Bellringers of St Cuthberts Church, Benfieldside
Bellringing is a traditional English pursuit, and the sound of church bells is deeply rooted in English culture. The bellringing team at St Cuthbert’s Church, Benfieldside. They have to fit into one of the smallest bellringing chambers in the area but they have managed it for over 150 years.
The current team is led by Tower Captain Sonia Thompson and are a group of enthusiasts who meet every Thursday at 7.30 for practice and then on Sundays at 10.00 before the service. A peal of bells is a period of ringing that is determined by a very precise and mathematical sequence of changes all of which have to be memorised and called out by one of the ringers. The largest bell at St Cuthberts is huge, about the weight of a small car, but a few pulls on the rope gets it swinging and then pealing. Our photographer had a most fascinating morning there. – Photos by Chris Bruce
Delves Lane Chess Club
Chess is a board game between two players. The current form of the game emerged in Spain and the rest of Southern Europe during the second half of the 15th century developed from an ancient game of Indian origin. Today, chess is one of the world’s most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide.
Basically it is played on a chessboard with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid, each player controls sixteen pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns. White moves first, followed by Black then each player takes their turn. The object of the game is to checkmate the opponent’s king, whereby the king is under immediate attack (in “check”) and there is no way for it to escape. Delves Lane Chess Club began in 2016, and currently has about 15 members. The club was formed to allow people to learn or improve their Chess playing. They play purely for fun and friendship, although some of the members now are also members of other clubs outside our area, where they can play more competitive Chess. – Photos by George Ledger
Simply Sewing Classes at Delves Lane & Citizens House
We recently photographed a sewing club at Citizens House, Consett run by Denise Angel. “Denise runs sewing classes at Delves Lane Community Centre and Citizens House. A class for all abilities, learn how to alter, mend, restyle and upcycle clothes and soft furnishings.
Denise is a professionally trained fashion designer and with her guidance you will improve your skills week by week.” – Photos by Steve Webb
‘Consett in Focus’ Documentary Photography Group’
Our next project has started and it’s called ‘Consett at Play’. We are going to photograph how the people of Consett spend their leisure time.
Our Facebook page: facebook.com/ConsettTownofCulture
Website: consettinfocus.weebly.com/
Or email us: consettinfocus@gmail.com
