Friday 2nd August 2024

We turned up for the Handbell Concert at the Church Hall in Mayfield and then started to unload the bells and music stands. We carried them inside only to discover that The Friday Club didn’t meet in this hall either on Friday or on any day of the week! So we loaded up the equipment back into the car and drive further into the village until we arrived at another hall. 

There they all were, The Friday Club, waiting for us, with lemon drizzle cake at the ready for us to eat when we had finished our Concert!

We set up all the music stands and unpacked all the bells onto the tables. We then turned and faced the audience. There were a good number of them, with men as well as women! They were all very welcoming. Wendy gave them some information about the handbells to start with and then we began to play.

I don’t think any of them had heard handbells playing music before, only church bells ringing.

They settled down to listen to us intently and and clapped us after each set of tunes, they seemed very impressed and recognised many of the tunes we played. Quite a few if the audience asked questions about our ringing in between sections of our repertoire. They seemed very interested and appreciative of our efforts to entertain them.

We were served tea and lovely cake when we had finished and many of the members came up to have a go and try out our bells. I helped one man, who wanted to have a go on the chimes. I showed him how to play a chime and how to stop it after he had let it ring out.

At the end of the concert, when we had packed everything away, the Vicar of the Church gave a talk about how he came to study at College to become a Vicar in the beginning of his career, he was born in Sri Lanka.

It was an enjoyable afternoon and they all seemed keen to come to our Concerts later on this year to hear us play with the full team.

Jean