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The clock was gifted to the village by John Paton ESQ in 1885. John had been brought up in Ancrum, he was the son of the minister and had attended the school. When he grew up, he emigrated to America and became a successful businessman and wanted to give something back to the little village he grew up in. His family are buried in Crailing churchyard.
An extract from the school log:
December 18th 1885
During week a fair amount of work has been done, but we have been somewhat disturbed by the erection of the clock on school.
This afternoon there has been no attendance at school, to allow the completion of the clock and erection of the platform for evening concert.
How, or who wound the clock at the beginning we don’t know, but in 1956 the then Director of Education for Roxburghshire, Mr J.B. Baxter made a request to David Wilson, who lived in the village, asking that he would inspect the Ancrum School Clock to see if it needed repairing. Mr Wilson who was then a retired gardener jumped at the chance to have a look. He had been fascinated by clocks all his life, first as a boy and later his interest grew into a hobby. During the war years, while serving in Egypt with the Royal Engineers, Mr Wilson used to sit in the desert mending watches which had been affected by sand. After the war numerous people went to him with watches and clocks that needed mending. After inspecting the clock, he found it had not been keeping perfect time through being slightly off-balance and in need of a good oil. He then offered to wind the clock up for a while to see that the problem didn’t reoccur. The clock was wound by Mr Wilson for 28 years until in 1984, at the age of 82, Mr Wilson retired from being Ancrum School clock caretaker, saying the physical effort of climbing the ladder and winding the heavy chimes was becoming too much for him.
On his retirement the then headteacher Mrs Judith Caulfield said she was extremely grateful for the service Mr Wilson had provided, he had faithfully and conscientiously undertaken the work of winding up, maintaining, improving and correcting the clock and as a result it has told the time extremely reliably. So modestly has he carried out his duties that many people may not have been aware of the public service he performed. Generations of schoolchildren and villagers have come to regard the clock as a friendly voice and face they would not be without.
Extract from the school log:
September 28th 1984
Mr David Wilson has retired from his work as caretaker of the school clock, which he has done for the past 28 years.
He is now 82 and feels unsafe on the ladder when he winds the clock at weekends. During the time he looked after it he has undertaken many minor repairs and hands it over to in good working order to the care of Mr John Rogerson.
Mr Mr John Rogerson took on the job after being taught the clock’s way by Mr Wilson.
John told us a few things about inside part of the clock, the bit that is hidden from view.
You would assume the workings of clock are immediately behind the face, but in fact they are about 15 feet behind it and are connected to the hands by a driving rod which runs on rollers and has a universal joint at each end, this is to correct the misalignment between the mechanism and the clock hands. There are two weights, one for the going and one for the strike. There is no pendulum now as the clock is fully electrified. To wind it you first need to climb 20 feet up a ladder in a somewhat dark cupboard area within the school. John also had to change the time twice a year which was not as straightforward as you would think as the strike had to be disconnected and the clock could not be turned back. (nowadays the flick of a switch changes the time)
John was then replaced when the clock was finally electrified in 2007.
The view from the ground up the ladder it is about 20 feet to the top.
The blue motor drives the strike. The silver motor drives the winding.
The little brass circle with the figures indicate the position of the hands.
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