Learning Plain Bob Doubles

So you've learnt to plain hunt and have plain hunted to several methods, Plain bob, Grandsire, St. Simons etc. either doubles or higher, hopefully you have even rung a quarter peal from the treble, now it's time to start learning something inside or on a working bell.  Traditionally it's either Plain Bob Doubles or Grandsire Doubles.  There are lot's of arguments which one should be first, I learnt Bob Doubles first so I tend to suggest it first, the bobs are slightly easier than Grandsire, but really I can't see it matters.

1. First of all learn the circle of work:

Plain bob doubles is just plain hunting with two bells dodging and the other two bells making places. You can learn the order of working using a circle as shown below.  The blue numbers are where each bell starts. In plain bob each bell starts just after doing a piece of work.  i.e. the 2nd has just made 2nd's 

2. Learn the Line

You need to learn the line, off by heart so you know the places to ring in.  Know your places will tell you what speed to ring at, Slow, Steady or fast. Keep drawing the line out on a piece of paper until you can draw it out without thinking about it, or you can use an app or computer programme.

I find the RSW website very useful, Plain Bob Doubles is available from the link below:

https://rsw.me.uk/blueline/methods/view/Plain_Bob_Doubles

3. Practice the line

Click the link and it will show the method. There are four buttons along the top.  1. Details, 2. Line, 3. Grid, 4. Practice.  Click on practice and you will be able to draw the line out on the screen using the arrows at the bottom.  I have made a short Youtube video of it of me doing it.

I did on my Laptop, but it's probably easier on a Phone or Tablet.  You need to be able to trace the line out off by heart without hesitation.

4. Practice the method

These days the use of computer programs make learning to ring so much easier as you can give yourself so much practice out of the tower.  I use Abel but there are many more apps and programs such as Bell Tower, Methodology etc.  Ring the method as much as you like, I have down a Youtube video of me ringing the 2nd to Plain Bob Doubles:

Once you can good at plain courses, try setting it for it to call a touch.  Try ringing it from all the working bells.

If you can practice at home it gives you a much better chance when you get into the tower.  Most times you may only get 5 minutes a week to ring it 'live' on real bells so you need to be ready to make the most of that time.

Two other methods to learn are:

Grandsire Doubles

https://rsw.me.uk/blueline/methods/view/Reverse_Grandsire_Doubles

Reverse Canterbury

https://rsw.me.uk/blueline/methods/view/Reverse_Canterbury_Pleasure_Place_Doubles

These both can be learnt in exactly the same way.  To download Abel click https://www.abelsim.co.uk/ or use Google play or the App store on Apple.

Above all count your places

Knowing your places

I have written a quick worksheet to try and help you learn about places and to move towards ringing plain hunt.  Click on the link below to download the PDF

Learning your places

Learning to Count Your Places

I attended Dilhorne's practice the other evening.  It was well attended and their band of ringers have learnt to handle their bells well. They are starting to progress to Plain Hunting and so we started discussing 'counting your places' what is it? and why is so important?

Counting your places tells you where you are in the sequence of the bells.  For example if I am ringing on the bell 3 in rounds I am said to be in 3rd's Place

1 2 3 4 5 6 (I'm in 3rd's place)

If a conductor calls a change 2 to 3, this means Bell 2 follows Bell 3, so the change is now

1 3 2 4 5 6 (I'm still on bell 3 but now I'm in 2nd's place)

I need to listen and count 1 2 3 4 5 6 (i'm emphasizing the 2nd ring as that's me! on bell 3)

So what has this told me?

I was in 3rd's Place but have moved down to 2nd's Place - Going down I need to pull in (be fast), I need to do this even before I think about who I am following, pulling my bell in will keep the correct rhythm of the ringing.

There are 3 speeds in ringing

1. Fast - Going 'down' the order

2. Slow - Going 'up' the order

3. Steady - Staying where you are in the order

These 3 speeds are used in all methods, there are no other speeds, even in the most complex of methods such as Bristol Maximus uses these 3 speeds.

If you start thinking about your places in call changes, the leap to method ringing will become easier.

Bell Ringing Sequences

I have just been on the telephone talking 'education' to one of our members and she mentioned no one had taught her any other changes other than rounds, so here are a few popular ones for 6 bells.

1 2 3 4 5 6 (Rounds)

1 3 5 2 4 6 (Queens)

5 3 1 2 4 6 (Kings) (also known as Whittington's)

1 4 2 5 3 6 (Tittums)

3 4 2 5 1 6 (Exploding Tittums)

5 4 3 2 1 6 (Reverse Rounds)

There are a few others, but these are the popular ones.  I am happy to discuss how to call the bells to these sequences.

However,  I quite often start my learners off by just 'pulling off' in one the different changes.  It gets the learner to starting thinking about following different bells, without the fear of worrying who they follow, and changing speed.