A clarion call to worship or a calling to rejoice in a wedding – even to celebrate an end to war.

Or for whom the bell tolls, a solemn and haunting noise predicting impending doom.

I have heard bells ring for all of the above but I had never heard the bell being rung in a cancer ward (the emotionally powerful TV adverts for a cancer charity apart) until a few days ago.

That bell only rings when someone finishes their cancer treatment.

It doesn’t mean “cured” – it simply marks a hugely significant milestone reached, and that hope and positivity have prevailed as you step forward as a cancer survivor, not a victim.

My Macmillan nurse, Molly Templeton, once said to me that working with cancer patients was so much more rewarding now than it was in the past.

The statistics for survival for so many cancers in previous decades were truly grim.

That’s why there were no bells in cancer wards until 1996 when the tradition started at a radiation centre in the USA to mark the end of treatment for a patient with head and neck cancer. There has been massive progress in cancer research and treatment but now, undergoing chemotherapy, immunotherapy and radiotherapy during this pandemic, patients face a whole new challenge.

A very good friend of mine who had been battling lung cancer died just a few days ago – not directly from his cancer but from Covid-19. He was vulnerable to infections, as resistance to any kind of virus can be massively depleted.

So, amid this pandemic, that’s an extra reason to celebrate ringing that bell.

It’s a ringing that reaches the ears of all those dedicated doctors and nurses who got you through, to all those friends and family who walked every step with you and to all those who helped reduce the risk of spreading the virus.

I attend the outpatient cancer treatment ward at Crosshouse hospital every three weeks. I pass the bell on the way in and on the way out.

I may never get to ring it as I’ve been told that, as long as my body can cope with treatment, the chemotherapy will continue.

But on Tuesday I heard it. I saw the smile on the face of a woman who was near to tears as she thanked her nursing team and wished everyone else undergoing treatment the best of luck in an emotional voice.

What a wonderful sound.

Ally McLaws is managing director of the McLaws Consultancy, specialist in business marketing and reputation management. All back copies of this column are available at www.mclawsconsultancy.com