This past year has seen the Bells of St. James ring out over Stratford for more than 80 hours in total, with the chimes being rung for weddings, funerals, church services and regular twice-weekly 20 minute concerts. And just about any other excuse we can find for a "chiming moment"! St. James' has been most fortunate to have had Michel Allard, a most talented & knowledgeable musician, visit the tower one snowy day last January. Michel asked the magic question, the essence of which was: "How does one become a chimer here?" Before he left, he had joined the ranks. Michel has brought a LOT of talent & enthusiasm to the job; in the last twelve months he has arranged well over a hundred new tunes, composed original chimes music and dragged the Bells into the modern age by introducing the "Finale" music writing program for creating arrangements. That's Michel pictured at left, hands just a blur, playing the chime at St. Paul's Presbyterian in Hamilton during the Chimes Celebration last October. Behind him is Linda Wright, chimer of a 13 bell tubular chime in Brockville.
                    In 2009 the Bells of St. James will be celebrating their 100th Birthday. To help celebrate this milestone we are compiling tunes for three books of chimes music arranged specifically for 11 bell chimes: a book of Christmas tunes, a book of music from the Baroque era, and a book of ten original chimes compositions. Stay tuned! Some work has been done already, and hopefully during the course of the next year these books will be made available for chimers. Watch for updates on the homepage of The Bells of St. James.

                The tower repairs and chime renovations at the historic St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Kingston, Ontario have now been completed. Several years ago it was discovered that the tower stonework and masonry had deteriorated badly; as a result the chime was silenced and extensive repairs were carried out to the tower. The 1911 Gillett & Johnston chime received its due share of attention as well. All of the bolts securing the bells to the bell-frame were replaced by the Verdin Co.; as well the transmission between the wall-mounted Ellacombe Frame and the clappers was renewed. During the first week of August I had the opportunity to perform what was probably the first concert on the chime since the renovations . The chime was a delight to play, with light, smooth action, although it is a little hard for the chimer to hear as the sound takes a long, convoluted path down through the tower. Maybe an openable vent or window in the playing cabin would help? No matter, it is a beautiful chime, and the congregation of St. Andrew's should be justly proud of their accomplishments in keeping this instrument in service. Also in the tower, but not operating at the time of my visit, is a G & J tower clock powering two clock faces and equipped to ring the Westminster Quarters and Hour Bell. It is complete & original, down to the hand-wound weights. Hopefully it too will be brought back to life to carry on its intended duties in the tower. At left is a picture of the Ellecombe Frame taken before renovations started. At right it is being played on an uncomfortably hot August day by fourth-year Queen's student Hillary Ryde. I'll bet that those blue furry hand-warmers will be a real treat on a frosty Sunday morning in January!

On October 14, 2006 Chimers & chimes enthusiasts from Southern Ontario converged on Hamilton, where St. Paul's Presbyterian Church was celebrating the 100th anniversary of the the installation of their 11 bell Meneely & Co. chime of tower bells and the 35th anniversary of Walter Plater as their chimer. It was a well organized and smoothly run day, from the warm greeting at the registration desk to the reception following the afternoon concert. Walter and the Chimes Celebration group had folders of information availible for each chimer, and following a short introductory meeting we started into the Master Class portion of the day. Gordon Slater, Canada's Dominion Carillonneur, presided over the class, ushering chimers in groups of two or three into the chimestand room, where they performed a couple pieces of music for him to critique & offer suggestions on improvements.Gordon has conducted several Master Class days like this for chimers in recent years; the last two being at Cornell Universary on the Cornell Chimes in 2005, and at St. George's in Oshawa on the Carswell Memorial Chime in 2004. Following a congenial lunch in the church hall Gordon finished up with the last few chimers, then we were allowed a hour or two of free time on the chime before the formal presentations from various officials and dignitaries. At 4 pm sharp Gordon started an hour long recital on the chime. It was wonderful! St. Paul's had run an audio/video feed into the nave of the church, where it was displayed on a large screen, enabling everyone in the well-filled hall to see Gordon at work at the chimestand, as well as hearing the bells. It was a great show, and was very educational for a chimer to see what can be accomplished on "only" 11 bells. The local news media was on hand; check out the Hamilton Spectator online article for their report on the day's events.

     The Parish of St. Lawrence:  In Brockville three Anglican communities have almalgamated into one Parish, now called "The Parish of St. Lawrence". Two of the three churches involved have chimes of tower bells. The former St. Peter's has a rare 13 bell chime of Harrinton & Latham (Earlsdon, Coventry) tubular bells that were dedicated in 1901. The former Trinity Anglican has an 11 bell Taylor chime installed in 1925. It has been decided to retain the St. Peter's church building as the home for the new amalgamated parish, so the tubular chime, with Don & Linda Wright as chimers will continue to be played. Regretably, the fate of the Taylor chime at Trinity is uncertain, as the new parish debates the fate of the other two church buildings. Hopefully a new home for the Taylor chime may be found, and the bells kept together as a chime. For the time being Don & Linda are continuing to play the Trinity chime on occasion, as renovations to the St. Peter's building gets underway.

    St. Mark's, Niagara-on-the-Lake:   Some time ago the 9 bell Meneely chime at St. Mark's was removed from the tower by Meeks, Watson & Co. and transported to Georgetown, Ohio for tuning and renovation. Chimer Jim Smith reports that the chime is receiving nine new bells, in addition to the existing nine, for a total of 18 bells when the chime is reinstalled. This will surely make it almost the largest chime in Canada! As well a new chimestand will be installed, which will be augmented by electro-pneumatic ringing apparatus. The target date for completion of the project is Easter next, with the Bishop in attendance. St. Mark's has been updating a webpage on the Bell Renovation Project , which has a good selection of pictures.
 
 

           In 2002 my father, Charles, and I attended the Congress of the Guild of Carillonneurs in Ann Arbor, Michigan. As we rumbled along the backroads in Betsy, our trusty 1931 Model A Ford, we lamented the difficulty of communication between chimers, who lack the unifying structure and sense of purpose that the GCNA provides for carillonneurs. We decided that SWOCA was the answer: "South Western Ontario Chimers Association" - a nice idea, but not likely to happen. However, sometime later Rob Millikin, a chimer from St. George's in Oshawa, and I decided to try out a limited scale version of SWOCA: a simple list of chimers, their e-mail addresses, and the chime they play. Thus "The Ontario Chimers List" was born, focusing primarily on chimers in Ontario (but also listing chimers from The Great Beyond who wanted to be included in the fun). It has been a low-key no-pressure no-guilt sort of affair, providing chimers with an address book to aid them in communicating with other chimers to announce & organize special events on their chimes, exchange music suggestions, and generally keep in touch with each other. Pretty much as a direct result of this Chimers List there have been at least three or four major chiming events, and the Cornell Chimesmasters, having discovered Gordon Slater at the Master Class Day at St. George's in Oshawa in 2004, engaged him for a similar event in the McGraw Tower at Cornell University the following year. The spirit of SWOCA lives! At present the chimers at The Bells of St. James are fulfilling the role of the Keepers of the List. For an updated version of the Chimers List, or for corrections/deletions/additions to it contact us at p_ryde@hotmail.com . New chimers who would like to be included, and thus open a window of communication with chimers from B.C. to Boston to San Francisco to Petrolia, are always welcome.