Organising an Outing
The wonderful thing about ringing is that you can ask permission to ring almost anywhere, and have a lovely day out with your friends, exploring bits of the country that most people never see. You can incorporate a boat trip, a walk, a visit to a castle, a bellfoundry, a rope maker, etc. Below are some suggestions for a successful day out.
Organising the programme
- Get a map!
- Don’t plan to go too far.
- Don’t try to fit too many towers into one day
- Plan your day around a good pub or cafe for lunch
- Talk to the pub, provisionally book the date and time and roughly how many people.
- Ask for a menu
- Contact the local Association Secretary and ask for an Annual Report and suggestions of nice bells
- Work out the route. Allow plenty of time for travelling and tea breaks.
- Find Tower Contacts: Preferably in Annual Reports. Last resort is Association websites
- Phone contacts a few weeks before outing. Ask about parking and toilets
- Confirm by email
- Email the pub with everyone’s choices. Make sure they reply to confirm your booking!
- Send reminders to all towers a couple of days before the outing
Organising the Ringers
- Circulate a message asking them to choose from two or three dates well in advance, and tell them what area you propose going to.
- Send out a proposed route, saying “tbc”
- Confirm in writing the date that suits most people.
- Suggest sharing transport and make sure that everyone can get there alright.
- Send the menu to all the ringers and ask for their choices by at least a week before, preferably two weeks before
- Choose a couple of special methods for people to look up before the day?
- Ask everyone to bring the correct change for tower donations. £1 per head per tower is usual.
- You can put the money in an envelope in advance and recoup it from the ringers, or take empty envelopes for people to put their coins in.
