Linda our Chair person gave a nice opening for the Spring Gathering. Followed by Beth who gave a lovely talk on the life of Derek Jackson. Those of us who knew him and met him, will always remember him, so it was a privilege to play our first Mass Ringing piece, arranged by Malcom Wilson, 

Reflection on Finlandia:- 

Sale:- Dutch Clog Dance: (Tulip time), a very sweet piece of music. 

Norbury: March.    Pomp and Circumstance, lovely.

Marple: Early one Morning: Brings back memories of my school days, (I didn’t join in by singing).

Gresford: Plink Plank Plonk: No bells rung in this piece. 

The malleting was to perfection.

Dean: La'Morisque  by Teilman Susato arranged by Sandra Winter, although a very short piece starting with drum beat and mallets then on to bells finishing with the drum beats and mallets.

Beth & Jocie: Mother and Daughter Duets: First one was STOP: a very modern piece by our standards sung by the Spice Girls. Their Second Duet was, I have a dream by ABBA. Well it certainly, was a dream to watch Jocie play, and still be able to smile all the way through, well done Jocie.

Kinder: Gods Train:  A lovely piece, sheet music by Valerie W Stephenson for hand bells.

Marron Valley: In the Bleak mid winter:- Rather different from the other pieces, but yes as Margaret our leader said, its been a cold winter up to now, April 16th, and it is still quite chilly. 

Maghull:         Parade of the Tin Soldiers. One of my all time favourite pieces of music from childhood listening to Uncle Mac on the Saturday Morning Radio. Lyrics.

  The toy shop door is locked up tight and everything is quiet for the night when suddenly, the clock strikes twelve !!!

Our second Mass Ringing Piece:

Royalty Waltz:- a long piece, very nice. Thank you to the conductors for leading us through these pieces. We learnt so much from your teaching, how to get the best out of the music. 

Maghull: Gave us a catchy, foot tapping piece, Birthday Rag.

Marron Valley: Maria from the Sound of Music. A great musical, as we all know.

Kinder: Policemans Holiday:- Another great piece of music, I guess in the olden days it was a two-step at a dance. Dixon of Dock Green, Jack Warner, would have certainly enjoyed it. Montague Ewing enjoyed playing it on piano.

Dean: Followed Kinder’s train piece with The Runaway Train,   along the way I think we lost our whistle. 

Gresford: You raise me up. A great hit for Westlife.

Marple: Trumpet Symphonia by Purcell. A nice classical piece.

Norbury: Prelude Te Deum, another lovely classical piece by Marc-Antoine Charpentier.

Sale: Singing in the rain. Another foot tapping piece.

          I wonder if Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds and Donald O' Connor, would ever have thought, wow, in 2023 it’s been adapted for Hand Bell Ringing.

We all went through the two mass ringing pieces again: 

A thank you from Linda.

Tidy up - home time.