[Bell Historians] More bells?

[Alan Buswell]

Augmentation, as mentioned, usually takes place where there is a strong band. This could probably be shown by the number of quarter peals rung there. I have a feeling, however, that with time, these fall off. If I could have a list of augmentations I might be able to furnish a before/after situation, say over a 5-year period either way. 

AAJB.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Andrew Wilby 
  To: bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2008 9:14 AM
  Subject: Re: [Bell Historians] More bells?



  I did a "desk-top" survey a while ago and it appeared that in fact a 
  very high proportion of 12's did have a 12 bell band of sorts. Having 
  done a quick refresher I supect it is around the 75% mark currently.

  My gut feeling, with no evidence, is that this is probably better than 
  the 10's 8's and 6's with most of the 12's having stronger than the 
  average bands ringing 10 and 8 quite a lot if they meet short for 12. If 
  the other number did as well we should expect to see more ringers in 
  total than the 30,000 guild membership statistic and the 40,000 C of E 
  survey figure that we are given.

  Every location tends to have different circumstances and a significant 
  number of 12 bell towers are in cities where large groups tends to cover 
  all.

  Back in the 70's at the start of the 12 bell contest there were only 5 
  places which had indigenous 12 bell bands which you could consider local 
  and self-sustaining. Since then the number of 12 bell centres has grown 
  dramatically as indeed has the number of 12 bell towers over this 
  period, having just about doubled. The National 12 bell Contest can 
  claim credit for stimulating much of this growth and enthusiasm.

  I think also that there is a strong demonstrable correlation between 
  augmentation and an upsurge of ringing activity that creats a 
  sustainable ringing "hotspot" for years to come.

  Hasn't there always been a tradition of augmentation over the past 300 
  years, driven by interest in change-ringing? I would guess that the 
  amount of augmentation in any period will relate to the social and 
  economic standing of the ringers and their ability to attract or 
  generate funds.

  I think we should start to worry very seriously for ringing if 
  restoration and augmentation starts to dry up.

  Andrew



              
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