Dear Ringers,

This is the final reminder for the Branch AGM.

To join the AGM at 16.00 on Saturday 15 January 2022, please e-mail Hilary Hardie here at least 24 hours in advance and she will send you the link.

Please check the downloads page of PetBells later on today to see all documents relevant to the meeting.

See you on Saturday.

Best wishes,

Julie Pocock

Branch Secretary

Dear Ringers,

After e-mail exchanges with Alex, we have decided to switch the physical AGM to a Zoom meeting at 16.00 on Saturday 15 January 2022. Alex’s decision is explained in his message below:

“Dear Friends, I have decided to move the AGM to a Zoom meeting. I have taken this decision for several reasons. There have only been eight acceptances to date, and thirteen apologies, so there could to be a low turnout on the day, and with the uncertainty of what may or not develop over the next 10 days or so, I felt it needed decisive action sooner rather than later. Hilary has kindly offered to host the AGM on Zoom, but this needed to be actioned now. Finally, having had my own PCR testing positive, I didn’t feel happy mixing with folk a week on Saturday, even though I was legally allowed to do so. Alex”

This is an opportunity for all members to participate in the Branch AGM Zoom meeting. To join the AGM at 16.00 on Saturday 15 January 2022, please e-mail Hilary Hardie here at least 24 hours in advance and she will send you the link.

It is disappointing not to be holding the full AGM at Castor. It offered Branch members the opportunity physically to meet after, for some, a long time. As Secretary, I was particularly looking forward to meeting Tower Correspondents with whom I have communicated only by e-mail.

We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at our Zoom AGM.

Best wishes,

Julie Pocock
Branch Secretary

Dear Ringers,

After e-mail exchanges with Alex, we have decided to switch the physical AGM to a Zoom meeting at 16.00 on Saturday 15 January 2022.  Alex’s decision  is explained in his message below:

“Dear Friends, I have decided to move the AGM to a Zoom meeting. I have taken this decision for several reasons. There have only been eight acceptances to date, and thirteen apologies, so there could to be a low turnout on the day, and with the uncertainty of what may or not develop over the next 10 days or so, I felt it needed decisive action sooner rather than later. Hilary has kindly offered to host the AGM on Zoom, but this needed to be actioned now. Finally, having had my own PCR testing positive, I didn’t feel happy mixing with folk a week on Saturday, even though I was legally allowed to do so. Alex”

There is an opportunity for ringers not on the Committee to participate in the Branch AGM Zoom meeting. To join the Committee at 16.00 on Saturday 15 January 2022, please e-mail Hilary Hardie here and she will send you the link.

It is disappointing not to be holding the full AGM at Castor. It offered Branch members the opportunity physically to meet after, for some, a long time. As Secretary, I was particularly looking forward to meeting Tower Correspondents with whom I have communicated only by e-mail.

We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at our Zoom AGM.

Best wishes,

Julie

Julie Pocock

Branch Secretary

Dear Ringers,

A happy and healthy New Year to you all. LEt’s hope 2022 brings better cheer and joy than 2021.

I wrote on 14 December giving you details about our Branch AGM. This is a reminder. To refresh your memories the venue is the church of St Kyneburgha and the Cedar Centre at Castor (postcode PE5 7AX). Here is the schedule:

14.00 Ringing. Please note it is a first floor ringing chamber, with a spiral staircase leading up to it.

16.00 Service

16.45 Tea. Given January is a cold month, tea will be hot soup, sandwiches, cake, biscuits and, of course, tea and coffee.

18.00 AGM

19.30 or earlier: resumption of ringing.

RSVP’s from you all would be really helpful. It would allow us to cater, properly, for our Tea. Also give the Committee a better sense of numbers attending the ringing and the AGM. The current COVID rules may well influence your decision to attend, or not, but do please respond to me here with your acceptance or regret by Friday 7 January.

Some of you may already be familiar with St Kyneburgha and the Cedar Centre and remember how spacious it is. The Cedar Centre has reduced its guest capacity from 72 to 42 to allow better space for all those attending meetings, in this case our AGM. Current guidelines would mean masks would need to worn at all times, apart from when seated and having tea.

II look forward to hearing from you all before 7 January.

Many thanks and best wishes,

Julie

Julie Pocock

Branch Secretary

Dear Friends, I am pleased to say that our usual branch practice will be going ahead at Castor this Friday 7th January at 7-30pm.

I wonder if Father Christmas brought any of you the newly published book “The Core Seven and beyond” written by Simon Linford and edited by our own Will Bosworth. https://www.ringingworld.co.uk/purchase/shop/the-core-seven-and-beyond.html

The book plots a course through treble dodging major methods but starts with a plain method: Double Norwich Court Bob Major. So this will be our method of the month.

