Handbell choir wins award to fund Maine trip

Posted on April 6, 2009
Filed Under Area News, News | 1 Comment

Repost from Bristol Press

Link to Story and Photo: http://www.bristolpress.com/articles/2009/04/05/entertainment/doc49d90287187b6534410371.txt

Special to The Bristol Press

BRISTOL — The Handbell Choir of the Bristol Baptist Church has won a Bradford Scholarship to participate in the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers (AGEHR) Area 1 Festival Conference June 25 – 28.

The festival is being held at the University of Maine at Orono. The scholarships are for handbell choirs that are attending a Festival Conference for the first time, and amount to a reduction in the conference fees for each participating ringer. The festival includes opportunities for the ringers to ring in large groups including an all-conference choir that is expected to consist of 1,000 ringers. Also, participants take classes and meet other ringers from around New England and eastern Canada.

After a hiatus of several years, the Bristol Baptist Church Handbell Choir re-organized in the fall of 2005 when William Degan was appointed organist and choir director.

Degan had been asked to teach classes at the festival, and he wanted to bring up the entire choir. “Many of the Bell Choir members wanted to go, but the cost seemed prohibitive. This scholarship allowed us to include everyone who was available to participate.”

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