Questions About The Organising Of Ringing Outings

     In this section we benefit from Aunt Sally's vast experience of organising ringing tours and visiting other towers. She says that she once had the experience of visiting a tower where the ringing room was like a zoo full of wild animals. She says that she's never again going back to Blackpool.

Now that the holiday season is upon us here is some advice about how to deal with the urges to ring in unknown places. I refer to the sort of questions that people often ask me:

Q. "How do I find out where the nearest tower is?"
A. If you have a Ringers' Diary you can find the name of the secretary of the association that covers your destination and contact them with a request for a Report. There's usually a charge but it will contain lots of useful information about ringing in the area. In particular, if you'd like to ring on 8 bells don't bother going to Little Pointon-cum-Inear where there are only 6 bells.

Q. "Is there something on the internet that will tell me where I can ring?"
A. There's the on-line Dove at http://dove.cccbr.org.uk/home.php. Please note that the final dot is a full stop and not a dot. From here you can find out lots of details that should help you to contact the tower. Many associations have web pages and these can be found by using search engines or by visiting http://www.ringing.info/.

Q. "What is the point of going ringing on holiday when it is ringing that I'm trying to get away from?"
A. The ringing that you'll find in other parts of the country will probably be unlike anything that even your own tower produces. You might end up in a tower where the ringers all have missing body parts or where the call changes are completely bizarre. You may find that for some reason you keep getting lost in Plain Hunt only to find that they ring it in whole pulls. What is certain is that you'll leave the practice thanking the locals for the experience and then spend the rest of the evening wondering what has happened to you and where you can get help.

Aunt Sally.