Autumn Rally 2024
Ding Dong Merrily in Morecombe -
Saturday 2nd November 2024
The War Memorial Hall, Church Street,
Morecambe, LA4 5QD
All members of HRGB are warmly invited to join us for this event, which will have a Christmas theme to help you prepare for all those December bookings. Our normal rule is that all those taking part must be current HRGB Members, but if you have non-members and wish to bring them along to sample our North West events, please contact Irene Merson beforehand – details below and on the Booking Form.
Doors will open at 10.15 am for an 11.00 am start, and we aim to finish by 3.30 pm to keep return journeys in daylight as much as possible. Drinks and light refreshments will be available but you will need to bring a packed lunch, and don’t forget your cup.
We are very pleased to announce that this event will include a session with Bronze Carillon, just for us! If you’ve seen this team before, you’ll know how special that will be – and if you haven’t, you’re in for a real treat! We will also have two Christmas pieces for massed ringing, the music for which will be sent out in advance, plus a Read and Ring and individual team ringing. In addition, Beth will give a presentation on how to run a Have A Go session, with a pack to take away, and Kate will run a quiz.
We hope that you will join in with this early opportunity to get into the Christmas spirit – it will be a chance to check that your Christmas jumpers, silly hats, festive decorations etc are in good working order.
NBO open day
Northern Bell Orchestra Open Day
Saturday 20th July 2024 - 10am to 4pm
Ashover Village Hall - S45 0BA
The Northern Bell Orchestra would like to invite you to ring with us as we start
rehearsing music for next season. We’ll be beginners together. There will be a couple
of Level 2 (easy-ish), mostly Level 3 and possibly 1 rhythmically challenging piece. You
can come for as long or as little as you want; an hour or two, a half day or a whole day.
It’s free but we’d appreciate it if you could let us know whether you are planning to
come and when so we can arrange for you to have music. We have a limited supply of
music stands so do let us know if you need one. You will need to bring your own 3 ring
folder. We ring from staff notation only. You can also come just to listen.
We rehearse from 10am-4pm, with 2 tea breaks (we have an amazing baker/ringer
who provides great biscuits and/or cake) and a 30 minute lunch break (bring your own).
To let us know of your interest or if you have any questions, please contact
Rona Gager on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 07963 091121 or
Kate Sawallisch on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 07578 388620
2023 Sale Autumn ClusteRing
Wheels on the Bus or tyres on the car
- Sale 2023
The Autumn Clustering at Sale Moor Methodists Church Hall was a very enjoyable day.
It started in rain and ended in sun and the teams and significant others from near and far enjoyed learning and listening to some new and familiar music.
“The Wheels on The Bus”, an arrangement of the well-known children’s tune by Sandra Winter was more challenging than anticipated.
It included singing, sshshing and lots of dynamics. It also provided plenty of opportunity for sound effects and improvisation by Josie.
Having arrived with a flat tyre on her car, our conductor visited a nearby tyre garage who saved the day like Angels from the Realms of Glory.
We reprised “Finlandia”, arranged by Malcolm Wilson in memory of Derek Jackson.
Marple rang Meadow Brook and Catherine’s Capers, Norbury rang Grandfathers Clock and Rule Brittania with the help of sub, Irene and Kinder rang Carillon and Marigold.
The Maghull duo rang the more contemporary, Shake it off and Firework.
Brenda enjoyed going round meeting the teams with her raffle ticket books. The funds raised help to cover the cost of putting on the rally.
2023 NorthWest Autumn ClusteRing
Northwest HRGB Autumn ClusteRing
Sale Moor Methodist Church, 299 Northenden Road,
Sale
M33 2PP
Saturday 14th October 2023
10.30am to 4pm
MASSED RINGING MUSIC: The pieces will be:
- Reflection on Finlandia – Malcolm Wilson’s arrangement. NW members should already have copies of this – if not please contact Irene Merson.
- Angels From the Realms of Glory arranged by Ryan Price – This is available free, only to HRGB members, through HRGB Sales. If you can’t download it, contact Irene.
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The Wheels On The Bus – Sandra Winter’s arrangement. Will be sent by email.
We assume that teams will play 2 individual items, duration up to 4 minutes each. You are reminded of the need to comply with copyright legislation - all teams will be required to sign a declaration on the day.
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Please bring one raffle prize per team and remember your packed lunch and mug
Noah's Flood Manchester International Festival 2023
KINDER IN NOYE’S FLUDDE
Ringers from Kinder have played the handbell part for Benjamin Britten’s Noye’s Fludde on three separate occasions, but the recent involvement of our trio in a big-scale production in Manchester turned out to be quite different.
As part of the Manchester International Festival it was a co-production between Manchester Collective and Slung Low, a community -based theatre company from Leeds. In keeping with Britten’s original stipulation only Noah, his wife and the voice of God (in this case Lemn Sissay, the poet, broadcaster and former Chancellor of Manchester University) were professional performers. Most of the orchestral instrumentalists were young students from the Royal Northern College of Music, HalléYouth Ensembles, Olympias Music foundation and the Opera North Youth Company. To say we felt a little out of our depth was putting it mildly. We were the oldest taking part by a good 30 years! However, we were made to feel really welcome by everyone involved.
