Ask the policeman!

At the bottom left is the Policeman who is getting tired of being asked the time. Above is the hand-less clock attached to the Bideford Post Office. The clock was not working satisfactorily (owing to electricity cuts) so the hands were taken off.

Bideford Bridge Trustees provide and maintain the clock. Mr Frank E. Whiting (Bridge Warden) explained that the original mechanism of weights and pendulums ‘gave out’ during the war. The new electric mechanism installed at the end of the war at a cost of £80 was satisfactory until the power cuts disrupted the timing. A battery-worked mechanism would cost about £130 to fix but that it could not be guaranteed, so it seemed they would have to wait until the new power station got going!

Gazette article 9 March 1951