Mavis Green

                                            My first introduction to Handbell ringing    was  when   I helped  to  chauffeur   my                                              children’s  team  at   Christmas   whilst   they were out busking  for  the  Winged                                              Fellowship   Trust   in  Chigwell,  Essex, where we lived at the time.Occasionally

                                            I was allowed to ring a bell - but mostly I held the collecting box.Both my children

                                           were tower bell ringers too,so when we moved to Saddleworth in 1992 we attended

                                           St. Chad’s church, which has a peal of eight bells.We heard there that

                                           Saddleworth ringers were looking for some new members,so my son Alistair and

                                           I went along and joined  the team. I  found  coping  with 3 and 4 bells  rather than

                                           just 1 quite  hard.   I  also could  not  read  music. I  can  now  cope a  lot  better                                             having advice  from  both my children and guidance from our leader Harry Franklin.  My   son left the team when  he went to University and shortly after that my daughter Fiona joined us.

                    Simon Rennie

My introduction to handbell ringing was as a teenager in Grantham -

ringing in the local pubs at Christmas. After only a year I left home and

moved  to Nottingham for  nurse training.  I  had no further contact  with

handbells until 1982 when I saw 19 bells in a second - hand shop  and

thought it might be good fun to  form a family team.  The bells  required

much renovation and several  new bells had to be purchased to make it

possible to ring some carols at Christmas 1982.My two older daughters

left home in 1983 for higher education and  I managed to recruit several

friends to form a more reliable team. We joined H.R.G.B as the Rennie

Ringers in 1983 - but  changed  the  name  to Maghull Parish  Handbell

Ringers  after  6  months. I represent  the  North West   Region   on the

National Executive of HRGB and was Hon. Treasurer for 12 years. I have been on the North West Regional Committee for many years and our team has taken part in most  Regional  events since

1984. We are a very active team, giving many performances in the region and appearing on T.V. and Radio. We visited Phoeniv, Arizona and Albuquerque, New Mexico with members of the Dunblane Cathedral Ringers in 1996 giving many concerts and attending the 7th. International Handbell Symposium. We ring mainly for charity and have raised over £10,000. Eleven members of the team took part in the 12th. International Symposium held in Toronto 2004.