Blackburn town centre used to have a clock, built in 1848, which was the pride and joy to many of our fellow townsfolk.
When it was demolished, due to town centre redevelopment, some people thought it was the end of the world. Unfortunately these modernist styles used on its replacement didn’t go down very well with many folk. It did look very tacky, not giving a good impression of our town. It reflected the concrete jungle our town centre had become.
But laws of averages say you have to get it right eventually. This has led to the current version of our clock tower, which dates from 2009, being given a grudging acceptance by most Blackburners. This structure really serves two purposes, one is access to the Mall’s multi storey car park, the other is for its primary function. The main problem of this purpose is doing what it was built for – telling the time! But only one of its three clock faces ever has the correct time. A similar situation plagued previous versions of our clock.
In May a note was made of each of the dial’s times in comparison to my mobile phone time. At 11.35am on my phone it was this time on the dial looking down King William Street towards the Old Town Hall. Sadly you can’t see what time it is from there due to a tall leafy tree in its way. But the dial facing New Market Street was nearly an hour behind, stating a time of 10.40am. The remaining dial, facing the Mall went back even further, giving a time of 9.25am.
If you came from the Azores, then walking down New Market Street towards the clock would make you feel at home, especially if you’d forgotten to put your watch forward by an hour. Someone from Greenland coming from the Mall might feel the same way, with the remaining dial being two hours behind.
Unfortunately this means we have a very confusing situation – a clock which has three different times – and nobody can put their finger on it. Civic Time website reported in 2010: ‘The clock has three faces electronically locked so they always tell the correct time’.
Sadly, their statement has proved to be rather inaccurate. What makes things worse is the length of time this has been going on for. Even more surprising is how long this clock has been on the scene in Blackburn town centre by now. Doesn’t time fly!
