Lostock Hall - Golden Jubilee Saturday 10th May 2025
Lostock Hall Academy,
Saturday 10th May 2025
Preston PR5 5UR
You can come as an individual if you can't get your team together on that date BUT even if you can't come as a team please send us a video clip (under 5 minutes in .mp4 format) of your team in action for our video montage. Closing date for receipt of these is Sunday 29th April.
Guest conductor Malcolm Wilson will be joining us from Dunblane Cathedral.
There will be a bake-off cake competition with prizes and opportunities to share your photos of NorthWest Handbell Ringing events.
Please wear Yellow or Gold items of clothing and if you can, send us a video of your team performing.
The event is for all members of HRGB NorthWest whether in a team or not and we look forward to seeing you there.
Skills Day Worcester Saturday 7th June 2025
Maghull Movies & Musicals Concert 2025
Maghull Concert -
Saturday 1st March 2025
On a sunny spring day in March a large audience enjoyed a marvellous concert at Maghull by Maghull Parish Handbell Ringers.
On display were many different techniques which added to the texture and diversity of the programme of
Movies and Musicals Music.
Leading up to the concert, Maghull Parish Handbell Ringers were unfortunately moved out of their regular practice room, the Remy Room, as Maghull Council had to use it whilst repairs were being carried out on their Town Hall. Fortunately the dance class in the hall agreed to alter their sessions so that handbell practices could take place in the hall.
The programme consisted of :
The Pirates of the Caribbean Theme
Favourite Things from the Sound of Music
Theme from The Lord of the Rings
Lion King Medley
Phantom of the Opera
Hallelujah from Shrek
The Muppets Theme
A Medley of Les Misérables music
Beth explained how the money raised would go towards replacing a cracked "E" bell.
She thanked past members and conductor, Judith Barker who had helped set up the team.
In the interval, refreshments were served on the stage even though the tea room was out of action.
A raffle was held and Jocie and Issie performed an excellent double act drawing out the numbers. A challenging Movie Quiz also taxed the audience’s memory and set the mood for the concert.
Afterwards, people were invited up to look at the bells and the music and ask questions.
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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
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.