on the job

I basically know every bellringer in Sydney – there are only 200 of us. I’ve been bellringing at churches for 18 years now. A lot of people think it’s a Hunchback of Notre Dame-style thing where I pull on a rope and hold on and it’s quite simple and slow. Or they think of handbells – really little ones. In reality, we ring in what’s called ‘full circle swinging’ or ‘The English Style’.

When we pull on the rope, the whole bell swings all the way around.