On November 8th, a Simulator Workshop was held at Great Tey, to talk about how simulators might be used to increase training and general ringing at a tower. Our leaders were Sandra Murphy (Smurf) from Great Baddow and Simon Mann from Great Tey. Both have been using simulators in their teaching and Simon has been providing technical support for people struggling with getting a simulator installed, or getting one to work properly.
We had thirteen attendees, and most of these people already had a simulator but knew they could be using it better or more fully for extra help in training.
Smurf and Simon explained how simulators work in detail and we visited the bells at Great Tey to see how the sensors are installed and connected. Smurf demonstrated the two most popular software programs, Abel and Virtual Belfry, showing how they are set up and customised for your individual peal of bells. Examples of ways to use the programs in both individual and group training sessions were discussed. Several delegates were interested in further sessions or in having a visit by Simon to see how an installation might work – or fix one in situ!
We plan to develop an Essex Simulators Users group where ideas can be shared and help obtained so look out for information early in 2026.