Mt. Lebanon church ready to celebrate 50 years of handbell ringing

One of the years the Southminster Ringers performed outdoors on Christmas Eve, the temperature was a balmy 3 degrees.
“Those kids still have bragging rights as the coldest,” Richard Pinkerton said. “They were out there ringing, anyway.”
Pinkerton, minister of music and fine arts at Southminster Presbyterian Church in Mt. Lebanon, also has what can be considered bragging rights: He is one of only two directors the Southminster Ringers have had in the ensemble’s half-century history. Tom Flynn founded the handbell group for high school-age youngsters in September 1969, and Pinkerton came aboard in 2002.
Along the way, the ringers have taken their music to much of Europe during every-other-year tours, including countries that, when Flynn started the program, were behind the Iron Curtain.
“He had a great vision for taking the group of kids and exposing them to different cultures,” Pinkerton said. “I think it’s changed a lot of kids’ lives and directions in their lives. There are a lot of our former ringers now even living in Germany or the Czech Republic. They found that connection and found a heart for doing something very different.
“It opens up the world beyond the bubble of Mt. Lebanon.”

Harry Funk / The Almanac
Harry Funk / The Almanac
David Vaughan is a student conductor for the Southminster Ringers.
The latest tour included visits to a Romanian orphanage that receives substantial support from Southminster, a Baptist church in Bulgaria, and a Syrian refugee camp in Greece, where the ringers performed outside in the opposite of the typical Christmas Even weather in Mt. Lebanon: 100-plus-degree heat.
“It was a great experience for our kids,” Pinkerton asserted. “They were able to talk with a lot of the people who were there, because their English was really good.
Although the few visitors who are permitted to enter such camps can’t take photographs, there are no rules against the refugees doing so.
“So I just handed my camera to someone, and it was wonderful, because then we could record the kids and actually see some smiling faces,” Pinkerton recalled. “Our kids can bring joy to people who otherwise don’t have much to be excited about.”
That also can be the case closer to home, especially during the ensemble’s annual performance at the Allegheny County Jail, scheduled this year for Dec. 20. Pinkerton talked out one such experience:

Harry Funk / The Almanac
Harry Funk / The Almanac
From left are assistant director Skip Peters, Danny Flynn and Duncan LaDuke.
“One of the inmates stood up after we’d performed and said, ‘We truly have nothing we can give you, but.’ And he proceeded to sing for us, ‘Mary Had a Baby.’ He said, ‘This is my gift to you, because you have been so generous to us.’ It’s just one of those moments that was so touching. The kids were stunned, and there were a few tears here and there.”
The Southminster Ringers, known at the church as Ringers 1, joins four other groups: Southminster Handbell Ensemble, for adults; Sonorilo, primarily young adults who are Ringers 1 alumni; and two groups for younger students.

Harry Funk / The Almanac
Harry Funk / The Almanac
Liz Peters composes for the Southminster Ringers and also directs the Ringers 2 ensemble.
Ringers 2, primarily middle school-aged students, is directed by Elizabeth Peters, who also does a lot of composition for the various ringing groups. Essi Efthimiou, Pinkerton’s wife, directs Ringers 3, which provides students in fourth through eighth grades with the opportunity to learn handbells.
“Reading music is not nearly the most vital thing,” Pinkerton said.
“Being able to count is the important thing, so that you know where to place your bell in relation to everything else.”
He said that the 50th anniversary of the Southminster Ringers will take place over Memorial Day weekend, and Flynn plans to be in attendance.
For more information, visit www.spchurch.org.

By Harry Funk
Staff writer
hfunk@thealmanac.net
Mia Rhodes (student conductor), Mabel Neemes, Skp Peters (assistant director) and Lily Neemes.