A familiar sound of the Westminister chime melody hasn’t been heard at St. George’s Anglican Church since about March.
On Monday the church received the parts it needed to get the clock back and ready. If all goes well, the first bell can be heard today.
“We’re very hopeful. I'm not a particularly patient person and it has been a real stress to have the clock not running and no definite date,” said Don Hamilton, the church’s carilloneur.
The weights of the clock were repaired. During the repairs it was decided two brass cogs need to be replaced.
The carillon works independently of the clock. It’s located one story above the clock in the church tower. The carillon has 36 bells. It has been renovated and is in “exceptional shape,” said Hamilton. Five of the bells in the carillon are connected to the clock.
“We have four bells plus the hour. So that's how we get the bing bong, bing bong,” he said.
It wouldn’t be realistic for a carilloneur to strike the bells as the time changes since it strikes every 15 minutes. The Westminster chimes can be heard on the hour.
The clock’s design prevents the Westminister chime from striking between 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. A lesser strike can be heard in those hours.
“And considering that this design is well over 100-years-old and is purely mechanical. It's a brilliant design to stop the chime part of it from running overnight, not to annoy the neighbours too much,” said Hamilton.
Although once during the summer, two years ago the church received complaints from a woman claiming the sound of the clock strikes kept her children awake.
Hamilton has heard from countless people asking when the clock will start working again.
“I think that there will be joyful acceptance of the fact that St. George's solved a significant problem. And that our clock and that's not St. George's clock, but Guelph’s downtown clock is back and running,” said Hamilton.
The clock is about 100-years-old and he anticipates people will be glad to hear it again. The organ, clock and carillon were gifts from Arthur Cutten, a notable Guelphite who was baptized at the church.
