DVDs
The branch has a number of DVDs available to loan out to members free of charge.
Ropesight is a collection of video tutorials providing the key steps in learning the fundamentals of change ringing. The DVD focuses on the three stages of mastering bellringing: learning bell control and achieving ropesight, becoming proficient in ringing methods, and finally, conducting your first touch. Click here to see clips of the DVD.
Learning the Ropes is an ITTS DVD which demonstrates the key skills in teaching a new ringer to ring from the teacher’s perspective. In addition it shows the full teaching cycle for a new recruit from first holding the rope through to ringing a bell competently and safely. If you are interested in teaching people to learn to ring then this is a useful resource.
We also have two DVDs that were prepared for the Big Ring Pull presentations at Downs Barn in 2012. One DVD (58 mins 44 secs) contains a selection of bell ringing clips. The other DVD (13 mins 38secs) contains an introduction to bell ringing.
CDs
The branch also has a number of CDs available to loan out to members free of charge.
Listen to Ringing Live is a Central Council publication and has samples of live ringing with different exercises for you to practise your listening skills. The tracks are grouped with examples of similar features together as follows:
- How many bells (from 4 to 16?)
- What is happening?
- Which bells are being used?
- Musical rows
- Which bell(s) is in error?
- Comment on the striking
- How many faults?
The Youth Toolbox gives ideas and best practice for running Youth orientated groups. It is not all new material but is collated here in one place. The first file deals with best practice and experience in recruitment and retention as well as meeting parental and other expectations of control and management in he 21st century. Theory on how to meet the needs and motivate different age groups is included with how to use targets and goals. The second give ideas on activities for groups to maintain interest and develop knowledge with quizzes other materials that can be copied and tailored for your group.
The Teaching Toolbox contains off the shelf course materials – from Plain Hunt to Plain Bob Minor – that provide everything you need to run courses for your developing ringers. These toolboxes contain Teacher Resources, Student Resources a PowerPoint presentation which covers the theory sections and teacher notes. The CD contains toolboxes for:
- Foundation Skills
- Plain Hunt
- Plain Bob Doubles
- Grandsire Doubles
- Plain Bob Minor
- Much more Minor
- Stedman Doubles
Ringing Software
!Strike lets you see how good your listening is, and helps you practice to listen more accurately. Whatever level you are at !Strike can give you exercises that are not too easy and not too difficult. It repeats the same sound patterns as long as you need to focus on them in order to work out what is happening. It uses clear natural bell sounds and it gives instant feedback by showing you where the bells are actually striking. It is very easy to use.
!Strike generates the sound of real church bells ringing with a perfect rhythm and then varies the rhythm so that one or more bells is not striking when it should. The number and size of these errors is under your control. You can use it in two ways:
- You can have a single error to find. You can make it bigger if you can’t hear it at first, so you never have to ‘give up’.
- You can have a simulated band of ringers with one or more bell not striking correctly. Click the buttons to tell each bell to ring earlier or later, at handstroke or backstroke, until you are satisfied with the result. Then look to see how well you did. !Strike shows you where they started and how much you improved them.
!Strike can ring from 4 to 16 bells. You can make the bells sound heavy or light, and you can vary the speed of the ringing.
!Strike runs on the RISC OS. You can run !Strike on a Mac, Linux or Windows computer using an emulator which is also available.
Display Boards
The branch owns a couple of display boards which can be borrowed to support any bell ringing related local events.
The Branch also owns a couple of Big Ring Pull pull-up banners which can be borrowed to support any bell ringing related activities.
If you would like to borrow any of these items please contact the secretary.