The bells at Westminster United Church in Wolseley have been ringing out over the city for well over a century, but its sounds have been somewhat muted in recent years.
The church’s congregation, along with numerous local arts organizations, have been unable to use the sanctuary space because of structural deficiencies in the ceiling. With estimates to fix that ceiling running into the millions of dollars, the future of the entire building remains uncertain.
A similar story concerns another church just down the street: Broadway-First Baptist Church on Honeyman Avenue. While the bill isn’t quite as high as it is at Westminster, the uncertainty weighs on this congregation as well.
It seems only fitting that other types of bells should come to the aid of church bells, and that’s exactly what will happen on the afternoon of May 4 when handbell choirs from both churches will join forces to raise much-needed funds.
The collaborative nature of the concert is a natural fit for ringers Marlon Goolcharan and Susan Stevenson. Though Goolcharan attends Westminster and Stevenson Broadway-First, their ringing careers have long intersected.
“We’ve gone to the International Music Camp at the Peace Gardens. There’s a handbell session there every and so we got to be together on that,” says Stevenson of the early days of their collaboration, which has led to subbing in each other’s church groups.
The idea of a fundraising concert came to Goolcharan back in the winter as a perfect opportunity not only to fundraise, but to showcase. “I can’t remember the last time since I’ve been there that we’ve had a handbell concert,” he says. “So, I thought this is the perfect setting and time for a concept like this.”
The ringers from the two churches will be joined by the handbell choir from the Fort Rouge Elementary School to share a mixture of sacred and secular works that feature a wide variety of techniques that people may not hear in their everyday music listening.
“It’s definitely a genre that I think is kind of forgotten about,” says Goolcharan. “I think if you haven’t heard handbells play, you will definitely be in for a treat because there is a power in handbells. I mean, it is like an orchestra – it's a percussive orchestra, but you can make many different types of sounds.”
Audiences can take in the wonder of the handbell sound at the fundraising concert on May 4 at 2 p.m. at Westminster United Church.