We are playing in the Advent service at The Holy Family Church in Addlestone on Saturday 26th November and at our own church – St Lawrence in Chobham – on Sunday 27th November (both start at 6:00pm).
On Friday 9th December we are guest performers at the concert of the Rushmoor Male Voice Choir, at The Maltings in Farnham. The concert starts at 7.30pm, and the following day – Saturday 10th December – we are playing at High Cross Church in Camberley at 10.30. All are welcome and a collection will be taken for charity.
We hope to see you at one of our performances during the Christmas season!
Friends of St Lawrence Chobham Handbell Ringers will know that we, along with many other music groups, had to stop rehearsing together in the spring of 2020. For several months we simply shared news and music by email and phone, but in September 2020 we started to ring together again using the video-conferencing app “Zoom”. This was a difficult process because each of us had a different internet speed, and connected to Zoom using a different device, but it helped to forge a feeling that “We can do this together”.
Through the spring and summer of 2021 we continued to rehearse via Zoom, and here is a photo of us doing so.
Getting back to normal
Then, when the national situation improved in September 2021, we made the decision to rehears together once more, socially distanced, and with the appropriate precautions.
Sadly some of our more long-standing members decided that the two years had changed things so much that they would have to take a break or retire permanently from the team – in particular, Jacqueline, Maureen, Meg, Angela and Den. We will miss them very much and thank them for all they have done for the team over many years.
We were lucky to be able to welcome several new ringers to our team when we started to practice “in real-life” and they are already making themselves very much at home and contributing wonderfully to our music-making.
We hoped that we would be able to ring in Church during the Christmas season and we did – thanks to Sandra Rigby Barrett and Reverend Dan for inviting us to take part in the Advent Service. This was a great opportunity for our new members to ring in public with us for the first time, and they and the whole team did very well. We are currently preparing for the Good Friday evening service in which we will play.
July concert
I would like to say a big thank you to all the team members and to our friends and relatives who have sometimes stepped in at short notice when team members are ill or otherwise unable to attend. We are all committed to playing at a very high level once more, and we hope that you might be able to attend our summer concert – planned for July. Watch this space for details.
St Lawrence Chobham Handbell Ringers practice regularly on a Friday evening.
We held our first open rehearsal in March 2018 as part of the BBC’s Get Creative Festival, but you are welcome to come along any time and have a go at handbell ringing.
Local handbell team St James of Weybridge lead by Alan Sharps hosted an evening rally in July 2017, the first of it’s kind. Some 70 ringers filled the hall and rang pieces such as Land of Hope and Glory amongst others.
Solos were performed by three teams – hosts St James, Chobham St Lawrence and Teddington.
Chobham’s musical director in full concentration
Chobham St Lawrence and friends performing George Bizets Faarandole
Hosts St James of Weybridge perform a Larry Sue piece ‘Meditation’
The Pimms and Prosecco flowed throughout the evening with nibbles to soak it all up.
National & Regional Chairs with a ‘bear’ behind
Tipsy anniversary bear!
The Handbell Ringers of Great Britain celebrates it’s 50th anniversary this year with a specially designed bear which is travelling around the country to as many events a possible. We think he may have enjoyed the festivities a little too much!!
It was a typically wet bank holiday Monday, but members of St Laurence Chobham handbell ringers joined with junior ringers from St Paul’s, and played their hearts out at the Horsell May Fayre held on Woking’s Wheatsheaf recreation grounds. We even managed to bring the sunshine out to listen!
The stage is set at the Great Hall Exeter Universityfor the start of our 50th Anniversary celebrations to mark the Golden Anniversary of the Hand Bell Ringers of Great Britain.
50 limited edition Golden Jubilee Bears will travel the 8 regions of Great Britain and meet with regional teams to have their photographs taken.
Founder members of HRGB were invited to ring the opening chord to mark the start of our special year!
Golden Jubilee Bear number one had a lovely time at the National Rally and is looking forward to seeing the travels of all his friends during our special celebratory year!
Exeter University played host this year to the Hand Bell Ringers of Great Britain annual National Rally with many Groups and Handbell teams from across the country including Chobham taking part in a weekend of ringing activities to mark this special golden occasion.
Christmas 2016 was a really busy time for us, so we’ll be taking a well earned rest in January, but here’s some photos.
Chobham small handbell ensamble
When we played ‘In the bleak mid-Winter’, we conjured up a bleak wind that blew all our music away, even threatening to do the same with our music stands & musical director too!
Somehow we managed to hold onto our bells and keep playing attracting rapturous applause from an appreciative audience.
Here are some of the venues where we played:
St Lawrence Church, High Street, Chobham.
RHS Wisley
High Cross Church Camberley.
St. Nicholas Church, Shepperton.
Woking Christmas Market
Chobham had a very busy year ringing at all sorts of events throughout 2016.
One of the last and most momentous events of 2016 was celebrating the 90th birthday of St Lawrence Cobham’s longest serving handbell ringer Jacqui Billings. She reached this amazing milestone in December 2016 and we could not let it go by unnoticed.
Jacqui has been ringing handbells with the team for almost 40 years now and her dedication and commitment to the team is unrivalled. She is very rarely absent from her bell ringing duties at St Lawrence Chobham and even on her birthday she joined the team to play at the annual Christmas church service.
Jacqui’s belling ringing has taken her across the globe from Australia to USA. Her bell ringing appearances over the years have included the Generation Game with Jim Davidson, BBC Radio 2 with Chris Evans and in December 2016 BBC Radio Surrey to name but a few.
Many of her family members have played handbells with St Lawrence Chobham and some still play handbells in various capacities today. Jacqui also finds time to continue teaching Maths and French to school pupils who need that extra bit of help and she can also be seen cycling around her local area in Camberley. When she is not doing all this she still finds time to spend with her family including her great grandchildren.
Jacqui you are one remarkable lady – here’s to many more years ringing those bells!!
