THIS is the dramatic moment a clock face is lowered from the tower of a Worcester church.

The dial, which is around 4ft in diameter and weighs around 30kg, was lowered on secure lines around 60ft from the turret of St George’s Church, St George's Square, Barbourne, shortly before 2pm today (Thursday).

The hands were removed first before the 113-year-old clock face was eased down slowly.

The painstaking operation was a two-man job with Stuart Morrison of clockmakers Smith of Derby and Jim Dovey of Westcountry Access working together to bring the clock face down smoothly from the top of the grade II listed church.

Mr Morrison said once the clock face was safely on the ground: "We knew the wind was going to get up so we had to get it down as soon as possible. Now we can relax a bit. It was very smooth."

The men were harnessed securely throughout the procedure. Mr Morrison: "We know we're not going anywhere. But it's best not to look down."

The clock stopped working around a year ago and the clock numerals will now be re-gilded and put back up in four to six weeks following a £15,000 restoration project.

The manual winding mechanism will be replaced by an automatic, electronic one, bringing the clock forward into the 21st century.

The clock face itself had dropped because of rusted bolts. It is believed the clock face was last taken down in 1953, around the time of the Queen’s coronation for work to be done.

The clock itself was installed in 1903 and started by a parishoner in 1904.

The clock project has made good time, taking the Friends of St George's Church and their supporters just 10 months to raise the funds. P

ermission also had to be sought from the Diocese in advance of the work.

Clock winder and chairman of the Friends of St George's Church, Michael Silvey, said: "The clock hasn't worked for about a year. It has been stopped at three minutes past one.

"Because I have been clock winder for the last 10 plus years I have become quite attached to the clock.

"I, along with the residents, have been missing the chimes. They like to hear them. It will be like having back an old friend.

"We have a residents association and they donated £600 (to the appeal)."

As the clock face was lowered down Mr Silvey expressed a hope that it would not 'decapitate St George', referring to the statue over the church entrance but it always looked very smooth, right from the outset.

The numerals will now be re-gilded with gold leaf.

Mr Silvey added: “I can’t wait for it to be renovated. The 1903 Joyce clock face has been stuck at 1.03pm for more than a year and I think I was the last person to wind it up then.”

The congregation and the community raised the cash though the Just a Minute idea whereby people sponsored for a minimum of £10 a particular time on the clock and then had to say in no more than 100 words why that minute meant so much to them.

The appeal was boosted by a number of grants and also by winning £2,000 when the Just a Minute idea was one of six finalists in the Ecclesiastical and Church Times Fundraising Idea of the Year contest which attracted a record 424 entries from churches throughout the UK.

Ten members of the church travelled down to a prize-giving lunch at St Martin-in-the Fields, Trafalgar Square, on Wednesday, November 25 to collect their cheque.

The campaign was supported by former members of the church who had moved away from the area, neighbours such as the St George’s Square Residents’ Association and businesses including McCarthy and Stone who have built a new retirement development nearby.

The campaign produced a number of poignant and memorable stories.

The Bishop of Worcester, the Right Rev John Inge, chose 3pm as his minute because it was when his fifty-one-year-old wife Denise lost her battle against cancer on Sunday, April 20, 2014.

Professor Christine Skelton, who lives in Barbourne, picked 10.43am because that was when she heard the reason she was stuck on a stationary Tube train was because the one in front had been hit by a terrorist attack on July 7, 2005.

Oliver Barton, aged 88, of Albert Road, Worcester, decided on 11.59pm as his minute because that was the time he passed St George’s as he pounded his lonely police beat in the early hours.

The police constable, from 1947 until he retired in 1976, said he always found the church clock chimes very comforting.