The Inn Ringers, chime up about recent concert and appeal for new members

Local handbell ringing group, The Inn Ringers, spoke to A Little Bit of Stone about their handbell ringing group.

Like many organisations, The Inn Ringers had to keep their bells in storage for nearly two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, they returned to their rehearsal room in August 2021, only to find themselves with fewer members than before. However, they saw this as an opportunity for a new beginning.

Recruitment Drives

Musical Director Paul Mellor told A Little Bit of Stone – ‘We decided to do what we had done several times before – have a recruitment drive. In the past, these attempts to generate interest in our team had been fairly unsuccessful. We promoted ourselves via social media, the local press, including our friends at A Little Bit of Stone’.

The team recruited the daughter of one of their ringers, Sarah. Her daughter, Aviaana, joined the group at the end of August 2021, and they also welcomed back a former ringer Steve. As a result of an article published on the A Little Bit of Stone website, two new members, Nikki and Sue from Stone, came along to try their hand at ringing handbells.

First Impressions

Sue Taylor joined the group in September 2021 and she explains how her journey has gone:

‘I joined the Inn Ringers after seeing an appeal for new ringers on the ‘A Little Bit of Stone’ Facebook page. I had little idea of what was involved but was looking for a new challenge.

What a warm welcome there was as I walked into the room.

There were no prerequisites to joining – no musical talent required, just an ability to count and a willingness to have a go. Practice is a mix of chat, friendly banter and actual ringing’.

Sue continued ‘It was initially challenging, but it didn’t matter about the mistakes – they are all part of the learning process. The evening is about being included and enjoying the practice.

However, it has got easier as I am learning the tunes and where the bells are positioned on the table. For our first concert performance, my friends and family were keen to see what this was all about. The programme consisted of several well-known tunes that were difficult not to hum along to!

We discovered that The Inn Ringers concerts are always relaxed and fun affairs with the audience sitting around tables, often singing along and refreshments served in the interval. Unsurprisingly, they are usually sold out, and my friends are now serial concert-goers’.

The Future

Musical Director Paul was keen to talk about the future of the group to A Little Bit of Stone

‘It has been really great to welcome Aviaana, Nikki and Sue as well as welcoming Steve back – we are back on track with a good, strong team again, and our newest members are clearly enjoying it.

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They got to grips with handbell ringing quite quickly, and they are now well-established and valued members of our team.

Handbell ringing is a good, fun, at times challenging hobby to participate in, and it is very rewarding to go out entertaining people with the special, unique sound the handbells make.

We are always on the lookout for more people to join us’. ‘

Handbell ringing is one of those old traditional pastimes which will disappear if we don’t get more people to join groups like ours.

Once handbell teams pack away their bells due to lack of support, they can be gone forever. It would be really sad if that happened to a team like The Inn Ringers, which has been going strong for 46 years now’.

Upcoming Events and Community Outreach

The Inn Ringers performed their annual charity concert at the end of June in aid of ‘Headway – North Staffs’, raising £700 for the charity.

Their next concerts are on Saturday, the 18th of November, at St Luke’s Church, Tittensor and their annual Christmas concert on Sunday, the 10th of December, at Meir Heath Village Hall.

The team is also making an appearance at the Heart of England Handbell Society Rally in October.

The team launched a ‘Bells & Banter’ presentation two years ago. 6 members of the team perform a few pieces of music using just 12 bells rather than the 116 bells in the full team use. That’s the bells – the banter is a chat in between pieces on handbell ringing, the team and about local teams. The presentations last for 1 hour and are proving very popular with W.I. groups. It also gives those in the audience a chance to have a go at ringing handbells.

If anyone is interested in booking concert tickets, booking a ‘Bells & Banter’ session or keen to join the team, please contact Rowen Dawson (team secretary) on 07816 545713 or email theinnringers@aol.com. The team practices Monday night at St Luke’s Church Hall, Tittensor.

More information on the team can be found on their website theinnringers.co.uk