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Now known as the Colonial Handbell Ringers, the group originated under the direction of Nancy Poore Tufts, who was
largely responsible for bringing English handbell ringing to the Washington, D.C. area. In 1991, Mary Ann Parker took
over as director and the group continued to grow its venues and repertoire. Mary wrote and arranged many of the pieces the
group performs today - and her spirit and dedication to the group has inspired us to continue.
With Mary's retirement following the end of the 2006 holiday season,
ringer Nena Manzo took the conductor's baton with business and logistics assistance by Elie Cossa and David Emanuel. Many
of the original ringers have remained in the group off and on through the years. The 10-12 person group is independent and
non-profit. We are one of the only groups to play from original bell "charts" instead of standard music notation.
We ring a 5-octave "long" set consisting
of 79 bells from the world-famous Whitechapel foundry in London, England. These hand-tuned bronze bells provide the best in
traditional sound, and are also a visual treat. The Whitechapel foundry has a tradition of over 5 centuries of bell-making,
casting "Big Ben," our own Liberty Bell, and the first sets of English handbells.
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