Young@Herts

Young@Herts is the official group for young bellringers in Hertfordshire. Anyone aged 18 or under is welcome at our monthly practices. All abilites are catered for. Our only request is that you are able to handle a bell in rounds without assistance. At our practices we aim to give everyone an opportunity to work on whatever they’re learning in their tower, and progress, or try something that their tower can’t offer. In addition to our monthly practices, we enter teams in two bellringing contests: The Ringing World National Youth Contest (RWNYC), and the South East England Youth Contest (SEECON). The RWNYC is a major event in the national ringing calendar, with 30+ teams of young ringers from all over the UK coming together for a fantastic day out. SEECON is a smaller and more informal version. We also have occasional days out, either for a day of ringing, or to somewhere like the Taylors Bellfoundry Museum in Loughborough.

We meet on the last Sunday afternoon every month, from 2.00-4.00pm. Details of each practice are circulated to all towers, and via a mailing list. The practices are run by Jen Johnson and Mike Below, with a few adult helpers (often ex members of Y@H), who are strictly by invitation.

Young@Herts was formed in 2013. In 2010 The Ringing World organised a contest for young ringers as part of their centenary celebrations. Herts entered a team and won! The event was such a success that it was decided to make it an annual thing. Herts entered again in 2011, but couldn’t repeat their win. By 2012 all the team members were too old, and it proved impossible to get a team together, so in 2013, it was agreed that we needed to be organised, and Young@Herts was established. We have a good track record in the contest, always being in the top half of the results. Our best result to date was coming second in 2016, by winning the Call Change Category.