BRHMS History
A Spirit of Inclusiveness
Bow River Handbell Musicians Society began, as many things do, as a result of passion and necessity.
Founder Annie Hergott was the director of a local church handbell group, but she found that working in a church setting comes with limitations.
Some music is appropriate for worship services, but some is not. Additionally, Annie realized that the church can be unwelcoming to some people for a multitude of reasons.
After a particularly intense discussion with the pastor about what kinds of people should be allowed to participate, Annie chose to resign and pursue her dream of creating a community-based performance team that would be free to play whatever music was available and be open to including all people who wanted to play.
She contacted five others from the church group and asked them if they would be willing to help start a new, inclusive, community bell organization.
Six very enthusiastic people met on May 1, 2018 at Angel’s Drive-In near Bowness Park in Calgary to brainstorm, plan, and drink milkshakes.
They had no bells, no place to rehearse, no music, and no ringers, but they had passion, ambition, and dreams.
The original six people began contacting people they knew who might be able to help out and found a number of people who were also enthusiastic about this new handbell group. Annie had started a fledgling community group at the church just a few weeks prior, called Bell Époque, and since it was brand new, she moved that group to the Bow River Bells organization as its first performance team. Many of the ringers from that group stayed in and continued playing under the new umbrella. Interestingly, Bow River Bells was one of the names originally considered for Bell Époque when that group first began.
Rehearsals took place at the Anglican Church of the Good Shepherd, and while the group was decidedly secular, the atmosphere of welcome and inclusiveness at this church was a good fit for the group. As for the instruments, Wanda Costinak borrowed bells and chimes from Chris Akkerman School, where she taught music, and a few weeks later, Chellan Hoffman, the music director of Knox United Church loaned out their bells, which weren’t being used at the time, and Deb Finkleman, a ringer in the group, brought in handchimes from Louis Riel School.
Fast forward to today: Bow River Bells, now officially known as the Bow River Handbell Musicians Society (BRHMS), is a registered non-profit organization encompassing multiple performance teams, consisting of more than forty ringers, who play dozens of performances throughout the year. The groups play on multiple sets of bells and chimes that they own outright, as well as a set of bells generously loaned by the Ruth Burk Family from Calgary.
Annie’s dream for the organization was to have a high-level performance team who would bring the art of handbell ringing to Calgary and beyond. In addition to a wide variety of music, she envisioned thinking outside the box in terms of performance, including memorization, ringing away from the traditional table setups, and presenting the instrument to audiences in new and exciting ways.
The name of this organization would be Bow River Bells, a tribute to the waterway that connects Calgary to the rest of Alberta and provides the city with a constantly flowing, constantly changing current of vitality.
Photo: The very first meeting, May 1, 2018
From left to right: Jim Winslett, Annie Hergott, Wanda Costinak, Debbie Opinko-Brown, Ian Costinak, Bruce Clark
Important Moments in BRHMS History
2018
January: Annie Hergott, handbell director at First Baptist Calgary, begins a community handbell group. The group chooses the name Bell Époque.
February: Bell Époque relocates to Anglican Church of the Good Shepherd, playing borrowed bells, still under Annie’s direction.
May 1: First meeting of what will eventually become the Bow River Bells organization.
May 3: bowriverbells.com domain name secured.
June 11: First concert of the Bow River Bells group. Bell Époque is the only performance team at this point. (Click image to see full program)
Rev Derwyn Costinak nails it as emcee and becomes the go-to host of BRHMS concerts going forward.
August 18: Bow River Bells (the organization) changes names to Bow River Handbell Musicians Society.
September 10: First rehearsal Bow River Bells, BRHMS’ second performance team. The name was chosen to continue the original vision of the organization, which had just changed its name to BRHMS.
2019
January: BRHMS logo, designed by John Lippett, is introduced to the world.
February 21: First rehearsal of Tributary Bells, a beginner-level team. It’s the third performance team under the BRHMS umbrella.
April: First rehearsal of Elbow River Bells, a 12-bell ensemble intended for busking and performances in seniors’ homes around Calgary.
April 30: Draft bylaws are combed through and edited in a marathon meeting that ran so long the bylaws committee had to move it from one restaurant to another mid-meeting because the first one was closing up for the night!
May 2: Annie purchases BRHMS’ first set of bells! A Schulmerich two-octave set from Kim Benfield, a retiring music teacher. BRHMS then begins buying them from her on a payment plan.
May 11: Bow River Bells’ first public performance at a multi-team event in Lethbridge, Alberta.
November 8: BRHMS YouTube channel created.
December: BRHMS purchases the upper half of the 3rd octave of bells to add to our existing 2-octave set. This was made possible through a very generous donation from ringers David and Fiona Miller.
December 1: Bell Époque performs at Carol Fest, a Calgary tradition.
December 4: Bow River Bells perform at the ProArts Noon Concert Series.
December 14: Ringers from multiple BRHMS teams perform with the Calgary Multicultural Choir.
March: Covid-19 slams the brakes on forward progress. Rehearsals cease, bells go silent, and everyone retreats into their ‘bubbles’ while we wait for things to get back to normal. Eventually, out of desperation, Elbow River Bells attempted a few times to have rehearsals via Zoom. It generated more laughter than musicality, with lag times and screen freeze turning the whole ordeal into a circus.
June 10: Jim Winslett purchases a 4-octave set of Schulmerich bells from Resurrection Metropolitan Community Church in Houston, where he previously led their choir HeavenSound for 17 years. BRHMS begins a payment plan to buy the bells from him. They were in rough shape, but it was still a good deal.
