Shropshire Association of Church Bellringers

The next Wednesday morning practice at Lilleshall is scheduled for Wednesday 13 December, from 10:00am to 12:30pm. A donation of £2 is requested to cover the use of the bells.

The church is hosting a coffee morning at the same time as our practice, so tea / coffee and refreshments will be able for a small donation.

Once again the Broseley ringers are selling Christmas cards in aid of their Bell Restoration Project.

The cards come in a mixed pack of 8 for £5 (plus postage) with two cards of four designs in each packet. Postage is £1.65 for one pack or £2.16 for two packs.

The four designs are

The Stewardship & Management Workgroup of the Central Council are pleased to announce Belfry Upkeep, an online document aimed at the Steeple Keeper – the person responsible for keeping the bells in order.

The aims of the document are:

• To help you understand the installation in your tower.
• To describe the checks you should carry out to identify any problems.
• To advise you on the maintenance tasks that you should be able to carry out, possibly with expert advice or assistance.
• Most importantly, to help you recognise the tasks that require specialist knowledge from a Bell Hanger or other expert

The document can be found at https://belfryupkeep.cccbr.org.uk

The Church of England has been working on an updated framework for Safeguarding training within the church. Dave Bassford (CCCBR Safeguarding Officer) and The Ringing World have given the Shropshire Association permission to include on this website an article written by Dave and appearing in the 21 January 2022 issue of The Ringing World.

In this article Dave explains that all ringers must take the Basic Awareness training (formerly C0). This is free, done online, takes about an hour to complete, and must be renewed every three years.

The Lichfield Diocese requires Tower Captains and those ringers in a role which involves work with children, young people or adults at risk, to also take the Foundation training (formerly C1), but not the Leadership training.

The trainings can be accessed by going to https://safeguardingtraining.cofeportal.org/.

The Central Council has issued a new publication focused on the first steps in calling and conducting from any bell. The publication has been written by Bryn Marie Reinstadler and is free and available at
https://callingitround.cccbr.org.uk/

We are now in receipt of 2 NDIR Carbon Dioxide monitors that are available for loan to Association members. CO₂ monitoring is not about our current return to ringing (which is predicated on low virus levels in the community and high uptake of a good vaccine which protects against currently circulating variants) but it will help us make an informed choice on how we can continue to ring if/when coronavirus levels rise into autumn and winter.

Further information can be found at: https://cccbr.org.uk/coronavirus/carbon-dioxide-monitoring-whilst-ringing/

Please contact Matt Lawrence if you would like to borrow a monitor. [ ].

Because of the pandemic the Lichfield Diocesan Mobile Belfry has not been hired so no funds have been raised. The insurance of the Mobile Belfry still has to be paid and it is a significant amount of money. The three Associations which own the Mobile Belfry each donated £200 in 2020 to help fund the cost, but it would be helpful to have another source of income. To this end you can raise funds for the Mobile Belfry by making purchases through smile.amazon.

You must login to amazon via smile.amazon.co.uk, rather than directly through amazon.co.uk. You will then be able to choose the charity you want to benefit from your eligible purchases. Choose Lichfield Diocesan Mobile Belfry. Then shop as usual. Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of eligible items to the charity of your choice.

The Central Council of Church Bell Ringers has issued three documents about its work, volunteering with the Central Council, and what it means to be a Central Council Representative.

Those documents can be read and downloaded here:
What's the point of the Central Council.pdf,
Volunteering with the Central Council.pdf,
What does being a Central Council Rep mean?

The Central Council has put together a list of training webinars and videos which have been recorded and posted on YouTube.

https://cccbr.org.uk/youtube-index/

In The Ringing World of 13 September 2019 Chris Mew wrote a review of the current situation regarding ringers and Safeguarding. That article can be read and downloaded here.

The Stewardship and Management Workgroup of the Central Council has produced a document relating to Safeguarding for Bellringers. The document can be found here.

We can now offer members a range of items embroidered with the SACBR logo. These are embroidered to order: contact Biff Patterson [ ] for details or to place an order.

COLOUR
The background colour for ‘corporate’ events is burgundy (as shown) but feel free to choose a different background for personal use. Check availability but navy or black are obvious options.

PRICES
Polo shirts, as worn by those manning the Lichfield Diocesan Mobile Belfry at Newport Show, £15. Biff has one lady-fit medium in stock. If you would normally buy small, this is for you.
Sweat shirts £17.50 Rugby shirts £25.
If you supply a garment it can be embroidered for a cost of £6.

SIZING – READ CAREFULLY PLEASE
The polo shirts are pure cotton, wash very well, BUT are skimpy. Biff suggests going up one or even two sizes on what you would normally select. Available in standard rectangular shape (men or unisex), quite long in the body; or lady-fit, which is shorter and more shaped. Choose from M, L, XL, XXL, XXXL.
Sweat shirts are only available unisex: S, M, L, XL, XXL, XXXL.
Rugby shirts are available in men’s or women’s: S, M, L, XL, XXL, XXXL.

Are you looking for some practical, written help for yourself or your tower but don’t know what is out there? If so, Books for Bellringers may be what you need. It is a small collection of books aimed mostly at beginners but with some material for those learning methods. Towers can borrow the collection for a period of up to two months so that everyone has a chance to see what they might find useful. Individuals or towers can order copies of the books using the details in the catalogue supplied.

If you would like to borrow the collection please contact me at: or telephone 01939 291014.

The Towers and Belfries Committee of the Central Council has produced some guidance notes on the various ways we access towers. The notes cover the condition of stairs and ladders; handholds; lighting; doorways and trap doors; and some potential hazards.

The notes can be found at, and downloaded from, https://cccbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/stairways.pdf

In order to ensure that all ringers have the opportunity to read the quarterly Newsletter, and to help keep costs down, it would be helpful if the Newsletter could be delivered electronically. Is there someone in your tower who would be willing to receive the quarterly Newsletter by email, and be willing to make at least one copy of it for your tower notice-board? This person should be someone who checks their email frequently (not just once or twice a year!).

Please contact Shaun Greenfield [ ] with the name, email address, and tower of your tower’s email correspondent and of any other members who would like to receive their own copy. Email addresses supplied will be stored on the Newsletter Editor's computer and used only for the distribution of the newsletter. They will not be made available to anyone else.

Paper copies will still be sent out to those towers who do not wish to receive it electronically.

Shaun would welcome any comments on the future format of the Newsletter and any items for inclusion in it.

The next Association committee meeting will be held on Sunday, 10 December 2023.