PUPILS AT ONE of Moray’s oldest school buildings have launched an appeal aimed at restoring its iconic clock tower.
In a story that is reminiscent of the Holywood blockbuster ‘Back to the Future’, the clock at Anderson’s Primary School in Forres has stopped – not through a lighting storm but rather through old age!
Since 1814 the manually-wound clock mechanism has informed local people and school pupils alike – now Ivor the school Janitor has had to give up trying to kick-start the mechanism, prompting the pupils themselves to step in and try to raise the funds required to repair the clock.
The school’s activities and fundraising group leader is Jane Munro, who explained that a clock repairer has been identified who can install a replacement mechanism during the Easter holiday – a digital one that would not require regular winding.
However, the cost of that will be around £3000 – prompting the online fundraising bid to ensure that the school is ‘back on time’. Mrs Munro said: “The entire community in Forres have been using the clock for over 200 years so we are hoping that many will step forward and help us meet the bill for its repair.
“This is a pivotal piece of Forres history and an important landmark in the town, so we are reaching out to our community to help us return it to its former glory. Children from the school have been writing letters and poems to the community as well as drawing pictures to try and explain the importance the clock tower at their school holds for them.”
The current clock mechanism will be offered to the Falconer Museum in the town where it can be housed in a glass case – while, hopefully, the new digital timepiece will provide an accurate time check for the people of Forres for another 200 years.
Donations to the fundraising effort can be made online at https://www.givey.com/andersonschangingtimes.
