£11,500 CLOCK FACELIFT

Mackworth was brightened up with the restoration of an old landmark clock. The clock, which was installed by Derby clockmaker John Smith and Sons when the estate was built in 1958, stopped working in November 2001. £11,500 was put up by Derby City Council to have the clock in the Prince Charles Avenue shopping parade entirely refurbished and set its hands in motion again.

Councillor Richard Gerard, member for Mackworth ward, said, "The estate was built in the fifties and it would have been put in then, so it's a local landmark. But it's not working at the moment and it just looks a bit tatty. We asked our estates department to work out the costs of putting it back in working order and it came to a lot of money. But, if it looks nice, then it will lift the whole area."

The restoration of the clock cost £7,500 and came out of the Area Panel Five annual fund for improvements in the area which covers Allestree, Darley Abbey and Mackworth. That was almost a third of the panel's £22,059 budget available for the 2002/2003 financial year. A further £4,000, came out of the council's general capital expenditure budget, and was promised by the cabinet to refurbish its base, which was stripped, sandblasted and painted with vandal-proof materials.

Just as the timepiece was finally restored, the clocks were set to go forward for British Summer Time. John Smith and Sons has restored it to its original design, although the only original pieces are the hands. Eric Fairbrother, an engineer who worked on the clock, said, "We restored it and re-fitted it - it went like clockwork. It is just coincidence that the clock was returned as the clocks go forward, but the clock will do that automatically."