The bells the bells

I had some time off today so went off to Liverpool Anglican Cathedral to hear the bellringers chime out John Lennon's Imagine. It seems an unlikely secular hymn for the Cathedral to choose to launch it's initiative to encourage young people to think creatively. Hailed as "A premiere recital and reinterpretation of John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ using the bells of Liverpool’s Anglican cathedral and produced by artist Cleo Evans in collaboration with local change ringers." The event was part of FUTURESONIC (URBANFEST OF ART, MUSIC & IDEAS).

It was actually quite a moving experience and I noticed that a few people were drying away tears. A song of hope but also a song of despair...hearing it being peeled out by the bells and then sung inside the cathedral by children who weren't even born when John Lennon died was strangely haunting.

The event has been 'blessed' by Yoko Ono who wrote to the cathedral:
"The sound of your bells will travel around the world and remind people of John Lennon and his belief that there is an urgent need for world peace… like the church bell in the town, which used to ring as the warning to people about impending disasters like flood and fire!

Thank you for thinking of a very important way of bringing change to the consciousness of the world."