Ringing cliques

When I started bellringing in the 1970s it was common to be welcomed into a new tower as a visitor. Sadly, I find, this is less often the case.

On Saturday I attended a meeting of a guild branch (not my own branch) not too far away because I had not rung at the tower where they were meeting. The event started late and I actually wondered if anybody would turn up.

There was general chatter about the small size of the branch, illness, apologies for absence and so on. It was a 6 bell tower and there were, I think, about nine people present although 2 more arrived 50 minutes later as I was leaving.

It is always clear who the characters are: some ringers can be 'high-profile'. If they know each other then they relax into pre-established roles and a subconsciously agreed pecking order. New faces are not quickly incorporated into their 'private' clique.

Those present were all 'old' people in the range 55 - 70 (I'm guessing) although I suspect a couple were older than that. It struck me that it was not a readily welcoming group of people. They recognised that I could ring well (because I can) so that wasn't an issue. I did chat to one person I had rung with quite a long time ago whose name I saw in the 'signing in' book, but who I did not recognise by sight.

However, it soon dawned on me that the reason that this group (and the ringing fraternity in general) is struggling to attract new members is that they are all set in their ways despite what they may think. I once had the same experience when I briefly took up croquet.

They will all continue to ring until they are too old to do so and then wonder why no young ringers have come in to fill up the ranks. So sad.