Church bells are an integral part of our everyday life. We all hear the bells ringing on Sunday and other special occasions but do you know what goes on in a church tower and what it feels like to be a bell ringer? Have you ever really thought about who is ringing them and how they learnt?
In this podcast, Cathy Booth chats to Nic Boyd about Nic’s exciting journey of discovery since taking up bell ringing four years ago. Hear why Nic started ringing and why she loves it so much; the highs and lows, the joys and the challenges and how it feels to ring, both as an individual and as part of a team.
According to Nic, learning is effective when you take small steps and celebrate achievements along the way. Luckily, there’s an innovative new scheme called ‘Learning the Ropes’, developed by the Association for Ringing Teachers (ART) which does just this - using milestones to help new ringers learn faster and further.
This scheme has certainly been a great to support to Nic, who talks Cathy though the five levels of Learning the Ropes, culminating in her attending a masterclass in Birmingham last year. And it’s not just the sense of achievement from progressing through the levels that Nic has got out of ringing, as, at the end of the podcast, she reveals one of the exciting perks of being a bell ringer ...

At the end there is a Q &A session with Pip Penney.

For more information and photographs, go towww.funwithbells.com

At the end of this episode, we will tell you about our upcoming episode and about the latest news on our TikTok / Instagram competition.