Circle celebration

By Eric Freehling, Eagle Focus Editor

December 04, 2014 Last Updated: December 04, 2014 12:12 PM Community

The Circle of Friends will ring in their winter season Friday with a performance of the singing choir and bellringers choir at Hope Lutheran Church in Cranberry Township Friday. Proceeds from one of the six concerts in Circle of Friends winter season will be used to partially pay the cost of refurbishing the bells.

Choir rings in Christmas season with full schedule

ZELIENOPLE — The Circle of Friends Choirs will literally ring in the holiday season Friday when they perform their first Christmas concert.

The singers are backed by a bell-ringer choir.

And while they will be playing in six churches this month, Circle of Friends isn't part of any church.

“We do rehearse in a church in Zelienople, but we are not affiliated with them,” said choir member June English of Evans City.

“We have people from the Evans City area, Zelienople and some from Baden, a couple from Chicora. It covers a pretty wide area,” she said.

Her son and Circle of Friends artistic director, David English, said the singers choir has 36 members, and there are 14 in the bell choir.

The choirs have been in existence since 2009 and were formed by David English and other members of a church choir, said member Carol Heckhart of Meridian.

“He used to direct a church choir. It's just his love of music. He wanted to go ahead and do this group. A lot of us were in his church choir, too,” said June English.

“A handful of us got together in the summer of 2009,” said David English, an optometrist with a practice in Seven Fields. “At the time, there were about 15 to 20 of us involved in this.”

He said the group is listed as a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization.

After forming, the group soon acquired its handbells from a church.

“I'm really proud of both groups,” he said referring to the singers and ringers. “Some of them don't read music. We use a system of counting and colors.”

“All the music is memorized. It is a visual event for the audience. We insist they own the music. People don't want to see the chorus with their heads buried in some sort of music,” David English said.

He said Circle of Friends has two seasons: two weeks in May with a concentration of secular music and two weeks in December when the choirs perform sacred music for the Christmas season.

“Everyone knows to leave those dates open in December, and we do it for the first two weeks in May,” he said.

“This year we are doing five pieces by the Trans Siberian Orchestra. We have a guitar, bass guitar, keyboard, flute, vertical chimes, violin and percussion,” he said of this year's holiday selections.

June English, herself, sings. “I used to be a bell-ringer but I got too old,” she said.

As for churches, she said, “They usually come to us. We've done them a couple of times. We can't go to a small church anymore because we have grown. Our bell tables take up a lot of space.”

The concerts last about an hour and 20 minutes and the host church decides where the proceeds are applied. There's one exception this month.

“This year, we are having a concert at St. Peter's Reformed Church, 320 E. Grandview Ave., for the Circle of Friends because we had to get the bells refurbished this year. We can have one concert a year to benefit ourselves,” June English said.

“The bells are very expensive. They were given to us when we started the group,” she said. “They were old. They had not been used for a long time. That's why they had to be refurbished already. They were donated to us by a church that didn't use them.”

“These are 23-year-old bells. The handles were breaking off because of rot,” said David English.

David English said the bell choir rehearses an hour and 45 minutes very week, while the singing choir meets for rehearsals two hours every week.

But for Heckhart the time put into practice and performing is negligible against Circle of Friends benefits.

“For me, it's two-fold. One is we raise a lot of money to help other people,” she said. “Whether it's feeding the hungry or children with diseases or Meals on Wheels, when you sing for that, you are helping the greatest good.

“And we are friends. It is fun to get together. We laugh and have a good time, ” Heckhart said.

“Dave is a Pied Piper. He is just does a lot for the community. I think the thing he gets is satisfaction from giving back to the community,” she said.

June English said, “We have a website (www.acofchoirs.com.) If they come to our concerts, it is printed on the program and we would be glad to have new members.”

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. FridayWHERE: Hope Lutheran Church, 8070 Rowan Road, Cranberry TownshipINFORMATION: 724-776-3141BENEFITS: Pleasant Valley Men's ShelterWHEN: 7 p.m. SaturdayWHERE: St. Peter's Reformed Church, 320 E. Grandview Ave., ZelienopleINFORMATION: 724-452-8120BENEFITS: Circle of FriendsWHEN: 7 p.m. SundayWHERE: St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church, 201 W. Jefferson St.INFORMATION: 724-287-6741BENEFITS: Katie's KitchenWHEN: 7:30 p.m. Dec. 12WHERE: English Lutheran Church, 200 E. Grandview Ave., ZelienopleINFORMATION: 724-452-8110BENEFITS: Southwest Butler Food CupboardWHEN: 7 p.m. Dec. 13WHERE: Faith Community United Methodist Church, 341 Jefferson St., RochesterINFORMATION: 724-775-3447BENEFITS: Cancer Patient FundWHEN: 7 p.m. Dec. 14WHERE: Meridian United Presbyterian Church, 4150 Highland Ave., MeridianINFORMATION: 724-482-2630BENEFITS: Connoquenessing Meals on Wheels