The first weekend of October saw nine chimers from four Ontario churches hit the road to St. Peter's Anglican Church in Brockville to help Don & Linda Wright celebrate Don's 25 years as chimer. There were actually two groups: the American contingent consisted of Joe Connors, Chimes Historian from Troy, New York. The Canadian group included nine chimers from Petrolia, Stratford and Oshawa. For the Ontario chimers, the weekend started off with an excellent dinner at the Oshawa Golf & Chimers Club, er, Country Club on Friday night. Saturday morning the chimers gathered at St. George's Anglican Church, Oshawa, home to a delightful 15-bell chime played from a small carillon clavier (baton chimestand?). This was definitely a challenge to the stand-up Meneely & Co chimestand crowd, used to a much larger (and heavier to play) pumphandle chimestand. However, much music rang forth as all of the chimers had a try at the chime. Having four additional bells in addition to our familiar 11 notes certainly adds enormously to the possibilities in music which can be played.
         Around mid-morning, the group set off to St. Paul's Presbyterian in Port Hope and St. Peter's Anglican in Cobourg, there to play and inspect two 11-bell Meneely chimes almost identical to the Bells of St. James. Now the tables were turned, as the Oshawa chimers, used to the small, sit-down chimestand now had to contend with large, widely spaced pumphandles and heavy action, all played while standing. Both the St. Paul's & the St. Peter's chimes were installed in the first decade of the 20th century. Both are unmodified from the original installations and are played from the original chimestands. Oddly enough, nobody else other than me uses their knee to play. Are knee-notes a "Bells of St. James" exclusive?
           On to the final chime: the 13-bell chime at St. Peter's in Brockville. This chime is a real rarity today, being one of only three still playing in Canada; rare because the bells are tubular bells, rather than the more common cast cup-shaped bells that most of the rest of us have. These tubular-bell chimes were often installed where weight and/or space in a belfry would be a problem, as they are about a third of the weight of a cast bell chime, and are very compact in their bell-frame. Don Wright has been chimer for a quarter of a century; St. Peter's organized a commemorative service on the Sunday morning to help celebrate this milestone, all the more special as Don's wife, Linda, has been chiming for 17 years as well. Speeches were made, bells were rung, cake was cut, and (befitting the Anglican culinary tradition) a wonderful lunch was served after the service.
              In all, it was a most excellent weekend: full of fellowship, bell-talk, and hours and hours of chiming. For an account of the weekend from the viewpoint of the St. George's Oshawa Chimers (with lots of pictures) by Rob Millikin, St. George's Chimes Historian, visit their website at: