Minster services mark restorations
IN DAYS gone by setting the time was a matter of life and death for mariners.
A century ago officers could stand on the decks of their ships on the Humber looking towards a prominent building on Hull’s skyline.
The “time ball” would travel up a mast on top of the clocktower on the city’s magnificent Guildhall and then drop at Greenwich Mean Time, either noon or 1pm, depending on the time of year, allowing them to set their instruments.
The time-keeping device was completed in 1918, the end of First World War, but was quickly rendered obsolete by new technology – radiotelegraphy.
It was removed in the 1980s and a replica stands in its place.
Now the council, with the help of the Heritage Lottery Fund, is putting the mechanism back in full working order as a new tourist attraction.
By the end of next year people should be able to hear the carillon bells on the city’s Guildhall chime and watch the time ball – which will be covered in gold leaf – rise and fall.
It will join the small handful of working time balls, including at Greenwich and in Edinburgh.
It comes as council officials sift through bids from architects for a £1m to £1.25m contract to restore the Maritime Museum and transform the derelict North End Shipyard into a visitor orientation centre and dry berth.
“The time ball project came first – but it is all part of same visitor destination theme of building a story of Hull’s maritime past,” said a council spokesman. “We are making the city centre a more attractive place for both residents and visitors.”
It is also about raising awareness because the council’s People’s Panel survey showed very few residents knew it existed.
The time ball was thought to have been used for just a couple of years. Its mechanism was a Heath Robinson affair, using a bicycle wheel and a length of anchor chain.
The spokesman said there would be interpretation stations at Queens Gardens and at North End Shipyard, subject of the much bigger maritime history project.
The council has already been granted £47,000 for the time ball project by the Heritage Lottery Fund, and a bid for round-two funding of another £282,000 is about to be submitted, with a decision expected in October.
Meanwhile, it has awarded a contract worth £158,000 for the design, manufacture and installation of a new mechanism to clockmaker Smith of Derby Ltd.
If all goes to plan, scaffolding will go up next year as repairs also need to be carried out on the clocktower, but it should be finished by next August.
The project will include a paid training place for someone to learn about the ball, and a learning officer will be appointed to carry out activities with schools.
Last year £27.5m plans were announced including a new berth for the country’s last sidewinder trawler, an extra floor at the Maritime Museum and a riverside visitor centre. Ultimately the aim is to build a £50m cruise terminal. The proposals – which could take until the mid-2020s to be realised – would see a jetty built out into deep water, allowing some of the world’s biggest cruise ships to dock in Hull.
Two services are due to take place at the Minster to celebrate the completion of a decade-long project to conserve and restore the cathedral’s Great East Window.
On Saturday, pilgrims walking from across the Diocese of York will gather at the cathedral to share in a special reception and Evensong service at 5.15pm.
And on Thursday, May 17, Evensong will take place in the Minster’s Nave at 5.15pm, where the window will be rededicated by the Dean of York, the Very Reverend Vivienne Faull. A reception follows at 6pm.