Handbells as never seen before

Special effects and exciting visuals will accompany the sound of traditional handbells in Bodmin’s largest venue this December.

Amidst the trees of St Petroc’s annual Christmas Tree Festival, the Sou’westers, members of Handbell Ringers of Great Britain and Loveny Male Voice Choir, Cornwall’s premier and award-winning choir, present ‘A Cornish Christmas Celebration - Lovely Bells and Loveny Voices’ on Saturday 9 December at 3pm in St Petroc’s Church, Bodmin.

The Sou’westers are handbell ringers drawn from almost every county in the region, with ringers from Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and as far as Oxfordshire.

There will be 30 ringers with 200 handbells and handchimes performing at the December concert.

The handbell repertoire is likely to include Beatle hits, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, music from the Nutcracker and Phantom of the Opera, Highland Cathedral (a haunting melody featuring a ringer as a cor anglais soloist played by one of the bass ringers), Ding Dong Merrily on High and other well-known carols, Fantasy on Kingsfold (a folk tune first heard in a Sussex village) and many more.

Hear 'Lovely Bells and Loveny Voices' in concert this December!

Tickets, adults £8 and children £4, are available from crbo.co.uk/handbells, 01726 63513 or from the tourist office in Bodmin (Shire Hall), St Austell (Station) and Truro (Boscawen Street).