Central Council of Church Bell Ringers

Annual Report for 2007

1. The Central Council of Church Bell Ringers (“the Council”) was founded in 1891 and is a registered charity, No. 270036. Its address is that of its Honorary Secretary for the time being, namely The Cottage, School Hill, Warnham, Horsham, West Sussex, RH12 3QN. The constitution and conduct of the Council is governed by its Rules.

2. The Council’s Trustees during 2007 were as follows:

   President	Mr D E Sibson
   Vice-President	Mr A P Smith
   Hon Secretary	Mr I H Oram
   Hon Treasurer	Mr D Harbottle

3. The Council’s bankers are Lloyds TSB, Westminster House Branch, Dean Stanley Street, London, SW1P 3HU. Its Independent Examiners are Mr J D Cheesman and Mr R J Wallis.

4. At the close of the Annual General Meeting on 28th May 2007 the Council’s membership comprised 6 Life Members, 21 Honorary Members and 201 Representative Members representing 65 affiliated societies. Since then 1 Life Member and 3 Representative Members have died; 7 Honorary Members retired and 9 who had been elected at that meeting took office. Details of the changes to the Representative Membership are set out in the Appendix below. Subject to any further changes, at the start of the 2008 Council meeting there will be 5 Life Members, 18 Honorary Members and 197 Representative Members. There are three vacancies.

5. The Object of the Council is to promote and foster the ringing of bells for Christian prayer, worship and celebration and in furtherance thereof:

   (i) To promote awareness of and educate the general public in the ringing of church bells and the art of change ringing;

   (ii) To make available advice, assistance and information to church authorities, ringers and ringing societies and to promote good practice on all matters concerned with bells and bell ringing;

   (iii) To encourage development of the art of ringing through innovation;

   (iv) To bring together ringers to discuss matters of common interest and to represent ringers both nationally and internationally;

   (v) To encourage high standards of performance in ringing;

   (vi) To recommend technical standards in change ringing and maintain such records as may be necessary to uphold these standards;

   (vii) To assist in the provision, restoration, maintenance and transfer of church bells.

6. The work of the Council in pursuing this object is for the most part carried out by its seventeen committees and by working groups appointed by them. Summaries of their activities during 2007 are given in the committee reports, which appear elsewhere on the Council’s agenda and are being published in the 25th April 2008 issue of The Ringing World.

7. The Accounts for 2007 show Total Funds at the year-end of £351,795, of which £176,577 is in Restricted Funds. The income for the year totalled £43,702, compared with £33,366 in 2006. The Trustees have the power to invest money and adopt such measures as seem to them necessary in the interest of the Council. They do not have any power to borrow money.

8. It is confirmed that the Council’s assets, together with the expected income for 2008, are available and are likely to be adequate to fulfil the object of the Council in that year. In particular in 2008, there is a financial commitment of £20,000 for the hire of the venue for the 2008 Ringing Roadshow.

9. Reserves policy:

   (i) General Fund - the balance on the General Fund is invested to produce income which, together with member societies affiliation fees, provides sufficient funds to support the work and activities of the Council. The balance also facilitates cash flow and enables the development of new projects and initiatives.

   (ii) Education Courses - the balance provides cash flow to enable the Education Committee to run various training courses, in general the costs are recouped from attendees.

   (iii) Bell Restoration Fund - the balance is fully allocated to bell restoration projects and paid on satisfactory completion of the work. Grants are made in proportion to the types of applications received and in accordance with priorities agreed by the Council and reviewed annually.

   (iv) F Dukes International Bell Fund - Grants from the Fred Dukes International Bell Fund are made in accordance with the terms of Mr Dukes’ legacy. Grants are awarded from the interest on the legacy and reviewed annually.

   (v) Publications Fund - the balance represents the stock of publications held and a cash balance to facilitate the production of new titles and the reprinting of existing publications.

   (vi) Library Fund - the balance represents the value of the library which is maintained for use by council members and affiliated societies.

10. Funds are invested in low risk investments and bank accounts. The need for regular income from investments is considered important to support the work of the Council.

11. No significant fund-raising activity has been carried out during the year.

12. The Council had no employees during the year. All of its work is carried out on a voluntary basis.

I H ORAM
Honorary Secretary

April 2008

APPENDIX

Membership of the Council 2008-2011

Arising from the triennial elections of Representative Members by the affiliated societies, the Oxford Society has increased its representation by one, while the Middlesex County Association & London Diocesan Guild has one less member and the Veronese Association has two less members. Of the 198 Representative Members, 158 (80%) were members of the previous Council (of whom three are representing a different society and five were previously Honorary Members) and 40 are new members (of whom five have been members at some time in the past).

46 Representative Members of the previous Council are not returning. Special mention should be made of those who had been members for more than 15 years: Freda Cannon (Ladies Guild) elected 1984; Stuart Flockton (Liverpool Universities Society) elected 1987; Phil Gay (North Staffordshire Association) elected 1987; Michael Henshaw (Beverley & District Society, President 2002-2005) elected 1990; Frank Lewis (Kent County Association) elected 1990; David Manger (Kent County Association) elected 1984; George Morris (Worcestershire & Districts Association, Veronese Association) elected 1975; Don Morrison (North American Guild) elected 1990; David Riley (Norwich Diocesan Association) elected 1987, served until 1992 and re-elected 1996; Jean Sanderson (Honorary Member, Ely Diocesan Association) elected 1982; Alan Smith (Suffolk Guild) elected 1984; Andrew Stubbs (Ancient Society of College Youths) elected 1975; and Brian Threlfall (Cambridge University Guild, Honorary Member, served until 1990 and re-elected 1996, Hereford Diocesan Guild, Gloucester & Bristol Diocesan Association) elected 1954. Thanks are due to these, and all others not returning, for their services to the Council.

CENTRAL COUNCIL OF CHURCH BELL RINGERS

Registered Charity Number 270036

Statement of Financial Activities for the year ended 31st December 2007

CENTRAL COUNCIL OF CHURCH BELL RINGERS

Registered Charity Number 270036

Balance Sheet as at 31st December 2007

Derek Harbottle
Hon Treasurer April 2008

CENTRAL COUNCIL OF CHURCH BELL RINGERS

Notes to the Accounts for the year ended 31st December 2007

1 Basis of accounting

The accounts have been prepared under the historic cost convention and in accordance with applicable accounting standards and the Statement of Recommended Practice on Accounting by Charities.

2 Accounting Policies

The accounts have been drawn up in accordance with the going concern, accruals, consistency and prudence concepts.

2.1 Incoming resources

Interest is accounted for when receivable.

Donations, grants and legacies are accounted for as soon as the Council is notified of the legal entitlement and the amount due.

2.2 Resources expended

Expenditure is included on an accruals basis.

Grants are accounted for when paid over.

3 Consistency

The accounts are prepared on a consistent basis with the exception of the following changes applied in 2006,

1. The Capital Fund has been redesignated as General Fund since the purpose of the Capital Fund is no longer required.

2. The Library committee expenses have been paid from the General Fund instead of a grant from the General fund to the Library Fund.

4 Funds

The General Fund is unrestricted. The Education Courses Fund and Publications Fund are designated funds.

The Bell Restoration Fund, the Fred Dukes International Bell Fund and the Library Fund are maintained for restricted purposes.

5 Transfers between Funds

There were no transfers between funds in the current year.

6 Tangible Assets and Intangible Assets

The major tangible assets of the Council are the Investments in National Savings Income Bonds, the Fred Dukes International Bell Fund, which is invested in a CAF Bank Limited Gold Account and the Library Collection. The Library Collection is valued at a replacement cost of £64,805. The revaluation was undertaken by J M Farringdon as at December 2003 when the value was £67,600. The policy is to revalue the collection every five years. It is being depreciated for accounting purposes at 2% per annum. An asset register is maintained for other tangible assets. The policy is to treat assets of an individual cost up to £1,000 as fully depreciated in the year of purchase.

The major intangible asset of the Council is the copyright of Dove’s Guide.

7 Interest Receivable

The interest was received from

8 Committee Expenses - General Fund

These were as follows

9 Grants

The Fred Dukes International Bell Fund awarded three grants totalling £3,211. Six grants were paid during the year.

The Bell Restoration Fund did not award any grants in 2007. A total of eleven grants were paid in the year.

The General Fund awarded one grant in 2007 of £1,000, towards the cost of a John Smith memorial bell at Stanion, Northamptonshire.

10 Charitable Commitments

There were unfulfilled charitable commitments at 31st December 2007 in respect of one grant of £2,750 awarded but not yet paid by the Fred Dukes International Bell Fund, nine grants totalling £9,100 awarded but not yet paid by the Bell Restoration Fund and one grant of £1,000 awarded but not yet paid from the General Fund.

11 Publications Fund

Storage and distribution cost of £1,900 was paid to Council members.

12 Payments to Trustees

There were no payments to Trustees.

13 Emoluments of Employees

The Council had no employees during the year.

