By the Reverend Doctor Richard Hines
Good progress is being made with the project to repair and refurbish the 106 year old clock of Christ Church Cathedral.
Richard Hines, Anglican Rector of the Falkland Islands, reports that in February this year, following advice from Steve Coombes of UK clock specialists Gillett and Johnston, each of the clock's dials was carefully removed and lowered down from the top of the tower.
Since then, Rob Issel has completed a commission from the Cathedral Council to refurbish all four solid copper dials. The clock faces have been cleaned down to bare metal, primed and repainted, and all the dials' roman-style numerals have been freshly gilded. Rob has skilfully applied wafer thin sheets of real 24 carat gold, which should ensure the numerals, together with the clock's four sets of hands, are clearly visible from all over Stanley for many years to come. It should not be long before the bright gleaming dials are replaced.
Meanwhile, an order has been placed by the Cathedral Council for a Tempora quartz master clock, which includes its own in-built GPS radio receiver. The new 'high-tech' master clock will be installed alongside the former clock and will transmit a signal pulse to a drive unit, which in turn will make use of the originally clock's dial motion work to advance the hands on each of the four dials in one minute steps.
The new master clock comes supplied with a battery backup and, in the event of a mains electricity failure, the clock's hands will remain stationary until power is restored, when the master clock will then automatically drive the hands to the correct time.
In addition to the new clock, an hour strike mechanism is to be installed which uses a single electronic bell hammer to strike the Cathedral's large tenor bell. The bell will be easily silenced during the hours of darkness.
The former clock mechanism, together with its winding gear and weights, all of which is now made safe, is to be carefully preserved, each piece as far as possible, will be kept in its original position in the top of the tower.
Since the visit of specialist Steve Coombes, all work on the clock has been undertaken by a small team of locally-based and skilful people - including FIDF's Major Peter Biggs who, from a suspended harness, guided the safe removal of the dials using a series of ropes and pulleys.
When the new electronic clock arrives, to be shipped down with the kind and generous help of Stanley Services Ltd, it will be installed by the same local team, which also includes Cathedral Warden Howard Turner and Council member Chris Bell.
Richard Hines commented, 'It will be an exciting and happy new era for the Falkland Islands when Stanley's residents and visitors alike can prick up their ears and lift up their heads on hearing the Cathedral clock strike the hour - then check to ensure their watches are correct!'
