A CLOCK which was saved from being scrapped has returned to a Cradley church after undergoing a £3k facelift.

The clock dial was saved from St Luke's Church in Cradley Heath, when it was demolished in 2016.

It has now returned to St Peter's Church in Cradley after a visit to Cumbria where skilful clock makers at the Cumbria Clock Company have repaired the broken cast iron frame, rubbed it down and painted it, installed new glazing and finally added gilding to the dial.

Now the church, which has applications for grants turned down, is appealing for donations towards the project as it will cost £3.5k to put the dial on the tower and £8k to install a lightning conductor to protect it.

This leaves a funding shortfall of £4.5k.

The church has launched a 'Just a Minute' appeal where people can make a donation to sponsor a minute on the dial, stating in no more than 100 words why that minute is important to them.

A spokesman for the church said: "It could be the time of your birth, marriage or other occasion or perhaps a memory of a loved one.

"Perhaps you have a connection with St Luke’s or St Peter’s?

"All stories will be published in a commemorative book at the end of the project."

Dudley News:

The dial has bee restored to how it would have been when it was installed at St Luke’s Church in Cradley Heath in 1949.

The project has already received a £3k grant from Dudley Council's community fund.

Stories and donations can be sent to: Just a Minute Appeal, Parish Office, 32, High Street, Halesowen, B63 3BB.

Include your 100 words, name and contact email address or telephone number along with cash or a cheque for your donation made payable to 'Halas PCC St Peter’s Church Cradley' and mark on the back of the cheque 'Clock Fund'. State if the minute is am or pm.

Future plans include adding chimes to the bells to sound the hours (they will be turned off at night), LED floodlighting to the tower, a flagpole on the tower roof along with a replica weathervane to the same design as the old one that disappeared during the 1930s.