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
