Carnforth Station

Today's the day .................... for the Station Of The Clock

Round and deep as a soldier’s drum
More suited to a boom than a tick
It stares out from its iron helmet.

No swags or moundings,
No flourishes or fancy calligraphy,
Just that rod running through its belly

And that army of Roman numerals,
Blunt-headed, marching round.

Yet could it be that at the very end,
Even as he checked the weight’s swing
Against his own pulse, clockmaker
Joyce of Whitchurch near Crewe
Couldn’t resist one human touch
And thus exchanged the stick-straight
Hour hand for a curly heart?

So goes the first part of a poem called ‘The Stations of the Clock’ written by Lynne Alexander when she was poet in residence at Carnforth Station in 2004.   The poem tells the story of Carnforth’s famous clock, from its manufacture in 1880, its role in the film 'Brief Encounter' and eventually to its restoration along with the station in the late 1990s.

Carnforth Station is one of my favourite places to spend time - I wrote a bit about it here.  I went there today to see if I could become one of their band of volunteers who run the museum and shop.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed .............................