14 Central Council of Church Bell Ringers (Millennium Grants) Limited

The company was formed in January 1997 to receive and distribute grants to bell projects from the Millennium Commission. Copies of the Annual Report are available from the Secretary.

The Ringing World, April 25, 2008, pages 466 to 469, corrections September 19, 2008, page 986

Administrative Committee

Since the 2007 Council meeting the Committee has met twice in London, in October and March. The arrangements for the 2008 Council meeting were discussed and agreed; the Committee has continued its practice of reviewing the work of Council Committees and received presentations from the Towers and Belfries and Records Committees.

From time to time the Committee is involved in matters specific to other Committees: in the past year this has included:

Council website - since the website provides a service to the Council as a whole as well as many of its Committees, it was appropriate that the ICT Committee should report on problems encountered since the change to Servelocity, whose technical support has been found to be inadequate. A further change has been made to Memset, which, although more expensive than Servelocity, still showed a significant saving compared with Nildram.

Merger of Committees - the Committee greeted with enthusiasm a proposal to be presented at the Newcastle meeting to merge the Peals Analysis and Records Committees.

Ringing Roadshow - the Officers have committed the General Fund to provide financial support if necessary. They receive copies of the Minutes of the meetings of the organising team.

At both meetings of the Committee the Public Relations Committee has reported on the progress of arrangements, enabling members to make suggestions when appropriate.

The Committee considered the following items from the 2007 Council meeting:

Guidelines for Committees - as noted in the Committee’s last report, guidelines were agreed and these are now available on the website.

The Ringing Foundation - at its October meeting the Committee had expressed concern that little progress appeared to have been made since the Cheltenham meeting. The Company had been incorporated, with a registration number and Memorandum and Articles of Association, but there had been difficulty in setting up the first meeting of the Trustees. This took place on 8th December: the Vice-president was invited to this and a subsequent meeting; at the Committee’s March meeting he was able to re-assure members that the Directors were proceeding in a business-like way and would produce an interim report for circulation prior to the Foundation’s first AGM on the day of the Council meeting.

Committee elections - at the Cheltenham meeting it had been clear that there was some dissatisfaction with the Council’s committee structure, but there was no formal request to the Committee to consider the matter. However, during a discussion on how to enable new people to be elected to a particular committee, it became apparent that there was general dissatisfaction with the first meeting of the triennium, particularly the elections of committees. It was suggested that rolling elections might be preferable to the current practice at the triennial meeting, when a significant number of new members would be present, who would be unfamiliar with Council procedures. It was acknowledged that this had been considered during the Consultation Process of 2001 but along with other suggestions was not proceeded with. The Officers were asked to consider how to address the problem and resurrected the possibility of rolling elections: initially the intention was to propose that one-third of committees be elected each year, but in later e-mail discussions a proposal to elect one-third of the members of each committee each year found more favour. This and various other possibilities were considered at length at the March meeting, the result of which is the Motion that will be presented at Newcastle.

Other matters reported on included:

Council for the Care of Churches - a meeting was held on 28th September. The “Perspectives” conference at Worcester had been attended by both parties and was considered useful; CCC noted that there would be a conference for all Diocesan Bell Advisers next June. CCCBR had been asked by a parish to clarify CCC comments, which had led to a refusal by the Heritage Lottery Fund to award a grant; the Fund did rely on CCC comments, which in this case highlighted the addition of 5 new bells to an existing 3; CCCBR was grateful to CCC for the opportunity to discuss the case. The attention of CCC had been brought to instances of work being carried out by volunteer groups of ringers, without the authority of a faculty; it was noted that Chancellors’ de-minimis lists did clarify works not requiring a faculty, although there were differences in interpretation.

Subsequent to that meeting Paula Griffiths, the Head of the Cathedral and Church Buildings Division of the Archbishops’ Council, who had chaired the meetings, announced that she would be leaving to train for ordination; no new appointment has yet been made, to enable us to have a further meeting.

English Heritage - only one meeting has been held, awaiting the appointment of a replacement for Richard Halsey: that meeting took place on 3rd March, when CCCBR representatives met Diana Evans, the new Head of Places of Worship Policy, who had previously been DAC Secretary in the Peterborough Diocese. No progress has been made by EH in preparing a specification for recording bellframes. The original proposal to rewrite all Grade 1 list descriptions would not be pursued due to lack of resources, but the Heritage Protection Review could introduce new ways of describing Designated places of worship. CCCBR asked if EH’s presentation at the “Perspectives” conference could be published in The Ringing World. The Heritage White Paper, which, amongst other matters, included a review of the Ecclesiastical Exemption, was unlikely to have a major impact on bell work and it was not expected to come into force until 2010.

The Ringing World, April 25, 2008, page 470

Towers and Belfries Committee

It is difficult to remember another year that has been so dramatic for the Committee. Sadly, it included the deaths of two long-serving members of great experience and high regard, John Scott in July, and then Harry Windsor in August. The Committee is undoubtedly weakened by the loss of these two members. John had huge experience of old and historic installations, and of Devon and the South-West in particular. Harry was, of course, famed for his pioneering work on monitoring and understanding the nature of tower movement, for which, at Coventry Cathedral, he was awarded the MBE.

For the first time in many years the Committee met only twice, but this was not by design. Cancellation of the July meeting was forced upon us by the record-breaking floods that occurred that month. Our intended venue was Evesham, which, by the time of our proposed meeting, had traffic chaos on its roads and RAF helicopters air-lifting residents of inundated properties to safety less than 300 yards from where we were to meet. As if to compensate for this, and in substantial fashion, our November meeting was held in the grandeur of Christchurch College, Oxford, after ringing a gloriously-struck quarter-peal of Grandsire Triples in the morning at St Thomas’s in memory of John and Harry.

Lastly, after a delay, Arnold Smith emigrated to New Zealand to be close to his daughter and her family.

Our principal work continues to be the inspections of towers and bell installations for PCCs, and giving advice on all aspects of bells and bell maintenance. The Committee continues to pursue its aim of being an independent bridge between the professionals/trade and ringers, and to offer a wide range of expertise. The Committee contributes a member to the Central Council’s liaison group that meets twice-yearly with English Heritage and with the Council for the Care of Churches.

Tower monitoring has been undertaken at Halewood and at St Lawrence, Ipswich, the latter the oldest ring of 5 in the country, but unrung due to fears for the tower fabric. Tower monitoring work has understandably been affected by Harry’s passing, although we are lucky that William has worked alongside Harry on this subject for a long while. Nonetheless there is inevitably a large bundle of notes and other material that Harry compiled, and William and Andrew are gradually sifting through the items.

In addition to tower monitoring, the Committee has given advice on a variety of subjects concerning bells and towers as follows: seven general inspections of towers, including three to assess the viability of installing new rings (two seem very likely); two towers regarding sound control, plus a request (politely but firmly declined) to make comments to a local newspaper about noise complaints from bells in one parish; general maintenance of bells to one tower; lightning conductor information to one tower; details regarding structural surveys to three towers; factors regarding radio aerial installation to two towers; bell ball bearing advice to one tower; and lastly advice regarding single-bell installations to two towers. One very interesting request was advice on installing a bell rope in an obscure single-bell tower somewhere in the United States (it’s quite amazing what the internet brings in)!

Members continued to give support to the Bath & Wells DA’s annual Bell Maintenance Course, and to a new bell maintenance course for the Truro Guild. The Committee continues a willingness to run courses on belfry maintenance.

The Chairman spoke about the work of the Committee at the “Perspectives” seminar at Worcester.

The Committee has, through the liaison meetings, tried to encourage a statement from English Heritage on the material and methods to be used for building-in bellframe supporting grillage beams to tower walls. Although there are occasional errors of judgement committed by Supervising Professionals who disbelieve the need for solidly building-in ends to prevent tower damage, a high profile case in East Anglia highlighted very much the need for a quasi-official “code of practice”, so that similar instances in future can be eliminated or greatly reduced. Unfortunately English Heritage does not yet feel in a position to provide such written advice on this subject. In the absence of an EH statement, the Committee has agreed to provide a statement.

Although the overall responsibility for co-ordinating Health & Safety issues for the Council’s activities transferred to the new Tower Stewardship Committee after the 2006 Council Meeting, the Towers & Belfries Committee does still receive and is happy to advise on H&S issues that are specific to towers and belfries. We pass on our deliberations to the TSC.

The Committee’s web-site continues to display useful data and documents. This includes the annually updated Ringable/Unringable Towers table, which is our contribution to the Ringing Trends Committee’s monitoring work.

We continue to monitor bellrope manufacture. The situation has worsened significantly with one manufacturer deciding recently to cease production. Steeplekeepers are advised to pay close attention to the ropes in their care, ensuring that ropes are well looked after. Where new ropes are required, orders should be placed well in advance of them needing to be used.

