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As I librarian I naturally have a commitment to and interest in the printed word. Much as I love the internet, I still feel books and other printed material have a place in the modern world, and as a historian I feel this is equally true. There is a tendency now to assume that everything can be found on ‘the Net’ but this is not yet the case. Take peals, for instance. Most ringers are familiar with Campanophile which can show details of peals literally minutes after they are rung. And Pealbase and peals.co.uk show who has rung what and where. But details are not yet complete. Pealbase only goes back as far as 1970 and peals.co.uk only gives full details for the last few years. The Felsted Database shows how many peals have been rung at each tower and the method rung, but no details of which Association it was rung for or who the ringers were. For a full record you need to look in the Ringing Word – or the relevant Association Report. These can make fascinating reading – they show when ringers rang their first peal, when a particular method was first rung and other interesting details. They are also an important historic record of the Association and its activities.
Looking at my pile of reports which goes back over 50 years it is easy to see how things have changed. For a start, the pile of reports for the last 10 years is almost as high as the pile for the first 30 years! The report for 1958 is only just over 30 pages long and lacks many of the items we see in today’s report. Only the number of bells at each tower are given: no details of weight, Sunday Service ringing or practice night are listed. There are no addresses or phone numbers for Tower Secretaries (few would have had phones anyway). The reports from the Association Officers were brief; the office of Peal Secretary was relatively new. There was no Bell Restoration Fund and no PR or Education Officer. The Association did not run training courses as it does today and indeed did very little apart from hold monthly meetings. The report of today will give the historian of 50 or 100 years time far more information that that of 50 years ago. Today’s report is certainly a more professional, informative production but this has come at a cost. It is now three times as long as in 1958 and costs proportionately more to produce, despite the advantages of new technology. Some say that a printed report has no place in today’s world, but as I have already said, I think a printed report is of great value, both today and in the future. True, we have an Association website which gives details of contacts, towers and meetings and practices but not everyone has access to a computer and the internet is still not readily available when travelling (although this will probably come before too long). And unless it is kept up-to-date it is not a useful tool. But, good though our current report is, at nearly 100 pages long, perhaps some changes could be considered. The peals take up more room than they used to and could possibly be condensed. Other layouts could possibly be changed so as to take up less space; after all we are all very conscious of the need to conserve resources!
And where does a District Newsletter fit into this on-line information age? Many Branches or Districts do not have a printed version, relying on email, websites or a simple news-sheet to pin on the tower Notice Board. Our Newsletter has been running for over 10 years and is very well-produced, attractive and informative. It even has colour photos which would have been an unheard-of luxury a few years ago. But the debate now is whether we need a printed version. I would say unequivocally that we do. It is far easier to browse through a leaflet than a computer screen and as stated, we do not always have access to our computers. It offers far more than information on forthcoming events as it includes technical and historical articles, reports on District and Association events and quarters and peals rung in our area. Yes, some of this is available elsewhere but not all in the same place! It also goes to every district member, not just those who attend meetings, ring peals and quarters or who take the Ringing World, thus providing a useful link as (although this is a generalisation), many who do not attend meetings also do not take the Ringing World or ring regular peals or quarters. Historically too a printed version is more likely to survive; technology moves on at such a pace but who know what will be available in the future? Today’s WebPages may not be available in 10 years time and the way of storing information also has changed over the last 10 years; discs have been superseded are now almost unused but even today’s technology may not be compatible with that of the future. So I would still like to see a printed version – even if it is only one per tower that we can all read when sitting out or between touches.
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