Here’s a shocker from The Independent. Thankfully the gentleman in question doesn’t appear to have been severely injured, and you can see how bellringing might very well be an activity with some risks attached, as the churchwarden acknowledges further down the story.

However, let’s just hope this bastion of English village life won’t be the next thing to fall foul of the health and safety police…

Bell ringer comes a cropper in church tower accident

A bell ringer broke his collarbone after becoming entangled in a rope at the top of a church tower.

Tony Merry was hoisted 3ft off the belfry floor when the rope caught his trousers. Stuck fast in the cramped upper reaches of St Mary’s Church in Charlbury, Oxfordshire, he had to be rescued by firefighters and paramedics. They used a pulley to lower him through a trap door 15ft above ground and down on to a stretcher below.

Recovering at home yesterday, Mr Berry, 58, said: “Nothing like this has ever happened before – it gave me a real shock. I think a bunch of keys got caught in the rope and I was pulled about 3ft off the floor. The shock made me black out and I lost consciousness and fell to the ground and bashed my shoulder. The paramedics gave me morphine to help with the pain and then I was conscious throughout the rescue.” Read full story here…