October 2022 NEANZAB Sydney Ringing School
Organiser's Report
After two years, the Sydney Ringing School (SRS) was back! Run over the October long weekend in Sydney, the SRS had 7 learners participate from across Sydney, Rosemeadow, Bathurst, Lithgow/Katoomba and the ACT. As always, the SRS is not possible without the fantastic helpers who give up their time to assist. This year we had 45 helpers assist over 12 ringing sessions, across 9 towers over the 4 days, always a logistical nightmare!
As any good organiser, I personally didn't ring much over the weekend, but the sessions I did attend were very encouraging and as always lots of praise was given to the fantastic ringing masters, and the generosity and patience given by all helpers.
Anna Perrins
Participants' Reports
The Sydney Ringing School provided an opportunity for learners to push, and be pushed, beyond the limit of our current levels of skill and ability. The great thing about this weekend was the wealth of knowledge and practical instruction on offer from the helpers, dispensed with that most generous quality – patience.
Having said that, those who were helping to teach over the weekend were not averse to pushing the learner out onto the edge with the instruction to jump! Yet as the weekend progressed and the concepts became more embedded through repeated practice, the walk out onto the edge didn't seem so daunting and the leap into the unknown started to become a step into better understanding of how to be a better ringer.
When you are learning something new you live for those moments when a particular skill or technique goes from being just out of reach, to possible, to doable. For a learner such as myself, to be able to do something by the Sunday afternoon session with a reasonable level of competency and confidence (and understand how and why I was doing it), which had been a real struggle just two days earlier, was exactly what I had hoped to get out of the Ringing School.
Tony Pipe (Katoomba / Lithgow)
I continue to be amazed by the generosity of spirit shown by the other Bellringers. To give up their time over a long weekend to attend a tower and perform what would no doubt be rather dull exercises for them all, to observe and offer suggestions and guidance - and all to benefit complete strangers!
Rachel Trounson (Bathurst)
Nothing short of a fantastic weekend where I learnt so much – a special thanks to Bill Perrins and Peter Harrison for their patience and natural teaching abilities.
David Swanson (Manuka)
A Ringing Master's Report
This year there were 12 ringing sessions so there was no shortage of Ringing Masters required. The sessions were anything from Rounds and Call Changes to Plain Hunt. But the first thing a RM had to work out is how comfortable each "learner" was with ringing a bell from outside their home tower. Some were more comfortable than others, so it was initially a matter of getting them used to a different bell so we could help with the session they were on.
One bit of feedback I got during the weekend was someone saying thank you for explaining what we were trying to do, rather than just saying "do it". Every learner is different, as is explained as part of the ART Module 1 course. As each session is 1.5-2 hours long it can be a case of repeating yourself so your explanation makes sense to everyone. Of course when trying something new it doesn't always work immediately (in fact it rarely does!), it's important to remind the learner that this is a big step (which is true) and it's okay to try and try again. Throughout the weekend, with different Ringing Masters explaining things in different ways, running sessions in different ways, in the short time we had together it was good to see how those visiting were progressing and understanding what we were helping them with.
Peter Harrison
Photo Gallery
The Ringing School lunch.
Group Photo at Burwood.
From left: Kathi Downs, Bev Oakes, Deborah Peaker, Sue Rice, James Sillence,
Anna Perrins, Marylon Coates, Stephen Relf, Brian Peaker, Colin Sweet, Frank Sluter
James Sillence perfecting Plain Hunt, with Julie Doyle
Session at St Benedict's Broadway