W|here does time go to – as I write this we are already practising our Christmas repertoire! We have quite a few engagements already lined up and are looking forward to a “normal” Christmas.
In September we played our usual 2 octave music for two events. We played at Springbank Care Home in Silsden nd at Aire Valley Court in Bingley.. The lady who organised the visit to Springbank had heard us play at Silsden Methodist Church and seemed quite impressed – hence the booking and Aire Valley was a return visit. It is always nice to be asked to return to somewhere we have performed before – it certainly makes us feel we must be doing something right!
In October we hosted a North East Region Autumn Rally at the Methodist Church in Silsden. This a lovely venue with a large main room, smaller room for showing a film and a well equipped kitchen and cafe area. Luckily for us our new member Eileen helps there regularly and able to show us how to use all the catering equipment.
Ringers from as far away as Beverley, Messingham, Sheffield, Brighouse and Otley (and all points in between) attended. We were particularly pleased to welcome the Junior team from Clifton and the Kildwick Mini Ringers. The children from Kildwick had only been ringing together for 4 or 5 weeks and put in an amazing performance in front of a room full of experienced ringers.
A lovely day was had by all. Each team performed a few pieces and then everyone (including the juniors) rang Chariots of Fire (conducted by our Regional Chair John Atkinson) and Polaris & the Northern Lights (conducted by our own Clair Bonner) together. Most importantly there was plenty of opportunity to eat, drink and socialise – numerous cuppas were consumed!
Additionally Peter Fawcett (author of Ringing for Gold about the development of handbell tune ringing) presented his film “Travelling in Time” which a number of the audience enjoyed over the lunch interval.
All of our ringers contributed in some way to the success of the day, but we are relieved that it will be some time before it will be our turn to host the event again!
