Handbell workshop

Saturday 17 August
We had a frustrating start to the day. We had to be at a handbell workshop at our church no later than 10am - coffee and goodies were being served from 9am onwards - but first we wanted to drop off our rental car we had used to get back from the airport last night. We knew the local office was closed on Saturday, but according to Google, the Sharonville office was open, so we drove over there, me driving our car, only to find that they were closed too! At this point, we needed to head over to our church. Our handbell director, Gloria, had organized this event, with members from four or five other church handbell choirs joining - about 50 people altogether! The instructor for the event was someone Gloria had known previously, and had driven from Louisville Kentucky for the event. He started going over a few fairly basic things, then we started on the first of five pieces he had picked out, each one getting a little more challenging, or introducing a new technique. We stopped for lunch a little before 1 pm - Gloria had provided lunch as well, and some other members from our church helped set it out. We continued until about 3.30, by which time, Roger and I felt quite exhausted, mentally and physically, with the jet lag setting in, and we weren’t the only ones! It had been a good event though, and Gloria is already thinking of maybe making it an annual event! We stayed to help clear up - putting the bells and chimes away, and moving them, together with the tables into the sanctuary, since apparently we are playing the first piece we did today in Church tomorrow - this was news to us! On the way back, Roger had decided to drop the rental car off outside our local Herz office, and will go and sort it out on Monday morning, but at least we got it off our driveway, lessening the risk of our accidentally reversing into it ! By the time we got home, we both felt in need of a restorative cup of tea!