Paisley has to do without its bongs on Hogmanay (original) (raw)

Paisley people are to see in the New Year without any bongs...for the first time since the 19th century.

The town hall clock will this year fail to strike midnight on January 1 as the landmark timepiece is still out of action while major refurbishment work is carried out.

It is believed this will be the first time the historic clock has failed to perform its most significant annual duty since the town hall was built in the late 1800s.

And Buddies have been sounding off over Renfrewshire Council’s claims that providing the chimes this New Year would be a “safety risk” because the town hall is effectively a building site

Paisley pensioner Margaret Greig said: “I know the town hall is being refurbished but I don’t see why the clock can’t chime to bring in the Bells at New Year as usual.

“I like my traditions and it would have been nice if the council had been able to sort something out.

“If you’re telling me the council is saying it would be a safety risk to ring the bells, that sounds like utter nonsense.”

Refurbishment work at the town hall has been under way for months but council chiefs managed to arrange for the clock to chime at 11am on Remembrance Sunday to mark two minutes of silence in honour of the fallen.

It was hoped the same temporary manual chiming arrangement would be in place for New Year.

However, council bosses have said this isn’t possible.

A spokesman told the Paisley Daily Express: “We had a temporary arrangement in place for marking Remembrance Sunday with chimes but a major repair programme is currently being carried out on the Paisley Town Hall clock as part of the £1.6million restoration works.

“This work will help to preserve the 19th-century Victorian building, long regarded as one of the finest in Renfrewshire.

“We need to take the opportunity to do this work while the scaffolding is in place and at full height on the clock tower.

“To ring the chimes while the area is still a building site could present safety issues.

“The chimes will be offline until the works are completed in spring 2013.”

It was in 1873 that George A. Clark – a member of the famous thread-making family – left £20,000 in his will to build a town hall in his native Paisley.

The building was officially opened in January 1882.

The chiming mechanism in the bell-tower was restored in 1988, in time for the Paisley 500 celebrations that marked the anniversary of the town as a Royal Burgh.

Since then, there has been a string of problems with the clock, which has stopped working on a number of occasions due to wear and tear.

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