Banstead Village

Winding the church clock - I lived the first 22 years of my life in a flat opposite All Saints in the High Street. My father, George Skinner, was the church warden and one of his responsibilities was to wind the church clock. At the age of 16, I took over from him and I used to wind the clock twice a week, which meant climbing up though the bell chamber to reach the mechanism.

There were two escapements to wind, one for the clock, and one for the chimes. One, I forget which, was fairly
easy, but the other was at (my) shoulder height and the top of the turn of the handle was above head height. This made my shoulders ache as it needed about 40 turns.

I felt quite important being trusted to do this on my own but I am not sure if the Vicar was aware that my father let me
do it. I suspect not.

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