Valerie Bush has been ringing for 20 years after learning on choir chimes at a church in Matthews, North Carolina. This is her third membership in a community ensemble; the others being Ring Sarasota in Sarasota, Florida and Westminster Ringers in Westminster, Maryland. She is married, has 3 children, 5 grandchildren, 2 grand dogs and 1 grand cat. Her hobbies include knitting and Swedish weaving.

Viviana grew up in a musical family in San Juan, PR. Her paternal family were musicians and choral singers at their local church. Viviana began piano lessons at age 8, then joined her high school choir as a teen. She enjoys musical theater and has performed in ensemble roles for community theater productions including Smokey Joe’s Cafe and Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.
Viviana joined the handbell choir at St. Timothy Catholic Church in 2019. While she is relatively new to handbells, her passion for music and piano/choral training has motivated her to continue growing her skills as a member of the Bay Area Ringers.

Nancy Chase is an individual and family therapist who has lived in Florida for over 40 years. Whether skydiving out of an airplane or swimming with sharks in Hawaii, Nancy is always looking for adventure and new experiences. She started playing handbells as a teenager but then returned to it three years ago. She loves being a part of a team that creates soul inspiring music and enjoys tearing down handbell stereotypes.

New to the area and a new member of Suncoast Bronze Ringers, Kirsten has been playing handbells for the better part of 35 years with churches in the various places she has lived, including Alabama (playing with the Embellishments community choir in Birmingham), Indiana, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Oklahoma. Kirsten just completed her PhD in Medical Sociology and enjoys exercising and singing, traveling, working on her Spanish-speaking skills, and spending time with friends and family, including her three teen-aged children. Having experience with different bell positions and techniques, bass bells have always been her favorite.

Patricia Deighton is a native of Kansas and graduate of Kansas State University in Music Education. She began playing handbells in 1982 at the church where she was Director of Music and Organist. She is an original member of Suncoast Bronze Ringers and became its second director in 2014. She is currently organist at First United Methodist Church of Hudson, Florida and plays in their Bellaire handbell choir. She has two grown children and three active grandsons. She enjoys reading, crafting and sewing.

Suzy Hickey is new to Suncoast Bronze! She began ringing in 4th grade at her home church in Dayton Ohio. She is a retired music educator where she taught band, choir, junior high and elementary music over her 30 years. She also conducted two student handbell groups. These days Suzy lives with her husband, Joe, and two dogs in Citrus Hills. Between them they have 5 children and 4 grandchildren. They enjoy golfing and exploring Florida. Suzy rings bells at Joy Lutheran Church in Ocala.

Kathryn began ringing handbells in middle school. She continued ringing through high school and in college joined the handbell choir at Concordia University in Irvine under the direction of Dr. Herb Geisler. It was here that her love of handbells really began to take off.  Kathryn rang with the Concert Handbells for 2 years while taking lessons as a solo ringer under Nancy Jessup.  As a senior, Kathryn joined the Spirit Bells as a student director and performed her senior recital on handbells with an hour long concert of solo ringing, duets, trios, bell trees and a popular piece she arranged for bells and clarinet. Several years after graduating, Kathryn returned to Concordia and joined the alumni choir until her recent relocation to Central Florida. She joined Suncoast Bronze and has really enjoyed ringing with ringers from varied backgrounds who take time to learn and hone their craft.

Cyndi Hughes is a Judicial Assistant for the 6th Judicial Circuit of Florida by day, and church organist/pianist by night and weekend. She has been playing handbells since the early 1980's and became truly hooked after attending a festival in St. Louis where the clinician was none other than the great Don Allured. That was the first time she had seen any bells outside the normal three octaves and has been loving playing handbells ever since.