Sitemap info

 

West Lindsey ringers make music at Beverley Minster

 

Richard Till approached a number of us at the AGM in January, asking if we would be prepared to help him record the inaugural performance of a composition of his. As a part of his Music degree, Richard has composed a brand new piece of music for choir, piano and, naturally, bells! It will be easy, Richard told us, you hardly need to practise it first. OK I said, where is this performance going to take place? Oh, Beverley Minster!

For those who are unaware of what hangs in the NW tower of Beverley Minster, I can tell you they are a lovely 41 cwt 10. I think we might need a practice!

So the recording date was fixed and we met at Gainsborough for a practice 2 days before the big day (thank you Gainsborough for allowing us to practise). An eight bell tower was chosen for the practice because only the front 8 will be rung at Beverley – something about a Dorian minor mode…

Richard handed out the music and then the fun began.  Rounds on 1,3,4,5,7 &8, Plain hunt on these 6, then the complicated bits, 8 to stand, 7 to stand, 6 to ring 4 blows and stand, 2 joins in, 5 stands for 2 rows, relax with some plain hunt minimus on the front 4 with 5 covering, then all 8 in for some plain bob triples and stand! Phew!

Once we had learnt all the various bell combinations – which took some time I can assure you, well it did for Barbara – it became clear that bell control was the most critical thing. Could we all set our bells on demand at the appropriate places? 

We met at Beverley on the appointed day. Communication between the conductor, choir, pianists and ringers (a good 100m away up a tower!) was not easy. Walkie talkies were used and Rae was chief communicator. Commands like Go, go, go and stand, stand, stand drifted between the choir stalls and the ringing chamber. It all seemed to work.

We rang the bells up and practised our piece. John drew the short straw; the 6th had a new stretchy rope that made setting on demand, well very demanding! Nerves, of course, play a part and we all felt far worse than at a striking contest. The dress rehearsal went OK except for poor John. We heard nothing of the choir or piano, but assume they did their bits OK.

Practices over, the time had come for the one off live recording…….

Go, go, go came through the walkie talkie loud and clear and off went 1, 3, 4, 5, 7 & 8. The command tenor setting began the complicated middle section. Ian set his bell OK, I set my bell OK, all eyes were on John, YES, well done John he did it, Barbara stood for 2 blows on cue, Joy joined in on the second, and Roger, Janet and Jo remained calm throughout, as the plain hunt minimus began. Rounds, rounds, rounds told us it was time for all 8 to join in and just as we completed our course of bob triples, stand, stand, stand echoed around the ringing chamber, and everyone stood first time. Perfect timing. Well done, I think we passed the audition.

All that now remains is for us all to hear the final recording.  Where’s the next performance Richard, Westminster Abbey?


[A sound clip will be linked here when available]

Chris Turner