Youth Ringing Competitions
Young ringers have the opportunity to participate in competitions, which are a fantastic way to develop ringing skills, build confidence, and meet and ring with other young ringers not only from the local area but also from across the country.
Why Competitions?
Competitions might sound like exclusive events, but rest assured, this is not what ringing contests are about.
Instead, ringing competitions provide great opportunities to bring ringers together, at both regional and national level.
They offer young ringers of all abilities the chance to test themselves against their peers in a friendly environment, whilst meeting and ringing with others their own age.
Ringing contests are great motivation for ringers to develop their own ringing, so they can perform their best on the day! With this in mind, here are a few of the young ringing competitions that take place across the country.
The Ringing World National Youth Contest - RWNYC
What started as a one-off competition for the Whitechapel Trophy has grown into a massive annual event where young ringers from across the country come together to compete for various trophies and medals.
These days there are four main competitions with a call change competition and a method striking competition on six and eight bells and an additional beginner call change category. The all day competition sees young ringers from all over the country descend on a city for a chance to socialise, ring and have fun. The RWNYC also provides rare opportunities to ring at famous towers, such as the UK's only ring of 16 bells at St Martin in the Bull Ring Birmingham, or the world famous Great Bell of Bow at St Mary-le-Bow .
South-East Youth Striking Contest (SEECON)
SEECON serves as a regional counterpart to the national contest, running annually since 2017. It includes teams from London and the South-East of England.
Midland Young Ringers
The Midlands Young Ringers host a striking competition every March. They are an informal group of youth groups in the Midlands, who meet up during the year for ringing and socialising. In September and December they organise a tour, and of course they all attend the RWNYC in July!
The youth groups involved are: Brumdingers (Birmingham), Coventry Spires, Derbyshire, Oxford DG,
Nottingham young ringers, Three Spires (Lichfield & Walsall), Gloucester & Bristol, Foundry Foxes (Leicester), Peterborough DG, Worcester and
Bedfordshire young ringers.
Please contact your local group for more information.