Hugh has decided not to stand again due to business commitments, and we thank him for the time he has given the Committee. Some spare places on the Committee will definitely derive and will need to be filled at the coming elections. Although the Committee has traditionally included members who are professionally-qualified in the relevant subjects, a look down the current members list will show that some members are not. Further professionally-qualified people are always sought, but there is room for those not qualified in that way, who nonetheless have a deep interest in things technical and experience of bells and bell installations. The ability to liaise with church representatives, to undertake inspections carefully and then record the event and make recommendations in standard report format in good English is important.

One of the strengths of this Committee is having a good spread of members across the country; not only to offer a good service to PCCs, but to collect items from a wide and therefore more diverse area for discussion at a central forum, and then to be able to disperse the agreed solutions back out in the interests of consistent practice. It is impossible to know the composition of the Committee until after the elections, particularly after losing so many members as this year, but a guess would suggest some representation in the South-East and the North (West or East) is likely to be useful in pursuing this ideal. Meetings are held centrally in February, July and November.

Tower Stewardship Committee

Last year we reported on our initial contact and meetings with Ecclesiastical Insurance Group (EIG) and our intentions for future meetings with them, our aim to publish a series of leaflets to be sent to all towers and our hopes to run workshops for towers or associations.

Work to date

By the time of the May Council meeting we will have met twice, in London and Newcastle. We have progressed the plan to meet regularly with EIG, and will meet with them again on 11 April. We were delighted that, following our earlier meeting, EIG were able to offer societies affiliated to the Council public liability insurance at very much lower rates than most were previously paying. We believe a number of societies have taken up this excellent deal, and we are aware of considerable appreciation of it by many. While this sort of success is going to be difficult to repeat, we believe our ongoing relationship with EIG will continue to benefit ringers in a variety of smaller ways.

We have also been in contact with the Church of England’s new Child Protection Adviser about the topic of child protection again, as this remains an area of concern to ringers. While each diocese has its own child protection guidelines, based on those issued by the C of E, many dioceses and parishes have been happy to accept the Council guidelines for ringers. We are continuing to benefit from earlier work in publishing and widely distributing these guidelines, as they retain their official look and feel and (unlike the Church’s) are practical and sensible. In general ringers are also able to support the Council’s guidelines. Early contact with the Adviser revealed that there have been changes in personnel within the C of E and they are beginning a review of their guidelines and are keen to take external input. They appear sympathetic to ringers’ position. We were hoping to meet again in April so as to be able to update CC members at the Council meeting, but that meeting has now been deferred to later this year. We believe that regular future contact with the Adviser on this subject, as with EIG, will be of ongoing benefit to ringers.

When we came to consider the leaflets, we were concerned that they would quickly become out of date and thus of limited use. We felt that we could better help ringers by making them available on the internet only, as this way we would be able to keep them up-to-date; ringers would know where to look for information and they could be confident that it was current. So far we have completed leaflets on Tower Management, Child Protection in Towers, Church Law in Relation to Bells, Fire Risk Assessment, Insurance and Ringing and Tower Safety and Risk Assessment. These have been on the Council’s website for some time and we have taken steps to make their availability easier to see on the site. Hard copies have also been distributed when requested by those without internet access.

We now have a booking for a prototype workshop - Lancashire Association on the day of their AGM, Saturday 26 April.

Future Work

The Committee works by using the specialist knowledge, experience and contacts of its members to point ringers in the right direction for answers when they come to us with queries. We aim to keep up-to-date with new and changing relevant legislation, keep the leaflets up-to-date and identify as early as possible any potential future external problems likely to affect ringers and bells. This year we have identified updates needed to the leaflets already, as well as considering new legislation on vulnerable groups.

During the next twelve months we wish to build on relationships we have begun with both EIG and the C of E’s Child Protection Adviser to help those organisations understand ringing and ringers and to help ringers understand what they need to do to help make the relationship work well for everyone.

Committee Structure

We are still not sure a permanent committee is really needed, but we still have work to do and would like to continue with a smaller committee (5) to finish off current tasks. If a large charity had paid staff the work of this committee is the sort of thing a permanent paid staff would do, and we wonder if there is in fact a need for a small “Secretary’s Committee”, which could call on known specialists when needed, rather than having them on a permanent committee. We would like this to be considered in any forthcoming review of Council Committees.

Bell Restoration Committee

The Committee met three times in 2007; in Bristol in February, in Cheltenham in May during the Council weekend, and in London in October.

We are very sorry to report that Robin Shipp, who joined the Committee in 2004, ceased to be a Council member during the year. His contribution to the work of the Committee had been invaluable and included the design and production of the Committee’s striking display boards at the 2005 Roadshow and the co-ordination of the 2007 Ringing World Calendar.

Provision of Information and Advice

In September and October guidelines on the advisability, or otherwise, of registering entire ringing societies as charities following taxation changes effective from April 2006, were reviewed and updated by Kate Flavell. These were published on the Central Council website in November 2007.

The Committee had for some time recognized the need for a helpful guide to the workings of the Landfill Communities Fund (formerly the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme) which had since its inception paid out £49 million to churches and historic buildings. In September Jackie Roberts completed work on a comprehensive overview of this potentially valuable source of funding. This also was published on the Central Council website in November 2007.

We continued to receive requests for general fundraising advice from parishes across the United Kingdom at around the same level as in 2006. Of the forty or so parishes that made contact during the year, twenty-nine were doing so for the first time. The total number of FunderFinder enquiries was slightly down on the 2006 figure - twenty-four were received - and searches were made on behalf of twelve projects.

Most of the committee enquiries are dealt with by telephone, post or e-mail but, as we advertise in our Brochure, we are also willing to travel to address fund-raising meetings and in February 2007 John Barnes crossed the Solent to meet fund-raisers from several Isle of Wight churches planning restoration work. In September John represented the Committee at the “Perspectives” conference at Worcester and gave a presentation.

Committee Members represented the Central Council at a number of dedication services, and were invited to more than could be attended. The Committee appreciates the invitations, which indicate that the work we do in support of parishes is valued.

Using the same definition used in previous such surveys of five or more bells, we conducted a survey of unringable bells in the British Isles. This has shown that the number of such towers has fallen by 123 since 1995 to 399. We acknowledge the help of Society officers in carrying out this survey. In the light of the information now contained in the online version of Dove’s Guide, it is unlikely that we will repeat this survey, but it provides a benchmark for comparison purposes.

We had preliminary discussions with a film maker keen to make a film about ringing to support fund raising for his own tower’s restoration project. He was confident of being able to obtain a grant to make the film, but is finding this harder than he had first thought. We are keeping in touch.

Administration of Funds

The Committee has been assisting the Manifold Trust for many years by the provision of administrative support. The Trust offered three grants totalling £10,500 early in 2007.

As reported last year, the Trust has advised us that no further grants will be made. Not long after learning of this decision, we heard of the sad death of Sir John Smith, whose interest in bells had enabled the Trust to be so generous in assisting the restoration of unringable bells. As announced in The Ringing World, there is to be a bell cast in memory of Sir John, to augment the unringable four bells at Stanion, Northamptonshire, when they are restored. We are most grateful that the Council’s Officers have agreed to our suggestion of a contribution from the Council of £1,000 to the cost of this work.

To reflect the discontinuance of grants for bell restoration from the Manifold Trust, changes are needed to the criteria for grants from the CC BRF to delete references to Manifold grants. The revised criteria are attached. No other changes are recommended.

No significant income has been received by the Central Council Bell Fund, to permit us to invite grant applications during the year. However, there is a considerable amount of work involved in following up the progress of projects where grants have already been offered, especially in those cases where delays occur. We appreciate the work put in by Stella Bianco in raising money for the BRF by producing and selling jigsaws with ringing themes. We plan to sell more of these at the Roadshow this year and are hoping to enable people to order in advance and pick them up at the Roadshow.

In accordance with the terms of the Fund, the Fred E. Dukes International Bell Fund offered the following grants: South Africa: Fourways Gardens, Johannesburg - £1,000; Australia: St George’s Cathedral, Perth - £740 and St Augustine’s Catholic Church, Balmain - £1,471.

Future Work

The contents of the booklet Organising a Bell Restoration Project are being kept under regular review in the light of developments in the world of fundraising and taxation and we are looking into the feasibility and usefulness of making available updated copies of the booklet’s Appendices on the Central Council website.

The Committee will also be working on guidance for parishes to use when they are letting contracts in association with restoration projects. The guidance will seek to ensure that adequate weight and attention is given to factors other than cost.

We are also intending to remind treasurers and independent examiners of the need to comply with the new accounting Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) that has been in force since 2005 but is still not being followed by some charities.

We are looking forward to participating in the 2008 Roadshow when members of the Committee will be available to answer questions and to offer advice. A selection of information leaflets will be available to take away.

We have not completely abandoned all thoughts of seeking practical advice from professional fundraisers but work on this topic has been put “on the back burner” for the time being whilst we watch with great interest the progress made by The Ringing Foundation Limited in encouraging organisations and institutions to invest in bells and bell ringers.

Criteria for allocating CCBRF grants and loans

1.0 Applications will be considered for the following:

1.1 Restoration or augmentation work to existing bell installations, or the provision of new bell installations, in any country in the World where the bells are, or are to be, hung for full circle ringing.