For those of you who know the rhyme to remember it, please learn the blue line too. If you don’t know the rhyme don’t find it out, just learn it by leads and by the treble! Happy bank holiday learning.

See you on Friday.

James

Dear all,

Barring anything dramatic happening between now and 31 December, this is Helen’s last update for the year.

There is plenty in it to read, so settle down with a cup of tea and a mince pie and get reading.

Let me take this opportunity to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas. Let’s hope 2022 is a better year all round.

Best wishes,

Julie

Helen’s text:

To: Branch Chairs, Secretaries & Treasurers. Please pass to members. 

Guild news: 

I hope that you are able to ring over Christmas, there should be more opportunity this year than last. January always sees a raft of branch AGMs taking place. Latest details can be found on the Guild website. (Branches – please keep webmaster@pdg.org.uk up to date in case of late changes). https://pdg.org.uk/events

Another date for your diary is January 22^nd, which sees the next in the series of Guild 10-bell practices, 10:30 – 12:30. Location still tbc. The first was held in Kettering and it was a good, busy practice, with 27 attendees, ringing ranging from Little Bob & Grandsire to Surprise Royal. Hopefully everyone appreciated the opportunity and were able to try something outside their usual fare. 

December 100 Club winners are David Westerman, Kelvin Broad and Ann Dowling. Congratulations to all three. Cheques will be in the post. Contact Cathy Dixon (100club@pdg.org.uk) or your branch 100 club co-ordinator for details of how to join. 

Should Santa not bring you any ringing or reading matter, the bumper Christmas Ringing World is available here: https://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/issue.php?no=5773 A mixture of articles and some puzzles to stop the braincells suffocating under the turkey. Non-subscribers can purchase a single issue. 

CCCBR news:

I know some branches have already circulated this. 

The CCCBR has been working with the CofE recovery group and the guidance on ringing in certain circumstances have been clarified. In cases where ringing takes place in a separate space ringers can choose whether to wear masks, a decision that will vary from individual to individual, based on their personal situation. I would like to again remind ringers that ringing takes place with the agreement of the incumbent, who can place conditions as they see fit. There are a lot of strong opinions on the topic. I would hope that at a time when the greeting from the angels is “Peace and good will” that a little goodwill can be exercised within the ringing community. 

The latest information can be found here: https://cccbr.org.uk/2021/12/17/guidance-for-england-under-plan-b/

The President has a Christmas blog and a Christmas Jumper. Not sure I can recommend the second element of that pairing. https://cccbr.org.uk/2021/12/15/presidents-yule-blog-2/

Mentioned in the blog is the new NorthWest Training course. Details are provisional but can be found here: https://cccbr.org.uk/2021/12/10/the-north-west-ringing-course/ I’d also like to remind ringers that attendance on ringing related training courses can be eligible for a grant from the Guild’s training fund. For more details, and how to make an application, see the Guild’s website. https://pdg.org.uk/homepage/content-2/training-fund

Another event that may interest our younger ringers is the YACR event in Birmingham on the 15^th January. Details can be found on their website. https://www.ycra.org.uk/events.php The Guild would consider that attending these events may be advantageous to young ringers, yet they may be the group least able to afford to travel. In which case the Guild executive has agreed that attendance at an event arranged by the YCRA may also be subject to a grant from the training fund for some expenses. Contact Simon Dixon on master@pdg.org.uk for more details. 

Safeguarding

You may have seen the latest from the CCCBR or from the CofE relating to the most recent Safeguarding arrangements. The Guild has been working with the Diocesan Safeguarding advisor and our advice is as follows:

All ringers are strongly recommended to take the C0 Basic Awareness online awareness course as soon as practical.

All Tower Captains should do C0 Basic and also C1 Foundation, both online courses.

Tower Captains can apply to take the virtual in-person C2 Leadership Pathway course if they wish to extend their skills and confidence in Safeguarding. 

See the diocesan website for more details of these courses: https://www.peterborough-diocese.org.uk/training/training

For help in applying for any of these courses please contact Sharon Welbourne via email: Sharon.welbourne@peterborough-diocese.org.uk . 

Contact the Guild’s safeguarding officer on safeguarding@pdg.org.uk in case of any queries.  

And with that may I take the opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Unless something dramatic happens (always possible), or I get very bored next weekend (unlikely), you can expect to hear from me in 2022.  

Thanks

Helen

Helen Allton

Secretary: Peterborough Diocesan Guild of Church Bellringers

Facebook: www.facebook.com/PDGCBR

Website: www.pdg.org.uk

e-mail: secretary@pdg.org.uk

Telephone: 01832 735 266

https://cccbr.org.uk/2021/12/17/guidance-for-england-under-plan-b/

Please find above an update to the Covid guidelines published by the central council. It represents a clarification of the guidelines already in place rather than a significant change.

