Ringing for Gold written by Peter Fawcett is a 384-page hardback book with 174 historic photographs and illustrations about the annals and development of hand-bell tune ringing from it’s birth in the mid 1500?s. The book is edited by Philip Bedford who writes:
"For thirty years my brother Don and I have produced and published hand bell music, mainly for the UK and the Australian markets. Some time ago we were approached and asked if we would edit and publish a book on the history of hand-bell ringing written by Peter Fawcett, which he had been researching for 35 years. Normally Don and I only publish music, but when we read Peter’s manuscript we could not refuse. The book just has to be Published"
"Peter has written a most remarkable and readable historic account of the origins and development of tune ringing on hand bells. For example, in fascinating detail he portrays the traumas and celebrations of the great tune ringing contests held at Belle Vue, Manchester in the 1800s and early 1900s. (He even takes us for a ride on one of the special trains with the loyal supporters of one of the competing hand-bell bands.) He gives us what is probably the earliest written hand-bell music – a tune (eminently playable) jotted down in a 1734 gentleman bell ringer’s diary. He has found the prestigious Mears Challenge Cup for which bands competed at the British Open Championships at Belle Vue, Manchester. He has found the original music from several of the ‘long set’ hand-bell bands of the 1800s, some dating from before 1855. He has found, and has arranged for them to be held in trust, many of the ‘long sets’ of 156 or more hand bells of those same bands. One of them, Clifton Hand-Bell Ringers, is ringing again, thanks to Peter, after a half-century’s rest."
