Jack Spratt’s scrap heap clock
To St Andrew’s, Wootton Rivers, and an invitation to place the first signature in their new visitor’s book, after the sixty-year service of its predecessor.
These volumes are found in most village churches and remain a quiet record of the thousands who call into our places of worship, usually unseen, and leave their appreciation with a word or two and, often as not, a coin in the box or a tap on the e-reader!
In Wootton Rivers, they will find in the porch a beautiful board telling the story of local character Jack Spratt, who achieved fame by constructing a church clock entirely from local scrap to commemorate the coronation of George V in 1911. As a new installation was too costly, handyman Jack invited villagers to leave him their spare bits and bobs and proceeded to make a clock that ran (and still runs) with pin-point accuracy. Instead of numerals on its face, the tower clock reads ‘Glory be to God’.
This eccentric and appealing project bears witness to the steady Anglican faith and resourcefulness vital for our churches to thrive and survive. Also, to the creator God whose spirit can work within us to make something wonderful from the scraps and times of our lives. To him be the glory.
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