[Bell Historians] Metal prices

[jimhedgcock]

--- In bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com, "john" <john.ketteringham27 at ...> 
wrote:
>
 I seem to remember someone saying how unsafe many of these single 
bells are.   >

This reminds me of a tale. When I started teaching in the Dark Ages, my 
aged Deputy Head Teacher was telling me about her first teaching post 
in an old school in the Welsh Valleys. On the first day of school she 
was told to go to ring the bell for the start of school. She had seen 
the bell in the bell cote and  the 'fluffy rope' dangling in the 
assembly hall.  She duly went and gave it a good tug which brought the 
bell and masonry crashing through the roof. She was later shown the 
hand bell that she should have used sitting on the fireplace!