Over the last month we seem to have travelled as far North
and as far South as ever before for a performance.

In August we performed for a group of over 70s in Holmfirth.
They provided us with a very welcome lunch and then 8 of us played a number of
pieces for them.

In September we were able to take all three octaves to entertain
the ladies of Hampsthwaite W I near Harrogate. We were concerned that due to
summer holidays the whole band had not practised together for some time but it
all was “alright on the night”.

Although both venues were geographically far apart the
performances were very similar. Both were in spacious, well equipped halls with
plenty of tables so we did not have to supply our own. Both groups provided us
with tasty food and drink (the way to a handbell ringer’s heart is through her stomach!). More importantly when we had finished playing our pieces we offered
the audience a chance to have a go and in both instances they were very
enthusiastic and almost too many of them wanted to have a go resulting in some
very creditable renditions of our pieces.

The journeys to both locations took us less time than we
anticipated and we even managed to dodge the rain showers as we unloaded and
reloaded the cars. However we have realised that Friday afternoons are
particularly busy on the roads of West Yorkshire and whichever route we tried
back from Holmfirth we met a queue of traffic – maybe we should stay at home on
Fridays in the future!

Normally we would now be starting to practice our Christmas
music, but this year we have bookings through October and November to prepare
for first. Our diaries are certainly getting busier and we are always on the
lookout for new recruits.

Don’t forget anyone who is interested is welcome to visit one
of our Monday or Wednesday evening rehearsals in the vestry to see what handbell
ringing is all about.