THE BELLS, THE BELLS! Trapped in the vestry so committee ring out SOS in Morse
When ten Church committee members founds themselves accidentally locked inside a Midland vestry they managed to send out an SOS for help - using the church bells.
The group mounted a "Dad's Army" style campaign to free themselves from St James's Church at Badsey, near Evesham.
Retired Army Colonel Tony Jerram proved that old soldiers never die and took charge using his knowledge of the Morse Code, to help Chris Smith ring out the Save Our Souls signal with the Church bells.
Eventually a Good Samaritan, who realised the significance of the message, alerted the vicar who unlocked the Church.
Shouting
Before hitting on the idea of using the Morse Code, the committee had considered pushing Wendy Such, the smallest member of the group, through a skylight and flicking the Church lights on and off and shouting loudly.
The skylight idea was abandoned as there was a long drop the other side and no-one saw the lights or heard the shouting.
Yvonne Haynes, a 52-year-old company secretary, said that initially they had thought that being locked in was some kind of practical joke as they had been discussing how to attract more people to the Church.
"After a while, some of the group started to panic a little bit. Mr Jerram immediately took charge of the situation," she said.
Mr Smith, aged 39, who used his childhood knowledge of bell-ringing, said: "Ringing the bells seemed our only chance. I had not done it for years and it must have sounded terrible."
"Tony shouted instructions while I rang the bells." Rev Dr Adrian Hough, vicar of Badsey, Aldington, Offenham and Bretforton, said: "It was bell-ringing practice that night anyway so nobody paid any attention."
Eventually a passer-by heard the signal and realised its important and went to the Church, where the ten committee members slipped a note bearing the vicar's address under the door.
Rev Dr Hough said that the last time somebody was accidentally locked in the Church was thought to be 120 years ago and they had also escaped by chiming the bells.
The door had been accidentally locked this time by David Cole, aged 15, who had left the Church after bell-ringing.