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Handbell Ringers of Great Britain (HRGB) was founded in 1967: the Society is dedicated to the promotion of the art of tune ringing by handbells, hand chimes and Belleplates.
The East Midlands was the first of the eight regions to be formed and its inaugural meeting was held at St Wulfram’s Secondary Modern School, Grantham in April 1975.
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My name is Michael Johnson (Mike) and I was elected as the new Chairman for the East Midlands region in July 2017.
I have been a member of the Stanwick Handbell Ringers since 1996 – almost since it was started by one of our current members using the 12 bells from the local church. Since then I have been chairman of that group for a number of years, and am now Vice chairman and Musical Director, a role for which I am not particularly qualified, but in the absence of other takers I took it on. I have been a member of HRGB for a number of years and was one of the first members of our group to join. Our team now owns 3 octaves of Whitechapel bells supplemented by a 4th octave of Malmark hand chimes. We give regular performances at a wide variety of venues in and around Northamptonshire, including weddings at Churches and other licensed locations.
I live in Raunds in Northamptonshire, right on the edge of the East Midlands region and actually closer to many of the events held in the East Anglia region than those in our region. As a result of that, I have attended rallies, performances and other meetings held in the East Anglia region. I have, of course attended rallies organised by teams in East Midlands and along with other members of the Stanwick team have organised regional rallies at Raunds.
As a member of the regional committee I was involved, mostly, it has to be said, behind the scenes, with the organisation of the 2010 National Rally at Leicester- moving furniture and directing traffic etc. It was good to see so many teams there and it was a really enjoyable experience.
I am a member of the recently formed region handbell team, meeting and practicing on a monthly basis in Grantham. I am also treasurer for the team.
In June 2016 I was fortunate to attend an amazing concert given by the American Raleigh Ringers Handbell team and a few years ago visited the Arsis Handbell team in Tallin, Estonia.
I enjoy many genres of music, including “mechanical music” I have a large collection of 78rpm Gramophone records and have recently finished constructing a small 20 note hand powered mechanical organ.
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I have been ringing handbells for 30 years, starting with the Harlaxton Chimes under the direction of Richard Manton. On moving to Grantham, I joined Saint Wulfram’s Handbell Ringers; following the death of Vaughan Evans in 2007, I became Co-Musical Director with my husband John. John and I also formed a handbell group in the village of Caythorpe, where we live, using 12 Taylor’s bells that belong to the church and I am a member of Northern Bell Orchestra under the musical direction of Tim Willetts and Catherine O’Rourke.
I became a member of the East Midlands Committee in 2006 but serious illness in 2010 necessitated a break. I re-joined the committee and in 2013 was elected Regional Secretary and Representative on the National Executive Committee of HRGB.
For a number of years I have attended National Rallies and the Ring in Praise Seminar in Dunblane. I had a wonderful and fulfilling time at the International Symposium in Liverpool in 2012 and am looking forward to attending the 2013 National Residential Ringing Week for the first time.
Since my illness I am unable to ring with the same skill; however, I am still able to enjoy directing, conducting and arranging music for our teams.
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My involvement with Handbells began in 1978 when I lived in Chester. A friend belonged to a local team and she said ringing Handbells was good fun and she felt sure I would love it. I did and was welcomed into the ‘Westminster Chimes’, so called because the lady who owned the 2 octave set of Whitechapel bells lived on the Duke of Westminster’s estate. Unfortunately, after 6 years, work commitments meant that we no longer had access to her bells.
Eight keen ringers and no Bells! A small grant from the NW Arts Council, fundraising and piggy banks raided enabled us to purchase 2 octaves of Malmark bells in 1985. The ’Cestrian Ringers’ were born. We attended numerous rallies (Regional & National) and enjoyed our many jaunts up to Dunblane as Scotland was then part of the North West Region. A memorable highlight was being invited to play at the National Rally in Tonbridge, Kent in 1988.
On moving to Northamptonshire in 1989 I had difficulty finding a team to join. However, in 2002, I read in a local paper that the ‘Stanwick Handbell Ringers’ were looking for new members as a grant from the National Lottery had enabled them to purchase a 2 octave set of Whitechapel bells. There are currently 12 of us in the team and fundraising and 2 further grants from other organisations have enabled a further octave of bells to be bought. Three of us are now trying to master the art of ringing ‘four-in-hand’ to add variety to the team’s performances. Handbell ringing is still good fun!
Contact with the region can be made with members of the committee.
Chairman - Michael Johnson
email: mike78rpm@btinternet.com; Tel:
Secretary - Jane Heald
email: jane.heald@hrgb.org.uk; Tel: 01400 272445
(for all enquiries and correspondence)
Treasurer - Marie Allen
email: mariecallen@virginmedia.com
Magazine Editor - Cathy Nettle
email: cathyn6951@tiscali.co.uk Tel. 01507 490956
© HRGB East Midlands 2017