Hopes church clock will chime once more

People have come together to raise hundreds of pounds to fix their local clock, which has been described as "part of the fabric" of the their town.

Until the end of 2025, hourly chimes would ring out from Holy Trinity Church across Bradford-on-Avon in Wiltshire.

Christopher Segar, the church warden at Holy Trinity, said the clock, which is currently out of action, was "part of the fabric of the of the centre of the town" but that it had been "silent for some months".

The church has raised £1,000 in a fundraising appeal to allow for the clock to be repaired.

There has been a clock at Holy Trinity since the early 18th Century and clocksmiths have worked to preserve it for decades.

Before it broke in late 2025, the clock would begin at 06:45 BST with three chimes for the three quarters of an hour, then it would chime each hour until midnight.

Meanwhile at noon, the church's carillon - a series of bells - would play a hymn.

This appeal was not the first time the people of Bradford-on-Avon have helped fund the repairs for the clock.

"During the war, the clock was working fine in 1939," Segar said. "But it gave up at some point during the war and needed to be reconditioned in 1945.

"There was a significant contribution from the people in the town to get that done. And in 1955, ten years later, they raised £127, which I suppose is about the same as £1,000 today.

"It shows the extent to which the church is part of the community, beyond the congregation of 90 or 100 people who come in every Sunday."

A specialist contractor in Penrith, Cumbria is working to rebuild a drive mechanism for the clock, which is currently broken and has a "complicated" internal make-up.

The carillon meanwhile, is more "simple", according to Segar.

He added: "It's like a large musical box, a thing the size of an oil drum. And that's not really complicated and it will no doubt come back into action when the clock's working."

It is hoped the work to repair the clock and get the carillon active again will be able to take place without having to close the church and that it will be working again by the end of the year.

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