1.2 Costs of structural and other ancillary work integral to the bell installation will be considered when these are in addition to work on the bell installation.

1.3 Loans or guarantees (when funds allow) to the bell restoration funds (BRFs) of societies affiliated to the Central Council, where the trustees may wish to make offers or promises of future grants in excess of the money currently available in their funds.

2.0 Offers of grants, loans or guarantees will normally be made from the Fund only if:

2.1 Support and approval for the project are to be given by the local ringing society, and

2.2 Support and approval for the project are given by the PCC or other appropriate authority, and

2.3 There is in place an existing band of ringers or the project plans include a firm commitment to recruit and train a band, and

2.4 Consideration has been given to the need to include any form of sound control within the project specification.

Priorities

3.0 Priority will normally be given to applications as follows:

3.1 High priority will be given where there is an existing band of ringers and the bells are in imminent danger of becoming unringable.

3.2 For augmentations priority will be given to projects to restore or provide a ring of 5 or 6 bells.

3.3 Projects with a total cost of less than £5,000 will have low priority.

Administration and Operation

4.0 The Bell Restoration Committee (BRC) will be responsible for administering the Fund. It will normally operate as follows:

4.1 Grants, loans and guarantees will be allocated after advertising in The Ringing World, and elsewhere if appropriate, for applications to be made. Offers will be made and will remain open for two years and then lapse. No payment of a grant will be made until the work has been carried out satisfactorily and the bill presented. The intention is for money in the fund to be used rather than accumulated, but no offers of grants, loans or guarantees will be made if no suitable applications are received.

4.2 As far as possible a balance will be struck so that grants, loans and guarantees are spread geographically and socially, and in proportion to the types of applications received, spread of centres of ringing and any other relevant factors. Also a balance will be struck among grants, loans and guarantees in approximate proportion to the requests received, but with each batch of applications assessed on their own merits.

4.3 Loans or guarantees will be subject to written agreements, with repayments unlikely to be over a greater period than two years, although shorter periods will be encouraged. The BRF’s ability to repay will be assessed before any loans or guarantees are offered. It is not intended that interest will be charged.

4.4 The BRC may consult as necessary before offering any grant, loan or guarantee, including inviting comment from other parties, such as the local society affiliated to the Central Council.

4.5 Appeals against decisions of the Bell Restoration Committee will be determined by the Trustees of the Central Council. Such appeals must be made in writing to the Secretary of the Central Council within 3 months of the initial decision being made and the Trustees will then consider the application afresh.

Biographies Committee

The Committee met once during the year at Cheltenham in May.

The Committee has kept busy throughout the last year contacting past and present CC members in order to obtain details of their ringing careers. In addition to seeking information from those who have never provided any, we have been trying to update our records so that they date from this century: some members had not given any further details since the mid-1950s! We continue to experience difficulties in obtaining contact addresses, both e-mail and postal. Also it has been clear that recently several e-mails have gone astray.

Further progress has been made in writing up details of deceased members.

Once again we should like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have taken the time to fill in their biography forms and to return them to the Chairman. We would also like to plead with those who still have a form awaiting attention to complete and return it.

The following former member died during 2006 but his death has not been previously notified to the Council:

• Eric Billings, Peterborough Diocesan Guild, 1962-1989, Honorary Member 1991-1996, attended 29 meetings, died 18th July 2006

The deaths of the following member and former member have already been reported to the Council:

• Douglas Anthony Roland May, Guildford Diocesan Guild, 1963-1971, attended 8 meetings, died 24th February 2007

• Deryk Roger Bugler, Dorset County Association, 1994 to date, attended 13 meetings, died 16th April 2007

The following members and former members have died since the last meeting:

• Martin Cubitt, Norwich Diocesan Association, 1969-1977, attended 9 meetings, died 1st July 2007

• The Reverend Prebendary John Gilbert Mortimer Scott, Guild of Devonshire Ringers, 1954-1985, Honorary Member 1987-1998, Life Member to date, attended 52 meetings, died 9th July 2007

• Keith Nicholas Buckingham, Lincoln Diocesan Guild, 2003-2005, Shropshire Association 2007 to date, attended 4 meetings, died 25th July 2007

• Harry Mellows Windsor MBE, Coventry Diocesan Guild, 1959 and 1963 to date, attended 45 meetings, died 16th August 2007

• Clare Higby, Ladies Guild, 1981-1995, attended 14 meetings, died 25th August 2007

• Joan Summerhayes (nee Beresford), Ladies Guild, 1963-1980, attended 18 meetings, died 11th September 2007

• John Stanley Mason, Ancient Society of College Youths, 1957-1959 and 1966-1974, attended 10 meetings, died 25th October 2007

• Richard Francis Bentinck Speed, Middlesex County Association and London Diocesan Guild 1954-1956, Honorary Member 1958-1977, Peterborough Diocesan Guild 1978-1980, Honorary Member 1982-1987, Worcestershire & Districts Association 1990-2004, attended 39 meetings, died 22nd November 2007

Education Committee

The Committee met three times at Wellesbourne, Warwickshire. There are currently ten members for twelve places.

Courses - The Committee ran a national “Teaching the Teachers” weekend course in September, and also delivered day courses for local societies on listening and on teaching bell control. We have also recently developed an email based mentoring scheme for people wishing to develop their conducting skills. The pilot phase of this has gone well and we feel it complements our training course provision which principally aims to support teachers and leaders of ringing.

Publications and resources - Ten pilot copies of The New Ringer’s Book were distributed to selected “learners” for evaluation during the summer. This generated a strong positive response, as well as much practical feedback on points of detail. At the year end, the book was in major final revision, with a photo shoot to produce higher quality pictures planned for January 2008. We have worked closely with the Publications Committee on practical details and pricing for this strategically important publication which we aim to hand over by the Summer. Pip Penney’s new book, Teaching Unravelled, has been through several revisions, and should also be completed during 2008. Progress with the “Tower Captain’s Resource” has been slower than hoped but a growing selection of resources are now available via the Committee website, and we aim to promote this tool kit at the 2008 Roadshow. The year ended with delivery of the 4th (and last) volume of The Learning Curve to the Publications Committee.

Simulator - Loan of the Bagley simulator continues, but at a low level. It may be borrowed for evaluation, or for training courses, by contacting Heather Peachey.

Network for Ringing Training (NRT) - Membership remains static around 500, with the discussion list used by about 60% of members. The backlog of indexed summaries for members has been made up thanks to Martin Mansley. Progress of discussions with the ICT Committee about hosting mailing services on the CC server has been slow.

Framework for Training Ringers - The Framework was revised in response to feedback from pilot users, and presented at the Open Meeting in Leicester in May. Almost all feedback has been positive, and some societies are promoting it. The information is available for download from the Committee website.

Ringing Foundation - The out-going chairman led the group that developed the proposal, adopted by Council in May, to form a Ringing Foundation. The Committee has considered ideas for productive use of future funds that could be made available by the Foundation.

Future plans - The Committee’s vision is to take forward the state of the art in ringing education and to help spread best practice to member societies, towers and individuals by whatever means is most effective.

Membership - Many of the current Committee, including the outgoing chairman, will not be standing for re-election for the new triennium, so we look forward to welcoming new members with new ideas to help us develop the Committee’s future work.

Information and Communications Technology Committee

The workload of the “technical” members of this Committee remains high, and except when things go wrong, this work remains behind the scenes. Tina Stoecklin, despite adding a daughter to her family and undergoing a temporary overseas assignment with her family, spent a great deal of time planning and executing the move of the website to a more flexible service provider. We also thank John and Sid Baldwin for their significant assistance in this project. Towards the end of the year Aidan Hopkins volunteered to help with server administration. He brings a lot of experience to the team and has already made a significant contribution. Peter Trotman remains responsible for most of the content of the webpages except for those of the Education and Ringing Trends Committees, covered by Frank Lewis and of the Records Committee, maintained by Richard Allton.

We have experienced a few interruptions in the availability of the website, and therefore also of Dove’s Guide online. Although most of the causes are now understood and corrective action has been taken we are very much aware that the Internet is constantly growing and new security and availability risks will continue to emerge. We appreciate prompt error reports direct to both <webmaster@cccbr.org.uk> and <serveradmin@cccbr.org.uk> to help us take prompt corrective action.

The content of the website continues to grow. A clickable map of UK Ringing Centres has been added and can be found at https://cccbr.org.uk/ringingcentres/map/ and the presentation of Ringable/Unringable Towers analysis has been enhanced. The design of a better interface to the website for non-ringers is being discussed with the Public Relations Committee. Work is also underway on adding the Rolls of Honour, updated with much new data researched by Alan Regin.

Mike Till continues to provide support and assistance in upgrading content of the Felstead database.

Andrew Craddock maintains the on-line Felstead database and scripts. PealBase provides the data for the post 1989 peals.

Alan Chantler has undergone serious medical treatment during the year and we wish him a swift recovery.

