The history of the musical  model in  St George’s church

I cannot imagine that there has ever been a child  enter St George’s  who has not noticed the lovely wooden model of the church and who  has not put money in the tower and been delighted by the ‘son et lumiere’ action.  The tower lights up and the bells peel.  I was recently shown some fascinating newspaper cuttings about the history of this model and want to share them with you.  Back in 1954 £2,500  ‘a goodly sum’ was  needed for the chancel screen restoration fund   so  Mr. George Brewer, who lived in Manor Street and  was captain of the belfry, decided to make a clockwork model of the church to help raise money.   .  When you put a penny in the tower (halfpennies did not work) the coin  ran down a chute passed over the backs of hammers which would strike six rods to make the chime.  The coin then dropped to operate a switch made from the works of an alarm clock.  The switch goes down and the light in the church comes on powered by a torch battery. It took George all winter to make.  When it was put on public show for the first time somebody pointed out that the three clock faces were not all showing the same time so George altered them to 7.15.  ‘why 7.15? ‘ he was asked,  ‘well why not? It’s as good a time as any.’