Information for Learners

• During the month of November, efforts be made to inform any and all likely recruits that orientation sessions will be held during December, and learner sessions will begin on Wednesday nights the following January.
  
  
• Orientation classes will consist of two or three 60-90 minute sessions covering safety, bell mechanics and maintenance, and some introductory change ringing concepts.
  
  
• Orientation classes could also be attended by people not wishing to learn, but just desiring a more detailed appreciation of the equipment, conventions and practice of change ringing.
  
  
• Orientation classes are mandatory for anyone wishing to progress to the learners sessions, and we will try to schedule them to suit the majority of participants. Along with the above-mentioned fundamentals, it is hoped that the orientation classes will give prospective ringers a realistic sense of the time and effort involved for both ringer and instructor alike, and that anyone unwilling to commit the requisite amount of time would at this point not continue.
  
  
• Learners’ sessions will be scheduled from early January to Easter. A tower day trip outing will be scheduled towards the end of this time, probably to Washington DC, to give the new recruits some experience on heavier and longer drafted bells. After Easter, or earlier if suitable, learners will move to the normal Tuesday night practice with the more experienced ringers.
  
  
• Learners wishing to start bell handling at other times during the year will need to make specific arrangements with an authorized instructor, and will probably be subject to a less regular schedule. Because it would be an unfair waste of other ringers' time, new learners will not be permitted to join the regular practice until they can at least ring steady and reliable rounds, as determined by the incumbent Ringing Master.

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