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Cast your mind back 12 months to December 2023, when the annual Christmas concert at Alton was affected by a storm which resulted in a loss of power for half the concert. On Saturday 7 December 2024, who should be sweeping across the country, but Storm Darragh and it was the annual Christmas concert at Alton. Now I am not suggesting a correlation, but it does make you wonder!

Nevertheless, many a hardy soul braved the debris, winds and rain and turned out to share our evening, which was a joint concert with Rhapsody choir, a community choir based in Uttoxeter. This had originally been scheduled to take place in 2020, but events intervened.

The programme began with 7 pieces by the handbell ringers, ranging from pieces very familiar to the audience such as My Favourite Things, My Heart Will Go On and Yesterday to Andante Grazioso by Mozart and the much loved hymn, I Heard The Voice of Jesus Say. 

The choir then sang 5 pieces, including a Bon Jovi Medley and an Andrew Lloyd Webber medley, all of which was much appreciated. After the interval, they performed 5 seasonal pieces, then came the joint offering of Were You There On That Christmas Night, which we had run through together just twice before the start of the evening. It sounded lovely and the bells and choir kept pace with each other, always a bonus!

The ringers then performed 5 seasonal pieces, including the beautiful Austrian carol Still, Still, Still, which was particularly well received, concluding with We Wish You A Merry Christmas, with which the audience were invited to join in.

So, despite the weather, we had a good evening, but perhaps we should consider a summer concert…..

Our heart felt thanks to Wendy (Alton Bell Ringers) and Gina (Uttoxeter Rhapsody Choir) for all their hard work.

Headline news - Alton handbell ringers found speeding in Ellastone!

On Sunday the 17^th November, we gathered in Ellastone for what has become an annual concert.  However, this year the venue was Ellastone village hall and this was much warmer than the church where we had performed previously.  The floor layout provided individual tables and chairs as opposed to rows of seats and this resulted in a more relaxed and social atmosphere.

The team arrived early to have a brief practice session.  This turned out to be one of the most fault ridden pre concert practices we have ever had.  For some reason, our speed of playing was all over the place and we played The Beatles ‘Yesterday’ so fast that someone suggested it be renamed as ‘Tomorrow’!

Soon it was 3 pm and with the audience in place, we began the first half of the concert.  With our interesting pre concert practice behind us, we performed very well and Wendy controlled our subsequent speed of playing perfectly.  After a break for tea and delicious cakes, followed by the draw for the raffle in which Beryl won a teddy bear, we played several pieces on twelve bells, including Pomp and Circumstance, the Royal Fireworks music and a few Christmas pieces.

The second half of the concert went very well and we concluded with ‘Resound and Rejoice’ which is a firm favourite.

The concert was well attended and our audience quite enthusiastic.  The proceeds of the concert are going towards the costs of repairing the church roof.  The original estimate for this work was £100,000 but firm quotations were nearer the £200,000 mark and so a lot of fund raising is necessary.  We wish Ellastone church all the best with their endeavours.

The warmth of the village hall was certainly appreciated by the team.

Thank you to all who provided the delicious cakes.

Dave Jones

On Thursday November 14th we visited Denstone Hall Farm Shop for the first of our Christmas visits this year.

The shop was decorated ready for the Christmas season. Hundreds of sparkling lights. and staff dressed in festive costumes added to the atmosphere. We played for two sessions in the restaurant, with everyone obviously enjoying all of the traditional tunes and carols. We were told later that our music echoed throughout the shop.

We enjoyed complimentary hot drinks and mince pies during the break, and were given a generous donation towards our chosen charity, the Dougie Mac Hospice.

We hope that we bought a little extra Christmas spirit at the beginning of this special season. We thoroughly enjoyed our evening!

Saturday 9th November

We were pleased to be invited to play at the Crich Tramway Village special event 'A Journey through Time and Light'. We played in one of the exhibition halls amongst trams and tram parts from across the years. It was a good venue with nice acoustics and space to allow visitors to stop and listen or to continue looking at the trams. We played two sets of mostly traditional songs with a pause in the middle for for a very welcome cup of hot chocolate!

Saturday 19th October 2024

We were warmly welcomed on Saturday 19th October to the Rally at the village hall in Rough Close. There were five handbell teams in total playing that afternoon and we were all set up around the edge of the Hall.
The event was hosted by The Inn Ringers, who kindly provided tea and excellent cakes for us throughout the afternoon. Each team took it in turns to ring two pieces in order around the room, starting with The Inn Ringers, who were very good as usual and played well with gusto!
The Kingsbury ringers were next with a group of 5, including two ‘guests’, playing 12 bells with Elaine the leader playing 4 in hand, which she did very competently.
The Gnosall Handbell Ringers were pleased to have a full complement of ringers again and to welcome back their conductor. Their pieces included Highland Cathedral accompanied by a drum.
It was good to see the Madeley Handbell Ringers who have recently joined the Heart of England and played a number of Taizé Chants.
We were the last to play in each section, our first two tunes were played from music notation and we rang well, which we were pleased about. 
We had a break for tea and cakes and to buy raffle tickets and also to chat to other team members, everyone was very friendly and we were complemented on our performance. 
We had lots of fun and everyone seemed to have enjoyed our get together.