AGM 2021 Voting Papers Issued
AGM 2021 Voting Papers
Like the Loyal Company of Town Criers Championships, the HRGB North West Region AGM will have to be a silent affair this year. Election papers, proposals and reports are being sent out by e-mail to HRGB members. Look out for your documents arriving soon and let the secretary know if you think you should have had them. It is good to keep connected as we slowly return to some kind of normality.
Focus on Norbury Interview
Interview with Norbury Leader, Jon Leigh
From Amanda Jones' interview for the Autumn 2020 'Reverberations'
How did you first learn about Handbell Ringing?
School started a Handbell Team using a 2 ½ Octave set from Pettit & Fritzen that were bought that year
Cello & a bit of Piano
No. Still in staff notation, sometimes just the ringers bells, and sometimes full score
4 in hand at school, because that was the way the master taught us.
Off the table at Norbury, because they have always rung off the table.
Chose a piece using less ringers. The smallest number we can sensibly manage with is 6.
Duplicate, or, less occasionally, sit out, but we have pieces arranged for up to 10 ringers, so only occasionally would be an issue.
All ringers have different favourites. Mine used to be Doll Dance when I was happy swinging “5 bags of sugar” (big C), but now is probably The Bellflower Quadrille.
Off the table
Went to the one in Brisbane when I was in Australia for work.
Not now.
Yes, they were cheaper!
No, but Jeanette, a team member is on the local NW committee.
The same. Fees and Concerts.
Age and the ease of ringing the larger bells.
Don’t know, but it might be, if they are at home looking after children, that it is a hobby that they can do in the evening whilst their husband looks after the kids.
No, but I think team members might.
Publicity on Social media?
Not actively, but the newer ringers have come for a variety of reasons.
Northern Bell Orchestra Thank You
The legacy of handbell performances is carrying on in a special way even in these difficult times. Since the NW Region has members who ring with the NBO Kate thought it might be nice to pass on the following ’Thank you to NBO members’.
The Funeral service for Kate's brother-in-law was live streamed last Monday afternoon & included an audio recording of the NBO playing a piece we have performed several times in the past.
Kate says
" I want to thank the Northern Bell Orchestra for a wonderful performance of
Alex Guebert’s The Lord Is My Shepherd, I’ll Not Want
last Monday afternoon 10th August 2020.
You'll be thinking we didn’t perform last Monday. Well, the answer is we did. You played at the funeral service of my dear brother-in-law, Dan Farrell, husband of my sister, Marie.
Dan had a sudden and catastrophic stroke the week before last and died a few days later in hospice. Marie asked me to help her with choosing the music for the funeral.
It occurred to me that a special gift to Dan and Marie from me would be to share with them something of my handbell music.
Marie was delighted and the performance received a number of lovely comments & appreciative applause.
Thank you NBO for performing at my lovely brother-in-law’s funeral. It was very special and I will never forget it."
Three For The Road
"Three for the Road" by Rob Worrall, was winner of the Golden Oldie Arrangement Competition for the HRGB 50th Anniversary. It is a medly of Tavern in the Town, It's a Long Way to Tipperary and Pack up your Troubles in your old kit bag. In this time of lockdown and social isolation what have you been doing to celebrate VE Day 75th Anniversary?
Flying Bells at Easter
The French tradition of the Easter Bells dates back to the 7th Century when the Church had forbidden the ringing of bells from Holy Thursday until Easter Sunday to grieve Christ’s death and celebrate the Resurrection. So the story goes, the bells go to Rome to be blessed by the Pope, and when they come back from the Vatican, they bring goodies for the kids. Children eagerly awaited the return of the bells who flew in the sky with big wings adorned with multicoloured ribbons delivering chocolate eggs, symbol of life and renewal! Thanks to Norma for finding these in Lidl!
2020 NorthWest Rally and AGM cancelled
It is with regret, the Committee has decided to cancel the Spring Rally and AGM, due to be held on Saturday 14th March at Bury Grammar School.
We have, of course, taken this decision in the light of the Coronavirus outbreak and the Government advice. We have already received many cancellations and anxious calls, and clearly the situation is likely to get worse rather than better in the next few days. We thought it best to take the decision now, so that you can let everyone know in good time, rather than putting it off until some time next week.
The AGM will need to be rearranged, and our programme of events for the rest of the year may alter – these are decisions the Committee will take as things develop and we will, of course, give you details as soon as we can.
We apologise for this change of plan – we know how hard you will have worked on your party pieces for the Rally! – but we felt that we had to put the welfare of ringers first.
Ring the Bells for Christmas
Handbell Teams around the region have been busy celebrating Christmas in various ways.
Tantony took part in a Dickensian Fair at the Carnegie Arts Centre in Workington.
Kinder Ringers took part in a concert entitled "Christmas is Coming" near Stockport in conjunction with the Voices in Achord Choir.
Norbury Handbell Ringers entertained elderley folks and infants in an Alderley Edge Care Home and also Christmas shoppers outside Marks and Spencers and TESCO in Handforth.
If you have done any notable ringing over Christmas please contact the secretary or the Newsletter editor who would be interested to hear your news.
