The New
Parks Handbell Ringers.
The History
and Background
1960 - 2012
Michael
White formed the New Parks Handbell Ringers in 1960 at New Parks Boys’ School,
later to become New Parks Community College, in Leicester. Michael was at that time a newly qualified
teacher at the school. The group soon
became established within the school as rather a special group of musicians.
The original group of ringers who came to the inaugural meeting in October 1960
are featured in photograph 1.
Practising weekly on a borrowed set of sixteen
handbells, they progressed rapidly and were soon in demand for school concerts.
Combined with another group of ringers at St. Mary’s Church at Sileby, where
Michael was a tower bell ringer as well as a handbell ringer, they also
travelled to many parts of the country to perform. At this time several school handbell ringers
became quite proficient tower bell ringers, notably Patrick Cooper, Glynn
Jones, Paul Oliver and Clifford Parr.
In
the early 1970s the use of the borrowed bells was withdrawn and the school
ringers, in order to continue, had to raise the necessary money to purchase a
second- handset of 12 handbells from Taylor’s Bell Foundry in
Loughborough. The ringers were helped
tremendously by the generosity of the headmaster of the school, Mr. E. J. W.
Venable who made the purchase possible by a personal loan in order that the
bells could be bought quickly. These bells were very soon augmented to a set of
20 in order to increase the possibilities of a larger repertoire. The cost of £107.00 for these twenty
handbells was raised by the ringers themselves by various sponsored events and
concerts, the loan being quickly repaid.
As
the ringers became better known, so popular did they become that the number of
concerts grew and it was not unknown for there to be 40 concerts throughout the
year with as many as 20 or so in the month of December alone. In November 1974
someone sent in the groups’ name to ATV as it was then, with the possibility of
appearing on the New Faces Talent Show.
After an audition in Birmingham the ringers were surprised to be asked
to perform on the Christmas show in that year, when they came runners-up to
Marti Caine as judged by Ted Ray amongst others. The ringers who took part are featured on photograph
2. This led to the production of the
first EP record in 1975.
In
1978 the school Music Society as it had become known produced an LP recording,
which included music by the band, choir and handbell ringers.
The
next highlight was the 21st anniversary in 1981. This led to a
second TV appearance, this time at the Pebble Mill studios for BBC Midlands and
the production of yet another EP record.
In
1981 New Parks Boys’ School and New Parks Girls’ school were amalgamated to
form New Parks College - later to be called New Parks Community College. This gave much greater scope to the Music
Society. Immediately there was double
the number of pupils to take part in the various activities. It took time for the handbell groups to
integrate fully, but photograph 3 shows the first group of girl ringers.
A
new venture in 1982 took members of the school band and handbell ringers,
together with some staff and parents, about forty in all, on a musical tour to
Valkenburg in Holland. This proved
extremely successful and popular and was repeated on four more occasions,
performing in Belgium, Germany, Austria and Holland again during the next
twelve years. Concerts were organised to
entertain people at many different venues and visits were also made to many
places of interest.
In
1983, it was realised that the bells which had been purchased earlier were
getting rather old and dilapidated, (remember, they were a mixed lot of
second-hand bells at the time of purchase and were in constant use several
times a week) so the ringers decided that the time had come to purchase a brand
new set. As all the music was arranged for a diatonic set of 20 bells, it
seemed sensible to buy a set that used the same music – the only problem being
the price. However, with much determination
the bells were duly ordered from the Whitechapel
Foundry in London knowing that there was an 18 month wait for delivery,
giving a limited time to raise the £1500.00 necessary. As before, various money raising activities
produced the money in just the allotted time.
Soon after this, another TV appearance was made, this time from the ITV
studios in Nottingham featuring the pupils in photograph 4 performing on the
new bells.
With
the new handbells the sound produced was so much improved. During the earlier
period, not only had there been three TV appearances but also two EP
recordings, and an LP in conjunction with the School Band and Choir. Regular
appearances on local radio had been a feature for many years and still continue
to this day. Since the new bells were
acquired, the group produced a cassette recording in 1986. Since this was a tape instead of a vinyl
disc, the playing time was easily adjusted to suit the music, so as well as
five lively pieces on one side, a whole side was devoted to Christmas
music. To reduce costs the inlay card
was printed in school.
Throughout
the history of the New Parks Handbell Ringers there had been no shortage of
pupils wanting to join the group, but in 1991 a group of boys were particular
keen and it was decided to make a second cassette. Because of the success of the previous one, a
proper inlay card was printed with a photograph of the ringers in colour on the
front. See photograph 5.
