Bingley Handbells News

So our Christmas ringing is over and 2021 draws to a close.

The ringers are taking a well earned rest and we start practicing again at 7PM on Wednesday 19 January 2022 in Church House on Old Main Street if anyone would like to join us and give handbell ringing a try. We would particularly welcome anyone who “had a go” at one of our performances over the festive period and fancies finding out more.

We rang twice in All Saints Church: For the Frocks WI at the end of November and for the Christmas Tree Festival on 18th December. The latter was the first occasion we had needed to perform in masks which caused problems as our glasses steamed up etc but I am sure it is something we could get used to and it is better to perform in masks than not at all. It was a lovely setting with all the trees decorated by different groups around us.

We also performed at St Ives Golf Club for the St Peter’s Bowling Club Christmas Dinner, in Baildon for the Parkinsons Group and at St Wilfrid’s Gilstead for a church Christmas event.

So maybe we have not travelled as far as in previous years it was so good to be back practising and performing after the uncertainty of the last 2 years,

Wishing everyone all the best for 2022.

Solna Burnham (Secretary)

On the 18th 6 of our ringers performed a short lunch-time ring for the Friends of Trawden Community Center. We were very pleased to welcome two visiting handbell ringers, Christine and Roger, who swelled our numbers so that we could ring two-octave music. Despite the murky wet weather, there was a good audience of about 80 retired folk who gave us a warm welcome. After a few fluffs at the start (somebody had the wrong bells) our performance improved and was much appreciated as judged by the clapping at the end of each piece. At the end, after a bit of coaxing, we managed to persuade 5 members of the audience to participate by taking a bell and helping us to ring one of our easier pieces Ave Verum. As usual, the audience reacted with good humour as they saw some of their number taking part.

Our decision to accept the booking and travel a fair distance to Trawden was not, of course, influenced by the invitation from the Friends to join them for lunch but I have to say the meal of sausage casserole followed by delectable, gooey and creamy cakes, was much appreciated.

Solna Burnham

Secretary

At the end of September we held our AGM after our weekly practice in Church House.

There was not much to report on from the last year as we had not performed anywhere since Christmas 2019 and our financial transactions had been nearly limited to the purchase of a Zoom subscription!

We however are planning for Christmas 2021 – we have had a number of requests some of which are from groups we had to cancel in 2020 and some are from new “customers”. We have now booked up as many performances as we feel we can fit in and hope we will have enough time to practice so we can put on a good display.

As I say every year – “if you want us to perform for you please book early for Christmas”.

Solna Burnham

Secretary

Back in 2014 David Turner, the organist at All Saints, visited our group to give us some musical advice. Interestingly his wife, Betty, used to ring tower bells at All Saints and set up a handbell lunch club in the 1980s when she taught at Gilstead Middle School so he had a vested interest in our progress..

The bells she used had previously been the property of the Bingley branch of Toc H and had been donated to the school when the branch closed in the early 1980s. However with the reform of the school system back to two tiers at the turn of the century the activity ceased and no one knew what happened to these handbells.

Over the years I have asked in Connect 4 and at our Heritage Day event  if anyone knew what had happened to the bells but drew a blank.

However out of the blue we were contacted last week by Lloyd and Jackie Heseltine who now own the set of bells. They brought them down to our practice and, although they are clearly in need of some maintenance, it was very pleasing to see the full set in the flesh.

A mystery solved!

Solna Burnham

07884 233382

During the various lockdowns we missed two big milestone birthdays – the 40th of Kate and the 50th of Clair.

On Wednesday 25th August 11 of us met together at Church House and had a lovely afternoon tea before our usual preactice.

The tea arrived from Lavinia’s on cake stands and we supplemented this with Prosecco and Tea.

What a lovely evening we had – not only did we have a lovely social occasion but we also practiced on the 3 octaves for the first time in more than 18 months.

Solna Burnham

So we are back!

On Wednesday (19th) 6 of us met to ring 12 bells in Church House.

Our new cupboard for the equipment is not yet ready so we had to bring the bells, music stands and music in by car. We took all the expected COVID precautions and there were some problems like trying to count bar numbers wearing a mask and accidental bells rolling off our laps.

However we were back ringing real bells indoors for only the second time since March 2020!

It did feel nearly normal and our ringing room practices really seemed to have paid off. Our technique might be a bit rusty and some of the bells may have stiffened up over their enforced break so they didn’t exactly play when we wanted, but altogether it was a very successful practice and we are looking forward to the next one.

Our only problem is that only 6 of us can meet at one time so we can’t invite new members but we are hopeful this will change after June 21st so if you are interested please contact me.

Solna Burnham

Secretary

07884 233382