CCCBR President, Tina Stoecklin led a meeting with CC representatives to discuss their roles and challenges, noting strong attendance across different ringing associations. All five of the Essex CC Reps were in attendance. The group reviewed a poll showing that most representatives hold multiple roles beyond being CC reps, with significant involvement in local associations but relatively lower participation in council volunteering. The discussion began exploring what it means to be fully focused on being a CC rep, raising questions about unclear expectations in this role.
Council Representative Roles Poll Results
The meeting focused on discussing the role of council representatives (CC reps) through a poll with multiple options including representing association views, representing council to associations, holding executives to account, helping access council services, and communicating between council and associations. The poll results showed that representing association views and representing council to associations were the most important roles, with nearly 95% of respondents selecting these options. Concern was raised about practical challenges faced by reps, including limited access to email lists, lack of mechanisms for communication, and unclear information from executive meetings that makes it difficult to effectively communicate with association members.
Central Council Communication Challenges
The meeting focused on communication challenges within the Central Council, with participants discussing the lack of information and motivation among ringers following CRAG reforms. Nearly a third of members did not see executive accountability as part of their role, while emphasising the importance of Central Council reps helping interpret executive minutes and serving as a middle person for communication. The discussion concluded with plans to review the Ringing Census project, which Vicki Chapman (Essex CC Rep and CCCBR Deputy President) has reawakened to more accurately count ringers, as the last comprehensive count was conducted in 1988.
Ringing 2030 Census Strategy
Vicki explained that they are conducting a census to more accurately count ringers as part of the Ringing 2030 strategy to recruit 10,000 new ringers. She highlighted challenges with current data collection methods, including inconsistent membership counting practices across associations and difficulties tracking non-member ringers. The census will collect data on the number of ringers, demographics, and ringing activities at a specific point in time to provide more accurate information about the current state of bell ringing.
Vicki and Tina discussed plans for a ringing census to gather data on current bell ringers across different regions globally. They explained that the census would be voluntary and should take no more than 15 minutes to complete, with participants providing a snapshot of their ringing activities during a specific week. The team is seeking volunteers to help with data collection and analysis, as well as encouraging participation within their associations, with approximately 500 towers to be targeted for follow-up. Vicki and Tina assured attendees that while the full question design is still being developed, they will share the general themes of questions in advance to help with member communication and buy-in.
Tina noted the census will take place over a week rather than a single date and mentioned plans for Heritage Open Days marketing in September that may coincide with an announcement about change ringing being accepted into the inventory of living heritage. The group addressed concerns about data management and protection policies, with Tina requesting help identifying experts to review their current privacy policy from 2018 and develop a more robust data protection framework.
Central Council Paid Staff Discussion
The meeting discussed the Central Council’s decision to employ paid staff, with participants sharing their perspectives on the benefits and concerns. It was noted that recent successes in universities and young ringers were due to summer honorariums, while there was expressed concern about the wording used in re-advertising the Youth Development Officer position. Neil Jones (ART Chair) highlighted the value of paid staff for administrative tasks and mentioned ART’s university package, which the Council is now sponsoring. It was suggested providing feedback on the impact of paid volunteers to justify the use of membership fees.
Ringing Training and Development Meeting
The meeting discussed training, with participants sharing experiences from their respective associations. Neil described Kent’s success with unofficial training hubs, while others shared how established successful training centres with support from ART work. Individual willingness is crucial for training expansion rather than relying on organisational initiatives. The group discussed the challenges of finding mentors willing to practice with new trainees and agreed that more regular meetings like this would be valuable for ongoing discussions.
The Annual Council Meeting
The annual council meeting was announced for September 4-6 in Rugby, with booking details to be released soon.
Feedback from participants expressed gratitude for the opportunity to learn more from the Executive and have opportunity to discuss matters in more detail, so it is hoped the CC Executive will arrange more of those.
If you have any questions, comments or anything you want to raise, or are able to offer support for reviewing the CCCBR data protection framework, or helping with the data collection and analysis for the census, please contact our CC Reps at ccreps@eacr.org.uk
Don’t forget there is a wealth of resources available on the CC website to support recruitment, training and development, and tower management https://cccbr.org.uk/
Anne, Fred, Martin, Mary & Vicki
Your CC Representatives