Hi Bell Parents and Friends,

After only a few hours (2 - 3?) sleep on the plane, we were awakened around 7:00 AM London (GMT) time. (That was 2:00 AM NJ time ;-( ). We were served a small breakfast and had a smooth landing at 8:50 AM. After exiting the plane, we were routed to a large room to process our passports and gain entry to the UK. Unfortunately, there were around 1,000 other people ahead of us waiting to get through the 5 lines. It took over an hour to get through the passport lines. We finally got to our Hyde Hotel around 11:30 AM. We checked in and were free until 3:00 PM. But, we had to get our attire for two concerts ready and pack for our overnight stay that night.

We boarded our bus at 3:00 PM for our trip to St. Mary's Parish Church in Thorpe, Surrey. St. Mary's is an old church initially built around the year 940. We were greeted by Music Director, Jennifer Fraser, and her husband, James. After setting the bells up, James gave us a brief talk on the history of the church. Among other things, it was the Parish Church for Queen Elizabeth's mother, Queen Mary. We were then served a delicious meal by the St. Mary's staff and volunteers. Thank you, St. Mary's!

After dinner, the ringers changed into their concert attire and gave a good concert to an appreciative audience. We were treated to an intermission with dessert! After the concert, we met our home stay hosts and went to their homes for a much-needed night's sleep. All are doing well, but tired.

George