Those pealing bells that residents of downtown Red Deer heard at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Day could become a tintinnabulatory symphony next year, if more churches join in.
Gaetz Memorial United Church and St. Luke’s Anglican Church welcomed the New Year by ringing their bells for the first five minutes of 2012.
Next Dec. 31, Bruce Beck hopes that even more Red Deer churches will get in on the act.
The Gaetz United Church member plans to contact other places of worship, such as Sacred Heart Catholic Church, to see whether bells still exist in their bell towers. Beck said he’d love to hear even more ringing at the start of 2013 — which will be Red Deer’s 100th anniversary as a city.
This year is the Gaetz Memorial United Church’s 125th anniversary, so bells were sounded last weekend partially in recognition of that, said Beck, who is also planning some organ concerts to mark the anniversary. (This year also marks the 25th year since the church installed its large organ.)
For years, Beck, who serves on the United Church’s worship and music committee, felt his church’s bell was under-utilized even though it rings as a call to worship on Sundays.
“I thought, we’ve got that bell, somebody should be ringing it at New Year’s! Finally I said to my wife, we’re going to have to be the somebodies to do that.”
Beck and half a dozen others arranged to get into the church late on Dec. 31 to pull the bell string. At the same time, his friend Karl McKinley rang the bell at nearby St. Luke’s Anglican Church because he liked Beck’s idea of jointly welcoming the new year.
The two small groups of bell ringers later got together over snacks. And Beck said the churches are now considering whether to hold an 11 p.m. service next Dec. 31 that would end in the joyful pealing of bells.
lmichelin@www.reddeeradvocate.com