David Scrutton

David Scrutton started ringing at Stony Stratford in 1998 at the Church he attended and says he was given instruction by many wonderful people.  He was able to ring for the millennium.  David remembers being told that he was a ‘confirmed member of the band’ – and that this was a big welcome.  David progressed thanks to the help of several experts and got to ring several different methods inside and even a quarter peal or two.

There was a gap of about 8 years when another interest conflicted with Monday nights but David rang on Sundays, Weddings, Funerals and the New Year.

David remembers after a while of thinking that he was a fairly good ringer he was told by the Tower Captain ‘you are not in full control of your bell’!   Thinking about it, David said ‘I knew he was right!’  He thinks it was just luck that his bell generally got in the right place.  So he sorted that.

David had a second home in Masham so he always rang there – 10 bells – under the guidance of the Tower Captain and many others.  More quarter peals followed.  Lots of bedtime iPhone watching Mobel!

Covid meant the start of David’s involvement with Wensleydale Ringers Online Intro to Bell Ringing which has so far resulted in many new ringers to their cluster of 10 towers over three seasons (nearly 60 attended the courses and currently 35 learners are still ringing/learning).

With new learners in the Tower David was able to stand by learners in case they needed help and also to give one-to-one advice.

David has an aspiration to set up a teenage band like the splendid Yorkshire Tykes.  To do this he will need training in teaching and has attended the ART course in bell handling.  David thought this was so much better and safer than the way he had been taught – although he is not wanting to diminish the help and guidance from his dear friends in Stony Stratford all those years ago.  So, David is now starting to apply the M1 training with a mentor and hopes to be assessed and passed soon.

Then early this year Wensleydale Ringers (Jonathan and David) won an award from ART sponsored by AbelSim in the category Recruitment and Retention for their first two Online Introduction seasons.

This entry was written in June 2023.