Face masks have been the subject of much debate amongst ringers. This update confirms that ringing can be considered an exception to the general advice to wear a mask (as is singing and preaching). Where ringing takes place in a separate ringing room masks are optional.

Lateral flow tests remain encouraged.

Once again can I implore all of us to resist the temptation to “fall out” if and when we come to varied decisions based on our individual risk assessments. The whole point of risk assessments is that they are specific to location and person.

As is always the case, we only ring with the permission of our incumbents whether they be a Dean, Vicar, Rector or church wardens interregnum.

James Thorpe

Dear Ringers,

The above date is for your diary. As Secretary of the Peterborough Branch, I am writing to give you advance notice of the date for the Branch AGM. We are working on the basis, for the present, that we will be able physically to gather for the AGM and ringing.

I took over as Secretary during the first lockdown and haven’t had the chance to meet many of you in person, given the restrictions over the last 18 months. So, it would be lovely to meet as many of you as possible at the Branch AGM.

The venue is St. Kyneburgha, Castor. The full address is: 47 Peterborough Road, Castor, Peterborough, PE5 7AX.

The tea and the AGM will be held in the Cedar Centre, in the grounds of St. Kyneburgha. The Centre will be open from 14.00.

The programme is as follows:

14.00 Ringing. Please note it is a first floor ringing chamber, with a spiral staircase leading up to it.

16.00 Service

16.45 Tea. Given January is a cold month, tea will be hot soup, sandwiches, cake, biscuits and, of course, tea and coffee. .

18.00 AGM

19.30 or earlier: resumption of ringing.

It would be really helpful to know whether you plan to attend all or part of the afternoon, especially the tea, so we can get the catering right. Should anyone planning to attend have any dietary restrictions, it would be helpful to be made aware of them too.

Please reply to me by clicking here by Friday 7 January 2022.

Please note that the Minutes of the last AGM, held on 16 January 2021 (via Zoom) can be found in the Download Section of Petbells here, as can the 2020 Branch Accounts and the Agenda for the forthcoming AGM.

In the meantime, let me wish you all a happy and healthy Christmas and hope that 2022 is a more positive year for everyone.

Best wishes,

Julie

Branch Secretary

Dear all,

James Thorpe has kindly sent out details of the CCCBR’s guidance following the Government’s move to Plan B on Covid and the latest Omicron variant. The new mandatory rule comes into effect Friday 10 December.

Helen goes on to say that at this stage there is no reason for Branch AGMs not to proceed. I will be sending out information on the Peterborough Branch AGM scheduled for Saturday 15 January 2022 next week. Until told otherwise, we will “Keep Calm and Carry On” with arrangements for our Branch AGM.

Best wishes,

Julie

Helen’s full text is below:

To branch chairs, secretaries & treasurers.

The PM’s move to “Plan B” this week, with the introduction of mask wearing in more locations, will no doubt have ringers wondering where that leaves them. The CCCBR’s website on the subject (https://cccbr.org.uk/coronavirus/) has been partly updated today and it includes the following text:

The Church of England guidance for Plan B in England has now been published and it includes the following words: “Face coverings are currently mandatory on public transport and in a range of indoor venues including places of worship. While there are exemptions, outlined below, this is a legal requirement” (their emphasis).

It goes on to list the exemptions. The CofE Recovery Group has not offered any general exemption for bellringing. The full document can be found here. Although an early paragraph suggests that face coverings might be at the discretion of individual churches, that appears to be misleading as later paragraphs on pages 2 and 3 confirm that face coverings are a legal requirement.

The Government guidance that includes places of worship in the list of mandated places for face coverings is here.

Please circulate to towers such that they can let ringers know of the change, which comes into effect on Friday, 10^th December.

With the current guidance there is nothing to indicate that Branch AGMs cannot proceed as planned – there is no limit on numbers meeting in a venue. Obviously, that will be a decision for each branch. There is an exemption to remove masks when it is necessary for clear communication, which could be read to include the chair and other members, when speaking. If there are any questions, please get back to me. I can’t promise to help, I’m likely to be as flummoxed as you are, but I will try.

Thanks

Helen

Helen Allton

Secretary: Peterborough Diocesan Guild of Church Bellringers

Facebook: www.facebook.com/PDGCBR

Website: www.pdg.org.uk

e-mail: secretary@pdg.org.uk

Telephone: 01832 735 266

Click to access Guidance-at-a-glance-2.5.pdf

There has now been a change to the guidance. The most significant change is that face coverings are now mandated within places of worship and there is no exemption for ringing.

This change comes into effect on 10th December.

James Thorpe