News

The ringers celebrated the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton by showing the TV coverage on a big screen in church and holding a small party in the Ark. At least it started as a small party but we ended up with 90 people and a visit from the BBC.

[Indoor street party for the Royal Wedding]

Diary of past events

December 11th 2011 - Our regular Christmas Coffee Morning in the Village Hall with stalls selling gifts and books.
November 26th 2011 - Promises Auction which raised nearly £3,000 for the fund.
November 12th 2011 - Railway Exhibition. The July event was so succesful that the organisers ran it again as a fundraiser for the Bell Fund.
October 23rd 2011 - Launch Party. We invited everyone from the village to a presentation in the Ark where we described the work we're planning to start in the New Year.
October 10th 2011 - St Andrews, Rugby. Our oldest bells were cast by Joseph Smith of Edgbaston in 1711. St Andrews has an almost identical ring of Smith bells from the same year and they invited us over to see them.
July 9th 2011 - Model Railway Exhibition. Once again the organisers invited us to have a stand at their exhibition and we spent the day running a tombola and bookstore.
April 29th 2011 - We rang for the Royal Wedding and held a party in church to celebrate. Ninety people turned up - as did the BBC News.
Easter 2011 - A fourth run of our Mini Eggs, giveaway. Once again we had a larger egg as the prize and we raised £373.12 for the fund.
December 11th 2010 - Christmas Coffee Morning in the Village Hall made a £137 profit for the Bell Fund.
November 6th 2010 - Four of us with the aid of two outside ringers rang a quarter peal, on Saturday morning. The first that's been rung at St Laurence for many years.
September 2010 - The Parochial Church Council of St Lawrence formed a sub committee to oversee the bells restoration work.
April 24th 2010 - Table-top sale in the Ark.
Easter 2010 - A third session of giving away tubes of Cadbury's Mini Eggs, this time with a giant Easter Egg donated by Cadbury's as a raffle prize.
March 6th 2010 - North Worcestershire Striking Competition We've won the competition for the past two years and were very pleased to come first again this year.
December 31st 2009 - New Year's Eve Party. Fifty villagers joined the ringers to celebrate the New Year in the Ark.
December 12th 2009 - Christmas Coffee Morning - Village Hall.
May 2nd 2009 - Table-top sale in the Ark. A repeat of this popular event from last year.
Easter 2009 - Once again we gave away tubes of Cadbury's Mini Eggs so that people could fill them with loose change for the fund. This year we distributed 246 tubes and raised £585.43.
March 21st 2009 - Concert by Bella Voci in the Ark. Supported by the Waverton Hand Bell Ringers
January 20th 2009 - The Belfry Repair Fund of the Worcestershire & Districts Change Ringing Association have offered us a grant towards the restoration of our bells.
December 13th 2008 - Christmas Coffee morning. Christmas fare and festive entertainment in the Village Hall.
November 2008 - We received a £2,000 grant from the Garfield Weston Foundation.
October 2008 - Bel Canto Singers. A performance in church by this popular local choir. http://www.belcantosingers.co.uk/
July 2008 - Model Railway Exhibition. The Bell Fund took a stand at the Model Railway exhibition in the Ark.
June 2008 - Sponsorship Appeal. We had 5,000 leaflets printed so that every home in the village would get details of our sponsorship scheme.
June 2008 - Table top sale. Just a simple sale in the Ark but it raised another £400 for the funds.
Easter 2008 - Julie Kirkbride MP visited us on Easter Saturday to see how we were getting on and to return her Mini Eggs tube.
March 2008 - Nothing to do with the fund-raising as such but the St Laurence team entered the Worcestershire Northern Branch Striking Competition on March 1st and came first in the Call Changes section.
February 2008 - We will be giving away free tubes of Cadbury's Mini Eggs in the weeks before Shrove Tuesday. The only catch is that we expect you to fill the empty tube with your loose coins during Lent and bring it back to us at Easter.
January 22nd 2008 - Presentation by Mark Reacord to the St Laurence Women's Fellowship on the history of the bells.
January 1st 2008 - Alvechurch Morris perform their Mummers' Play in aid of the Bell Fund.
Christmas 2007 - Alvechurch ringers carol singing in the pubs of Alvechurch.
December 2007 - St Laurence Bells blog launched at http://alvechurchbells.blogspot.com/ .
December 15th 2007 - Christmas Coffee Morning
November 3rd 2007 - Christmas fayre
September 29th 2007 - Elvis
June 16th 2007 - Concert by St Laurence Church Choir.
May 7th 2007 - Lamb Roast.
April 28th 2007 - Table Top Sale in the Ark.
March 10th 2007 - Recital by the Arrowvale Singers.
February 17th 2007 - Valentines Buffet Dance
February 5th 2007 - Presentation to Alvechurch Historical Society
December 9th 2006 - Carol Service for the Worcestershire and Districts Change Ringing Association
December 1st 2006 - Open evening at the Flower Mill in The Square.
November 24th 2006 - Curry & Quiz night at 7:30 in the Ark.
November 11th 2006- Demonstration of Flower Arranging.
November 4th 2006 - Autumn Fair in the Ark at St Laurence.
October 28th 2006 - Gemini Choir perform "Songs from the Shows". 7:30 at St Laurence.
October 28th 2006 - Unveiling the Bell Fund thermometer.
July 22nd 2006 - Fundraising thermometer donated by SignsExpress of Bromsgrove.
July 15th 2006 - Table Top Sale in Alvechurch Baptist Hall.
April 29th 2006 - Launch Party in the Ark at St Laurence.
April 17th 2006 - Visit from Worcestershire and Districts Change Ringing Association
April 12th 2006 - Registered on the BBC Action Network
March 17th 2006 - Area Practice Night at St Laurence.
March 10th 2006 - Quiz at Beoley
February 14th 2006 - New web site from Blue Box software.
February 11th 2006 - Display in Alvechurch Library.
January 12th 2006 - Display in Parish Council Office
December 4th 2005 - Open Day at the Ark.

The parish magazine of St Laurence church is published every month and carries news of our progress. Visit this page to read past issues of 'The Grapevine' .

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