Skill distribution curve (the zones)

Talk of green zone, red zone and most of all black zone ringing comes up regularly on the various ringing forums.

The terms are analogous to the difficulty rating of ski slopes and were introduced in the context of ringing by Simon Linford in part two of a series of articles published in the Ringing World in 2002/3 entitled "Room at the Top?".

The articles can be found using the links below:-

Room at the Top?

• Part 1 – "Introduction"
• Part 2 – "The Ringing Learning Curves"
• Part 3 – "Ringing Celebrities"
• Part 4 – "The Cost of Learning to Ring"

These articles were reprinted in The Ringing World in 2019, with an additional introduction and new annotations by Simon. Subscribers to The Ringing World can view these here:

• "Room at The Top (again)", The Ringing World, no 5658, 4 October 2019, pg 959
• "Introduction", The Ringing World, no 5659, 11 October 2019, pg 988
• "The Ringing Learning Curves", The Ringing World, no 5660, 18 October 2019, pg 1010
• "Ringing Celebrities", The Ringing World, no 5661, 25 October 2019, pg 1046
• "The Cost of Learning to Ring", The Ringing World, no 5661, 1 November 2019, pg 1062