[r-t] Latest draft of Decisions changes for 2017

[John Harrison]

PJE

>  To my eyes, introducing (at very short notice) out-of-remit changes on
> how things are rung looks very like a deliberate spoiler by the
> conservative old-guard. 

Whilst I agree that these things are not about methods, to which the
Methods Committee's remit ought to be restricted, de facto the Methods
Committee has for many years been the custodian of the Decisions on methods
& peals, and it is this wider set that they were charged to modernise.

If (as we hope) the Methods Committee has finally accepted that patching
the historic Decisions is not the way ahead, and if it really does intend
to do the job properly next year based on something like Tim's work, then
it is understandable to draw back from putting too much effort into this
year's final round of patches.  

OTOH to do nothing would be untenable, so it is natural to go for things
that require least work to draft.

Removing the inconsistency that tower bell peals must be audible outside
the building but not handbell peals, and removing the constraints on how
the sound is created providing the ringers perform in the same way, both
have the benefit that they are self contained, and unlike some of the
technical aspects, which are very interdependent.

-- 
John Harrison
Website http://jaharrison.me.uk