Ringing a Bell is More Dangerous Than I Thought

Helen Springthorpe is a bell ringer at a church, and ringing those bells almost cost her, her life.

Springthorpe, 58, a bell ringer at St Nicholas Church, in Bathampton, U.K., had to be rescued by firefighters after becoming tangled up and trapped 20 feet above the belfry floor during a practice session earlier this week.

Springthorpe, who had only been on the job for three months before the accident, which, according to The Telegraph in the UK, happened on her first "pull" of the night with six other campanologists -- the fancy term for "bell ringers."

Springthorpe got caught in the ropes and couldn't get out.

"I don’t remember very much at all, I started pulling the bells and the next thing I knew I was looking at a paramedic," Springthorpe, who also works as a typist,

The rescue was difficult.  The staircase to the belfry was too narrow so firefighters had to lift up a section of the floor in order to lower her to the ground in a stretcher, the BBC reported.

Despite the harrowing experience, Springthorpe has made a full recovery, but officials are using the incident as a way to let the public know about the possible hazards of bell-ringing.

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