Welcome!
Our Region
The North West Region is part of Handbell Ringers of Great Britain, whose aim is to promote tune ringing on handbells by organising activities and providing support and advice for its members.
The Region covers Cumbria, Lancashire, Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Cheshire, parts of Derbyshire and West Yorkshire, North Wales, the Isle of Man and Ireland.
Our activities are organised for members of the Region, but there’s a warm welcome for prospective members so if you would like to try out one of our events, contact our Secretary, Irene Merson.
The Region also has a Facebook Group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1223433977844693/
Ringing in the North West Region
A flurry of Christmas Concerts
Christmas 2024
Our local teams will be busy entertaining folk over the festive season. Kinder Ringers are to join with Voices in Achord choir for a one-off Christmas Concert at Heaton Chapel, Stockport on Saturday 21st December at 4pm.
Maghull Parish Handbell Ringers will be with Deo Gratias choir at Hoole, Chester, a lovely church where the Northern Bell Orchestra have been known to perform.
Morecambe 2024
Morecambe 2024 - All the right notes but not necessarily in the right order
On Saturday 2nd November the Northwest Region of HRGB gathered at Morecambe for the Autumn Rally.
Although there was a raging battle re-enactment going on outside by Historia Normannis Morecambe, the teams enjoyed a varied programme.
There was more than one family group and an appearance by a Reverberations Cover girl!
Entertainment was in the form of a sneek preview of Bronze Carillon's next appearance. The team introduced themselves and Robert explained the reasons and challenges of ringing so many bells off the table.
Christmas spirit was much in evidence with decorated tables, Christmas jumpers and more than one rendition of
Ding Dong Merrily on High.
Marple had brought their mascot Gusto and Tantony had two handbell ringing Pendelphin Bunnies adorning their table.
Teams represented were Kirby Lonsdale, Kinder Ringers, Marple, Maghull, Bronze Carillon, El’s Bells from Wakefield and Tantony from Egremont, with Roger & Christine Lazenby from the NorthEast, Linda from Bury and Linda McCord from the East Anglian Region.
The First Massed ringing was an arrangement of Away in a Manger conducted by Kate
The first round of team ringing consisted of:
We Three Kings - Maghull Parish Handbell Ringers
O Come All Ye Faithful - Marple URC Handbell Ringers
Angels Merrily on High - El's Bells
See Amid the Winter Snow - Tantony Ringers
Hey Jude - Linda, Beth and Jocie
Ding Dong Merrily on High in a medly with Good King Wenceslas - Kinder Ringers
Bronze Carillon Ensemble introduced themselves as
Robert, Jill, Sarah and Elizabeth (Bert).
The pieces they played are still in rehearsal for the next concert, their rehearsal having been scheduled for the same date as the rally.
They played Aria and Composition Number 8 by Beethoven
They then played a Mallet piece PickleWinner followed by
Pastoral on Forest Green (O Little Town of Bethlehem) and
Caroler's Hoe Down featuring special effects horn ,snap, Swanee whistle, tick tock and jingle bells.
A well deserved lunch was then enjoyed by the assembled.
The Have-a-go session featured, from the Have-a go Collection by Aardvark publishers,
Jingle bells - Sing & Ring which actually sounded quite reasonable once we had agreed on the English bell numbers as it was written with American bell numbers.
Claire de la Lune was a simple tune in highlighted notes.
Bobby Shaftoe was also highlighted and Good King Wenceslas we rang from numbers.
We were then led in the Massed ringing by Beth who conducted Three Shepherds Watched.
This incorporated parts of Ilkley Moor, Winchester Old, Cranbrook and Lygham hymn tunes.
After this we listened to:
Dance of the Icicles - Kinder Ringers
Rocking around the Xmas Tree - Linda,
They rang the 1900 bells which had been purchased from donated funds and are administered by the William Hartley Memorial Fund.
