Why the Clock has stopped

By Reginald Turnill  

Sandgate is stuck in a time warp. The Chichester Hall clock has read 11.25 for months past, and many people find it irritating. But they are exactly the people who could, and should, do something about it.  

Sea air corrosion stops our clock every few years. Last time, 21 June 2000, it cost £1750 to get it going again, and the man who did it then has retired.  Terry Morrison, the hard-pressed, unpaid Chichester Hall Trustee and Secretary, tells me that to hire a man with a cherry-picker just to look at it would cost £300 a day. Alternatively, scaffolding would cost £600 - and then you’ve got to find a specialist willing to tackle a 108-years’ old clock. Terry estimates that another repair will cost up to £2000 - which he does not have. Of course, we could pay to have the hands permanently set at noon.  

STOP PRESS: Terry Morrison and John Brind have succeeded in re-starting the clock!

Produced for the Sandgate News - December 2005