Method Toolboxes for ringers

4. Plain Hunt Toolbox

Having conquered the challenge of starting to manipulate your bell amongst the others by understanding and responding to the changes as they are called by the conductor, you can now move on to the next stage of learning to ring.

This phase will develop your skills in learning and ringing sequences of changes, using sets of rules learned in advance. Instead of the conductor calling each change, with a period of settle time allowed before moving on, you now have to learn the principles underlying continuous change ringing where each row is different from the one before. It is the way in which consecutive rows differ that give us the many methods and principles of bellringing.

What's new about Plain Hunt?

Plain Hunt will probably be the first time that you will have to move your bell at every change. It is the simplest form of change ringing but it will require you to learn and apply various new concepts, all at the same time:

You will have to remember a sequence of places – there is no conductor telling you which place to ring in, as happens in call or kaleidoscope changes.
It is important to know in which position in the change your bell is ringing, and helpful to be aware of which bell you are following (known as ropesight).
This may be the first time that you will need to adjust the speed of your bell at every stroke, moving at both handstroke and backstroke.
Unlike call changes, all the bells change position (place) in the row on each and every stroke, except when leading or lying when they ring two blows in the same place.

Plain Hunt explained

To find out more about plain hunt, read Plain Hunt explained.
Then download the Plain Hunt chart, and look at the path of all the bells. They ring the same line or order of places starting in a different place.
Plain Hunt brings with it a whole new set of terms, which are explained in the Plain Hunt jargon buster.

Ringing Plain Hunt

The conductor will calls “Go Plain Hunt” on a handstroke. You ring the following backstroke in rounds and your first change is the next handstroke. When the conductor wishes you to stop ringing Plain Hunt, they will call "That's all" and rounds is rung. Remember:

Odd bells go out – they hunt up to the back, starting with slow blows.
Even bells go in – they hunt down to the front, starting with quick blows.

Note that when ringing Plain Hunt on an odd number of bells, the last bell (the 5 in doubles and the 7 in triples) starts by making a place.

Ringing your bell in the right place

Try to ring Plain Hunt on as many different bells as you can, with the proviso that you need to be able to control the bell to be able to position it in the right place in the change. You will have practised changing the position of your bell whilst ringing call and kaleidoscope changes, which required you to ring your bell at three different speeds.

Learning aids

Beyond Plain Hunt Doubles

Learning using a simulator

Plain Hunt introduces some new skills – ropesight and hearing your bell as you move place – which you can practise using a ringing simulator. Here are some tips about setting up a simulator to help you hear your bell and see which bells you are passing.

Changing the volume of a single bell

This will allow you to pick out the sound of your own bell. Later on in your learning journey you might wish to increase the volume of the treble so that you can hear its position in the change.

Using ropesight flashes

This is probably the simulator equivalent of a live ringer "giving you the nod" helping to pick out when you should be following them in the change.