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, exacerbated by Brexit and COVID-19, but also the enormous highs that come with engaging the whole community in innovative ways.

However, this podcast is much more than the story of a successful project, as the interview takes a surprising literary turn. But then again, we always knew that bell ringing is poetry in motion ...


Top 5 takeaways

• Embarking on a bell project? Make sure you have a really good core team with skills in communications, technical issues and finance. Don’t forget to also work closely with the church.
• Struggling to find the big donations? You may have to diversify your funding to reach your target.
• There are so many tales to tell about every tower – why not turn your stories into a drama or musical performance for a fun, fundraising evening!
• Go out into schools and engage with children and young people – years seven and eight are a great age to start with.
• So much to see and do, and a national poetry festival! Put Ledbury on the list of places to visit (and ring in) when everything opens up again https://www.visitherefordshire.co.uk/see-do/city-towns/ledbury

Sponsor: This podcast is sponsored by the Association of Ringing Teachers (ART).  To find out more about learning to ring, learning to teach or other resources to support your ringing go to bellringing.org

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 (supplied by Simon Edwards).

For bellringing training and support for teachers and ringers see: bellringing.org