A CONSERVATION campaigner is ticked off that while Swindon has a new clock, little effort has been made to look after some of the town's existing timepieces.

Martha Parry, better known for her involvement with the Mechanics' Trust, is calling for greater efforts to be made in keeping the town's clocks ticking.

She said: "It seems ironic that while we have seen the official unveiling of our new modern clock in Regent Street, some of the clocks we already have in the street are not looked after."

She explained that two of Regent Street's five clocks don't work.

"At the bottom of Regent Street we have the Wilkinson's clock which replaced a historic clock which disappeared two years ago.

"The original clock, which dated from the turn of the century was put there by the Swindon tram company. It was the central timepiece for all the trams running in the town.

"In March 1999, the former Stead and Simpson building was taken over by Wilkinsons store and during the refurbishment, the original clock was stolen. It has been replaced by another clock which has, to the best of my knowledge never worked since it has been there.

"Further down the road you get to what is now the clothing store H&M, in what used to be McIlroy's department store. Up until the 60s, there used to be a fantastic old clock in a clock tower. The tower became dangerous and had to be removed. The clock was replaced but never seems to tell the correct time. When I saw it this week it was at least three hours behind."

However other clocks in the street are working.

"At the top of the street is the old town hall clock, dating from 1891, which is well maintained and keeps good time. And there is another working clock above Walker's Jewellers in Swindon.

"It is nice that we have a new clock in the town, although I think the design amounts to a visual mixed metaphor. I hope it stands the test of time."