Mount Royal pays respect to “father of handbell ringing”
Posted Jan 2, 2016 5:17 pm.
Last Updated Jan 2, 2016 5:24 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The carillon could be heard throughout Mount Royal University Saturday, as the school paid respect to the man who gave it the bell-ringing machine back in 1969.
John Nelson was known as “the father of handbell ringing” in Canada, and was the main reason for handbells in schools in Alberta.
Elaine Danelesko, the interim director for the Conservatory at MRU, said it was important to honour Nelson because he had done so much for the school.
“There’s a number of us that have worked at Mount Royal for quite a long time so we certainly recognize the name John Nelson, so when we saw his name in the obituary in the newspaper, we wanted to pay homage in some way and stop and think about the fact he sold this iconic bell system to us in 1969 and then upgraded it in 2000, and thought what we could to do to pay tribute to him,” Danelesko said.
The bells were played Saturday afternoon for 20 minutes.
