An iconic moment in time – Corby’s town centre clock set to ring out again for first time in 25 years

The clock in Corporation Street will ring out 12 times on Thursday, August 1, at midday.

The idea to turn it on again came from Rooftop Arts’ Chuck Middleton.

He said: “I was walking to work and having walked through Corporation Street, looked at the bell and thought I haven’t heard that in such a long time, wouldn’t it be nice if just on one occasion we could just go and ring the bell.

“We thought summer’s coming up, the kids will be off school, it’s the first of August, let’s do it at midday and create a bit of noise and also highlight the fact that the art gallery is on the same street now so we’re all on Corporation Street.

“We’ve publicised it on social media and people have gone ‘that will be really good, just to hear the bell for once in a while’.”

The clock is thought to have been turned off now for around 25 years.

Chuck said: “We don’t think it’s been rung in 25 years so it’ll be nice. The fact is now you’ve got people living around there, you’ve got the flats up there so that’s why it was turned off I think originally but they’ve been made aware and it is lunchtime so it won’t be too much of a problem for them.

“We’ve had some great co-operation from Willow Place and Dan Pickard, so it’s been nice that we’ve been allowed to do this.”

Given the clock’s age, it’s unknown whether it is still working so it is going to have to be struck manually.

On the day, Rooftop Arts hope to be underneath the clock with some easels.

Chuck said: “We’re trying to take some easels out there because we’ve got a couple of artists that are residents here at the Rooftop that have drawn or painted pictures of the market stalls and of course the clock.

"We’re just trying to share that, it’s a good news story to say this is here, we’re not doing anything wildly extravagant but we are going to ring a bell for the first time in 25 years, it’s just a nice thing to do.”