Your first lesson

Learning to ring a bell is similar to learning to ride a bike. The first step is developing the muscle memory to pull the rope with the right amount of force and control its movement. Like learning to ride a bike, this involves making a few mistakes, but with your teacher's guidance, you'll soon get a feel for what works and start making progress on your own.

Your teacher will break down the various parts of the motions you need to master, working with you to build your skills and confidence.

You don't need to do anything special before your first lesson—just wear comfortable clothes that allow you to lift your arms above your head. Many ringers prefer something with a little extra length to keep their belly buttons covered!

Learning to ring

There's no single way to teach bellringing, so your teacher will likely adapt their approach to find what works best for both of you. Each new element will be introduced gradually and linked to what you've already learned

Everyone learns at their own pace, but after a few hours of ringing, you'll have mastered the basics of ringing a bell on your own. You'll also start to learn some of the unique terms we use, like "sally" (the fluffy part of the rope) and "tail end" (the end of the rope).

Ringing with others introduces new challenges, as you need to fit in with the other ringers and make minute adjustments to your pull to keep your bell sounding at the right moment. You'll also learn how to get back in sync when things don't go as expected.

Practice nights

After you have contacted a tower, you will be invited to a practice night. Towers have weekly practice nights. Some have a separate practice just for learners, and some teach learners during their main practice.

Practices are usually once a week. They last from 1 to 2 hours. There will be experienced ringers and other learners in the tower. After practice, there is often a trip to the pub (for over-eighteens).

During the practice, you will take it in turns with the other ringers to ring and you will spend some time learning by watching.

What it like in a tower?

The room you stand in to ring is called the ringing chamber. Ringing chambers can be small or large, modern or older. Larger churches and cathedrals generally have larger ringing chambers than other churches. Some churches, such as St David’s Cathedral, have a tower that is completely separate to the rest of the church.

Almost all ringing chambers will have ropes coming down from the ceiling, some seats to rest between ringing and pictures and records of the tower's history.

Some ringing chambers are on the ground floor of the church. Some are on the first or second floor, and are accessed by spiral stairs or normal staircases. In larger churches, it may take several minutes of climbing stairs to reach the ringing chamber. When you contact a church to learn to ring, you can ask what their access is like.

Tracking your progress

Some towers will follow the Association of Ringing Teachers Learning the Ropes scheme. In this you will get a progress book and certificates as you progress through the levels.

Some towers will give you the “little yellow book” to record your progress. In some towers, there will be no official record - but you can ask your teacher to write down what you’re achieving, if you like!

You might want to record:

• What parts of handling you have learnt

• Which bells in the tower you have rung

• What towers you have rung at

• What methods you have learnt