The year saw the now normal activities at the centre during most months. These have included training days by the Derby and Yorkshire associations and also the Whiting Society, monthly plain method mornings and Stedman evenings. The Whiting Society were so impressed with the facility that three further dates have been booked for 2007. Over the year there has been a series of conducting courses held on Sunday afternoons, these sessions are lead by John Heaton and have included some solely practice sessions with some additional ones held at the Cathedral. The website has been visited over the year by an ever increasing number of visitors and again we have as a result held special sessions for beginners from further a field. Keep your eye on the site for news of future events and other developments at the centre.
As well as the now normal activities 2006 saw two significant but very different initiatives commence. The first of these was the installation of two dumb bells. During the early part of the year Mike Banks had received a delivery of materials to his home shipped from Peter Browne Structures. These materials together with an assortment of other components gathered from the bell hangers formed the dumb bells and their wheels, frame and fittings. During those early months Mike, often assisted by Robin Lyon spent many hours assembling and disassembling until he was happy with the results. In mid March Mike invited me to visit his garage to see the results of his efforts before arranging for shipment to Eckington. I was quite surprised that Jill was actually speaking to me, as she had become a dumb bell widow for much of the spring. April 7 th saw the arrival of a truck bearing all the components at Eckington. A team ably lead by Peter Browne and including Ian Hardwick, who sadly died two months later, very quickly and efficiently carried the heavy components up the 59 steps to the belfry. Over the next month and a half Mike and Robyn often assisted by others spent many hours assembling the bells in the belfry and arranging pulleys and chutes etc. to ensure the ropes dropped into the appropriate positions within the ringing circle. During early July John Thorpe and I fitted the sensors and set up the Abel options files to give the best possible set up for using these bells. So we now have, using the simulator, options to ring any number of bells up to ten and have two choices of bells for six and eight on numbers up to eight. This has already proved very useful when running training events allowing extra bells to be included for handling training without having to climb to the belfry to tie the clappers and also on at least one occasion substituting a dumb bell for an actual bell during the temporary failure of a sensor or clapper tie. The bells have been rung as a ten on a number of occasions the most significant of which was a nicely struck Quarter of Grandsire Caters on 24 th November which I am pleased to report included Mike Banks ringing one of his dumb bells.
The second initiative referred to above is the initial stages of the development of a band of ringers for Hartington, which hopefully during 2007 will change from an unringable three to an eight hung for full circle ringing. During February I received, as chairman of the Education Committee, an email from Chris Dullage of Hartington requesting help in forming a band of ringers, saying he had 14 people interested in learning. The Education Committee felt the best course of action was to invite the prospective band to initial training at the Centre. On the 14 th May and 4 th June seventeen Hartington prospects were given an introduction to ringing including a taste of bell handling. Because of my family commitments actual training did not commence until September, but I’m pleased to say that all seventeen have been taught to handle a bell and most are now regularly attending various practices in the Peak District with occasional visits back to Eckington by some. This has been a very successful initiative and hopefully will form the template for any future whole band training requirements.
The Centre is now very active but we always welcome requests for help from individuals or for use of the facilities by whole bands or other groups. We would also welcome anyone who would be interested in assisting with training, as we often have to delay events through unavailability of the principal tutors. For information on any activity at the Centre either visit the website or otherwise contact myself.
Website: www.gordonhallscentre.org.uk