Childwall

About Childwall

For towerbell ringers, St Clement's is one of the standard plain methods. It gives good practise at dodging in 1-2, and extensive practise at turning round in thirds place. It also has the major comfort factor of pure Plain Bob above the treble.

Childwall is St Clement's compromised.

St Clement's College Bob Minor is relatively popular, there being 385 recorded performances on BellBoard at the time of writing (October 2023). For Childwall, just 13 performances.

Method Structure.

Place Notation:
X 16 X 36 X 36, 12, Bob 14, Single 1234. .

Grid:

Diagram: Childwall, plain lead, change-rows and grid.

Plain Course structure
For any one bell the method has three leads of fluid hunting, and two of static place making in 1-2. The method also preserves the natural coursing order and hence the static / fluid split.

Learning Childwall.

The Structure

This method is St. Clement's with a compromised frontwork.

The Rules

There is no simple rule expression.

Double Blue Lines

Childwall, 1-2

Diagram: Childwall, 1-2.

Childwall, 3-4

Diagram: Childwall, 3-4.

Childwall, 5-6

Diagram: Childwall, 5-6.

Artefacts

Note the pivot lead:
5ths place bell makes the thirds at the half lead
3rds and 6ths place bells ring plain hunting on 4 above 1-2
2nds and 4ths (coursing pair) perform the frontwork together in 1-2.

Place Notation and Grid

The grid is a better memory tool than the place notation. Visualise the grid and the place notation automatically follows.

Pictels

There is no value in deriving pictels for Childwall.

Ringing Childwall.

Track the treble

Awareness of the position of the treble is a key skill for most bellringing methods, and a significant help in ringing St Clement's. Some hints and tips for developing the skill are given in the techniques section.

Positional Awareness

Childwall give great practice at finding thirds place.

Place Notation Elements

The plain course of St. Clement's only contains 4 elements (X, 12, 16, 36). Childwall introduces 36.12.36.12.36 symmetrically across the Half Lead.

Place Bells, Pivot Leads, and Staging posts

Note the pivot lead (the central lead of the plain course):
5ths place bell makes the thirds at the half lead
3rds and 6ths place bells ring plain hunting on 4 above 1-2
2nds and 4ths (coursing pair) work together in 1-2.

Awareness of other bells

Following other bells in St Clements is relatively easy because of the preservation of the natural coursing order. Approach Childwall as a variation of St. Clement's.

Coursing Order in St Clements

As per St Clement's College Bob Minor, Childwall Bob preserves very well the natural coursing order for the working bells.
The bells working in 1-2 exhibit the natural coursing order from lead to lead.
Between the lead end and the half lead three bells in natural coursing order lie behind.
These same three bells then make thirds in turn below the treble.
These same three bells then lie behind again between the half lead and the following lead end.

Ringing the Method

The value in ringing Childwall comes from the backward leading.

Bobs and Singles.

The calls in Childwall look and feel like Plain Bob.

But note. The bell that makes the bob or 4ths at a single has just finished the frontwork (2nds Place Bell), it goes back and restarts the frontwork.

Touches of Childwall

It is normal to use the tenor as the observation bell .
5ths place bell is the pivot bell and hence the first lead end is 142635

The calling positions for the tenor are:
In, Before, 4ths, Wrong, Home.