Silent night - Tantony Ringers
Joy to the World - El's Bells
Ding Dong Merrily - Marple URC Handbell Ringers
Ding Dong Merrily - Maghull Parish Handbell Ringers
Roger Lazenby reminded us of the following upcoming events:
2025 HRGB NorthWest 50th Anniversary Summer Rally
HRGB National Rally 11th -13th April 2025 in Milton Keynes
International Symposium 4th - 8th August 2026 in Aberdeen
2027 HRGB Diamond (60) Jubilee
See the photos in the Gallery
Kinder Ringers at New Mills Festival
Kinder Ringers Quartet play at New Mills Festival 2024
In September a few of Kinder Ringers played at the Annual New Mills Festival as Guests of New Mills Band.
Also appearing were a choir, basoonist and guitarist. Kinder chose to wear the Retro waistcoat uniform to distinguish them from the full team and they played The Floral Dance and Singing in The Rain.
Llandudno GatheRing 2024
Llandudno GatheRing -
Saturday 13th July 2024
The Llandudno GatheRing was a celebration of all the nations of the British Isles with music from England, Scotland, Ireland and of course Wales.
We began with a techniques workshop where Kate Worthington kindly took us through some of the special effects we might find on Handbell Music. The gyro was particularly effective on a large group of bells. The martellato technique proved difficult for teams without foam on the table. Fortunately,Norbury Handbell Ringers had some space on the table for others to have a go.
Marple URC Handbell Ringers kicked off the team ringing with Welsh Hymn tune, Hyfrodol. We were then treated to “The Celebrated Chop Waltz” or Chopsticks by Llandudno Handbell Ringers followed by The Floral Dance from England played by Kinder Ringers.
The Floral Dance was composed by Katie Moss, a 30-year-old British singer and composer in1911. A student at the Royal School of Music in London, she was inspired by her visit to Cornwall where she took part in the age-old traditional Fury or Flora Dance in the village of Helston.
The Craig-Y-Don Community Centre had a lovely outside picnic area.
However we were warned about opportunistic low flying Seagulls in the area as we were eating our lunch by the croquet lawn.
After lunch it was interesting to see the pieces of music brought along by other teams, some hand-written and some in collections published by the HRGB.
The Read and Ring session lead by Irene and borrowed from the National Rally, introduced us to various music notations and ways of marking up music.
In the second half, Marple played the Scottish Tune “Ye Banks and Braes”. Llandudno, a relatively new team, accounted well for themselves with an Irish/Scottish Tune “The Barren Rocks of Aden” made popular by Andy Williams on the White Heather Club TV show. In Scotland, it is played a s a Pipe March. In Ireland, they play is as a fiddle polka.Aden, near the entrance to the Red Sea, was noted for its barren and desolate volcanic rocks, and was annexed to British India in 1839. In 1967, it became what is now Yemen.
While on station in Aden with a detachment of the 78th Seaforth Highlanders Regiment, Pipe Major Alexander Mackellar rearranged and named the tune.
To complete the team ringing, Kinder Ringers then played “Over the Rainbow” from the film The Wizard of Oz.
Teams were invited to consider another weekend by the seaside in Autumn, more details to follow.
See the Gallery
News snippets
Obituaries
On 7th June Linda (Regional Chair) and Anne (Treasurer) attended the service, held at West Kirby, to celebrate the life of David Cleave, a former committee member and Chairman of the NW Region. His many talents were highlighted during the tributes from his family. He was founder and leader of Chandale Ringers, some of whom were also there, and revived many stories and memories of the years that the team regularly attended regional gatherings. David was also an Honorary Life Member of the region, although failing health had prevented him from supporting events when the team had disbanded. We will always remember his contribution and be thankful for everything he did in our region and the handbell world.
It is with great sadness that we heard of the death of Norma Parke on 6th June 2024.
She belonged to several teams in Cumbria and was always so enthusiastic about ringing.
Until recently she was part of the NW committee and would do anything she could to help and support our events.
NBO concert review
Northern Bell Orchestra Concert, Chester 2024
On a beautiful day in June the NBO made a welcome return to the region when they performed a summer concert in All Saints Church, Chester, supported by Bronze Carillon. The large audience were promised a variety of music which would demonstrate the versatility of the handbell as a musical instrument, and this is exactly what they got. Under the overall direction of Kate Sawallisch the conducting duties were shared between herself, Robert Pettener and Rona Gager.
