Heavenly Metal
Heavenly Metal is a fresh young. enthusiastic team who enjoy learning and promoting the unusual skill of handbell ringing. The team is based at Saint Catharine’s Church. Baglan.
The purpose of the team is to:
1) learn a skill on a unique musical instrument
2) enjoy the art of tune ringing on handbells
3) learn to read music
4) give pleasure to the whole community by its performances.
The group consists of young people between the ages of 9 and 18. The music is marked in such a way that music readers and non-music readers have the opportunity of ringing.
When the team started in May 2002 the bells being used were the Church bells given to Saint Catharine’s 102 years earlier by the Llewellyn family. For some reason bells cast in the late 1800s were tuned one semitone higher than normal so when the bells were rang they appeared to he slightly out of tune. Nevertheless Heavenly Metal enjoyed ringing them.
They have rung in many local venues, Llandaff Cathedral (that was exciting). And the most scary, the Handbell Ringers of Great Britain regional rallies, where there are a lot of teams taking part ALL ADULT’ and the team has to ring not one, but two solos.
However the team’s favourite venue for ringing is in its home, Saint Catharine’s Church, where it has performed many times, not least at its rededication in June 2004.
May 21st 2005 saw the start of a new adventure for Heavenly Metal with the arrival, from America, of a three octave set of Malmark handbells.
Instead of the twelve Church bells now 105 years old they had thirty seven brand new bells, thanks to a lottery grant from the Arts Council of Wales. With these new bells come the opportunity to ring a lot more music, more modern than before with more ringers, even Disney music, but it all takes practise lots and lots of it.
