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.
For one reason and another, we seem to have an ever-increasing number of different combinations of people coming to ring more or less regularly. There's our "core four", of course. Despite trying to coordinate Seph with the core four in order to do some 10-bell ringing, we've slipped back into...
In the face of tonsilitis, winter vomiting bug, holiday schedules, the midwinter bellringing blues and the continued absence of our increasingly awesome head conductor, we met again to ring handbells with Marcus.
(I know it is April and therefore technically spring. But, you know, only technically. The body clock is...
One of the things that came out of the aftermath of Roger Bailey's death and subsequent memorial arrangements was that Marcus Wheel has officially come out of handbell retirement.
Four of us met last night for a pretty lighthearted evening of ringing, which included courses of Cambridge, Yorkshire and Lincolnshire...
... Jonathan has a lovely new Whitechapel set, which he brought with him yesterday evening. It's a 12, size 15 in C, with a flat 6th to give a light 8, size 12 in F. We christened the light 8 with a nice quarter of 8-spliced; usual band placing, we...
Yesterday we rang a quarter of Cambridge Royal, getting us to the milestone of 100 quarters in the house. A total of 33 people have been involved, which we are pleased with as part of the point of the Scottish handbell days is to increase the number of people...
Last night I manged to have dinner before the handbell ringers turned up - which was a bit stunning. Thursdays are one of those days where I am always on the way to somewhere else, coordinating several schedules, and let's not mention the 'your homework is due tomorrow' threats to...
Sometimes you are really ready for a handbell session: you have done your homework, you managed somehow to leave work on time, you feel fed, relaxed and focused. When does that ever happen?
Certainly not last night: one of those slightly crazed evenings where nothing quite went to plan, and...
After our successful and unproblematic peal of 4-spliced with Julia, we had a sharp reminder that we really do have a lot of ground to cover to be as competent as we want to be. Frankly, there is nothing like a bit of minor ringing to really bring the...
Two things happen during Simon's family reunions: handbells and croquet (and latterly, some yoga). We thought we'd share this bucolic image of just about our last handbell ringing before we disappear on holiday, with some rare sunshine.
It's Mobel for us for a spell then, or maybe we just won't...
Last night we had a casual handbell session with Josy, which we organised completely at the last minute (the idea of organising anything at the last minute is an immense novelty in our household).
It was a good thing to do because Simon was getting antsy for lack of handbell...