Our first run-through had been in the rehearsal rooms used by the HalléOrchestra. A week later we were amazed on arrival at the second venue by the vastness of the warehouse space, next to Piccadilly Station, where the production was to take place. We were shown the way through dozens of illuminated music stands, stepped over miles of cables and carefully avoided all the microphones before we could take our places. There were sound checks for all the instruments before the final rehearsal, complete with the 180 children from Leeds who were to be the animals entering the Ark.
After a break for lunch it was time to entertain the sell-out audience. All went well and ended to rapturous applause. Having previously said that we would not undertake this venture again we found that working with the renowned, and very patient but exacting conductor, Nic Chalmers, had taught us a lot and the whole experience was so well organised that, this time, we really did enjoy it.
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Huddersfield University HRGB Archives
HRGB ARCHIVE EXHIBITION
As already publicised, the HRGB archives, so carefully collated by Alan Hartley, now have a permanent home at Heritage Quay, the archive centre of Huddersfield University. A special Open Day was held on 8th July for everyone to view a selection of the exhibits. There was also the opportunity to try out ringing and to watch a mini-concert given by Clifton Handbell Ringers.
Clifton played a very varied programme of pieces from their repertoire, ranging from calming to lively, old favourites to newer ones. These included English Country Gardens, Pineapple Rag, Winter, Pachelbel’s Canon in D, Teddy Bears Picnic and the exciting Dueling Banjos from the film “Deliverance”, amongst others. They must have really impressed any non-ringing visitors with their 140+ bells and expertise.
Alan Hartley followed this by guiding everyone round the exhibition with explanations of what was on show. Not only was it a history of HRGB but also included other handbell memorabilia. Being able to see the famous Belle Vue Trophy was especially interesting.
There was then the chance, particularly for non-ringers, although others joined in, to “have a go” on Beverley Town’s 12-bell set, led by John Atkinson with his easy- to- read music. Each team had two rehearsals which then produced a very recognisable final “concert performance”.
The free exhibition is open until 5th August and is well worth a trip over the border to Yorkshire for anyone interested in bells and bellringing history.
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Maghull Parish Handbell Ringers 40th Birthday
Maghull's 40th Birthday Concert
On 1st July 2023 Maghull Parish Handbell Ringers held a concert to mark 40 years since their founding.
The concert kicked off with Good King Wenceslas, an unusual choice for a hot midsummers day. However Beth explained that Good King Wenceslas was the first piece the team ever played in public, this being at their first rally in 1983.
The team used the original bells for this piece and the band included founding members Simon and Molly Rennie.
Then came Grazioso by Arnold Sherman a piece which brought back memories of the Canada International Symposium which Maghull attended in Toronto, Canada.
The next piece was Birthday Rag, highly appropriate for the 40th celebration and continued with Siya Hamba. This piece of music, which makes use of the African Drum which Simon brought back form a trip to Africa, really got the feet tapping.
The team played a "Pirates of the Caribbean Medly" and "Phantom of the Opera", a favourite of thier long time supporters Marjorie and Jean, now sadly no longer with us.
Then Mountain Mist by Cynthia Dubrinski with Robert accompanying on the flute which had been a favourite of their musical director, Judith Barker. Next came the lovely Meditation on Blaenwern arranged for the team by Malcolm Wilson.
And finally the concert closed with Highland Cathedral, a favourite of Maggie's and purchased for the team by her husband.
Following the excellent concert came the cutting of the cake by Simon and Molly, raffle and refreshments. The team's archives were available to browse and the excellent cake was distributed.
Gallery - Maghull Parish Handbell Ringers 40th
to, re
NBO concert Sheffield 2023
Northern Bell Orchestra Concert, Sheffield 2023
'Ringing in Harmony' was a Concert given by the Northern Bell Orchestra in collaboration with the New Chamber Choir in St Mary's church, Sheffield in May 2023.
Rona Gager introduced the concert with the customary fire notice and told us a bit about the church where the concert was being held including it's outreach work during the week.
Some members of Kinder Handbell Team had decided to venture into the NorthEast region for the concert and it turned out to be a lovely evening.
The mix of choral and handbell music complimented each other perfectly. The choir was made up of singers from other choirs and sang a broad variety of music from very different genres.
One piece for both choir and handbells was called Stars, a very atmospheric piece with some very high notes for the choir.
The Bronze Carillion Quartet rang some impressive music, picking up and putting down bells and swapping bells amongst themselves at breakneck speed.
Visual aids were used to illustrate the Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy including a fairy wand, christmas headband and tinsel.
Some of the music had been included in the recent coronation service, the bell orchestra played "All is Well" and the choir sang " I was glad when they said unto me" by C.H. Parry.
Kate Swallisch thanked everyone for coming and said it was good to be back to performing after the interuption of the Covid pandemic.
Maghull 40th Anniversary Concert Saturday 1st July 2023
Concert and Refreshments with Maghull Parish Handbell Ringers
Saturday 1st July 2023
To Celebrate their 40th anniversary Maghull Parish Handbell Ringers will be giving a concert and holding a party in the Parish Hall where they meet.
Contact
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information