It all started several years ago, when Jonathan Frye and Angela Deakin asked if we were interested in forming a handbell band, including teaching Angela to ring handbells. We had been trying and failing to do just this for many years (for reasons far too boring to go into), so we said ‘YES’.
(Really, it all started when Mike Clay began some regular handbell practices with some of the students in Edinburgh and various other handbell ringers in the area, including Jonathan. One day our schedules will mesh enough to all ring together – but in handbell ringing, patience is everything.)
Our journey from those first beginnings to where we are now has been both fun and interesting. Also, we learned a lot about teaching handbells to people at various levels of ability. Through it all we have discussed theories of how people learn, best methods of learning (we don’t always agree), and how to transfer some of this expertise into the bell tower.
The blogs below are about that journey, our progress and the progress of other bands by guest authors. They describe the ups and downs as they happen, as honestly as we can.
Yesterday we rang the quarter of cyclic spliced major that I wrote about a little while ago. It was satisfying after two unsuccessful attempts, and we rang it very well. The composition is a miniature version of David Pipe's popular "cyclic six" maximus. Two of the methods were...
This weekend was the annual Inveraray Ringing Festival (the 50th event, in fact) which is mostly a lot of tower bell ringing. We always try to fit in some handbell ringing too (photo by Ruth Marshall, right). This year in the main session of general handbell ringing, I made everyone...
Today we rang a peal at Peter Kirton's house in Perth, which thanks to Simon Aves' research we also know was the first peal in the city (there are no tower bells). It was originally planned to be Grandsire Caters, but Ian Bell had to pull out so we rang...
I have finally run out of interviews, so here are my own answers.
Where are you based?
Glasgow, Scotland.
When and where did you learn to ring handbells?
I learned the basics from my dad, Phil Gay, in my early teens. Up to Plain Bob Minor, say. I don't remember...
Where are you based?
Inverness
When and where did you learn to ring handbells?
Tulloch Ringing Centre in 2016, a latecomer to bell ringing at the age of 56. Having never rung previously, I moved from central England to live in Scotland, 1 mile from Tulloch Farm. Despite only having...
Where are you based?
Cambridge
When and where did you learn to ring handbells?
My first experience of handbells was not ringing methods but ringing the handbell part to Benjamin Britten's Noye's Fludde in a concert, when I was at school. I don't remember actively learning to ring methods on...
Julia was in action last weekend as one of the judges at the National Twelve-Bell Striking Contest final.
Where are you based?
Currently, Penrith in Cumbria
When and where did you learn to ring handbells?
My mother Gail Cater, taught me the basic PB6 positions on Hereford/Central Council courses when...
Jeff is famous for taking tower-bell ringing to France, but here we learn about his handbell ringing.
Where are you based?
Vernet-les-Bains, in the Eastern Pyrenees, France.
When and where did you learn to ring handbells?
I rang three peals of Plain Bob as a student in Durham in 1973...
Last Monday I opened the handbell bag and moths flew out. Honestly, I am not joking! We have a bit of a moth problem at Albany Quadrant, with a few holes in the carpet, but now they have invaded the handbell bag too. I will redouble my efforts to eradicate...
Bryn and Leland Reimer developed Ringing Room, which kept us all going through the pandemic. Also Bryn is the author of Calling it Round, a tutorial on conducting.
Where are you based?
Northampton, MA, USA
When and where did you learn to ring handbells?
Leland: 2012 in San...