Gospel Bell is it seems, a popular choice for afternoon tea socials! On Sunday 8 October, we played from 3-5pm in Deddington’s beautiful church and most people stayed throughout – enjoying the tea, cake and occasionally singing along with us. A group of bikers joined us during the first set – probably because they saw the afternoon tea sign outside – they sat at the nearest table and thanked us for the music as they left. Our thanks to Heather and her team for organizing the event – the afternoon raised £104.00 for the church repair fund.

The Gospel Bell afternoon tea band!

On Friday 6 October, Silver Bough facilitated the annual barn dance for the United Reformed Church, Broadway in the beautiful Lifford Hall. For the first time, the evening consisted of a fusion of Ceilidh or barn dancing and Morris dancing – it worked – everyone happily did both! The band also sang a few of the songs from the Gospel Bell repertoire so that the exhausted dancers could get there breath back. A truly  joyful evening.

Barn dancing at Lifford Hall, Broadway

As we gathered in a semi-circle for an informal evening service at St Peter and St Paul, Deddington at 5.30pm, the fading light created a lovely atmosphere for an order of service that celebrated the fact that Christ is the light of the world. We read from Romans 13: 8-14 and celebrated in song and in our prayers that love never fails. We should like to thanks Revd Annie Goldthorp and church administrator Judy Ward for inviting us to play at the service and as always, for a warm welcome. May the light and peace of Christ be with you.

At 4pm on a damp Sunday 3^rd September, Gospel Bell played an hour-long afternoon tea concert and fund-raiser at Holy Trinity Sibford, one of six churches in the Wykeham benefice (Broughton, Epwell, Shutford, Sibford, Swalcliffe, Tadmarton) led by team Rector Ronald Hawkes. The advert in the Sibford news said: GB is an Oxfordshire-based folk club with a difference, they will provide lovely music but also something a ‘bit spiritual’ and thought-provoking. We felt warmly welcomed by an audience of around 60 people, most of whom sang along with the words in our newly produced chorus sheet. Afterwards, over copious supplies of tea and cake, several of the audience said that we hadn’t sung their favourite song, so we’ll introduce a request slot for our next concert-style event. We are delighted that the event raised a generous sum for charity: Revd Ronald Hawkes writes: ‘I have just donated £125 online to Christian Aid who are working with local partners to help alleviate the impact of the South East Asia floods in India and Bangladesh.  With gift aid, this is worth just over £156. Hurrah! Thank you Gospel Bell for such a splendid afternoon.’

Above let to right: David, Sean, Susie, David, John, Troy, Richard, Toni, Donald, Rachel and Jay

On Sunday 27th August 2017, Gospel Bell provided music and singing in support of the morning Eucharist service the Parish Church of St Peter & St Paul, Deddington. Vicar Annie Goldthorp incorporated reflection and discussion about the personhood of Jesus (Matthew 16: 13-20) to encourage re-examination of the mission of Jesus. Pictured below: front row left to right: David, Susie, Sean, Donald; back row left to right: Toni, Paula, Annie and Judy.

St Leonard’s is one of a group of five Church of England parishes within Banbury, situated in the Grimsbury area of the town. The style of worship is traditional with periodic more informal music and GB played at the Eucharist service at 10am on Sunday 30^th July 2017.  We played prior to, during and after the service and members of the congregation sang with us and some even joined us on percussion when we played during refreshments. Vicar Sue Burchell said: ‘Thank you for providing some brilliant music … I enjoyed it very much.’

‘Thy Kingdom Come’ is a global prayer movement, which invites Christians around the world to pray between Ascension and Pentecost. What started out as an invitation from the Archbishops’ of Canterbury and York in 2016 to the Church of England has grown into an international and ecumenical call to prayer. On Saturday 3^rd June 2017, GB played at the 5pm service for ‘Thy Kingdom Come’, St Mary’s Adderbury.

On Saturday 3^rd June 2017 at 3pm, GB played at the annual Amnesty (Banbury) garden party in Bloxham. Reporting on a successful event, the Banbury group posted: ‘…yesterday’s Garden Party was blessed with sunshine and went off very successfully, with the atmosphere greatly assisted by  high energy, acoustic music from Gospel Bell. Many thanks to them for entertaining us and contributing to a great afternoon … The total raised for Amnesty funds was £475.45 which compares favourably with other years.’

Our first afternoon tea engagement took place on Sunday 21^st May 2017 when GB played at the Parish Church of St Peter & St Paul, Deddington from 3-5pm. Fortified by excellent refreshments, most people stayed throughout the afternoon and joined us in singing the choruses. Here is an extract from a ‘thank you’ letter published in the Deddington News, July 2017:

‘A huge thank you to everyone who donated wonderful homemade cakes, and supplied refreshments for the teas in Church in May … We very much appreciated the support from the village and the Gospel Bell Band in helping us to raise £400.’

On Sunday 21^st May 2017, GB played at the Banbury Friendship Festival – a day-long event promoting friendship across Banbury. The Festival began with an ‘Almost dawn chorus walk’ at 7:30am and continued throughout the day with support from a number of local organizations including: the Cornhill Centre, Your Letterbox, The Banbury Museum, The Good Neighbour Fund, Banbury Quakers and the Banbury Interfaith Network. Among other activities, the event featured live music at the bandstand in the centre of Banbury and our slot from 1.3pm until 2pm was blessed with sunshine and a good crowd of people. In the photo below Melodeon player John is pictured  in the foreground with son-in-law Troy (Cajon) and John’s grandson (shaker).