Don Morrison and Peter Trotman have stood down as Representative Members from the North American Guild and will therefore not be standing for re-election to this Committee in 2008. We thank Don for his work with us and feel sure that he will continue to offer his words of wisdom in our email discussions. Peter continues to volunteer his services. We are most grateful that he will be doing so as he has made a significant contribution to our work over many years.

Library Committee

Achievements in the past year

The Library Committee has for some years had a rolling programme of projects. Over the last several years the Committee has been working together on one of these as a team, led most recently by Paul Johnson viz. the project of providing every single page, including advertisements, of all the issues of Bell News, which was published between 1881 and 1915, on a single DVD. This project has dominated the work of the Committee for a number of years and finally, towards the end of 2007, it was completed and the discs were put on sale. At the time of writing a hundred DVD’s have been sold and more sales are expected throughout 2008 at the Central Council meeting and the Ringing Roadshow. Each member of the Committee was asked to test one of the DVD’s before they were released for sale to see if they could find any problems in their use. All agreed that the disc was fit for purpose and it was then put on general sale. It is important to emphasise that the Bell News disc has been deliberately engineered to be used solely as a disc and is designed not to be copied to the computer’s hard disc. Much time was spent on quality assurance and it was concluded that, since the images were inevitably obtained from bound volumes, it was not possible to avoid blackening of the images at the bound edge.

Meanwhile, over the last twelve months, John Eisel’s work of typing up Cyril Wratten’s extracts of ringing news from 18th Century newspapers continued. These are eventually to be published with illustrations and an index.

A piece about the Revd. W. C. Lukis notebook recently purchased for the library resulted in an article by the Library Steward being published in The Ringing World.

The Library is striving to collect copies of all the Society annual reports and at the next Council Meeting it is intended that Societies which have stopped sending them to the Library should be reminded.

The Newsletter for the Friends of the Central Council Library is published with the usual letter from the Chairman of the Library Committee, and an Article by the Library Steward entitled Collectors of Ringing Books giving background on collectors and donors of ringing books over the years.

Problems encountered and steps to overcome them

The Central Council Library computer had seen sterling service over many years and was showing its age. The Committee has agreed the purchase of an up-to-date machine with a broadband facility.

Plans for next year

A rolling programme of projects has been identified which will be continued and added to. Work on the 18th Century newspaper abstracts is, as mentioned above, being continued apace. Other projects for the next triennium are Trollope, obituary index and badge catalogue.

Committee meetings

Two Committee meetings have taken place since the 2007 CCCBR meeting as well as telephone and e-mail contact.

Have any Terms of Reference reviews taken place and any recommendations?

The Committee has operated the existing terms of reference since 2002 and is agreed at this stage that the existing terms of reference for the work of the Committee are appropriate to the work of the Library.

Any consideration of disbanding/merging the Committee?

The Committee believes that it is essential that a library has a group of appropriate persons to support, advise and work with the Library Steward in his/her management of the Library, as happens in most libraries. The Committee consists of 5 members and the Steward, who is ex officio and each member of the Committee carries out designated tasks.

Methods Committee

The Methods Committee held three meetings during the year, in Winchester on 7 January (RW p.272), in Kensal Green on 25 March (RW p.431) and in Redhill (Notts) on 14 October.

The definitive method collections on the Committee’s website (www.methods.org.uk) continue to be updated on a weekly basis. We are grateful to Julian Morgan for regularly running independent consistency checks.

A Supplement to Rung Surprise, Delight, Treble Bob and Alliance methods covering the methods rung during 2006 was available at the Council meeting and we will be preparing a new edition of Rung Surprise, Delight, Treble Bob and Alliance methods containing methods rung to the end of 2007.

A document explaining the aims, objectives and high-level structure of the XML specification, for exchanging method information between computer applications, was prepared and the availability of the revised schema and XML versions of the method collections was announced at the Council meeting.

Work has continued on the new edition of the Collection of Doubles Methods and we also hope that this will soon be complete.

At the invitation of the Ringing World Office we proposed changes to the Major methods in The Ringing World Diary 2008. By using a mixture of diagram formats we were able to include many more methods and suitable compositions. We are grateful to Martin Bright for permission to use his method printing software and for implementing some specific enhancements at our request. We also made some further improvements to the Minor, Royal and Maximus methods changed the previous year. At Tony Bishop’s suggestion the table of Minor touches now shows calling positions from the 2nd as well as the tenor. As the deadline next year is earlier we will be concentrating on improving the readability of the new diagrams and making some minor corrections.

As usual, we have answered many enquiries about methods, method names and method extension. Most enquiries are received by email and, to ensure continuity, a new address methods@cccbr.org.uk has been introduced.

Peal Compositions Committee

The Committee currently holds no face to face meetings, but is in regular electronic contact via email.

The main work of the Committee continues to be the production of regular pages of compositions for publication in The Ringing World. We are grateful that pages continue to be published at a healthy rate of approximately one per month. This year’s compositions have been as varied as ever and are invited via compositions@ringing.org. Last year we began to produce quarter peal pages in response to requests from several parties. Whilst these have been generally well received they have not yet attracted a wide response from contributors.

The Committee continues work on several new print collections. The Stedman Caters and Cinques collection and Handbell collection have progressed during the year and should be concluded this year. Updates of Popular Major and Spliced Surprise collections are in the pipeline. Work on a new Spliced Minor Collection has sadly stalled and we hope to attract new members with the skills and enthusiasm to progress this project.

The on-line collection currently contains over 9,000 peal compositions, and continues to be frequently consulted by a wide variety of users. It can be visited through the Committee’s web page at

https://cccbr.org.uk/pcc
or directly by pointing a browser at
http://www.ringing.org/peals

Peals Analysis Committee

We have recorded a total of 5088 peals rung in 2007 and published in The Ringing World, of which 4428 were on tower bells and 660 on handbells. The revised total for 2006 was 4998 - making a net increase of 90. The increase was largely due to an increase of 80 in the number of tower bell peals compared to 2006. Full details are included in the methods table that accompanies this report. The Oxford Diocesan Guild remains the leading society with 385 peals (34 less than in 2006), followed by the Yorkshire Association with 311. Twenty societies rang over 100 peals in 2007 compared with 16 in 2006. Please see the separate table for details of peals rung for individual societies.

The Committee met once, in February in Flitwick, to finalise records for 2007, to agree the format of the report and to discuss other issues including the future of the committee. In recent years the work of the committee has been facilitated by the timely and accurate data from The Ringing World and peals.co.uk and the work in producing the Analysis has been much reduced. Given the overlap between the functions of our committee, and that of the Records Committee we have initiated discussions with that committee regarding the merger of the two committees. These have been positively received by the Records Committee and we shall be bringing a motion to the Council meeting which, if accepted, will merge the two committees.

Peals not complying with the Decisions on Peal Ringing

We have identified no peals published in The Ringing World as peals that do not comply with Decision D (Parts A-D) relating to peal ringing. A letter from the Chairman of the Methods Committee appears elsewhere commenting on corrections necessary for peals of Doubles to conform to reporting rules. All have been included in the Analysis.

Methods and change on year

The accompanying table incorporates a summary of the more popular methods with an analysis of the year on year change in the numbers of peals rung on each number of bells. All individual methods where 15 or more peals were rung in 2007 are included. An “Other” category is included for completeness.

Towers

The following 78 towers had 10 or more peals in 2007: (76 in 2006)

First pealers and firsts as conductor

There were 154 first pealers in 2007 (166 in 2006) and 32 firsts as conductor (33 in 2006). We congratulate all those involved in these performances, particularly where several firsts were included in one peal. The numbers of first pealers continue a slow decline and are once again the lowest for several years.

Corrections to the 2006 Analysis

There are a number of alterations to the 2006 Analysis due to late publication as detailed below.

Corrections relate to tower bells except where specified.

The amended methods analysis for 2006 is shown in the 2007 methods table, which forms part of this report. Revised totals for 2006 are: tower bells 4348, handbells 650, total 4998.

Details of the adjustments are available from the Chairman.

The Felstead Project

The committee continues to receive 2-3 corrections per week for the Felstead database and there is no sign of this work on correcting and updating the data reducing. It follows that it will need to be a key task of the new merged Peals Records Committee (if this merger is approved by the Council) and we hope that this new committee should be given sole responsibility for the data and its upkeep.

Discussions are taking place within the wider ringing community (notably on the Ringing Chat mailing list) about rationalisation of the various peals databases in existence. While this may have a great deal of merit, it is essential that the required data and its provenance be considered before technical issues of database design if such a single database is to be a worthwhile historical record.

The Ringing World, April 25, 2008, pages 471 to 478

Records Committee

The highlight of 2007 is surely the magnificent achievement of ringing 72,000 Minor by Philip Earis, Andrew Tibbetts and David Pipe. Not only is this the longest piece of ringing ever rung, it is the first time the clock has been rung twice round, nearly 100 years after the first time the clock was rung round once (Loughborough, 1909). Congratulations to them all.

