Fun with Bells

What do you get when you cross The Churches Conservation Trust with bell ringers?  Show host Cathy Booth finds out, in the first of two special episodes. In this month’s show, Cathy meets Neil Skelton, David Bagley and Neil Dodge to discover what exciting projects can develop when ringers get involved in supporting historic places of worship. From remote rural churches where ringers breathe new li...

This episode sees host Cathy Booth explore the question of what ringers wear. You may or may not be surprised to hear that the answer is not bell-bottom jeans. Guests Deb, Alex, Elizabeth and Michaela touch on history, safety and decorum as they share experiences, research and anecdotes on what to wear, or more importantly what not to wear! At times this could be mistaken for an episode of ‘carry...

This month instead of a podcast episode, we are launching a social media competition. The podcast will be back in the Autumn. For more details about the competition, go to funwithbells.com/competition . Podcast team : Anne Tansley Thomas Emily Roderick John Gwynne Emily Watts Cathy Booth Ringing by : The Cambridge Youths (supplied by David Richards) and for later episodes, The Liliputters Guild (s...

Hot on the heels of the launch of the new Learning the Ropes Advanced Call Change Scheme, show host Cathy Booth chats with four call change aficionados. Clare, Dee, John and Ian are all delighted to see the new scheme in place and look forward to the huge benefits it will bring. With the focus on good listening and bell control, the scheme aims to recognise the skills of call change ringers across...

What should you do if the number of ringers is falling, your towers are in dire straits, and you need emergency measures to give ringing any kind of future in your area?  This was the problem faced in the Lizard in Cornwall prior to COVID lockdown, and in this episode, podcast host Cathy Booth talks to the team who, against all the odds, have turned the situation around.  The first step, is seems,...

In this month’s fascinating episode, Simon Aves takes host Cathy Booth on an entertaining romp through Scotland’s bell ringing history. You may be surprised to learn it is very different to England’s. Who knew the Scots were so fond of peace and quiet? Cathy learns that in the past the best way to annoy people in Dundee was to travel up there and ring all their bells. And beware of the constable w...

In this inspiring show, podcast host Cathy Booth meets Tim Sunter and hears about his amazing seven-year ringing journey from learner to teacher and Association of Ringing Teachers committee member. Who could have imagined that a thought-proving tweet in the middle of a field could have such a domino effect, propelling Tim on a path to both individual fulfilment and a new way to reach out to his l...

In this special Anniversary episode, podcast host Cathy Booth has two special guests discussing both the beginnings and the future of ART. No, Cathy’s not exploring painting or sculpting, but a landmark development in the teaching of bell ringing. ART stands for the Association of Ringing Teachers, currently marking it’s tenth year. Founder member Pip Penney and current Chair, Lesley Belcher, cele...

This month, show host, Cathy Booth meets with three frank and formidable female ringers to understand the reasons why, although women make up about half of all ringers, they are greatly underrepresented in positions of responsibility and peal ringing, and conducting. Elva Ainsworth, Julia Cater and Tessa Simpson - who have all participated in ‘groundbreaking, record breaking and point breaking’ ri...

Fingers on buzzers, or perhaps that should be “look to”, as host Cathy Booth resumes the role of quizmaster in this latest Fun with Bells podcast quiz. This time the focus is on the bells themselves, so tune in, listen up and get set for a different sort of hearing test.  Everyone can play along, whatever their level, with straightforward questions for those new to ringing, alongside more obscure...

Show host, and adulty adult, Cathy Booth meets three more young ringers in this month’s episode, this time all founder members of the Young Change Ringers Association. Josephine, Emily and Matt share the aims behind the new association, discuss the support that enables young ringers to become tower captains of the future and reveal the power of pizza. There can be no better advert for YCRA members...

What’s got 40 members, stretches across a large part of the country and is a brilliant way to have fun, improve your ringing and make friends? Well, if you are a young bell ringer, the answer must surely be the Liliputters. Not, as host Cathy Booth discovers, a group from the fictional kingdom of tiny people, but an exciting national Guild for young ringers. In this upbeat podcast, three Lilliputt...

Avoid all ladders, black cats and don’t whatever you do break a mirror in your rush to listen to this month’s Fun with Bells podcast on bells and superstition. From birth, through to death and beyond, bells have had played a fascinating role in the customs around our key rites of passage. Amongst the many special powers of bells include making the devil flee, warding off plague and pestilence, and...

