Joint event January
28th 2017
Last year I organised a joint event for Hand and Tower Bell
ringers in the region. The event was a success and I was asked to arrange
another. I had thought it was going to be a one off!
This time we held the event in the hall adjacent Christ
Church,Ossett which although it does to have ringable bells is conveniently
situated close to a number of towers and the region’s motorway network.
The advantage of doing an event for the second time is that
you can learn from your mistakes and successes. The morning gave people the
opportunity to learn new skills either tunes or changes (such as we normally
ring on tower bells) on handbells. In the afternoon the tower bell ringers
visted other towers and handbell ringers tried sight reading together under our
own musical director Clair. This was her first experience of conducting a wider
group.
However the whole idea of the event was to give everyone to get together, swap
experiences and pick each others’ brains for advice. It was pleasing to meet so
many tower bell ringers who are preparing to set up handbell gropus often with
young children.
The whole day was a great success and, although I did most of
the organisation, it would not have worked without the assistance of the
Biingley Hand and Tower Bell Ringers including those who helped with preparing
food, serving and clearing up, advertising, transporting the model bell and
generally setting up, particularly over the last couple of days. They will be
relieved to know however that it will be a few years before we organise such an
event again!
