Silence Is Golden

[Baldric]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-37631061

"The main bells will be silent until we have recruited a new team in the New Year."

Sounds like the work of The Grinch to me

[naomi24]

How odd. In my experience churches are grateful for volunteers and take all they can get. Sounds like something fishy afoot to me.

[naomi24]

More here Baldric. Seems there's a new boss with new ideas, but this will be the first time since 1361 that the bells have not been rung at Christmas. I find that very sad.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/720805/York-Minster-dismisses-volunteer-bell-ringers

[douglas9401]

Obviously been a bit of a backroom ding dong.

[Jackdaw33]

That's what happens when you give a man's job to a woman.

[jourdain2]

I'm baffled! (Running for cover but bravely returning.) There must have been one unholy spat and an awful lot going on behind the scenes. Apparently, all ringers are welcome to reapply to be part of the new team.
Very, very sad.:(

[Ann]

I thought the same Naomi - when it was on the News I said to Hubby "there's more to this than meets the eye!" .... unless they were all useless at bellringing??

[naomi24]

Ann, according to the reports some of them have been bell-ringing there for years so they couldn't have been that useless.

[melv16]

The only good church bells are ones that are silent. I'd melt them down and make something useful from the metal.

[Mamyalynne]

Corporate Campanology?, as said something's not right here, sad news.

[Mamyalynne]

There's always one and it's always you Melv.

[melv16]

Always??

[naomi24]

melv16, that's known as knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing.

[Mamyalynne]

No, that was an over exaggeration - sorry.

[melv16]

Don't understand that argument, Naomi.

[naomi24]

melv16, in this instance it relates to the absence of appreciation of tradition and of 800 years of history. I recall having a similar conversation here with someone who said the ancient monuments at the UNESCO World Heritage site at Palmyra, destroyed by ISIS, were just buildings so unimportant, but they were not ‘just buildings’ – they were irreplaceable buildings – and now gone, they are gone forever. Now do you understand the argument?

[melv16]

I understand the argument, Naomi. My point of view is nowt about money, its about me not liking church bells. They really grate on my ears and to me sound like scaffolding poles being dropped from a great height.
I used to live a100yds from a church, which had a peel of 10 bells. Sunday mornings, Saturday afternoons and practice nights were a nightmare!

[chrissa1]

From the interview I saw on the tv last night, it sounds like H &a S gone mad, again. Climbing stairs and standing in a small room with lots of ropes were deemed to be a "professional's" job.

[andy-hughes]

If the powers-that-be wants to recruit a team of professional bell-ringers, why can't that process be completed while the current team carry on providing the service?

Then, when the pros are up to speed (literally!) and ready to go, the current amateurs will step aside, and the public have an uninterrupted service of bells.

Does that sound like a workable solution?

[naomi24]

melv16, I'm very pleased you understand the argument now.

[melv16]

Having had quite a few dealings with the C of E, nothing surprizes me with the way that they deal with their volunteers/staff.