Just as change ringing on handbells requires each ringer to have two bells, this perfectly formed podcast on the subject has two guests. Host Cathy Booth chats with Tina and Simon, authors of the latest must-have handbell manual. As always, this podcast asks all the right questions. What is best, tower or hand bells? Will online ringing last post lock-down? Is bell ringing music? And should you st...

You may not have given ringing simulators a second thought before, but this episode will definitely get you scrambling up your belfry, with some sensors in hand. Steve Farmer, tells host Cathy Booth the fascinating story of Simbell. Wanting an easy way to get get extra rope time without annoying the church neighbours with his noisy novice ringing, Steve took the unusual step of inventing his own r...

Take a few deep breaths, relax, and tune into this month’s episode where host Cathy Booth meets ringer, counsellor, hypnotherapist and trauma care practitioner, Nicky Carling to talk about building up confidence for returning to the tower. Yes, it’s probably time you changed out of your pyjamas, dragged yourself momentarily away from Ringing Room and ventured out to the exciting world of real-life...

Cathy Booth’s special guest this month is ringer and project manager par excellence Tim Keyes who gives us the inside scoop of Ledbury’s rather exciting bell restoration and augmentation project. Tim very helpfully talks through all the different stages of the project, step by step, with plenty of top tips for those of you planning your own bell project. Cathy hears about the challenges faced, exa...

In this fast-paced episode, podcast host Cathy Booth meets 20-year-old ringer, Oliver Lee, and discovers his passion for ringing and ringing history. Oliver is clearly fascinated by all aspects of ringing and takes Cathy on whistle-stop tour of a huge range of ringing-related subjects, ranging from Ellacombe chimes, through belfry reform and on to John Warner and Sons bell founders. Oliver also ta...

In this month’s show, podcast host Cathy Booth transforms into the next Anne Robinson as she joins the ringers of St John’s in New Alresford for their fortnightly Zoom quiz. Fingers on buzzers as the ringers introduce each other and ask their two allotted quiz questions. There’s one point for each correct answer, so why not play along at home and see if you can beat their top score. Test out both...

One of the very best things to have happened over the past year is the development of the online ringing platform, Ringing Room. In this special Valentine’s podcast, host Cathy Booth interviews Leland and Bryn, the driving force behind this amazing achievement and now one of ringing’s most famous couples. Of course, for Ringing Room to have happened, Leland and Bryn had to have met. Cathy wastes n...

Love is very definitely in the air at the Fun with Bells Podcast this Valentine’s Day, as host Cathy Booth explores ringing’s tender side. First, we hear the heart-warming story of Jo and Graham, whose romance continues to deepen from Ringing Remembers, through Ringing Room, and to a very memorable lockdown proposal. Be warned, if you get invited to an unexpected Saturday practice, there might wel...

For Don McLean over in Ireland, one of the joys of bell ringing is teaching others and delighting in their achievements. In this charming episode, Cathy Booth, podcast host, shines a light on Don’s motivation and his own considerable achievements, including masterminding the training of 17 new recruits at St Mary’s Kilmood on ‘The Peace Bells’. Don is passionate about teaching and, as Cathy discov...

What do ringers do when they are not ringing? Well, judging by this latest episode they write, film, podcast and blog about it! Podcast host Cathy Booth chats to no fewer than six leading lights in the ringing community who are all doing their bit to share and support the hobby they are all so passionate about. From Mancroft to Minecraft and from the Ringing World to the virtual world, this bumper...

Home of the first true peal, St Peter Mancroft in Norwich is now home to the brilliant Mancroft Ringing Discovery Centre. Podcast host Cathy Booth catches up with Simon Rudd and Nikki Thomas to find out what’s been happening. Well, there’s been so much going on it’s hard to know where to start! Training courses at all levels, lunchtime pay as you go sessions, band visits, junior ringing and ringin...

For this episode, we have provided a Transcript with photos Ringing can be spooky at the best of times – you may get shivers down your spine with a nicely struck touch of Stedman, or perhaps an eerie sensation of being watched when you’re on the treble. However, for Halloween, Fun with Bells turns up the terror with this chilling collection of ghostly goings-on. Yes, this episode is even scarier t...