Autumn Rally Maghull 2019
Autumn Mini-Rally at Maghull Saturday 9th November 2019
The day started off with ice on the windscreen and a good excuse to ring Dance of the Icicles and floods bringing to mind Titanic if not Handel’s Water Music. The teams were challenged to each come up with a verse to the tune of “She’ll be coming round the mountain” which was performed in a grand finale at the end. The chocolate quiz was thought provoking and lead subconsciously to the eating of much chocolate cake in the afternoon break. Although the hall was full to the rafters we all managed to squeeze in with Maghull Team taking an elevated position on the stage. Once again we were awestruck at the Walthew House Visually Impaired team lead by Sue Evans who play by ear and performed for us St Anthony’s Chorale and The Theme from Jupiter.
American Patrol Massed Ringing was conducted by Robert, Pie Jesu by Beth and The Blue Danube by Margaret
|
Maghull |
Siyahamba |
Grazioso |
|
Norbury |
Rule Britannia |
Pomp and Circumstance |
|
Gresford |
Best of John Williams |
Chariots of Fire |
|
Walthew House |
St Anthony’s Chorale |
Theme from Jupiter |
|
St Clements |
Coro Handel’s Water Music |
Supercalifragilistic …. |
|
Kinder |
Dance of the Icicles |
Policeman’s Holiday |
|
Sale |
Rustic Wedding |
Hi Ho Snow White |
|
Bishops |
Titanic |
Phantom of the Opera |
|
Marple |
Revive Us |
Coming Round the Mountain |
The song lyrics (to the tune of "She'll be coming round the Mountain") are here
See the photos at Gallery - Maghull Rally 2019
Barnum's Gallery of Wonders
THE LANCASHIRE
BELLRINGERS
The most talented and wonderful band of the kind in the world
Performing under the auspices of P.T. Barnum
Proprietor of AMERICAN and CHINESE MUSEUMS
New York and BARNUMS MUSEUM Philadelphia
"SWISS RINGERS"
One summer Raymond L. Myrer of the Beacon Hill Ringers vacationed in London. He wandered into a secondhand music store off Shaftesbury Avenue and asked if there was any handbell music for sale. The proprietress said No but she did have a picture of some old ringers. Would the American be interested? Ray Myrer took one look. He wanted to whoop and holler but being a proper Bostonian, he just gasped. It was a rare and long-lost colour lithograph of the Lancashire Bell Ringers brought by Barnum to America in 1847. Every handbell ringer has heard of this famous band but until now no one knew what they looked like.
Most of us first learned about the Lancashire Ringers in Scott Parry's "The Story of Handbells". There we read that while they may not have been the first handbell band to perform in America, they were certainly one of the most popular and are responsible for a historical misnomer. Indeed, they should have been sensational for they appeared in Barnum's astonishing museum alongside a veritable zoo of strange and fascinating characters — Joice Heth, a Feejee Mermaid, Tom Thumb, Chang and Eng, the Cardiff Giant and Josephine Clofullia, the bearded lady.
Though the Lancashire Ringers were English handbell ringers, Barnum, for some reason required that they should be billed as "Swiss Bell Ringers". "And so," writes Scott Parry, "because of Barnum's insistence that the Lancashire Ringers appear as "Swiss" ringers, the misnomer that handbells and tune ringing are indigenous to Switzerland, has continued to the present day." (page 23)
Shall we read what the Great Showman himself has to say about this matter — here is an extract from Barnum's autobiography (Chapter XII, p. 345).
Having heard, while in London in 1844, of a company of "Campanologians, or Lancashire Bell Ringers," performing in Ireland, I induced them to meet me in Liverpool, and there engaged them for an American tour. One of my stipulations was that they should suffer their moustaches to grow, assume a picturesque dress, and be known as the
"Swiss Bell Ringers". They at first objected, in the broad and almost unintelligible dialect of Lancashire, because, as they said, they spoke only the English language and could not pass muster as Swiss people; but the objection was withdrawn when I assured them that if they continued to speak in America as they had just spoken to me, they might safely claim to be Swiss, or anything else and no one would be any the wiser.
As in other cases, so in this, the deception as to the birth-place was of small account, and did no injury. Those seven men were really admirable performers, and by means of their numerous bells of various sizes, they produced the most delicious music. They attracted much attention in various parts of the United States, in Canada, and in Cuba.
The Life of P. T. Barnum, written by Himself.
New York: Redfield, 1855. London: Sampson Low, 1855.
While in Philadelphia the Lancashire Ringers covered themselves with more campanological glory by ringing the first successful peal in this country on Sunday, June 9, 1850, on the ring of eight bells at Christ Church.
They returned to England, but Barnum brought other "Swiss Bell Ringers" to America in the 1870ies for his
"Greatest Show on Earth" circus.
To complete the story of the print, Ray Myrer did purchase it and exhibited it at the 1961 Ipswich Festival. In addition to this appearance in OVERTONES, Ray also gave permission to Nancy Tufts to reproduce it in the English edition of her "The Art of Handbell Ringing." Ray has generously willed the print to the AGEHR Margaret H. Shurcliff Memorial Library.