic stuff!For more information and photos go to Funwithbells.com.

Find out more about the CCCBR, with its long history, ambitious vision for the future and huge raft of essential services in this wide ranging interview with the CCCBR President.Christopher O’Mahoney, President of the Central Council of Church Bell Ringing, says that the good thing about ringing is that there is something for everyone. Find out more about the CCCBR. Now you’ll know exactly where to turn to for help when the neighbours come knocking on the tower complaining about the noise! And you’ll definitely be making a beeline for the Council weekend in September once you hear Christopher reel off the wonderful line-up of activities that are going to be on offer. The message from Christopher comes out clear and loud – by getting involved, striving to do our best and contributing our skills, together we can transform bell ringing. Just look what he’s already achieved by stepping forward and giving something back. Not bad for a boy from Sydney who took up ringing to supplement the income he was getting as a choir boy.For more information and accompanying photos go to funwithbells.com

The first Fun with Bells Podcast Season ends with a generous double helping as show host Cathy Booth interviews young ringer Charlie Linford and audio engineer David Richards.Charlie (11) explains to Cathy that bell ringing is a rewarding hobby for all ages as she throws light on some of the theory behind ringing, including some tips on how to start learning methods.With seven quarter peals under her belt already and an impressive list of towers she has rang at it seems only a matter of time before Charlie is ringing at the National 12 Bell Competition. Talking of which, if you’ve ever been interested in recordings are made to help judge a striking competition, or indeed the best way to record any bell ringing, then the interview with David will fascinate you.Packed full of practical tips and suggestions, David talks Cathy through making detailed recording of bells for analysis, ambient recordings of bells to remember a special occasion and spur of the moment recordings when you just happen to be passing a tower and the ringing is brought you joy. This interview will really make you want to get you out and about making your own recordings.Of course, Charlie doesn’t need to do this as her ringing has already been recorded – on Newsround!For more information and accompanying photos go do funwithbells.com

'Recruit 1400 new ringers to remember those who lost their lives in the first World War' – this was the mission that Vicki Chapman chose to accept and the rest, as they say, is history.Vicki talks podcast host Cathy Booth through her involvement in the overwhelmingly successful Ringing Remembers campaign - from that fateful telephone call one evening to the bells ringing out across the world on 11 November 2018 with the help of over 2800 new ringers. Stirring stuff!And if you’re wondering what’s next, Vicki reveals some of the exciting plans ahead, so listen in for news of ringing for Versailles, the 75th anniversary of the D Day Landings and a mini bellringing roadshow.Of course, there’s so much more to Vicki’s ringing story than Ringing Remembers so tune in for a podcast packed with activity - just like Vicki’s life.For more information, accompanying photos and details of the 'Ask the Expert' section go do funwithbells.com

In this episode Graham Nabb introduces Fun with Bells podcast host Cathy Booth to one of the most English of pursuits - tower grabbing. Graham is the ideal guide to the uninitiated, having notched up the amazing total of 5785 towers to date.Rather like the twitchers of the bird watching world, keen tower grabbers are always on the look out for the openings of rare towers that they’ve never rung at. If you’re the collecting type then this is the podcast for you as Graham is full of tips on the best way to plan and record your tower grabs.However, it’s not all about the thrill of the chase for Graham as he also tells Cathy all about the development of the Association of Ringing Teachers and the huge satisfaction that comes from teaching and developing new ringers.Whatever your stage of ringing this is the perfect podcast for you - you won’t help but smile at Graham’s huge enthusiasm, great advice and his fantastic ringing stories.For more information, accompanying photos and details of the 'Ask the Expert' section go do funwithbells.com

In this episode, host Cathy Booth catches up with Bruce Butler in the USA and teases out some top tips to arranging a successful ringing tour. Bruce has been organising ringing tours to the UK since the 1990s - the logistics of arranging transatlantic ringing tours in the days before the internet are mind-blowing.Having rung in almost 4,000 towers you might imagine the Bruce has some great stories to tell, and you wouldn’t be wrong. Hear about inaccessible spaces, strange ringing attire and some rather unusual furniture in the ringing chamber. And just watch out for the flowers around the font!Bruce gives a brilliant overview of the towers of North America, their various merits and the differences between ringing over there and in the UK. Loving the sound of a Cathedral with two elevators to take you up to the top.As Bruce says, American ringers are a welcoming bunch and love to have visitors - so what’s stopping you from planning your tour across the pond ...For more information, accompanying photos and details of the 'Ask the Expert' section go do funwithbells.com

The English are one of the most endearingly eccentric group of people in earth.  This story, which I collected in Country Somerset, looks at changeringing, a world that combines math, music, churchgoing, village fellowship and the elusive “other dimension.” Lots of fun! NPR The post The Loopy English Art of Changeringing appeared first on Audio by Adam. Related Posts The Loopy Art of English “Changeringing” (NPR 1989?), Profile: Pamelia Kursten and the Art of the Theremin, The Changing Lifestyles of the Bedouin Arabs