Future of The Ringing World
Chairman’s response to discussion up to 30th March
Thanks to all who have responded to my article in last week’s edition. Many of you have obviously taken a lot of trouble to make constructive suggestions; there has been little destructive criticism but quite a lot of pessimism. I’m not taking my suit of armour off yet, but have propped open the visor.
Some common themes are emerging:
- The desirability of printing performances is being questioned,
- If performances are not printed, the paper might become monthly or fortnightly,
- Many want changes to the non-performance content,
- The future may entail The Ringing World being part of a national subscription package for ringers with other benefits as well.
We’d like to know if there are people who do feel that performances need to appear in print. If they are not printed, we shall need to provide more general interest material; could this include material of national interest from some of the many excellent association and branch newsletters? What else?
The Central Council is developing plans for the service it will offer to the Exercise and I have been impressed by what I have heard, but I believe they will struggle so long as the Exercise is so fragmented. This is also a problem for us at The Ringing World as the aforementioned association et c. newsletters carry much of the material (and notices) which we would once have provided. Should we ringers be clinging to an organisational structure that basically dates back to the Victorian era? Divided we fall?
Please keep the discussions going. We cannot monitor all social media, so please get someone in your group to make sure we get your inputs.
Lastly, please stay on board with us and do not change your behaviour until a long term sustainable future with common support has been developed. We need the donations and performance material to keep us going in the near term. It seems illogical to me for people to cancel subscriptions in disappointment at what we are now, when we are trying hard to respond to your criticisms and move towards providing what you really want.
NIGEL ORCHARD
Chairman of The Ringing World Ltd