For us, it is a privilege and pleasure to play at the St Mary’s Cropredy festival fringe event which takes place every year on the opening day of Fairport’s Cropredy Convention festival. The church team, led by Verna and Stephen Wass were fantastic as always: welcoming, well organised, keeping all the bands to time and with the best value beer at their bar in the entire village! Our thanks to Verna in particular for the annual invitation to play in Cropredy’s beautiful church. As fundraising is currently needed for repair work, we hope to return to play an evening concert in the Autumn. Meanwhile, our forthcoming bookings include:

Saturday 20 September: St Mary’s, Church Street, Shipton under Wychwood OX7 6BP, 7pm fundraising concert; Sunday 21 September: St Peter’s, Hanwell OX17 1HN, 3pm Pet service (yes, animals love Gospel music!); Friday 10 October: Holy Trinity, Shenington OX15 6NQ, 7pm fundraising concert with the Community Choir of Oxhill, Tysoe and Shennington, Saturday 15 November: St Mary’s, Duns Tew OX25 6JP, 7pm fundraising concert. Please join us and sing along with us at any of these events. Also, if we can help your church with fundraising, please contact us via the ‘Contact Us’ page on our website: GospelBell.com

We always enjoy our annual visits to St Leonard’s in the Grimsbury district, Banbury – not least because this is a dancing church! The St Leonard’s team always prepare a fantastic supper for the interval and we would like to thank the organisers and catering team for their warm welcome, hospitality and lovely food – as always. Sheila James writes: On behalf of St Leonard’s, thank you very much to Gospel Bell for facilitating our celebration event. As always, the people who were there really enjoyed themselves and £300 was raised for church funds.

We should also like to thank Jay for joining us on saxophone and the Vicar of St Leonard’s Kudzayi Harrison Bvekerwa who played percussion alongside Thabo. We are already looking forward to our next visit!

Greatworth Methodist Church (GMC) has a history rooted in the broader Methodist movement, which began with John Wesley in the 18th century. The Methodist chapel in Greatworth was built in 1860 although non-conformist worship on that site dates back to at least 1788. (Greatworth Parish Council – A Brief History).

We were delighted to play at GMC for the first time on Saturday evening 12 July at the invitation of Walter Stageman, who did an excellent job in encouraging church members and the wider village community to attend the event. We’d also like to thank the catering team who provided a wonderful range of food and beverages during the interval.

Walter writes: Thank you for the wonderful performance and the way the good news was transmitted. Ticket sales generated a contribution of £220 to church funds. We will look forward to a return visit!

There has been a church on the site of St Martin’s, Bladon since the 11th century. By 1800 the old medieval church was in a state of decay and permission was granted for the church to be demolished. The 4th Duke of Marlborough paid for building materials for the new church, which was opened in 1804. In this historic venue we facilitated our multimedia ‘Origins of Gospel Music’ service. Our musical story begins in 1748 when John Newton, the author of ‘Amazing Grace’ is shipwrecked. We trace his influence and those who followed him as far as the pioneering music of American Gospel singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe in the 1930s and 1940s.

We should like to thank the Reverend Sarah Bourne, Rector of Woodstock and Bladon for the invitation to play, Gillian, Church Warden at Bladon for looking after us and all who attended the event. Sarah comments: We are so grateful to you for bringing Gospel Bell to St Martin’s yesterday afternoon. Everyone was hugely appreciative of your music and we learnt a great deal about the origins of Gospel Music. We would be delighted to welcome you back on another occasion when the weather is warmer and there are more opportunities to engage with the village. Our sincere thanks to the band.