Interested in Learning to Ring?

We are always delighted to have beginners at Offenham.  Claire is a member of the Association of Ringing Teachers and we use their 'Learning the Ropes' programme.  For more information on this please follow the link.  If you are interested in having a lesson then please contact us using the form on the home page, or come along to the Church on Tuesday, 7-8.30pm

How do I start to learn?

Getting the basic skills right is absolutely vital, so we will give you as much one-to-one tuition as you need on a silenced bell.  For most people it is only a couple of weeks before they are able to join in on a practice night, but as you learn a lot from watching and talking to other ringers you will most definitely be encouraged to come to normal practice from day one.

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What happens next?

Once you are confident ringing a bell by yourself you will learn to ring rounds and call changes with the rest of the band.  You will need to ring your bell at the same speed as everyone else (always more difficult that ringing at your own speed), and to place you bell so that it sounds at the correct time.  This is the foundation of all change ringing, and once you have mastered it then you can move on to ringing methods (they are not tunes) with bell ringers everywhere.

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Is it dangerous?

Have you been watching cartoons of people being taken up to the ceiling clinging on to a bell rope?  Or reading about accidents in bell towers in the press?  No activity is risk free and accidents happen in bell ringing as with everything else, but if you are taught properly and follow the safety instrucions you are given on your first visit then you shoud have a long and safe ringing career.

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