Towers, tours and tall tales

In this episode, host Cathy Booth catches up with Bruce Butler in the USA and teases out some top tips to arranging a successful ringing tour. Bruce has been organising ringing tours to the UK since the 1990s - the logistics of arranging transatlantic ringing tours in the days before the internet are mind-blowing.Having rung in almost 4,000 towers you might imagine the Bruce has some great stories to tell, and you wouldn’t be wrong. Hear about inaccessible spaces, strange ringing attire and some rather unusual furniture in the ringing chamber. And just watch out for the flowers around the font!Bruce gives a brilliant overview of the towers of North America, their various merits and the differences between ringing over there and in the UK. Loving the sound of a Cathedral with two elevators to take you up to the top.As Bruce says, American ringers are a welcoming bunch and love to have visitors - so what’s stopping you from planning your tour across the pond ...February 2022 update: We were sorry to hear of the recent passing of Bruce. I really enjoyed interviewing him and hearing about his enthusiasm for ringing. He will be very much missed by the bell ringing community.LinksNorth American Guild of Change Ringers: http://nagcr.orgTop five takeawaysRinging in lots of different towers will help improve your bell handling as you’ll experience bells with different weights and different draughts.If you want to organise a tour a good tip is to start with the local association of the area you want to visit.Plan your days in a circular route around the hotel that you’re staying in.The website of the North American Guild of Change Ringers contains details of towers, tower contacts etc.If you fancy a real adventure on an island paradise you can even go bell ringing in Hawaii!Ask the expertPip Penney answered the following questions in this episode:Stuart: “Is bell ringing dangerous”John “What is the best way to learn to ring bells?Sponsor: This podcast is sponsored by the Association of Ringing Teachers (ART).  To find out more about learning to ring, learning to teach or other resources to support your ringing go to bellringing.orgPodcast team:Anne Tansley ThomasEmily Roderick John GwynneEmily WattsCathy BoothRinging by:The Cambridge Youths (supplied by David Richards) and for later episodes, The Liliputters Guild (supplied by Simon Edwards).For bellringing training and support for teachers and ringers see: bellringing.org