More bells?

[John Camp]

My late father's booklet 'Discovering Bells and Bellringing' will be
in need of further revision before too long.  I am contemplating a
chapter about recent developments in ringing.  One obvious topic is
the increasing number of augmentations over, say, the past 25 years. 
A 12 in every village, practically.

Has anyone any thoughts on why this is so?  Is it that there is more
money around, or that the technology has made augmentations easier, or
what?  Or maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree and there haven't been
as many augmentations as I imagine.  Has there been an overall
increase in the number of rings of bells?  The 3&4-bell list complains
about losses in that category.

And what about new rings outside the UK?  Quite a few.  And
mini-rings. Why have the numbers increased enormously?  Is it that,
once one person's done it, others realise that it isn't as difficult
as it looked?

Any ideas on these matters gratefully received.

John Camp