When Debra became the Organist/Choir Director at the Congregational Church of Littleton in 1986, the church had already begun raising funds to purchase a set of Handbells. Soon they had enough to purchase a one octave set of handbells. The church's first handbell choir started practicing (learning how to play handbells :-) almost as soon as the handbells arrived. The congregation loved the handbell music so much that it took them only six months to raise money for two more octaves. The church now owns a four-octave set of Schulmerich Handbells and a three-octave set of Malmark Choirchimes. We also use a four-octave set of Schulmerich Handbells that is on loan to us by a member of our church.
This year marks the fourteenth year that Debra has been the Choir Director at the Congregational Church of Littleton. The number of people that play handbells in our church has grown to include 45 ringers and a paid Associate Handbell Director, Janet Anderson. We now have five handbell choirs: New Generation Ringers I and II (two children's choirs), Sounds of the Spirit (an adult choir), the Christian Spirit Ringers (a teen choir), and the United Ringers (an advanced intergenerational choir of 9th graders through adults). We also have a handbell quartet, the Rainbow Ringers who manage to juggle up to 3 1/2 octaves of bells. All groups play regularly for our church's worship services as well as for many events outside our church sponsored by schools, private organizations, other churches, civic groups, and the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers (AGEHR). We have had members of our handbell choirs participate in and perform at many of the AGEHR Festival/Conferences, both regional and national. Debra is currently the Secretary of the AGEHR Area I Chapter (Visit our Area I Web Page). She has also done some composing and arranging for handbells.
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Debra J. LeBrun
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Last modified: Tue Aug 20 08:56:53 Eastern Daylight Time 2002