The Bell Choir rehearses on Wednesday afternoons from 4:00p-5:00p. We ring 3 octaves of White Chapel bells, including the relevant mallets and chimes. The Bell Choir still has a few positions available and is open to anyone who has basic music reading skills and enjoys being a part of a team. Previous ringers are especially encouraged to ring with us. We ring for the 10:30am service approximately once per month. We also ring for area nursing homes and other special programs. If you are interested in joining us, please contact Director Margaret Leach at 828-685-3353 for more information and/or to let her know you are coming! |
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| Bell Practice |
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Handbells, Then and Now
The replacement handbell for the low “C” bell that broke has been received! We now have a full 3-octave set again, thanks to the generosity of two donors.
As you will recall, our low “C” bell was broken during shipment when we sent the bells to Colorado to be refurbished. White Chapel handbells are hand-made and only made-to-order. You cannot just buy one ‘off the shelf’ so to speak. Everything is special ordered. And since everything is special ordered, we also had to reference the original order made years ago so that this bell would fit into the rest of our set.
So the first thing to be done was to call Rachel Jackson Bunte, the donor of our handbells, to find out their history and when they were originally fabricated. Rachel related how she purchased the bells in 1970 for the Peachtree Presbyterian Church in Atlanta as a memorial to her husband, Louis Bunte. The gift of bells launched their handbell program which then grew rapidly until they were in need of more bells for their several bell choirs. So the church bought additional bells, and were no longer using the 2 octaves of White Chapel bells.
In 1982, Rachel’s mother, Laura Jackson, died and Rachel wanted to do something in her memory. So she decided to give the White Chapel bells (and their beautiful display case) that were sitting unused in Atlanta, to the Congregational Church in Tryon because she has her roots here in Tryon and many fond memories of growing up in the Congregational Church. At the same time she wanted to add a 3rd octave to the set. So then-Director of Music Joe Erwin, sent the 2 octaves back to the White Chapel Foundry in London, England to be refurbished and so the 3rd octave could be made to match the first 2 octaves.
Rachel is delighted that we are currently using the bells. When she heard that our low “C” bell was broken and needed to be replaced, she immediately offered to help as much as she could. At the same time, Lois Barrick, an active, supportive member of our congregation, also heard of our broken bell and without hesitation immediately wrote a check for its replacement in support of our bell program.
So with the gifts from these two very generous donors, we have been able to not only replace our low “C” bell but to also buy cases for our bells so they are better protected whenever they are being moved. Our new “C” bell has arrived and blends beautifully with the rest of our set. And now with our sturdy travel cases, we plan to go out into our community and share some bell music with others.
The entire bell choir and its director, most enthusiastically thank both these donors for their heartfelt support. We trust they understand how important their gifts are to all of us. We deeply appreciate their support of our music program and look forward to making beautiful handbell music for many years to come.
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