St John’s Bell Training Tower Project Update
The Winchester Bell Training Tower Project at St John’s is gathering real momentum, and we’re excited to share what’s been happening behind the scenes.
After visiting other bell-training centres and holding two steering committee meetings, we’re thrilled to have the enthusiastic backing of the Rector, the PCC, local District bellringers, and the wider Guild. The energy is infectious, and everyone’s pulling together to make this vision a reality.
A draft business plan is in the works, aiming to build on our initial ideas and guide both the restoration of the old bells as historic visitor-exhibits and the installation of new bells below. In addition, we are creating a training framework to take us into the future as the new bells come online, to coach new recruits from bell-handling to rounds and call-changes and methods on 6, 8 bells and beyond.
At the end of March, we’re organising a consultation event for all ringers in the District at St John’s. We’ll be asking newer ringers what they’d like to see in terms of training and support as well as valuable inputs from experienced ringers. The results from this consultation will form part of the support documentation for the business plan. The meeting will be during Holy week on the evening of Minday 30th March – a date for your diary!
Our friends at Taylors, Whites, and Matthew Higby have been on site, helping us shape plans and cost estimates for the new frame and bells. We’re even exploring the possible reuse of high-quality redundant bells. Meanwhile, surveyors are making sure the building is up to the task and identifying any repairs needed.
Initial discussions with the DAC and Archdeacon have been positive, and we’re working through their feedback as we develop our draft business plan. We’re also planning local engagement events to keep everyone in the loop—parishioners, schools, and residents alike.
We’re setting up a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) that will manage secular/arts grants and donations. We will also be assisting St John’s PCC with fundraising and applications for grants and awards aimed at church/heritage buildings-based areas of the project.
Fundraising is about to kick off, with donation links and Gift Aid options coming soon.
We’re also looking for a prominent celebrity patron to head up the charity – if anyone has any contacts or ideas please share.
Fancy Getting Involved in the project? We’ve set up six workgroups—Technical, Teaching, Tune Ringing & Youth, Fundraising, Publicity, and History & Heritage. If you have ideas, skills or just some spare energy, we’d love you to join in.
Reach out to Jill or Marion to get involved. Info@winchesterbells.org.
We visited Winnall School during their Advent celebration and were delighted to get all sixty children from Reception age to Year 2, successfully ringing mini handbells together to ‘Jingle Bells’! We hope to encourage existing handbell ringing groups to visit and demonstrate their skills.
New Bell Training Simulator – exciting news: a single-bell training simulator will soon be installed in the old clock room at St John’s, with bookable practice sessions via the Spond App. In addition to helping students learn bell control, the simulator software will also ring methods – so you could come along and practice 6-8-10 or 12 bell methods on your own and the software will play the sounds of the other bells with visuals of the other ringers on the screen.
Although we’ll not be quite ready for full publicity and recruitment campaigns in the city for some time, we’re putting the training structures in place to start feeding newbies ‘through the funnel’ so we can dovetail St John’s into the mix as soon as it’s ready.
We’ve launched a project website and social media accounts to keep everyone updated and engaged. Check out our sites at https://www.winchesterbells.org and https://winchesterbells.fun and sign up for our newsletter!
You’ll also find us posting regularly on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube—just search for WinchesterBells and give us a follow.
Want to Join In? For training sessions, bookings, events, and more, sign up for the Winchester District Spond App here: https://spond.com/invite/CRCBA.
The Winchester District ADM on 14th February will be held at St John’s, after open ringing at the Cathedral. If you’d like to visit the old bells, there will be a few tower tours available that afternoon – hard hats will be supplied but don’t wear your best clothing as it’s very dusty!
Thank you for your support and enthusiasm— together we’re aiming to find a way for bells in Winchester to ring out for generations to come.