It is unfortunate that one long length attempt had to be cancelled this year due to the organiser not being aware of all the decisions for these peals. The information is available in the Ringing World Diary, and now available via a link from the website, www.cccbr.org.uk/rc. It should be noted that all peals that would be Record Lengths, whether intended or not, must comply with these Decisions.

A project that will be started this year is to collect the compositions used for all first peals in methods, both on Towerbells, and in hand. Eventually we hope this will be via the website, but until that becomes available, if anyone is willing to help by providing information, please send to records@cccbr.org.uk in the meantime.

Public Relations Committee

The Committee sets out to develop ringing publicity materials, to be proactive in seeking publicity for ringing and to act as a link between the Central Council and ringers as well as between the general public and ringing. This includes liaison with overseas ringing societies.

Ringing Roadshow 2008

The main focus of activity for public relations in ringing is the Ringing Roadshow which for the first time will be a two-day event on the 5th and 6th September 2008 at the Royal Showground, Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire. www.ringingroadshow2008.org.uk gives up-to-date information about the event. The Public Relations Committee organises this event on behalf of the Council and gratefully acknowledges the hard work of the Roadshow Team (John Anderson, Eleanor Linford, Derek Smart and Stephanie Warboys) as well as a range of consultants for catering, mini-rings, seminars and website development. The aim is for a Roadshow poster to be displayed in all towers with bells as well as on church and other public noticeboards to attract the general public. Advance tickets are on sale at a concessionary rate. Council members are requested to act as local agents to promote the Roadshow, ensure posters are on display and arrange groups to attend. In particular the focus for this Roadshow is to motivate attendance by non-Ringing World readers, who perhaps do not attend local society events but have an interest in ringing, and also by the general public. Plans are being developed to attract lapsed ringers to attend and for those who have attended previous Roadshows, this one will have several new attractions to try. The Committee has reviewed the possibility of organising a future Roadshow and recommends that if it is decided to do this a minimum of three years should elapse before a future event.

Development of publicity materials

The Committee has published a ringing publicity poster this year which is being distributed by CC Publications. 1000 A3 and 2000 A4 were printed and so far 150 A3 and 650 A4 have been sent out. No charge is made for the posters - just a charge for postage and packing. The poster was designed professionally - using the same house style as the publicity leaflet published in 2005. Contributions towards the cost have been made by The Ringing World and an anonymous donor and this sponsorship is gratefully acknowledged. The poster is also available at www.cccbr.org.uk as a pdf in both A3 and A4 sizes as well as a MS Word document which can easily be modified to include local contact details. Work has been done jointly with the ICT Committee to redesign the frontpage of www.cccbr.org.uk and it is planned to continue with this style throughout the website. A CD has been produced and is being distributed by CC Publications. The CD sets out to be a publicity tool and lecturing aid. There are two versions of a PowerPoint presentation (around 80 slides) covering the history of bells, bellfounding, bellringing (including carillons) and change ringing. It is aimed at audiences of (probably) non-ringers who are interested in learning more about bells. There are two versions of the presentation on the CD: one has an auto-run and pre-recorded soundtrack to run in “kiosk” mode so it can be left running continuously at tower open days etc and the other is for use with a set of optional presenter notes, so that presenters can add their own commentary. Ringing publicity leaflets continue to be distributed. 74,000 have been distributed, 15,000 of them during the last year, with 26,000 in stock. In addition the Committee has agreed to overseas printing of the leaflet (at local cost) and this has been taken up at Perth, Western Australia where 12,000 have been printed of which 1,200 have been used. Work is in progress to produce a leaflet for distribution in Cathedral bookshops with local information added and a review of what is available for each Cathedral with bells is currently taking place.

Overseas liaison has continued with a personal approach to each society for an update report. This report about overseas ringing will be published as a news item in The Ringing World.

Liaison with ringers and the general public has included a range of radio and TV pieces about ringing as well as an article in The Daily Telegraph and in Country Living magazine. Both of these latter two articles involved considerable input from the Committee, including arranging interviews for the reporter with the chairmen of the Education and Ringing Trends Committees. In the summer of 2007 the celebration of the centenary of Scouting was promoted to achieve publicity both for ringing and for Scouting. Ringing took place in different parts of the country with much local publicity and this was featured in an article in The Ringing World. A personal response is given by the Committee to requests for information about where to go to learn to ring. This is via a website link on both www.cccbr.org.uk and www.ringingworld.co.uk. The website statement about ringing has been updated during the year. About one hundred enquiries have been received this year, about 90% of which were from people wanting to learn to ring and feedback responses are usually received. Contacts around the country are given about where to go locally to find an active tower to learn about ringing. The contacts list has been updated during the year. Disappointingly there has been no evidence of greater activity at the time of specific publicity about ringing e.g. scouts centenary, media coverage etc. In addition the Committee maintains a database of society contacts which is supplied on request to the officers and committee chairmen. An email group of ringing PROs has been established and has proved useful for distribution of “soft” copy for use in local newsletters etc. A database of university societies and contacts is maintained on www.cccbr.org.uk. The Committee has established an email group for those interested in developing ringing around the Olympics. The work in establishing a group to promote this in London has resulted in regular meetings taking place and this has been reported in The Ringing World. Consideration about preparing a proposal and seeking funding for a major recruitment drive in connection with ringing for the 2012 Olympics was referred to The Ringing Foundation. The Foundation’s focus is still being established and consideration of the Foundation seeking funding for using the build-up to the Olympics as a ringing recruitment drive may be a possibility for the latter part of 2008. The Committee operates a “Complaints Helpline” with a widely publicised contact telephone number as well as information about dealing with complaints in The Ringing World diary and on www.cccbr.org.uk. This year nine complaints have been received and advice given. Contact is usually made directly by a member of the ringing band affected, but a close watch about ringing complaints in the press and other media is also maintained. Advice has been offered and guidance given from CCCBR sources. In most cases a calm, informative response from the local ringers has led to a satisfactory outcome, often involving the complainant visiting the tower during a ringing practice. A complaint about the sound of clock chimes at night was referred to the local PCC as being beyond the remit of the CCCBR.

A review of the work of the Committee has been carried out during the triennium with the outcome that there are too many detailed projects being undertaken for the manpower available. Additional members have therefore been requested to fulfil the remit. Some members of the Committee are not standing for re-election and there are therefore several vacancies to be filled. There is a heavy workload at grassroots level needed to carry out this Committee’s work. The Committee chairman acts as PR officer for the Council. Committee skills needed vary from PR and developing PR good practice amongst ringers with an understanding of the subtle sensitivities needed for this, to advising a wide range of ringers about local ringing publicity, to website content, to storing and posting leaflets, to monitoring media coverage, to responding to “learn to ring” enquiries, to university societies liaison, to designing and developing publicity materials, to advising on ringing complaints, to liaising with overseas societies, to coordinating a database of society contacts. The Roadshow has now developed to a very large event which the Committee oversees on behalf of the Council. Liaison with other Committees and The Ringing Foundation increasingly needs further time allocation.

Peter Robson has resigned from the Committee during the year because of work commitments and his major contribution in creating a university societies’ database as well as leading on the Scouting centenary is acknowledged.

Publications Committee

Three new publications were produced during the year. They were Giants of the Exercise Vol 2, An Unassuming Genius - the Life and Times of A J Pitman and Rung Surprise Supplement (to end 2006). The first two sold well. It is very pleasing to note the success of the A J Pitman biography as we had not produced a book of this type before.

Seven titles were reprinted: Ringing Circles, Beginners Plain Bob, Beginners Grandsire, A Schedule of Regular Maintenance, The Learning Curve Vol 1, Teaching from Rounds to Bob Doubles, and the Bell Handling DVD. The first four of these continued to sell particularly well.

Bulk discounts were offered in March as usual and advertisements were again placed in a number of Society reports. During the year we investigated the possibility of advertising and selling through Amazon. Unfortunately we had to conclude that we cannot do so at present since we are unable to meet at least one of the company’s conditions. The Public Relations Committee asked us to manage sales and distribution of the new publicity posters on their behalf and we were happy to oblige. We are very grateful to Andrew Aspland for his help with this work. We plan to run a stall offering our full range of publications at the Ringing Roadshow in September 2008.

Income from sales rose to £13,100 from £11,400 and the value of stock fell to £9,600 from £11,200. The excess of income over expenditure fell again to just £210 but the total cash available rose to £18,000 from £14,400. About £1,000 worth of slow selling stock was written off. Overall the fund is in a healthy state and has recovered well from the somewhat unusual situation in 2006 when we published no major new books but reprinted a large number of existing titles.

Stocklist at December 31st 2007

Committee for Redundant Bells

The Committee has had a full year. As well as continuing projects, a steady and varied stream of enquiries has included a private “retreat house” seeking bells to make up a ring of bells for residential ringing courses, a dyslexic handicraft project, ringers concerned about the future of their bells when their church was sold on to another denomination, a request for tubular bells and several enquiries regarding single bells.

