Bingley Handbells News

One
of our ringers, Diane, works for Royds which brands itself as ‘a local charity
for local people’ and they arranged an event on 5th July under the NHS 70 Tea
banner.

They
held their tea party at their headquarters on their enterprise park in South
Bradford. Those attending where mainly members of their staff, local residents
and people who make use of their other facilities including a number of elderly
residents.

As
the event was held in the middle of the day we had even more difficulty than
usual putting together a band and only knew a few days before that six of us
would be able to attend to play music arranged for 12 bells.

Still
we managed it!

We
played a few pieces and then were treated to a real afternoon tea including
sandwiches with the crusts cut off, salads, baked salmon, cakes and scones with
jam and cream – all served on china plates. Each table had a vase of flowers
and their own teapot and milk jug from which tea was poured into china cups – a
far cry from our usual rehearsal time mugs!

Of
course every treat comes with hitch – in this case a fiendishly difficult quiz
to work out Yorkshire place names from the literal translations of the ancient
works – we might have known that Broad ford was the meaning of Bradford but how
many of us knew Ilkley meant Ylica’s clearing?

After
tea we took the bells around the tables to show them off and although they were
very interested on this occasion none of the audience were brave enough to
‘have a go’ in front of everyone else.

We
then departed feeling well sated and probably did not need to eat again that
day!

As a
small group we always welcome new members, but if they are enthusiastic and
musical it is a bonus. One
such person was Mary Lister who joined us early in 2015. She knew some of our
members through her other activities and interests including her attendance at
St Wilfrid’s, Gilstead and her membership of Eldwick Tennis Club.

Mary
was keen to ring the small bells as she considered they ‘had more of the
action’ and she took part in a performance and workshop at Dewsbury Minster
only a short time after joining us. After getting to know us better she had no
problem making clear her wishes for us to play particular pieces.

It was
particularly saddening that only a few years later, this summer she passed away
after a long and valiant fight against illness. She never let it rule her life
and latterly she would often make contact to say that she was having a good
week or was less susceptible to infection so she would be joining us for
practice – even if it meant spending an hour or so in Bingley whiling away time
after a doctor’s appointment. In fact she was particularly cross that a change
of bus timetable made it more difficult for her to travel to practices!

Her
funeral was held at St Wilfrid’s which was packed with a choir and a huge
congregation leaving standing room only. Jane, our chair, was asked to say a
few words about Mary’s membership of Bingley Handbell Ringers at the service
together with representatives of other groups which reflected her wide and
varied interests.

So we say farewell to Mary and extend our sympathies to her
son Will and other members of her family.

It is a sad fact that many groups of handbell ringers are
becoming short of members either on odd occasions or even every day for
practices. In our own case we have lost of number of members over the last year
or so due to death, illness, moving home or family problems.

We now have enough ringers for the full 3 Octave set if ALL
our ringers turn up. So with this in mind we are practicing more 2 octave music
and have been trying 12 bell music. In addition a group of our ringers attended
a workshop in March to learn how to ring 4 in hand (4 bells at one time). All
these give us more options but sometimes even these are not enough.

We rang for a partially sighted group in Ilkley in April
and as this was in the middle of the working day we could not raise enough of
our own ringers. However we were kindly joined by two experienced ringers from
North Leeds who attended our practice one day and performed with us the next
day. Clair and Diane from our band were then able to return the favour by
practising and performing with the same band, Treble 8, at the regional rally
in Grassington in May. Not only does it help on the day but it also gives us
more ideas to share and pass on. With this in mind we hope to arrange more
small rallies within the region to encourage future co-operation.

On 3nd June 6 of us (using the new 12 bell music) rang at
the first of the town council markets in Bingley. We have always from past
experience said that we would not ring outside but we were promised a gazebo
and an amplifier so we decided to give it another chance. The day actually went well and the gazebo
kept the bells dry even if our feet were literally standing in a stream running
across the market place following over 12 hours of heavy rain! We are now
looking at purchasing our own amplifiers and have offered to perform at another
of these markets.

It just goes to prove that we should not stand still, but
should be open to new ideas!

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.

What a
full and enjoyable day the tower bell and hand bell ringers had last month at
the 250th celebration day. We started by ringing before the Service,
watched by the Chair of Bingley Town Council and her colleague. As we had hoped
a bell theme then ran through the whole service and included a special poem,
appropriate hymns, readings by our ringers and pieces played by the hand bell
ringers and the junior hand bell team from Trinity All Saints’ School. We enjoyed an excellent, humorous and
supportive address and sermon by the Bishop, showing his impressive background
research on our bells and the bell ringers past, present and recruited for the future.
In general we felt the church had done its bells proud, and it was a pleasure
to see the large congregation swelled by a number of past ringers, ringers from
other local towers and special guests.

After
the service refreshments and celebratory drinks were abundant, alongside our
historical display, souvenir buns, biscuits and a tombola. Visitors had a go at ringing the Wombel, and
our tower tour encouraged the Bishop to climb up to the bell chamber to take a good
look at the action of bells as they were rung.

