Mid Sussex Times May 18 1978

Residents of Cuckfield are getting wound-up because the village clock has run down and—due to bumbling officialdom, they say—has not told the right time for more than a year.

The hands on one face of the hundred-year-old clock point to twenty-five minutes past one. On the opposite face the time stands steadily at four minutes past twelve.

This totally misleading mistiming is not only available to public scrutiny during daylight hours but—as regular as clockwork—the stopped clock is brightly illuminated every night.

“It’s ridiculous—there is nothing wrong with the clock that our local clockmaker couldn’t repair,” said Cuckfield Neighbourhood Councillor Cyril Pike, who can see the twenty-five past one face of the clock from his front door. “But Mid Sussex District Council won’t let him repair it. They have brought in clock experts from other parts of the country—but still nothing happens.

“There has even been a suggestion that the clock should be electrified at a cost of £1,000. An out-of-town clockmaker is sure to suggest an expensive job like that—there’s profit in it.

“But the clock could be mended and wound by hand, and it would be as reliable as it has been for more than a century.”

Mr. Pike said that Cuckfield folk are becoming increasingly impatient about the status of their stopped clock—and find it ludicrous that it should be lit up every night when it doesn’t tell the right time.

One suggestion was that the clock should be taken down and put up outside Queen’s Hall.

“Another dotty idea,” said Mr. Pike. “The clock is a feature of the town, it is even an officially recognised bus stop listed in the bus company timetable.”

A FINE CLOCK

Cuckfield clock maker C. Stuart Newnham says the clock’s hands get out of line because the metal drum between the two faces is badly rusted and needs to be replaced.

“This could be done quite reasonably,” he said. “It is a fine clock with a beautiful movement that is in good order because it is sheltered inside the building to which the clock is attached.”

Mr. Newnham should know—he wound the clock and kept it going for years. For that service, and winding the clock in Queen’s Hall, he is paid £35 a year.

“It barely covers my expenses,” he said, “but I took the job for the benefit of the village.”

Responsibility for illuminating the clock at night lies with Mr. Philip Umpleby, who owns Clock House and runs the Bewarm Electrical Installations business in the building. Asked why the clock continues to be lit up although it has stopped, he said: “I have no comment.”

A spokesman for Mid Sussex District Council said: “The clock is our property. We are not sure how safely it is attached to the building. Then, until it stopped some time ago, there was the problem of winding the clock. Whoever did the job had to go through the building and into the roof and this was not a satisfactory arrangement.

“But we consulted the Neighbourhood Council and they want the clock to remain where it is. So we intend to take the clock down, have it made structurally safe and electrified so that winding will no longer be necessary. The clock will then be replaced in its present position.

“Money is the problem. We are still examining estimates, but provision has been made to spend £675 on repairing the clock.”