In 1899 they borrowed a peal of bells from the Hyde Ringers of Cheshire and aimed to perform well at that year’s British Open Competition. However the bell strikers were too hard, and this, they felt, spoiled their performance.
Nevertheless, in 1901, the band invested in a new peal of 164 bells. At the 1902 and 1903 British Open Competitions they were runners up to Crosland Moor, and, in 1904, they not only won the Yorkshire Association Championship, but also the British Open Competition.
One of their last recorded concerts was at the Association Hall in Manchester, in 1905, and it is possible they disbanded after the death of William Booth, their conductor, in 1908. Their bells and music library were purchased by Crosland Moor in 1909. Much of the music was stamped ‘Huddersfield Hand-Bell Ringers’.