We
ended the day with a successful quarter peal rung on 6 bells. The 45 minutes successful
ringing, can be compared to the original 160 minutes of successful ringing,
undertaken by the 6 Bingley ringers of 1768. This great achievement by an all
Bingley Band of Ringers, so many years ago, deserved such a day of acknowledgement
and celebration by the church, its current ringers and their communities. Our
thanks go to everyone involved. We feel it was both a thoroughly enjoyable day
and a fitting remembrance of our 18th century predecessors’ great
achievement.

Solna Burnham & Ann Cossavella

Go Creative is an annual week in which different creative
events take place in local libraries offering the public the chance to join in.

This year there was a specific plug for handbell groups to
take part and we were asked by our national chairman to aim for target of 50 handbell
events nationally.

We were able to arrange an exhibition and a demonstration in
Bingley Library where we were joined by our new local junior team – Trinity All
Saints Mini Ringers. They of course were happy to take advantage of the
opportunity to leave school early that afternoon and made a very impressive
show of themselves – however some became
shy and were less keen to perform when their parents turned up!

The demonstration was a success although it was a shame that
only a few people wanted to ‘have a go’ . We do however hope the event raised
our profile in the town and maybe it will attract new recruits.

A cold, wet Saturday afternoon in the cafe at East Riddlesden
Hall was the scene of our first performance of 2018

We were fortified with refreshments including a warm (non-alcoholic)
punch and played at a social event arranged for the friends of East Riddlesden
Hall. The age of the venue fitted in perfectly with the age of some of the
pieces we played and the audience were most appreciative.

At the end we had our usual ‘have a go’ session and many
of them joined in. A number of them were knowledgable about music generally and
some even about bells specifically. Two of the ladies joined us at our next
practice and we are hopeful they will become permanent members of our band. To
assist we are trying to organise a special practice for them rather than
throwing them in completely at the deep end.

Things are usually quiet at this time of year. However March
sees a Get Creative week organised by the library service. We are hopeful that
we will be able to arrange an exhibition, performances by ourselves and the
children of Holy Trinity School and a have a go session for library goers young
and old in Bingley Library. Maybe this will attract some more budding ringers.

Watch out for posters and other advertisments!

The Christmas period was busy as always.

Firstly we entertained the Wilsden senior
citizens prior to their annual lunch at the village hall and the residents of
Aire Valley Court in Bingley. We had rung at both these venues before and it is
always gratifying when we are asked to return because we feel that we must have
done something right the first time. This does however mean that we need to
ensure that we play different pieces for them.

The same weekend we played for All Saints
Carol Service, both as the congregation entered the church and in the middle of
the service. The following day came our major performance at the Anchorage in
Shipley where we played all three octaves as part of a musical evening together
with the Shipley Male Voice Choir. This of course meant that when we reached
the sing-a-long pieces the vocals were so strong!

So what will the New Year bring?

In the last month we have said farewell to
Ann Parkinson and Ashleigh Holland both of whom have moved away. However Ann is
only going to Skipton so we hope she will still play with us occasionally. Ann
had rung with us since we first began playing our newly restored two octaves.
She often marked up music, conducted us and was a keen supporter of the project
to bring handbells into local schools. When Ashleigh moved to the area she was
already a tower bell ringer and soon joined both groups. One of her many
talents was the ability to ring both very high (small) and very low (heavy)
bells often at the same time – something most of us struggled with.

We wish them both well and hope that we will find new
recruits in the New Year to swell our numbers.

How time flies! I have realised that b the time articles are
submitted for the next issue of the magazine Christmas and the new year
celebrations will have come and gone! I will have plenty to report on then! The
highlight will of course be our appearance at the All Saints Carol Service.

In the meantime we have continued to be busy,

Only a few short weeks ago a new ringer called Diane joined
us. She had previously played handbells in the Philippines before she moved to
Yorkshirre and had found our details on the internet. She has been regularly
travelling all the way from Clayton to our practicesand has now joined us for
two performances – talk about being thrown in at the deep end!

On 12th October we took 2 octaves of bells to Baildon where
we played for the Parkinsons Group of which our Roger is a member. They made us
very welcome and many of them enjoyed playing with us at the end of our
performance.

Only two days later we were at Oxenhope as one of the many
turns in a fund raising musical evening. Because of all our equipment we
performed first but our space was needed straight afterwards so we had to pack
up in record time of less than 5 minutes. The other acts were varied including
young piano players, a choir and irish folk singers and we enjoyed sitting back
to watch them afterwards.

At the end of October we were at the West Yorkshire mini
rally to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the North East region of Handbell
Ringers at Sowerby Bridge. Because this was only a small rally we had more
opportunities than usual to ring both as part of the massed ringing and just as
our group which made it a very enjoyable day. We returned with plenty of tips
for improving our playing from experienced conductors and musical directors.