General Committee Meeting - June 2021

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Published: Saturday, 05 June 2021 22:36

How can you beat going to the June SCACR General Committee meeting?

What we talked about:-

Membership Trends

As you might expect, has been a small fall in membership numbers this year. Sue Gadd has produced a very useful tool showing trends over the last four years which can be broken down with District and Tower by Adult members, Junior members and Long-service members. Coloured graphs add to the excitement! Very useful for District Secretaries to highlight where there are ongoing problems at individual towers, and, perhaps, to pick up good practice from the more successful towers.

Bell Restoration Fund

Taking into account recent promised grants, the balance in the fund could well be less than £1,000 if all the grants are taken up. We need to boost the income into the fund to meet future demands. As well as the usual fund-raising activities - e.g. raffles, collections, etc – should we be asking our members to consider setting up a regular standing order using Gift Aid. Or perhaps asking them to round up their annual subscriptions. How about it? (Contact Sue Gadd for details - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Getting Back to Ringing

Districts are in the process of contacting local Towers to assess the level of support the need. Those towers that have restarted ringing have received very positive feedback from the community.

We will continue to run our 4-6 p.m. Saturday afternoon Ringing Room training session until Covid restrictions ease further. At present these extend from Plain Hunt Doubles up to Stedman Triples and are much appreciated by those taking part. We do need more helpers to keep these going. Can you spare an hour or two on a Saturday afternoon, either occasionally or on a regular basis? If so, contact Jonathan (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

Going forward, we realise that many of us are apprehensive about going back to the tower. Accordingly, the Districts will be looking to establish at monthly “real” ringing sessions to give people the confidence to ring actual bells. The plan is also to continue our Ringing Room sessions, but perhaps on a monthly basis.

Young Ringers

Young Ringers have been meeting across the county. Future afternoon gatherings planned are:

• 13 June: Heathfield
• 27 June: Arundel
• 18 July: Rodmell (probably)
• 30 July: outing to Hastings

Do encourage any youngsters (25 or under) to come along. Contact Marisa for details (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Jonathan Franklin

Handbell Morning Report (May 2021)

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Published: Saturday, 22 May 2021 23:03

The first weekend following the gradual releasing of lockdown meant a slightly reduced attendance at the handbell morning on Saturday 22^nd May. However there was no reduction in the enthusiasm. Twenty hardy SCACR ringers from around the country logged on via Zoom and RingingRoom.

There were five breakout rooms, in which you could hear everything from Plain Hunt through to Kent Royal and Stedman Caters. It was great to hear people chatting in the breaks about their accomplishments during the morning and it is clear that these sessions are helping people progress. There was some discussion regarding the opportunities for regular handbell ringing prompted by a recent article in the Ringing World. It feels like SCACR have more opportunities than many other places to ensure this side of ringing receives as much support as the tower bells.

We shared stories about the return to physical ringing that is starting to happen. Although the next handbell morning will be another virtual affair, booked in the diary for 31^st July, we are very hopeful that September or October may see the return of a physical event.

If you haven’t had a go at handbells yet or would like to further your skills, do sign up for the next session by contacting Hamish McNaughton at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Alison Lucas

2021 AGM - What a great meeting!

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Published: Saturday, 08 May 2021 12:22

What a great meeting! (not often you hear that!) So lovely to SEE everyone too [via Zoom], it was recorded, I took a quick screen shot of one of the 3 pages of participants, expertly chaired by Rob, his last year as Master of the Association, online voting run by Hamish [secretary], colourful finance slides by Sue [treasurer], update from Jonathan on Saturday afternoon Ringing Room practices, update from Marisa on young ringers' meet-ups (52 under 25 in SCACR), Ringing Recovery Convention starting today week from Steph, (Josh on a Q & A panel tonight [8 May 2021]), book your places, there's online beer-tasting Friday https://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/virtual-hub.php Bell Restoration from Graham, Pip on TV, online Annual Report (fab cover, Josh again 😉) CCCBR - Central Council of Church Bell Ringers COVID guidance, Westley Bell Maintenance Award nominations closing soon, and much much more, add your comments in the Facebook discussion.

Alison Everett

Association AGM - Saturday 8th May 2021

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Published: Saturday, 01 May 2021 20:59

The Annual General Meeting of the Sussex County Association of Change Ringers will be held on Saturday 8th May 2021 at 10:00.

Due to the ongoing COVID restrictions preventing us from meeting in person, the AGM will be held remotely via Zoom, the link to the meeting was emailed to all members on 2nd May. Please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to request the Zoom details. Voting during the meeting will be carried out using the 'polling' function of Zoom.

The agenda for the 2020 Annual General Meeting is available online here.

The minutes of the 2019 Annual General Meeting, and a report into the 2020 alternative Annual General Meeting are available here.

Prior to the meeting starting, and also afterwards, there will be an opportunity to catch up with friends in breakout rooms and join in ringing utilising virtual towers in Ringing Room; the meeting room will be open from 09:00.

Annual Report

An electronic copy of the report for 2020 and handbook for 2021 is available for download here. The password was emailed to all members on 2nd May 2021, and is available on-request from This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at the AGM, and hope to be able to ring with you again soon!

Best Wishes,

Rob Lane
Master