Time stands still after city axes clock- keeper
THEY say that time waits for no man... but it does for official clock winder David Mitchell.
He has brought half a city’s timepieces to a midnight standstill after his role was axed by the council.
Mr Mitchell, 72, has been the official horologist in Swansea for 30 years, and has been painstakingly winding and checking the city’s clocks for 57 years.
When he retired last week he turned eight of the main landmark public clocks to midnight where he says the hands will now remain.
As a result time is now standing still at the Guildhall, St Thomas Church, the historic old police station and five other sites.
Mr Mitchell, who admitted yesterday that he was “really wound up” by the decision, said: “I stopped the clocks on safety grounds.
“I didn’t want the weights falling over on the pulley systems. Swansea has stopped. I was angry with the council.”
The city has a bye- law which gives the council responsibility for maintaining the clocks on a range of public buildings including churches, court buildings and a hotel.
But Mr Mitchell, the only member of the British Horological Institute in South Wales, is annoyed that no replacement, not even part- time, has after he retired last week.
Office worker Donna Cadette, 60, said: “It is a real shame. It is part of our history to see the big clocks and to hear the chimes.”
Swansea Council said: “The long- term aim is to install automated winding systems into the council- owned clocks.”
It said the others should be taken over by their owners but it was in talks with Mr Mitchell over a possible extension to his contract.
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