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Bingley Handbells News

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March 2022

2022 News, Uncategorised Posted on Mon, March 14, 2022 11:45:05

Well this has been a quiet month so far with not much news to report. However I submitted our annual report to the PCC and a copy is below as a review of 2021.

“We began 2021 with our catch ups confined to Zoom meetings and online Ringing Room sessions.

When the restrictions were relaxed again in June we were able at last to ring together again meeting in Jane’s garden in Eldwick as we had done the previous summer.

Fortunately before the weather deteriorated the restrictions relaxed again and we were able to meet indoors.

During the pandemic we had been asked to move from the vestry, so it could be renovated, to Church House where Mark Stothers had worked hard to find us space in a new storage area in the back room (which we share with the Toddler Group) for our filing cabinet and metal cupboard. This has proved to be a great improvement with more space, superior kitchen facilities and efficient heating.

We began performing again in November, although we were less busy than in previous years, starting with a rearranged performance for the Frocks WI in church and finishing in the same venue for the Christmas Tree Festival wearing masks due to the Omnicom variant.

We are now looking forward to what looks like a nearly normal 2022 with performances, rallies, New Year and Big Birthday celebrations.

Sadly the junior ringers at Trinity All Saints School did not meet during the pandemic and it appears unlikely that unless someone comes forward to assist the group will not start again in the foreseeable future.”

Solna Burnham

07884 233382



News February 2022

2022 News, Uncategorised Posted on Thu, February 17, 2022 08:53:27

10 years ago when we were raising money to restore the handbells we held a fund raising ceildh to celebrate the combined 150th birthdays of 3 of our members.

How time passes – this year will see the 3 of them reach a combined darts score of 180!

The first of these birthdays was the 60th celebration of Jane, our chair. As a group we purchased a rose bush aptly titled “Birthday Wishes” for her garden – which was the site of many of our outdoor lockdown practices.

The ladies amongst us celebrated on Saturday afternoon when Jane, very generously, treated us together with the tower bell ringers and her other friends to afternoon tea at Cafe in the Opera at Salts Mill. A lovely time was had by all and there was the usual competitive moment when each table formed a team for a quiz. Although we did not win we discovered our musical director, Clair, has a secret knowledge of TV shows and films!

Roll on the next big birthday!

Solna Burnham



News January 2022

2022 News, Uncategorised Posted on Mon, January 31, 2022 09:39:16

A New Year, A New Start!

As usual we began January with our annual post Christmas Dinner. This was delayed by COVID at the venue and on the rearranged date the service and the food were disappointing. However we enjoyed meeting up together, reviewing the year past and planning the year ahead.

At our first practice we were joined by three new members, Eileen, Margaret and Tony who are already established ringers and we hope they will stay with us. This means that we should be able to get back to ringing the full 3 octaves regularly.

However we still welcome new members either beginners who wish to try handbells or people who can already ring.

We are already getting requests to ring for events so if you want to make a booking, particularly for the Christmas period please do not leave it too late.

Solna Burnham

Secretary

07884 233382



News December 2021

2021 News Posted on Wed, December 29, 2021 09:39:57

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)



News – November 2021

2021 News Posted on Mon, November 22, 2021 09:00:40

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



News October 2021

2021 News Posted on Tue, October 19, 2021 15:03:59

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



News September 2021

2021 News Posted on Tue, September 14, 2021 12:26:20

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



News – August 2021

2021 News Posted on Thu, August 26, 2021 09:14:48

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



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