An art form with a nice ring to it
The Clifton Handbell Ringers, who can trace their roots back to around 1890, are preparing for their new season with a recruitment drive. They are offering free lessons to attract new players and they hope to start a new junior team.
IT'S a traditional art which is still going strong, and this week potential new players found out for themselves the ap-'peal' of handbell ringing.
Clifton Handbell Ringers are offering free six-lesson courses in a bid to recruit more members for both its teams – and also hopes to be able to start a junior team if there is sufficient interest.
Committee member Karen Kent said: "People of any age can get involved. If you can read music it's a bonus, but you don't have to be brilliant as you are only looking out for your particular notes.
"The hardest part is in the wrist action to get a note. Once you can do that you just have to learn the tunes and it's surprising how quickly beginners can do this.
"All the bells are owned by the committee and trustees so you don't have to buy any. This also means that you can't go home and practise. But then without the players at either side of you it doesn't make sense anyway."
Clifton Handbell Ringers play in the Yorkshire "off the table" style where each member is responsible for a section of bells in front of them.
"There are 140 bells covering five-and-a-half octaves so it is almost like a piano keyboard," explained Karen. "We all have our own little patch and pick up each bell as we need it.
"There are only another two groups using this style in Yorkshire, but other smaller teams also exist where players ring with the bells in their hands. People often think it's a dying art, but there are still new teams being formed."
Karen is member of the village team which is made up of younger adults and usually plays at concerts and other engagements. The senior team tends to meet more for recreation alone.
"We have a more difficult repertoire," said Karen. "We play everything from Handel to Andrew Lloyd Webber and Scott Joplin. Someone will suggest a tune and then David Sunderland, our musical director, will write it for us on the computer.
"You tend not to be able to buy handbell music and even that which is available has to be adapted because handbell teams vary in size."
The village team's first engagement of the new season is at Salendine Nook Baptist Church in Huddersfield in November and then there are two Christmas concerts booked with Stannington Brass Band in Sheffield and with Lindley Brass Band at Huddersfield Town Hall.
"We also perform for organisations such as Women's Institutes and Wine Circles and in old people's homes but we enjoy the bigger concerts as well because it helps us to raise our game as we have to ring that much better," said Karen.
There are eight ringers in the village team – including three couples, Karen and her husband Darren, Mr Sunderland and his wife, Caroline, and Mrs Jean Chadwick and her husband Philip, who is the group's compere.
"Caroline is my friend and I got involved when I went along to watch her with the team," said Karen. "That's how I got to know my husband as well."
The latest recruitment drive follows Jean's announcement that she plans to retire next year. "We have had a number of people tell us they are definitely going to come on the course, but if anyone has missed the first session they can still come along and catch up.
"Some youngsters have also shown an interest and we are really pleased about this because we have been talking for years about starting a junior team. If they are keen it could be the beginning. Our future is in a youth team, but it can be difficult to recruit. "
Karen is a teacher and has already run a handbell course at the infants' school where she works in Huddersfield.
The original Clifton Handbell Ringers were formed around 1890 and consisted mainly of male members of Clifton Parish Church. After fund-raising in the village a new set of bells arrived in 1908 from Mears and Stainbank, the London company which made Big Ben.
After the outbreak of the First World War the ringers disbanded and the bells were put into storage in a local mill. They remained there for 60 years until they were rediscovered by Peter Fawcett who was researching the history of the original team.
The bells were refurbished and a new adult team (now the seniors) established in 1975. A junior team, now known as the village handbell ringers, followed in 1978. The set of bells from 1908 have now been replaced.
The village team meets at St John's Church, Rastrick, on Thursday evenings and the seniors at the same venue on Mondays.
Anyone who would like to attend a training session should contact Karen on 01484 650076 or email beryl.cooling
@hotmail.co.uk. To book the village team for an engagement call Elizabeth Kent on 01274 877080.
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Wednesday 23 May 2012
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