Clock repairs back on the timetable at school

Time has stood still at Werneth Primary School for three years — but a new campaign aims to get the prominent public clock going again.

The clock, on a famous campanile-style tower at the Victorian Coppice Street school, is a local landmark.

The school began life as a board school in the 1890s, and famous past pupils from the area include composer Sir William Walton, and opera singer Dame Eva Turner.

Now another of the school’s old boys, Kamran Ghafoor, is spearheading the campaign to get the repairs done.

Mr Ghafoor, recently named as Oldham’s Tory parliamentary candidate in Oldham West and Royton, is asking the council to help and is starting a petition.

He said: “I will also investigate other avenues such as lottery grants and community donations, so that the burden of cost does not fall fully on the Oldham taxpayer.”

Mr Ghafoor, who runs a local property and petrol station business, and also went to near-by St Augustine’s RC High School, said: “Our history is an integral part of our community and the clock tower has been a part of the Oldham skyline for over 100 years.”

Werneth Primary School head Sarah Holroyd added: “It would be lovely to have the clock working again. I know the school did get it working in the 1990s, but I don’t know who funded that, and it didn’t last very long.”

The petition can be seen online at www.kamranghafoor.com