We have given substantial support with the Rescue Fund and with the help of generous loan making individuals, to save the old bells from All Saints, Northampton - a complete octave cast in 1782 and currently awaiting a new home. After careful assessment of St Nicholas’s bells, Cork, involving much time, advice and emails, it became clear this ring was of a quality not worth saving. The same could not be said of the Gillett & Johnston ten at St John’s, Hanley, where consultations, in conjunction with the Keltek Trust, are continuing over this complicated case.

The desirability of improving the Rescue Fund’s procedures has become evident over the past year from our experience of providing funding in the form of interest-free loans. This year has also illustrated how satisfactorily the Keltek Trust and the Rescue Fund can work together from their different and complementary standpoints. We congratulate the Trust on a very successful year and thank David Kelly for his help as consultant to this Committee.

The rocketing price of bell metal, largely driven by the Far East’s demand for copper and other metals, has been of particular concern to us this year. The most obvious result is increasing vulnerability to theft from churches, especially those not in active use. The value of the bells they contain is now more significant and it could be argued this should be reflected in the price a purchaser should pay for a redundant church. If the bells need to be “taken into care” by the Rescue Fund or by the Keltek Trust the sum to be raised is much greater. We have raised our concerns with the Church Commissioners, who have acknowledged a compelling case for considering early removal of bells to safe storage when the future of a church is unknown. We have also written to all diocesan furnishings officers to emphasise that bells are now increasingly valuable and vulnerable.

For the record, 1,752 churches have now been declared redundant under the Pastoral Measure, including 29 in 2007 compared with 21 in 2006, the Commissioners’ current prediction remaining between 20 and 30 each year. Major pastoral reviews in several dioceses will almost certainly result in an increase in redundancies. This process will take some time, but the Council for the Care of Churches has already seen increasing referrals from Chichester and Manchester dioceses.

The project of listing bell details of all redundant churches makes progress, but is inevitably time consuming. Our aim is a comprehensive record of the results of all redundancies so that when information is needed it can be extracted quickly and easily. It is pleasing that the proto-NBR within Dove, a project which originated within this Committee, is continuing to make progress. It has now reached some coverage for all but two rings of 3 and upwards, and complete coverage of all bells within more than 17% of all rings.

As always, we are grateful to the Council for the Care of Churches, the Advisory Board for Redundant Churches and the Church Commissioners for their co operation in our work. In the case of the Advisory Board, this is for the last time because it is merging with the Council for the Care of Churches in June this year. This is the result of new legislation, which is also amalgamating diocesan pastoral and redundant churches uses committees.

Alternative uses
50% of redundant churches find an alternative use; 25% go to the Churches Conservation Trust; 25% are demolished

Finally, we record our sadness at the death of John Scott, long time member of the Committee, Chairman of the Rescue Fund, Past President of the Council and sometime member of the Council for the Care of Churches’ Bells Committee. We remember him as a wise counsellor and kind friend.

Ringing Centres Committee

The Committee met twice during the year and resolved to make greater effort to encourage new ringing centres and to support existing ones. The seventh competition for the Founders Prize for the ringing centre which made the greatest contribution to the teaching of ringing was organised as was the third Founders Prize for the Encouragement of Young People.

The biggest event of the year was an all day conference entitled “Moving Forward” which took place at the delightful village of Berkswell, W. Midlands on 31st March. The Conference was eagerly awaited by many ringing centres as it gave people an opportunity to share ideas, and to hear of interesting projects which they may be able to use at their own ringing centres. Over 40 attendees heard speakers talking about topics of current interest to ringing centres including the Framework for Ringing Trainers, The Ringing Foundation and learn2ring. They also heard about successful innovative projects on working with young people, interesting technological ideas and recruitment and awareness raising. Thanks to Robert Cater for making the arrangements for us.

The interest in becoming a ringing centre remains high but no new ringing centres came into being during the year. The Committee continues to monitor the CC Recognised ringing centres to ascertain their level of activity. Two ringing centres have been removed from the list because they are no longer active. At the time of writing the number of CC Recognised ringing centres is 37.

During 2007 the Committee reviewed the Council’s criteria for recognition of ringing centres and published revised criteria at the end of the year. The aim is to move away from an emphasis on equipment and facilities to an emphasis on the training activities that each centre actually undertakes, and spreading best teaching practice. There are many examples of best teaching practice which are not Central Council Recognised ringing centres, and we want to encourage them to seek recognition. In the longer term we wish to substantially increase the number of ringing centres.

The revised guidelines and application form have been published on the Council website and during the year Roger Booth has been working with others to update the Committee webpages. There is now a clickable map of ringing centres, and the Directory entries will be updated with details of each centre’s training activities, as and when they return their report forms for 2007. Lists of facilities have been deleted, all of which should make it more interesting and relevant for potential recruits and trainees. The Committee has also requested that the map be given a more prominent position on the Council website, away from the learn2ring page.

Coupled with the publication of the new guidelines, the Committee decided to hold a series of four regional seminars entitled “Setting up a Ringing Centre”. Following a trial run at the Yorkshire Association AGM earlier in the year, the Northern Region Seminar was held at the Barrow upon Humber Ringing Centre in October. Three more are planned for the SE, the SW and the Midlands in 2008. The presentations demonstrate the processes that need to be gone through in the early stages and stimulated discussion on a number of topics. In 2008 the Committee will follow on from the seminars by becoming more proactive with groups of ringers, branches and societies. The 2008 Roadshow will also be used to promote the establishment of more ringing centres, with the Charmborough Ring being used as a ringing centre in the personal development Zone.

The Founders Prize for the ringing centre which has made the greatest contribution to the teaching of ringing in 2007 was organised by Norman Mattingley and was awarded to the Troyte Ringing Centre at Huntsham and Bampton in Devon which has done a remarkable amount of work and which goes from strength to strength, raising a considerable amount of money in the process. A report of their activities has appeared in The Ringing World.

The competition for Founders Prize for the Encouragement of Young People was organised by Gail Cater and was won by Bishop Ramsey School in Middlesex where a considerable number of young people have been taught to ring for Sunday Service as well as enjoying a large number of ringing outings. A comprehensive report of their activities has appeared in The Ringing World.

The Ringing World, April 25, 2008, page 475

Ringing Trends Committee

The Committee met on two occasions during 2007, the first meeting was in February and the second meeting at the end of October. Two members of the Committee decided to stand down early in the year followed by a third member at the Council meeting in May. Subsequently four new members were co-opted to the Committee.

Following on from the pilot scheme carried out in 2006, Phase 1 of the programme was progressed and contacts were made with 8 Societies prior to sending out questionnaires. Societies were asked to distribute questionnaires and then to input the information from the questionnaires into a spreadsheet. The response to this was varied but we are very grateful to all of the towers that have responded and all of the Societies concerned for helping with this project. We are also very grateful to a member of the Surrey Association who provided a valuable contribution by producing a more professional and user friendly questionnaire.

It was originally planned that Phase 2 of the project would start in mid 2007 with Phase 3 following later in the year but as a consequence of delays in Phase 1 it was decided at the Committee meeting held in October 2007 to further delay Phase 2 pending a decision on the way forward. The original intention had been to carry out a “census” but this was proving difficult as responses from Societies varied from 20% to 80%. It became clear that we would not achieve a “head count” of ringers and the patchy responses have forced us to review our expectations for the survey and approach to later phases. Since then it has been decided that we will proceed with Phase 2 on the same basis as Phase 1 and with the results from Phase 2 we will be able to make a properly informed decision on the way ahead.

Phase 1 responses have been received to date from Societies covering Surrey, Greater London (part), Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire (part), Cornwall, Tyne and Wear, Northumbria, Durham, Ireland, Northamptonshire and Rutland. These results together with the pilot scheme results from parts of Surrey and Hampshire have been transported into a database from the spreadsheets and the resulting datasets used to prepare the various charts. Data is available from Kent but this is not yet included in our figures, we are also awaiting information from the main area of Cambridgeshire, West Midlands and Staffordshire.

The first chart at Fig 1 shows the age range of ringers. General indications are that the age ranges from the responding areas mirror the results of the pilot scheme and that the majority of ringers are over 50. Compare this top heavy picture with the general UK population (Fig 2) and it is very clear that the ringing population does not match the general population and that the population under the age of 39 is under represented in ringing along with females overall. It is also worth noting that the ringing population under the age of 20 will only start from the age of 8 or so.

Fig 1

Fig 2

Similarly the responses so far indicate that the majority of ringers are retired as shown in Fig 3:

Fig 3

Information was also sought regarding the number of learners taught to ring in the last 3 years and Fig. 4 indicates that most new learners are over the age of 40:

Fig 4

The retention figures for learners are shown in Fig 5:

Fig 5

This data is based on the number of ringers taught by responding towers in the past three years. The height of the bar represents total numbers taught with the maroon area representing lost learners and the blue those still ringing.

The results of the 2005 Ringing Roadshow questionnaire were published in The Ringing World in September 2007 and again the same picture of the current state of the ringing exercise emerged. It has been agreed that a leaflet detailing the findings from Phase 1 of the main survey will be available at the 2008 Roadshow.

