St. Michael and All Angels Ringing Team

Join us on Tuesday evenings in Middlewich

If you want to try something new and love music why not have a go at hand bell ringing? You do not have to be a musician or to have any musical knowledge to experience the thrill of making music with hand bells since the music is marked up to make it easy to follow. However, it helps if you can count to four, six, and occasionally even up to nine! Sometimes this proves more challenging than you might expect and practices are always punctuated by peals of laughter!

We all know about tower bells, tolling out across the countryside. Not so many of us are acquainted with their smaller, older cousins, the hand bells. In fact hand bells have been around for a very long time and certainly existed during the Roman Empire. However, it was not until they had moved into the church that they became associated with music making, perhaps as a simple accompaniment to chants or for practising change ringing. By the 19th century tune ringing was well established and that is what we do.

The ability to play tunes is the main advantage of hand bell ringing since it is well nigh impossible with the big bells. Paradoxically, the St. Michael and All Angels Ringing Team (SMAART) was formed as a result of a demonstration in 1999 by George Bailey, a tower bell ringer and the choir master at St. Michael and All Angels Church, Middlewich, to the local Mothers’ Union. This provoked interest amongst the members, resulting in a team being formed. SMAART has developed steadily and, over the past 25 years, has given performances in all sorts of venues. In that time we have built up an extensive repertoire of music - classical, folk, musicals, hymns, carols, etc. As well as the hand bells we also use hand chimes and belleplates, which are much lighter instruments.

We are seeking to welcome new members to our friendly and enthusiastic team to share our love of hand bell ringing. Although it is always a pleasure to make music there are other benefits to activities such as this. It is very much a team activity since we all rely on each other. It is excellent for developing hand, ear and eye co-ordination and it provides an inclusive social experience suitable for all ages. So why not have a go? We practise on Tuesday evenings in Middlewich. If you are interested in finding out more about us or joining us please contact David Hawkes on 01606 832148 or Chris Overton on 07722 195807.