Gladys and the bells of Wellington

It has been years since the 74 bells of the Wellington carillon bells rang out over the city.
The whole project of a memorial with the bells was a huge commitment - one taken by the Wellington War Memorial Carillon Society who ordered the first 49 bells without having land or money to build the necessary bell tower for them.
So they offered the bells for sale to the citizens of Wellington from as little as £30 to £1440.
And despite what was then a huge cost - they were snapped up. So much so that they had too many applications to buy them.
Preference was given to the families of the fallen and New Zealand Expeditionary force members along with several military bodies. Each bell has a name and an inscription (with the exception of a bell dedicated to veterans of the South African war.)
The bells were given to the government who used them in the building of the National War Memorial Carillon which stood 50 metres high.
It was dedicated and opened on Anzac Day 1932 and the first recital of the bells was made - by English carillonist Clifford Ball and Wellingtonain Gladys Watkins.
Gladys Elinor Watkins was born on October 20, 1884 in Akaroa, to Elizabeth and Stephen.
After schooling in Wellington she started her own business as a music teacher. During World War One she belonged to a group that performed at the Trentham camp and was a singer in a couple of choirs.
She heard about the possibility of a carillon and wanted to learn how to play one - so with the backing of Carillon society she travelled to Belgium to study.
Gladys went on recital tours and got to try the newly cast bells destined for Wellington while they were still in London.
She was one of the very few women carillonists and composed original music for the huge instruments.
At the formal opening for the Wellington she played along with Ball then went on to play a further 307 recitals from the clavier in the bell tower, which she could only get to by climbing a long steep set of stairs and ladders.
Gladys retired in 1936 and married Evening Post chief reporter Ernest Edward Muir.
She died on October 20, 1939 and is buried in the Karori Cemetery.​