Other activities carried out by the Committee during the year included a review of universities and a list of the current university societies in the United Kingdom has been compiled. Comparing this list to the locations of higher education institutions in the United Kingdom, 61% of these have access to a university ringing society. When considering student numbers (using data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency) 67% of the student population has access to a student ringing society. To investigate the state of health of university ringing a questionnaire will be distributed to student ringing societies. This will cover the support received from non-students, the number of new members and the teaching of non-ringers amongst other factors.

Trends in other organisations are also being examined and it is becoming clear that other similar and voluntary organisations face difficulty in recruiting younger members of the population.

Additional data will be presented at the Council meeting.

Report of the Stewards of the Carter Ringing Machine Collection

During the year, the Carter Ringing Machine has been demonstrated at the John Taylor Bellfoundry Museum on two occasions - Saturday April 28th and Saturday October 13th. Several days before each demonstration there has been a maintenance session. No outside requests have been received for demonstrations elsewhere in the country. It has been discussed that ringing tours taking place in the Leicestershire area may wish to attend a special demonstration, and these could be organised provided that adequate prior notice is made, and subject to the availability of the Stewards.

BARRY WARD

Report of the Steward of the Rolls of Honour

During the past year the Roll for the First World War has been copied on to the Council’s website and should be accessible in time for the Council meeting. Not only will there be a facsimile copy of the volume itself, there will be links to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website and to other material relating to names listed.

The work to provide these links has been done by Alan Regin, who has put in a massive amount of time and effort to produce the additional information. My thanks to Alan, and also to Peter Trotman for his work on the website itself.

Alan’s work has also brought to light a further 70 ringers who died in action during the First World War. A supplement to the volume will be professionally produced and the new names will, of course, appear on the website.

Alan and Peter will shortly be starting work on the Roll for the Second World War.

Having now retired as a Representative Member of Council, I will be relinquishing the post of Steward of the Rolls at the start of the coming Council meeting.

ANDREW STUBBS

The Ringing World, April 25, 2008, pages 479 to 485

Report of the Stewards of the Dove Database

This is the first opportunity that the Stewards have had to report to Council. We are pleased that Ron Johnston, who co-edited Edition 9, agreed to be co-opted and so continues to share with us his experience, his wisdom, and his geographical insight.

The Dove webpages that we keep up-to-date on the Internet are clearly very popular: typically there are 275 visits per day, sometimes peaking at nearly 400, by about 150 different visitors. On average they will view just over nine Dove webpages per visit (not necessarily different ones). Very occasionally coding problems, or data errors are identified. Sid Baldwin (John’s son), to whom the Exercise continues to owe a great debt in respect of the time and professional expertise he puts in to the project at absolutely no cost to the Council, invariably quickly rectifies the coding ones associated with the presentation of the data on those webpages. The underlying data issues are usually either of our own making, hangovers from the days of the great man, Ron Dove himself, or are attributable to our contributors to the proto NBR (whose submissions are of great interest and are much valued). That errors will exist is not surprising when one considers that we have a corpus of about one million individual pieces of data; that they are uncovered is a result of sustained scrutiny by a large group of highly motivated - and often articulate - users who usually lose no time in advising us of the presence of something incorrect, or apparently so. Revised versions of eight files for the webpages are routinely uploaded to the Internet nearly every day of the year, usually late in the evening, and there are at least another 12 which are uploaded as and when necessary. We also pride ourselves on having the facility comprehensively written up (from the Internet user’s aspect), including extensive help and guidance pages, and a set of FAQs (frequently asked questions) to facilitate answering the more common enquiries received within e-mails; we dealt with more than 1000 Dove e-mails altogether during 2007. Also we keep a full audit trail of our work so that we can usually answer a question of the sort “why was that piece of data changed, what was its previous value, from whom did the new information come, and when did the change occur?”. Our records indicate that 1815 changes were made to the entries in Dove during the year (in addition to minor changes such as adding indication of the presence of a toilet, or a slight refinement to a grid reference or its latitude / longitude equivalent). Tim Jackson’s contribution of double checking and of quality control for all these changes is invaluable. We cannot begin to estimate the number of man-hours this all involves except to say that it is considerable.

New features added to the webpages during 2007 have included a Favourites capability, indication of likely affiliation to societies for rings of 4 and upwards, and the inclusion of an additional field of data so that searches are more likely to produce an expected result. Thus, searching on London will now yield a response showing all towers within five miles of St Paul’s irrespective of whether the tower title actually includes the word London or not, so that Westminster and Pimlico, for example, are included. It hardly need be said that this sort of capability is beyond the scope of a printed book.

The progress made on the proto-NBR within Dove was reported in a Ringing World article in August 2007 (p851), and it was our regret that at the turn of the year we were still short of detailed data for about 85 Suffolk towers, details which, we have been assured, will be forthcoming. 2706 submissions were made to the proto-NBR during the course of the year; each was processed and responded to and, although part of that processing is automated, as every response is handled manually that itself is no small task.

The biggest problem facing us is deciding upon and implementing a methodology for the long-term future. The current data are all held within a DOS-based piece of software and eventually Microsoft will undoubtedly achieve its goal of rendering such software unusable even though the particular product we currently use (DataEase) continues to prove not only to be highly versatile but especially appropriate to our need. We envisage a move to an SQL (or equivalent) environment, but it will probably be a long process before an actual switchover takes place and one which we would plan as being unnoticeable at the time by those who regularly use the facility. The long-term benefits will be the maintainability of the database into the future and greater scope for user searches especially of the proto-NBR data.

Rescue Fund for Redundant Bells

The full name of the charity is:- CENTRAL COUNCIL OF CHURCH BELL RINGERS RESCUE FUND FOR REDUNDANT BELLS

The charity is not incorporated. The constitution derives from rules adopted on the 29th May 1979 and registered with the Charity Commission on the 22nd October 1979. The Charity’s registration number is 278816.

The principal address of the Charity is that of the secretary namely:- 8 LEBANON GARDENS, LONDON SW18 1RG.

The principal object of the Fund is to advance the Christian religion by the rescue of redundant bells for the purpose of their being rehoused elsewhere for ringing in churches.

The Managing Trustees of the Fund are the members of the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers Committee for Redundant Bells namely:-

The Revd Dr J C Baldwin
A R Aspland
R J Cooles
A J Frost
J Newman
The Revd Preb J G M Scott (died July 2007)
Mrs P M Wilkinson
The Chairman of the Fund is: The Revd Preb J G M Scott (until July 2007)
The Honorary Secretary is: R J Cooles
The Honorary Treasurer is: The Revd Dr J C Baldwin.

The Custodian Trustees of the Fund are the President, the Honorary Secretary and Honorary Treasurer of the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers and the Chairman of the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers Bell Restoration Committee namely:

D E Sibson
I H Oram
D Harbottle
Mrs K Flavell

The Managing Trustees’ report of the Fund’s activities for the year ended 31st December 2007 is as follows:-

The loans provided by the Fund to assist the Church Council of St.Mary’s Moseley in the purchase of the chime removed from the church at Cradley Heath Birmingham (to provide a new ring of bells at St Mary’s) and to the PCC of St Alban Wickersley to acquire four bells redundant from Highfield Liverpool (to provide a new ring of bells at St. Alban) remain outstanding and the projects are still pending.

The Managing Trustees are concerned that in both cases the arrival of a new Incumbent has stalled progress rather than encourage it and discussions are continuing with the Keltek Trust to consider alternative projects for the bells.

The Fund has continued to be involved in negotiations concerning the future of the eight bells redundant from All Saints Northampton, having been replaced by a new ring of ten. At the end of 2006 the Fund was able to safeguard the bells by way of providing a loan to Northampton for a sum representing their discounted value, thanks to the prompt support of those ringers who have undertaken to provide loans for the Fund.

At the time the only project for the bells was installation at Kalgoorlie but it became clear during the course of 2007 that the project was not viable. The Managing Trustees are actively looking for an alternative so as to ensure that the bells are not left in storage for longer than necessary.

There has been a partial repayment of ringers loans and it is intended to have full repayment this year.

It is very encouraging for the members of the Committee for Redundant Bells who are the Managing Trustees of the Rescue Fund that it has been possible for the Rescue Fund to work closely with the Keltek Trust in these three projects as well as others in which this Fund may have an involvement - to ensure that bells becoming redundant are re-used elsewhere.

Members will recall that the Committee wishes to support the re-use of redundant bells generally; not just bells from redundant churches.

It is to be hoped that more projects can be supported during the coming year.

As always new promises of loans to be taken up if required are always welcome.

The Accounts for 2007 are set out separately.

R. J. COOLES
Hon Secretary

Rescue Fund for Redundant Bells

Registered Charity No 278816

Note 1:
Three loans to parishes are currently outstanding, viz £10,000, £4,020, £4,000.

Note 2:
Final repayments of ringers’ loans will be made when loans to parishes are repaid.

J C Baldwin
19 February 2008

The Ringing World, April 25, 2008, pages 486 to 487