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.
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.
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, 10th 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
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.
As previously, each ringer, tower captain, incumbent and diocese must individually assess the situation taking into account their own particular context and feelings. So let’s try not fall out with each other if (as is inevitable) we reach slightly different conclusions about how we respond to this evolving situation!!
I will try to watch for any changes in the CCCBR’s advice and alert you to it.
No intro from me tonight. I’ll leave you to read and digest Helen’s latest update.
Best wishes,
Julie
To: Branch Chairs, secretaries & treasurers, please pass on to members.
It seems that winter has decided to arrive with a vengeance over the weekend. Worcester Cathedral lost a pinnacle after storm Arwen blew one off and through the roof. Hopefully nothing like that happened to anyone.
And, finally, the CCCBR signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the CCT over the ringing centre element of the plans. This is featured in the President’s latest blog: https://cccbr.org.uk/2021/11/16/presidents-blog-47/
CCCBR
The Central Council’s Covid guidance team has recently met to consider revising guidance, not least because there is anecdotal evidence that some bands and towers are still more locked down than they may need to be, and the team wants to facilitate responsible ringing as far as possible. The team has a further meeting with the Church of England Recovery Group next week and in advance of that we are interested to hear of any instances of difficulties with guidance, contrary views on ringing guidance from clergy or churchwardens, or any specific issues that you think need to be addressed or clarified as we approach our first ‘vaccinated winter’.
As we approach the Christmas season, Ecclesiastical are again running their 12 days of giving campaign in December. You just have to nominate the Guild, and we go into the 12 draws that take place between the 6th & 21st December. The more nominations, the more likelihood there is of us being awarded one of 120 grants of £1000 each. This would go to the Guild’s training fund. This has received a number of applications as ringing starts up again.
We’ve been successful in the last few years; all it needs is you to get your clicking fingers out. The link below takes you to a page with prefilled details, just scroll down the page, complete the form and submit.
Photo contest Seeing the weather’s turned frosty, how about getting out and taking a seasonal picture of your church for the Guild photo contest. Or has it been adorned with festive lights and decorations? Seasonal entries are most definitely welcomes.
January AGMs
Branches should be sharing details of their AGMs now, if they haven’t already. Keep up to date with the where and when by looking at the events page of the Guild website. https://pdg.org.uk/events. I know that branches are always looking for help and support to arrange the events that are laid on for ringers across the year. They would love you to get involved, if you are able to.
I had my first Christmas dinner last night, Towcester branch’s annual dinner. Excellent event with some very good speeches and handbells to get us all in festive mood. This is the first of several dinners for us between now and Christmas day – at none of them will I be ordering turkey. Knowing how much I dislike the cold; you’ll not be surprised to hear that I did pick my outfit based on how warm it was. One day I will work out how to effectively pair an evening gown with a jumper and fluffy slippers, but not this year.
Stay safe and warm
Helen
Helen Allton
Secretary: Peterborough Diocesan Guild of Church Bellringers
Please read and act on Helen’s request in the paragraph about 12 days of giving.
Happy reading,
Best wishes,
Julie
Helen’s text starts here:
To: Branch Chairs, secretaries & treasurers, please pass on to members.
I don’t know about you, but ringing half muffled this morning sent shivers down my spine. It is such a haunting sound. A lot of Guild news this week.
12 days of giving.
As we approach the Christmas season, Ecclesiastical are again running their 12 days of giving campaign in December. You just have to nominate the Guild, and we go into the 12 draws that take place between the 6th & 21stDecember. The more nominations, the more likelihood there is of us being awarded one of 120 grants of £1000 each. This would go to the Guild’s training fund. This has received a number of applications as ringing starts up again.
We’ve been successful in the last few years; all it needs is you to get your clicking fingers out. The link below takes you to a page with prefilled details, just scroll down the page, complete the form and submit.
I had a busy ringing Saturday, with the 10-bell practice at Kettering and then the Kettering branch meeting at Burton Latimer in the afternoon. It was good to see 27 people at Kettering, with a wide range of methods for those of different experience. Those present rang Little Bob Royal, Grandsire & Stedman Caters, Cambridge, London & Bristol Royal. It gave everyone a chance to stretch themselves and to try and dust some pretty heavy cobwebs off some methods! The next practice will be 22nd January, location will be advertised once it is finalised.
100 club.
At the same practice we held the draw at the 10-bell practice at Kettering. Congratulations to Sarah Burrows, Peter Fleckney and Richard Allton who share this month’s prize fund of £89.57. For any information about how to become a member, or details about how to pay if you are already a member, contact Cathy Dixon, 100_club@pdg.org.uk
Ringing World.
There are 2 articles with local interest in this week’s edition of the Ringing World, one about St Mary’s Peterborough, the other about recent recruitment activity in Rutland and the Guild’s Flying Squad’s involvement (better names for that are still welcomed!). Individual issues are available through the Ringing World website. https://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/issues.php
What are you doing locally that would be of interest to other people? The editor always welcomes submissions, as does the guild newsletter editor, newsletter@pdg .org.uk Don’t hide your light under a bushel.
Hopefully, you’ll soon be hearing from your branch with arrangements for the branch AGMs in January. These are an important opportunity for you to make sure that the branch and the Guild meets your needs – what do you want to see? Roll up your sleeves and get involved, to make it happen.
Thanks
Helen
Helen Allton
Secretary: Peterborough Diocesan Guild of Church Bellringers
I am sure many bellringers will be having the same thoughts as Helen when you read her final paragraph.
Happy reading,
Best wishes,
Julie
Helen’s text:
To: Branch Chairs, secretaries & treasurers, please pass on to members.
Hopefully by now you’ve found out the muffles for fitting for ringing next weekend. The answer to the seasonal question is opposite the garter hole. What’s the question? Let me know if you think you know. There are no prizes, this one’s just for pride.
Guild updates
Just a reminder that the Guild 10- bell practice will be at Kettering next Saturday, 13th November, from 10:30 to 12:30.
All are welcome – the practices aim to help ringers move from being able to ring methods on 8 to starting to ring on 10. Methods previously rung have included Grandsire and Little Bob, and onto Stedman and Surprise.
The intention is to resume the 10-bell practice every other month. Contact The Master, Simon Dixon, with any queries. master@pdg.org.uk
With more events taking place in branches, you can keep up to date with what is planned across the Guild via the website, the events page lists what is upcoming. https://pdg.org.uk/events
The CCCBR has launched a discussion site, Ringing Forums. https://www.ringingforums.org/ It aims to be a place for ringers to ask questions and debate topics in a ringing exclusive environment. It will take a while to reach a critical mass of users, but there’s some items of interest already. You need to register to post, but not to read what has bene posted.
I wonder if I’m the only person debating quite how many jumpers it is possible to wear at once while ringing. The desire to have ventilation is becoming less comfortable as the temperature drops. I’ll let you know when I discover how many jumpers is one too many. 😊
Thanks
Helen
Helen Allton
Secretary: Peterborough Diocesan Guild of Church Bellringers
Ringers required at Whittlesey – Friday 5th November
A ringer from Yorkshire is looking for ringers to ring before a memorial service for her Godmother at Whittlesey St Andrew on Friday 5th November. The service is 2pm. She hopes to ring a quarter so ringing would be from 12.45 approx. If a quarter is not possible then it would be general ringing for 30 minutes or so. If you are free to ring, please message me and I will pass on details to the organiser.
Peterborough Branch 