A Nantwich Town Council worker has ticked all the right boxes – after fixing the town’s Millennium Clock!
The famous timepiece, in the Cocoa Yard between Pillory Street and Hospital Street, has baffled town leaders since it began stalling two years ago.
Councillors at the end of their tether were about to send the clock off to mechanical engineers at nearby Bentley in Crewe to see if they could discover the problem.
But when a handy town council employee asked to have a look, it took him no time at all to spot the problem!
Nantwich Town Council clerk Ian Hope said: “He happens to be a qualified electrician so when he took a look he found the power cable used inside was the wrong size!
“So as soon as the heaters came on in the cabinet and it reached full temperature, the fuse blew out which led to power failure and the clock stalling.
“It’s working fine again now, and we will monitor it through the autumn and winter months.”
Cllr David Marren said: “The clock had been out of order for a couple of years, so we should celebrate the fact one of our own staff has managed to fix it!
“It’s really good that something which is fairly high profile has been sorted out.”
The clock, placed in front of the chimney which was part of a wheelwright’s forge and smithy, was made to celebrate the Millennium in Nantwich by clockmaker Paul Beckett, of Caernarfon.
Local schoolchildren helped to put together the design and glass case in design workshops in the run-up to the production of the clock.
It has three dials, one each for hours, minutes and seconds.
Other engraved symbols on the case mark various aspects of the town, such as Tudor buildings, the Fire of Nantwich (1583), the Civil War, and a cocoa plant representing the Cocoa Yard.
(Pic: Millennium Clock in Cocoa Yard, Nantwich, pic by Espresso Addict, under creative commons)
I am thinking that the smithy behind the clock must have been that of James Kelley, blacksmith and farrier of 63 Hospital Street.