Photo: bell-cleaning party!
September: BRHMS enters into a loan agreement with the Ruth Burk Family for a 4-octave set of bells.
October: With no rehearsals scheduled, Jim Winslett makes several videos at his home to keep the YouTube channel active. Also, five ringers, filmed separately, help create the “Tales from the Loop” video.
2021
March 3: After a board discussion about the awkwardness of the website address matching the name of a single performance team (Bow River Bells) but providing information for all the teams, BRHMS secures the domain bowriverhandbells.ca. The old domain, bowriverbells.com is retained and forwards to the new domain.
March-June: Jim Winslett reconstructs the website from scratch to bring it in line with the newer version of Squarespace, the hosting platform.
June 28: Actual in-person board meeting at Bowness Park, with masks and distancing. It felt great to see people in person rather than on a zoom call.
July: Due to the inability to rehearse or perform under continuing Covid restrictions, BRHMS ringers who had already paid their dues were given the option to either roll them over to the next year, have them refunded, or donate the money to keep BRHMS going. The vast majority opted to donate their funds.
September 13: Regular rehearsals finally resume after a lengthy hiatus. Hooray!
With Covid spacing and no bell sharing and masks! Boo!
But at least we were making music again. All performance teams’ number of ringers is down by 30-40%.
December 15: Bow River Bells perform at ProArts Noon Concert Series.
2022
January: Tributary Bells is down to just two participants, both teens. Rehearsal time is spent ramping up their skills into more advanced techniques.
Spring: Elbow River Bells, being a small enough group to be allowed to play while still under Covid restrictions, ramps up activities. ERB ringer Debbie Opinko-Brown takes over bookings and ERB performs every week from April to early June at seniors’ homes around the city.
June: Finalizing preparations for “Rapids”, the first post-Covid concert is intense. Four performance teams, a long repertoire, and sharing sets of bells between groups makes organizing the flow of the concert an exercise in mental gymnastics. (See photo)
June 13: “Rapids” concert. All four performance teams participate, including the two sole members of Tributary Bells. The success of their performance at this concert leads to them being known as the Handbell Hotshots. Click the poster to see the program.
June: Bow River Bells goes on hiatus. Returning members of BRB join the ranks of Bell Époque.
September 29: Ringer Maureen Holmes purchases the lower 4th octave of a set of Schulmerich bells. BRHMS agrees to buy them from her on a payment plan.
October-November: Annie offers a six-week workshop series for absolute beginners to learn how to play handbells.
October 3: Bell Époque, Elbow River Bells, and Handbell Hotshots perform at “Ring Out!” Calgary-wide handbell concert.
October-December: Elbow River Bells plays multiple times per week at seniors’ homes and other locations around Calgary.
December 11: Elbow River Bells performs at Carol Fest.
December 18: Elbow River Bells is invited to perform at the Studio Bell National Music Centre. (photo)
February: Bow River Bells returns to rehearsing, but under a new name: Alpine Ringers, leaving the name Bow River Bells free to represent the entire BRHMS family, as the website and email address for BRHMS still include that name.
March-May: Elbow River Bells is booked solid at seniors’ homes and care centres, bringing the joy of handbells to Calgary residents.
May 28: Bell Époque performs with Calgary Women’s Chorus
May 29: BRHMS spring concert featuring Elbow River Bells, Bell Époque, Alpine Ringers, Handbell Hotshots, plus a duet by Annie Hergott and Debbie Opinko-Brown.
Click the poster to see the program.
July-October: Elbow River Bells continues to be booked all over the City.
October 8, 13: BRHMS ringers Janet Zatka and Jim Winslett interviewed on local radio regarding the upcoming ‘ffortyssimo!’ event.
October 13-14: BRHMS hosts the annual “Handbell Discovery” event for the Alberta Guild of English Handbell Ringers (ALGHER). Because it’s ALGEHR’s 40th anniversary, the event is dubbed “ffortyssimo!” Several BRHMS ringers conduct workshops and clinics over the two days and Annie Hergott and Jim Winslett share the conducting podium for the advanced ringers.
November: The Gerald Bohme family purchase bass bells from Fish Creek United church for BRHMS’ use with the intention of donating them to BRHMS at a later date.
December 1-2: Elbow River Bells plays the Bearspaw European Christmas Market, which led to some media attention after local radio host hears them play.
December 11: Director Annie Hergott is featured on Virgin Radio feature “A Woman A Day” Instagram link here.
December 24: Elbow River Bells featured on CTV News. Link here. (Skip to the 18:10 mark)
2024
January: Tributary Bells begins rehearsing again with 14 new ringers.
Spring: Elbow River Bells booked at seniors’ homes all over the city. Very busy!
May 11: Bell Époque performs at “Let the Bells Ring Out” festival in Lethbridge, Alberta.
June 3: BRHMS concert featuring all the BRHMS performance teams, plus solo and quartet numbers. Click the poster to see the program.
October-December: Elbow River Bells plays holiday music all over the city, including the Bearspaw Christmas Market, Calgary Farmers’ Markets, and the Calgary International Airport. The group was fully booked for the holidays months in advance.
December 11: Elbow River Bells perform at the Christmas Concert in Claresholm, Alberta
December 15: Elbow River Bells present their first full-scale Christmas concert in a theatre setting. Click the image to see the setlist.
December 20 & 22: Elbow River Bells play two sets each day at Calgary YYC airport.