Chance to buy just 15 minutes of time

For a rural community in south Shropshire time is literally money and for the next few months every quarter of an hour is going to count.

Parishioners of St Michael and All Angels Church in Hopton Wafers near Cleobury Mortimer have embarked on a novel way to raise funds to help restore the church clock that has kept time since the beginning of the last century, but has finally suffered a complete failure.

Having struggled to keep time over recent years, the mechanism of the ageing timepiece finally collapsed and the cost of restoring it proved to be well beyond the reach of villagers.

With approval from the Diocese, a less expensive option with an up-to-date automatically controlled electric mechanism has now been found but, with a price tag of more than £5,000, organisers decided on a round-the-clock scheme to raise the funds.

Nigel Poyner, a local supporter of the scheme, said: "Selling 15 minute sections of a 24 hour time-frame at £50 a piece will give us a grand total of £4,800, which is just short of the figure we're aiming for.

"We've already sold almost over £3,000 worth ."

Mr Poyner has been helping his father George Poyner, the churchwarden and church treasurer, with fundraising over the last few years.

He said: "My father is 90 so he's been passing on the mantle to me a little bit. I had the idea for it because I was pretty certain supporters of Aston Villa had been able to buy a brick with their name on it at Villa Park. It was just a new spin on that idea."

Mr Poyner said he and his father had raised between £30,000 and £40,000 in the last six years for a variety of restoration projects at the church.

In previous years, it has had a new roof and central heating installed.

Once all the time blocks have been sold and restoration of the clock is complete, an embossed plaque acknowledging each of the sponsors will take pride of place on the church wall.

For more information on buying a 15-minute time slot and other ways of supporting the restoration project, contact Nigel Poyner or Janet Gittins at j.gittins@mmtimber.co.uk or call (01299) 832611.

By Sophie Bignall and Hannah Costigan