Earlier this year, when Olympic excitement was fading, Elizabeth remembered that The Churches Conservation Trust, YMCAfit and a PR agency, Midas, had contacted  several London towers with a plan to promote the fitness benefits of bell ringing. Always looking for new ways to recruit, and wanting to capitalise on the still-fresh Olympic encouragements to get more active, Elizabeth got back in touch with Midas PR. The result has been a mad press campaign elevating the likes of Andrew Clark, Andrew Larsen and Rob Parker to near celebrity status.

Docklands ringers hosted 5 newspapers, 3 of them national, and added lots of press cuttings to our scrapbook. Some links below will take you direct to the newspaper’s website, but where this is not available, we’re told by Midas PR that we can’t post scanned copies of newspaper clippings on the internet due to rights issues, so if you’re interested we can email you a pdf copy.

Southark News, 22 November 2012 (request a pdf copy)

Southwark News Cartoon, 22 November 2012 (request a pdf copy)

South London Press, 23 November 2012 (request a pdf copy)

The Evening Standard, 29 November 2012 http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/free-bellringing-classes-rope-in-pupils-aiming-to-boost-fitness-8367731.html

The Times, 3 December 2012 (request a pdf copy)

The Mirror, 6 December 2012 http://www.mirror.co.uk/lifestyle/health/could-bell-ringing-fitness-classes-help-1474421

I held this post back because The Sun was due to publish last week, but didn’t. We’re still hoping.

In the meantime, as part of the national Midas PR campaign, ringers from around the country have discussed the pleasures of ringing on many BBC radio and television shows, including the Jeremy Vine Show (Monday 3 December), BBC Sheffield and BBC Breakfast TV. Roger Booth reports this has a measurable impact to interest: a surge of hits to The Ringing Foundation’s Discover Bellringing website.

So, a big thank you goes out to all of our band members who assisted with press requests or tolerated the disruptions to our practices. We hope to have contributed to a rise in the numbers recruited to ring in 2013.