Elmar,

What was your niece using the bell to do?

...enormous clappers...

Ha! Many years ago when Houston had had some severe (to put it mildly) weather there was an Episcopal church across Main Street from Rice University which had a peal of bells high up in its belfry, a good tower which, at nave level, housed the organ. (If you are clever you can at this point predict what happened!.) Well, yes, the two largest bells came loose from their mounts, fell through three floors of the tower and landed (crashed) on the organ pipes. A total loss was the organ - which did not altogether grieve the choirmaster because he at any rate had wanted a new organ, which he got. So, the original Pilcher was replaced by a Wicks, which later was replaced by Houston's only Fisk - except for the organ at Rice, which is a joint effort by Fisk-Rosales.

Chris, I was indeed talking about handbells, normaly used at the altar at consecration and such, and in this single instance in the choir loft (at the Gloria in Easter Vigil, if memory serves).
Though, we had one instance two years ago of the clapper of a bell in the tower coming off. We were rehearsing before mass and heard a loud bang and then one of the bells being silent. It souded as if the bell itself had fallen off...

Liam -

How did you know it was Palmer? Are you familiar with the churches in Houston?
Palmer is the only Episcopal church I ever have encountered that was not named for a patron saint. It was built as a memorial to one of the Palmer family who drowned. The parish interprets its name to indicate that they, like the palmers who went on pilgrimage bearing palms to the Holy Land, are but pilgrims in this world. The sanctuary of this church is about six feet above the name because the Venetian church after which it was designed has such a raised sanctuary to accomodate gondola traffic in the underlying canal.

Your niece is a girl altar boy?

Especially in terms of muscles!