Kinder Ringers at Hayfield WI
Kinder Ringers' Concert for Hayfield WI
Kinder Ringers were invited to Hayfield and District WI to play at their March meeting.
Fortunately the milage was low as they meet a few hundred yards from where we practice.
Some of the comments made afterwards were "It was a fantastic evening, I really enjoyed your performance" and "That was lovely! I was helping with the refreshments so couldn't come over and find out more but the music was so relaxing and interesting to see how the bells are played". Others commented on the variety of music played and the different sounds produced.
Bolton GatheRing 2025
Bolton Saturday 15th March 2025
On a bright sunny day in Spring the NorthWest Region of HRGB met at St Augustine’s church , Tonge Moor for their AGM and rally. The venue, being very familiar to the Chair, Linda, had easy level access and convenient parking across the road at the Medical Centre.
St John’s, Flixton Bellringers, recently reformed, had brought some new ringers including youngsters working on their Duke of Edinburgh Award Skill Section. Interesting, improvised mallets of corks and either chopstick or knitting needles were employed. Teams had each brought between 14 and 35 bells to ring their party pieces and massed ringing.
The first session of team ringing consisted of:
Llandudno - Aura Lee
Mini minims (Beth & Josie) - Dancing through life - Wicked
St John’s Flixton - Ode to Joy
Marple URC - Rustic Wedding
Kinder - Caribbean Carnival
Norbury - St Anthony’s chorale
There was a table of Others including guests, technically from the North East Region.
The workshops introduced us to Weaving as practiced by Bronze Carillon and
Off-table ringing as practiced by the larger northern teams such as Ecclesfield, Beverley and Saddleworth. Marple URC mascot Gusto found it all too much and had to have a lie down.
The first massed ringing was Men of Harlech, conducted by Irene, an interesting arrangement including the characteristic William Gordon variations.
Sandra Winter’s Twinkle Twinkle massed ringing was conducted by Beth incorporating changes in speed and volume to add interest.
This was the music rung for the second session of team ringing :
Mini Minims - Six from the Musical Six
Marple URC - Shepherds Hey
Flixton - Singing in the Rain
Norbury - Lord of the Dance
Kinder - You are my sunshine
Finally we reprised “Men of Harlech” with revived Gusto.
See the photos in the Gallery - 2025 Bolton
Dino
Dino Handbell Ringer
"Even this chap can do it with his teeny tiny arms"
Who knew handbell ringing was so old!
AJ Bell TV advert
Movies & Musicals Concert 2025
Saturday 1st March
Maghull Parish Handbell Ringers will be entertaining with a Movies and Musicals Themed Concert.
This will take place at Maghull Parish Hall, Damfield Lane, Maghull, Liverpool L31 6DB
from 3pm on Saturday 1st March 2025.
Admission is free but donations will be collected.
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
or see Maghull Parish Handbell Ringers on Facebook
Christmas 2024
Christmas Ringing at Kinder
Having been inspired by our Ding Dong Merrily Christmas Rally at Morecambe, Kinder Ringers and Kinder Quartet were busy adding to the Festive spirit and joining in various celebrations around the Region.
The Quartet were able to play at the smaller venues such as Stoneswood, Delph in Oldham where they met some real reindeer! We had our annual invitation to play for the residents at Clayton Manor Care Home in Congleton, managed by our greatest fan, Richard. The residents and staff were very vocal joining in our participation item, The Twelve Days of Christmas and even added some cheeky actions of their own.
We played a lovely Christmas Concert with the Voices in Achord choir. They had made their own percussion instruments to accompany Jingle Bells which finished with rather less Jingle Bells than it started with.
We joined Failsworth WI as they held their Christmas Meal and Fair and were treated to another local version of The Twelve Days of Christmas featuring Sausage Rolls, Pints of lager, Pies, Soccer Pitches, Startax Taxis, Fish and Chips, Failsworth Hats, Luncheon Clubs, Eight Bells a Ringing, Twelve Morrisons More Cards and a Pigeon on the Failsworth Pole. This song was apparently from their legendary WI pantomime which had recently triumphed.
We were lucky to have completed all our engagements before the real Wintry Weather set in as the Kinder area is known for it's beautiful but treacherous winter conditions.
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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