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Town hall clock has lost its tock
10.24am: In an age of digital time-keeping wizardry, the 139-year-old Peterborough Town Hall clock can be forgiven for falling behind the times.
10.24am: In an age of digital time-keeping wizardry, the 139-year-old Peterborough Town Hall clock can be forgiven for falling behind the times.Engineers have been called in to mend the historic timepiece – named after the clock's original owner Whateley Paviour – after the hands stopped on 10.24.
However, the stoppage has prompted a Peterborough councillor to urge the organisations who are responsible for the six main city centre clocks to ensure they are all in tip-top working order.
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While clocks on the Guildhall, Marks & Spencer, Asda and outside Peterborough Magistrates' Court are showing the correct time, the clock on the Natwest building, in Bridge Street, is 30 minutes fast.
Cllr David Over, who represents Barnack ward, said synchronising the city's clocks may be a "small thing" but it was a matter of "civic pride".
Cllr Over, who made his call at a Peterborough City Council community development scrutiny panel meeting, has received an enthusiastic backing today from Central ward councillor Zahid Hussain and city centre director Annette Joyce.
Cllr Hussain said: "I fully endorse what Cllr Over is saying. Our clocks should be working correctly and displaying the right time."
Miss Joyce added: "There is an old saying that you can always tell how a city centre is managed and looked after if its clocks are up to date and on time.
"It is a good indicator that people care about their city if the clocks are running to the right time.
"The Natwest clock has not worked properly since I arrived in Peterborough last year, which is such a shame because it is a beautiful building. The city should be proud of its heritage."
Council spokesman Mike Lennox said engineers were due to look at the Whateley Paviour clock in the next fortnight, while the workings of the Guildhall clock will also be assessed to keep it running on time.
Mr Lennox said: "The clock is a piece of magnificent Victorian engineering and, as such, requires delicate maintenance."
In January 2006, The Evening Telegraph revealed the Marks & Spencer, Guildhall and Natwest clocks were all displaying the incorrect time, while the Whateley Paviour clock was six hours too fast.
Factfile: Whateley Paviour clock
THE Whateley Paviour clock was originally erected above a jeweller's shop in what was Narrow Bridge Street, now Bridge Street, in May 1868.
Built by jeweller and clock-maker Henry Barron-Clarke, a one-time mayor of Boston, the clock was donated to the city by its original owner Whateley Paviour in 1906.
The clock was the first in Peterborough to tell Railway Time, which meant it was synchronised with others across the UK.
In 1929, the jeweller's shop in Narrow Bridge Street was demolished, prior to the construction of the existing town hall.
The clock was re-located to Central Library until 2005, when former council leader Ben Franklin and city entrepreneur Rinaldo Fasulo, who bought the clock in 1990, agreed the timepiece should be mounted on the town hall.
At the time, the late Cllr Franklin said: "The town hall is an ideal location for its new home.
"Lots of people will be able to admire this really distinctive clock that is part the city's heritage."
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Weather for Peterborough
Thursday 24 May 2012
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