After a very rewarding 39 years, which
included hundreds of concerts and hundreds of pupils learning the art of
campanology Michael took early retirement due to ill health. He has however managed to keep a group of ringers
going – all ex-pupils from different periods since the group was set up in
1960. A CD has now been produced, details of which can be found under the
heading ‘Details of recordings’ (below).
In June 2011 the team had were asked
to play on the ITV program “Ade in Britain” in which Adrian Edmondson was
travelling Britain to look for the best of British food. This was shown on ITV
in November 2011.
Sadly on the 15th October
2011 Michael passed away after a long constant battle will illness. In respect
of Michael’s wishes and their own desires the team decided to keep going and
still offer to play at weddings, charity events or just for the enjoyment of
listening to the bells. For any more information regarding the New Parks
Handbell Ringers playing at your event, see “contacts” on the left of the
screen.
Details of the
Recordings.
1.
An EP produced by the Leicester
Recording Company Ltd. by David Angrave in 1975. It was recorded in the Studio.
The handbell ringers were:
Senior team: Neil Clarke – David Downing – Daren Holyoak –
David Jones - Martin Towers.
Junior Team: John Asher – Lee Holyoak – Christopher
Kennedy – Stephen Moore – Nigel Morley – Christopher Nurse – Christopher Stubbs
– Graeme Williams.
The music included was:
Elizabethan Serenade -
Czech Polka - A Christmas Medley.
2.
An LP in conjunction with the school
band and choir. It was recorded in the
school hall on a Sunday.
Produced by the Leicester Recording
Company Ltd. by David Angrave in 1978.
The handbell ringers were:
John Asher – Andrew Ennis – Michael
Hill – Stephen Moore – Nigel Morley – Christopher Stubbs – Ian Taylor – Graeme
Williams.
The Music included was:
A Medley of British Tunes. -
Humoresque - Galop from Orpheus in the Underworld - A
Medley of Christmas Tunes.
The record sleeve was designed by
Gareth Browne, an art teacher at the school.
3.
An EP produced by Miller Recording –
Syston in 1981. It was recorded in the
studio.
The handbell ringers were:
Jeffery Chandler – Andrew Ennis – Simon
Herbert – Ian Taylor – Lee Worth.
The Music included was:
Theme and Variations -
Gavotte - Soldiers Joy - A
Christmas Medley.
The cover photograph was taken by John
Nowell.
4. A cassette tape produce by White House
Recording Studios in Syston in 1986.
It was recorded in the studio.
The handbell ringers were:
Mark King – Gareth Weston – James
Ogleby – Alistair Mattock – Royce Mattock.
The music included was:
Three traditional polkas -
Three traditional hornpipes
- Swingalong waltz - Home
sweet home - Soldiers joy
- Christmas medley 1. - Sleigh-bell polka -
Christmas medley 2.
5. A cassette tape recorded by White House
Productions – Syston in 1991. It was
recorded in the studio.
The handbell ringers were:
Christopher Flint - Robert Gregory –
Jonathan Howells - Jonathan Luckcuck – Craig Morris - Clinton Parker – Mark
Simonetti – Gareth Sterland – Guy Wilkinson
The music included was:
Galop from Orpheus in the
underworld - Cuckoo waltz -
Minuet from the Royal Fireworks Music
- Gavotte -
Minuet from Alcina - Soldiers joy - A
Christmas Medley - Winter waltz -
Christmas polka - A
Christmas Medley.
The cover photograph was taken by
Michael White.
6.
A CD recorded by Stephen Butt at the
Radio Leicester Studios on May 10th 2004, with the CD produced by
Clifton Bank Studios.
The handbell ringers were:
Johnathan Knifton – Georgina Hayes –
Stephen Moore* – Anthony Hayes – Royce Mattock*.
The music included was:
My grandfather’s clock -
Elizabethan serenade - Wedding day polka -
English country gardens - Allegretto
- Bluebell polka -
March - Gavotte
- Czech polka -
Soldiers’ joy - A medley of British songs -
Swingalong waltz - Minuet - Snowdrop polka -
Erskine’s hornpipe - Cuckoo waltz
- Yorkshire bells -
Galop from Orpheus in the underworld
- A medley of Christmas carols.
The inlay card was produced by Michael
White and Anthony Hayes with photographs by Anthony Hayes and Terry Mattock.
* both of these ringers were playing on
previous recordings
The music performed by the ringers is
mostly of a lighthearted nature, much of it well known, from traditional dance
tunes to classical pieces by such composers as Mozart, Handel, Offenbach and
Johann Strauss. Christmas music is
always of course very popular. All the music has been arranged or composed by
Michael White, specially for the set of 20 Whitechapel handbells belonging to
the group and is copyright ©.