York Minster Bell Ringers Latest

[woofgang]

oh dear https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/17/york-minster-bellringers-sacking-was-on-safeguarding-grounds

[jno]

what, were they tying vulnerable children to the bellpulls? I can't see why concerns about one of them meant the whole lot had to be sacked, but it's hard to plough through that gobbledygook.

[andy-hughes]

An important point to remember is that any voluntary activity will attract attention seekers, busybodies and power seekers, and some are located in the same person.

You will always get people who want to make their voice heard, even it is spouting utter guff. The way to deal with it is to politely get rid of the troublemaker.

So, you ask one bell ringer to leave, twenty-nine are happy and relieved, a replacement is found, and on we go.

It's not rocket salad is it?

[jno]

it's hard to tell, andy, it's so vaguely expressed that it could mean anything from one person being a stroppy git to all 30 of them being a paedophile, er, ring.

[andy-hughes]

jno - //it's hard to tell, andy, it's so vaguely expressed that it could mean anything from one person being a stroppy git to all 30 of them being a paedophile, er, ring. //

From what I can gather, one ringer got his or her trolleys in a robble about health and safety regulations being followed.

This appears to have brought an avalanche of regulations in, which has meant that all of them had to go.

If I have misunderstood, I am of course happy to be corrected.

[Mamyalynne]

Curiouser and curiouser.

[jno]

I have no idea if you're right or wrong, andy. Where's a translator when you need one?

"Allegations concerning the bellringer at the heart of the dispute are believed to date back more than 15 years and further concerns have emerged more recently."

It sounds aas though they were concerned about him, not the other way round, but who knows.

[Gromit]

The Church have a duty of care to people working at York Minster, and to visitors, particularly children.
One of the bellringers has been highlighted as not being safe, so was asked to leave.
The other bellringers made a fuss, so were also shown the door.
The safety of people who use York Minster is the over riding concern, so the church had to ban the original culprit.

[DTCwordfan]

Talk about York Minster dropping a clanger here.

[Lunol]

It is my opinion and guess that according to this " It is thought that a small number of the York bellringers had been through Disclosure and Barring Service checks."

and this "Individual bellringers had “privately expressed concerns to the dean and chapter over whether due process was followed during their action regarding a member of the bellringing community,” it added.

“As a direct result of doing so, the entire team had their volunteer agreements terminated."

That someone may have recognised a paedophile, reported him/her and then they had to go through an enhanced crb check, so not wanting to be taken to court for singling out one person they told everyone they would have an enhanced crb check leading to many unsavoury convictions being found out and deemed unsuitable for the C&C hence the terminations.

This is mere speculation on my part.

What i found funny but in an unfunny way was the fact that is an actual bellringing community.

[jourdain2]

The new safeguarding document is over 90 pages long. I've just 'read' it (i.e. I've skim-read and am aware of the contents, which I can check on by picking it up again). It still sounds as if there has been a heavy-handed over-reaction somewhere, probably a personality clash, too. C of E is taking protection very seriously. CRB checks are not always considered adequate. I've signed the petition, by the way, something like this should not silence the bells. Badly handled and very bad publicity (much as I admire Dr. Sentamu.) :(

[woofgang]

interesting, I read it differently.
The way i read it that there had been concerns raised about one of the adult ringers, possibly to do with the junior ringers of which the youngest is aged 11. Incidentally he (the adult ringer) has been named by a local paper along with more detail but I didn’t think I’d post it here.
The Dean and Chapter had tried to address it by putting some kind of limitation on the person, probably by asking him to leave. Rightly or wrongly, the other ringers had sided with the one ringer and had colluded with him to ignore whatever restrictions the Dean and Chapter had instigated. If this is the case then I can see why the whole team had to be dismissed.

[jourdain2]

Thanks for that Woof.