Campaigners secure £9,000 for restoration of historic clock which previously hung at Co-op and Royal British Legion buildings

The timepiece was previously hung at the Royal British Legion (RBL), in Boldon Colliery, but it is hoped it could one day be reinstalled as part of a new memorial.

And plans for that have now taken a further step forward, with confirmation of a grant worth £9,117 towards getting it in working order once more.

Alison Strike, councillor for Boldon Colliery, said: “This will benefit the wider community of Boldon.

“The clock was originally located on the Co-op and then, when that closed, it moved to the Royal British Legion.”

Cllr Strike was speaking at a meeting of South Tyneside Council’s Jarrow and Boldon Community Area Forum (CAF), the first time the panel has met in person, rather than by videolink, for more than a year.

The cash was awarded through the CAF’s Local Neighbourhoods Scheme, which provides about £13,888 to each council ward for ‘small-scale environmental improvements’, but which this year has also been expanded to include aid for food banks and other community organisations.

According to the funding application, the clock was gifted to the RBL ‘in thankful memory of those from Boldon Colliery who fought for the cause of freedom and made the supreme sacrifice’.

Following its mechanical restoration, further applications are expected for planning permission and additional cash to see it returned to the village as part of a new war memorial.

George Henderson, a bricklayer and chairman of the Boldon Colliery Heritage Group, which started campaigning for a new home for the clock in 2020 called the latest development ‘great news’.

He added: “Now we’ve got the money, the clock can be restored, which means the next step is to get the memorial built.

“We’ve already had a rough sketch of what it’s going to look like - a plinth with the clock on top, a soldier on one side and a miner on the other.”

It is currently estimated constriction of the memorial will cost about £85,000 and be built on or near the roundabout at Hubert Street and Henley Way, although a planning application will also be required to secure permission for this.

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