A bird’s-eye view of repairs

Daredevils were putting life back into the century-old Paisley Town Hall clock in June 1979.

The Paisley Daily Express witnessed from the town hall’s windswept belfry the start of restoration work ... after a terrifying climb up narrow, vertical ladders and an agonizing squeeze through trap doors.

At the summit – 100 feet above Paisley town centre, Express staff’s pale, taut faces, white knuckles and knocking knees brought smiles all around from workmen with nerves of steel.

The widest grin was on the cool, calm face of Ron Spinks, Renfrew District Council’s controller of building and works, who led the expedition.

The gigantic clock – each of the four faces measures 10ft in diameter – was running slow after a long stoppage due to mechanical failure.

But specialists from a Leeds firm began repairs that were to take at least a fortnight.

An inspection of the tower the previous year revealed mechanical problems – and that vital timber supports for the 12 bells were rotting away.

It was clear that vibrations from the bells, which each weighed between two to six hundredweight, could have caused the supports to part from the stonework and the bells to fall.

This danger was removed by securing the bells with heavy-duty wire, and new metal supports that were to be installed would soon allow the half-hourly chimes to be heard again.

Other repairs were to include replacing corroded metalwork on the clock faces, while broken glass covers were replaced by strong perspex.

The final bill was expected to be about £6,500.