The nature of the duties has changed in recent decades: Martje Saljé's appointment to the St Lambert's post was nevertheless intended to preserve an authentic tradition.

At times of intensified fire risk - for instance on windy days in periods of sustained hot dry weather, or in the event of possible firebomb attacks - it became necessary for a permanent watch to be kept from the top of the tower.

[a] Many homes were heated with peat which could often nurture simmering internal hotspots for hours after the fire was believed to have finished burning, and then burst into flames after the householders had gone to bed.

[9] She tells interviewers that even as a small child she had an appetite for performing, mastering a range of instruments including piano, guitar, Double bass, flute, renaissance lute, accordion and 'cello.

[4][b] She has performed on international tours in France, Belgium, Italy, Britain and Poland: she has worked with rock groups, dance troupes and jazz ensembles.

Saljé therefore combines the post with a second, more conventional part-time position as a worker with the local Sparda-Bank: "something completely different, involving computers" ("Etwas ganz anderes, was mit Computern").

Despite being a Protestant, she has no issues with the fact that she undertakes her responsibilities in the tower of a Catholic church, and she makes no secret of feeling "a bit closer to Heaven" ("...dem Himmel ein Stück näher...") in her little office high above the city streets.

[4] There is also more than a hint of vocation in her reaction when asked how long she intends to continue with her work as Türmerin: "My predecessor carried on till his seventieth year.

[4][c] Saljé's daily duties begin each day (except on Tuesdays, which are silent) at 20.30, with a walk up the 300 steps to her little office 75 meters up in the church tower.

[10] Every half hour between 21.00 and midnight she sounds the "tower horn" three times, facing in succession south, west and north.

[11]) The same pattern is followed till Midnight (twelve blasts in four batches of three) after which, in modern times, the citizens can spend the rest of the night undisturbed by Martje Saljé's "tower horn".

[11] There is nevertheless very much more to Martje Saljé's approach to her job as "Türmerin" than enjoying the view out of her office window and blowing her horn at half hourly intervals during the latter part of the evening.

[4][11] She also sees herself as an advocate and representative for the tower, taking part in media interviews and presentations, and performing in charity events on behalf of the church or the city.

Discussions recently arose as to whether it was entirely seemly that the church tower should be used to exhibit to passers-by the three cages that were used to display the tortured corpses of anabaptist rebels in the sixteenth century.

In 2015 she rejected an interviewer's attempt to extract from her an opinion on the current (in 2019) chancellor: "As Türmerin of the city of Münster, thanks to the neutrality requirement I am not permitted to talk about politics.