"Heavenly Bells"
- The Belleplate Group.
Annual Report 2003
Double Trouble or Double the Fun!
Belleplates are a low cost alternative to traditional handbells. Our parish
has a set which are played by two regular teams. They are known as the
"Heavenly Bells" and "Heavenly Bells 2". Occasional
other groups such as on the Parish Holiday to Whitby also make enjoyable
use of them.
Early in the year we played
for a Jubilee party for the over 60's in Walken which was extremely well
received. We also played for the Shopmobility AGM. We played for the Harvest
Supper, as has been the tradition, with the two groups but it was with
the Christmas season that the adult group really took off with the influx
of new members. The highlight of the year as last year was the Starlight
Carol Concert at Christ the King, but a close second was the improvised
concert at Grosvenor Court. The two groups competed over the best performance
of Jingle Bells - we had "ah" and "wow" - I'll leave
you to work out which was which.
The age range in the young
group is now quite large. All the new members have worked very hard to
learn to play and they are all coming along well. The established players
have been very patient and gracious while we have taught the new people.
We now practice on Wednesday
evenings at Christ the King. The times are 5p.m. until 5:45p.m. for the
young group and 5:45p.m. until 6:30p.m. for the older group. I am assisted
by Jean Archer and Kate Cope without whom we would never perfect a piece.
In the next year we would like
buy some new bells. The bells are now made in this country, rather than
being imported, and an add-on set is available to increase the range of
music we can play - at the moment we have no sharps/flats (black notes!).
We hope to have a fund raising event for this. Also I would like to look
for someone to offer to help to manage the group in terms of getting names
for performances and distributing information and such like.
If you are interested in joining
or inviting us to play for you then please contact one of us. Thank you
to all the team and for you, our audience.
Clive R. Bell crbell@argonet.co.uk
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