Recruitment and retention resources
1. Planning for success
1.4. What attracts people to ringing?
Knowing what has worked for others will help you focus your efforts on effective recruitment methods and spend less time on those that don't. Traditional routes into ringing such as the Church and family are being replaced by friends and larger scale recruitment drives including tower open days. All advice is subject to the usual health warning that every band and community is different, with different links, different needs and different aspirations.
At the 2017 ART Conference a selection of ringing teachers (sample size = 83) who were mainly recruited in the 1960s and 1970s were asked what got them into the tower to learn to ring. An online poll of Learning the Ropes ringers (sample size = 65) who have mainly been recruited during the past five years asked exactly the same question.
We are seeing a shift away from recruitment through the Church and family, towards larger-scale recruitment events such as ringing friends and general appeals for new ringers including tower open days.
| Current Teachers | New Ringers | |
| Member of the Church | 31% | 14% |
| Ringers in your family | 22% | 8% |
| Through a friend who is a ringer | 15% | 23% |
| Heard the bells and went for a look | 9% | 11% |
| Scouts, Guides and D of E | 5% | 5% |
| University society | 3% | 2% |
| Tower open day | 1% | 14% |
| Through school | 1% | - |
| Publicity (internet, social media, poster, TV and radio) | - | 3% |
| Public appeal for new ringers | - | 22% |
Online requests to learn to ring
At ART we receive more than one learn to ring enquiry a day from around the UK.
There is often a disconnect between what potential recruits are asking for and what has traditionally been provided. In some ways this is due to the general public projecting their knowledge of how other team or group hobbies and sports are taught onto bellringing. However it is also tells us about people's expectations of a hobby in the modern age. People, such as in the request below, often expect and ask for classes to learn ringing.
I am very interested in finding a beginners bell ringing class for my mother and myself.
Training courses and classes
Over 50% of enquiries come with an expectation that ringing is taught via training courses or classes.
The offer of one-on-one tuition in this circumstance will in most cases be much appreciated. However there is an assumption that there will be a social side to the training, so try to integrate them into the band as soon as possible. Getting a quick lesson before the main practice then transitioning to a few goes at rounds later on, probably won't meet their expectations.
ART also receive enquiries from ringers who have started learning to ring during a general weekly practice but are keen to make much more rapid progress – they ask for intensive handling lessons, say they are happy to pay for tuition and are usually willing to travel, so they must be keen!
Experience days and gifts
Requests for experience days and gifts are quite common.
Whilst intriguing, they can also be a bit puzzling to know what to do with. We know that learning to ring takes a long time and requires commitment from both the ringer and the teacher, whilst the request can feel a bit flippant. But don't reject it out of hand, as you are being offered money and a potential recruit. Although it is a bit counter-culture why not sell red-letter days to raise funds and why not give a day's taster session to see if you can get the new recruit hooked? It has worked for others. Alternatively a day's bellhandling lesson sold at an "auction" can lead to new ringers joining the band.
Group sessions
I'm interested in an introductory session of bell ringing for a group of about 10 people, can this be arranged?
We get rather less of these, however as bellringing is receiving more press coverage it is something that people are considering for team building events. Just as for the experience days, this is a way to raise funds and why not give a day's taster session to see if you can get one or more new recruits hooked?