The programme began with an original work by Josh Bauder called Exultate. This was followed by an arrangement of the contemporary choral piece, “All is Well”, a song recorded by Michael Crawford amongst others. From the pop world we had Katy Perry’s very successful “Firework” from 2010 and then “Africa”, first released in 1982 by the American rock band, Toto. It had reached number 3 in the UK charts. This piece was enhanced by the steady beat played on a genuine African drum. The first half concluded with a beautiful Malcolm Wilson arrangement of “Mountains of Mourne”, accompanied by cello, flute and violin.
After the interval came the exciting group that is Bronze Carillon, with over 3 octaves of bells. They began as a quartet playing Bach’s “Praeludium No 1 in C Major. Then came “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” played by 3 ringers, followed by the duet performing “Yankee Doodle”. Watching the speed and accuracy involved in swapping bells between the ringers was truly amazing. The trio then played the more calming “Greensleeves”, before finishing with the quartet ringing the frenetic “Pick a Winner”. Wow!
Whilst the table layouts were being reset Kate encouraged the audience to try some hands and feet coordination exercises before the NBO returned to begin with Handel’s Passacaille. The rousing Sousa march “El Capitan” followed and had us tapping our feet once more. Next came a piece by Michael Coe which had been composed for the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. Noone is sure which of the tunes for “Nearer My God to Thee” was actually played at the time so a combination of three was put together for this arrangement. The concert ended with “Toccata on King’s Weston” by Ralph Vaughan Williams, the arrangement making good use of the chimes to complement the bells. The 30 ringers with over 130 bells and chimes had certainly achieved their aim of showcasing what can be done with our special musical instrument.
Autumn Rally 2024
Ding Dong Merrily in Morecombe -
Saturday 2nd November 2024
The War Memorial Hall, Church Street,
Morecambe, LA4 5QD
All members of HRGB are warmly invited to join us for this event, which will have a Christmas theme to help you prepare for all those December bookings. Our normal rule is that all those taking part must be current HRGB Members, but if you have non-members and wish to bring them along to sample our North West events, please contact Irene Merson beforehand – details below and on the Booking Form.
Doors will open at 10.15 am for an 11.00 am start, and we aim to finish by 3.30 pm to keep return journeys in daylight as much as possible. Drinks and light refreshments will be available but you will need to bring a packed lunch, and don’t forget your cup.
We are very pleased to announce that this event will include a session with Bronze Carillon, just for us! If you’ve seen this team before, you’ll know how special that will be – and if you haven’t, you’re in for a real treat! We will also have two Christmas pieces for massed ringing, the music for which will be sent out in advance, plus a Read and Ring and individual team ringing. In addition, Beth will give a presentation on how to run a Have A Go session, with a pack to take away, and Kate will run a quiz.
We hope that you will join in with this early opportunity to get into the Christmas spirit – it will be a chance to check that your Christmas jumpers, silly hats, festive decorations etc are in good working order.
NBO open day
Northern Bell Orchestra Open Day
Saturday 20th July 2024 - 10am to 4pm
Ashover Village Hall - S45 0BA
The Northern Bell Orchestra would like to invite you to ring with us as we start
rehearsing music for next season. We’ll be beginners together. There will be a couple
of Level 2 (easy-ish), mostly Level 3 and possibly 1 rhythmically challenging piece. You
can come for as long or as little as you want; an hour or two, a half day or a whole day.
It’s free but we’d appreciate it if you could let us know whether you are planning to
come and when so we can arrange for you to have music. We have a limited supply of
music stands so do let us know if you need one. You will need to bring your own 3 ring
folder. We ring from staff notation only. You can also come just to listen.
We rehearse from 10am-4pm, with 2 tea breaks (we have an amazing baker/ringer
who provides great biscuits and/or cake) and a 30 minute lunch break (bring your own).
To let us know of your interest or if you have any questions, please contact
Rona Gager on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 07963 091121 or
Kate Sawallisch on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 07578 388620