From Mr Derek Thackray
Sir, - A wave of affection swept over me when I saw Trevor
Blundell's photographs illustrating his article on the National
Public Clock Database (
Features, 28 March). I recognised them all. They were all on my
beat when I began pounding the City streets as an office boy in
1946, starting daily on arrival at Liverpool Street, and running up
Bishopsgate towards my office in Leadenhall Street.
So, of course, (after St Botolph's) there came the familiar blue
face of St Ethelburga's clock, set low on the wall of that tiny
church among taller office buildings. I saw it almost daily during
27 years in the City.
I would recognise it anywhere, which is why, long after my
retirement, I got so excited when I saw it last year, not in the
Church Times, but in the bell tower on Barrack Street
looking down Swan River in Perth, the West Australian capital city.
It was complete with its workings, among many others there of all
ages, in a splendid exhibition of clocks and bells, two or three
floors below the former bells of St Martin's-in-the-Fields (another
British export).
Mr Blundell's photo reveals, I think, a fine replica, which
deserves a mention when completing the database. It must have been
included in the rebuilding after the IRA bomb in 1992.
DEREK THACKRAY
3 Ash Close
Swaffham
Norfolk
PE37 7NH