The Saxilby Simulator
by David Horrocks
Roger Fox enjoying a ring on a
Saxilby Simulator at the Dunster Show.
Church bell ringing simulators have been around for a long time now and their use as an important training tool is widely accepted. Besides being great fun, time spent ringing on a simulator greatly helps development of both handling and listening skills and allows a person to get more practice (and with a perfect band) than can ever be achieved in a conventional practice night environment.
However, the vast majority of simulators are installed in bell towers and therefore stand idle and inaccessible most of the time.
Ideally, a ringer should have a simulator at home and be able to "ring a quick course of something" whenever he or she wishes. Owning a Saxilby Simulator makes this possible.
The size of the Saxilby Simulator has been optimised to allow proper, two-handed ringing with a proper, high quality bell rope, while maintaining an acceptable level of portability. This realistic and robust construction makes it an ideal tool for introducing the concept of bellringing to a wider audience. The modular design allows any number of units to be arranged together to form a pleasant, versatile, low cost ring.
The Wombel ("one bell!") campanile was designed as a high quality, portable, light-weight framework which can be easily carried around on a pair of simple roof bars and, together with a Saxilby Simulator unit, taken to schools and fairs in order to raise the profile of ringing by allowing an initial hands-on experience.
A short video clip of ringing on the simulators can be accessed www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vUFBW-j3fo. Much more information can be found on The Saxilby Simulator Website http://www.saxsim.com/