Winding the School Clock
Ralph Durrant
From the autumn term 1942 to July 1943 (when we
were in the top class). Raymond Oliver and I had the job of winding the
School clock every Monday morning. We were delighted, because Monday
morning was the time the Vicar, or the Curate, came to take the
Scripture lesson. We took as long as we could going up the ladder to the
clock tower to do the actual winding and occasionally had a sly Woodbine
up there. Once we came down we had the further job of collecting crates
of milk from the school gate, and distributing them to each classroom.
With careful timing we usually saw the Vicar or Curate leaving as we
returned to class for Arithmetic.
I remember how bitterly cold it was up in the tower on some winter days,
with an icy wind whistling through the ventilation slits. Occasionally
the clock lost time, and we had to adjust it with one of us down in the
playground shouting instructions and the other blindly turning the
mechanism.
Not much of the clock mechanism was visible in those days, as it was
boxed in behind a grey door. This was the same door that appeared a year
ago in an empty shop in the High Street, as part of the exhibition aimed
at raising funds for the clock's restoration. The door was covered with
signatures of boys who are now grandfathers - probably later Clock
Monitors. Neither Ray nor I could remember writing our names up there,
but they were certainly our signatures. Ray was an evacuee from
Portsmouth (he stayed at Brewery Cottages with Mrs. Vokes), and when I
told him about the exhibition, he made a special journey up from
Portsmouth to see it.
It's funny, but I have no memory of the clock chiming before the War,
and neither do other school friends I've questioned. Does anyone
remember when it did?