Northern Section
To be held at Trinity Methodist Church, Trinity Road, Sale, Cheshire, M33 3ED at 7.30pm for 8.00pm, unless otherwise stated
Friday 12 April
CLUB NIGHT: Chronographs, Stop-watches and Portable Timers
Friday 10 May
LECTURE: Members 10 Minute Short Lectures / Talks
Friday 14 June
Comic, Novelty and Advertising Clocks & Watches
Full Programme for 2024 (PDF download, updated 16 December)
Recent Meetings
Meeting reports for previous years: 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017
Prescot Time Ball Project opening (January 2024)
Thirty-two Northern Section members and guests were invited to a simple opening ceremony at the Prescot Time Ball Project on 13th January 2024. We were the guests of Ron Musker and his family; Ron has been the driving force behind this project. A few years ago, Ron purchased an old time ball which had once been mounted on Beale’s Building in Islington, London. When that building was demolished in 1970, the ball became redundant after eighty years’ service. It arrived in Prescot in poor condition, but Ron had plans. The Flat Iron Building in Prescot which Ron had owned since the 1970s was ready for refurbishment and as it had a significant place in the town’s horological history as the home of the Lancashire Watch Company office, strong room, a few workshops and small warehouse, it was ideal for his purpose - to have a functioning time ball on his building as a beacon of the town’s horological past. We were there to witness the project’s completion.
AGM and video presentation (January 2024)
The meeting opened with the usual greetings and notices and then the AGM followed. Once the formal proceedings were completed, we had a refreshment break and then the group was shown a video entitled The Anatomy of a Singing Bird Box. The box, thought to date to c1865, was made by Frenchman Jacques Bruguier (1801-1871) who worked in Geneva.
The film was made and narrated by John Moorhouse and explains the construction and operation of the box and its bird automaton which John had the task of restoring. He explained some of the problems he faced and detailed how to set up and adjust the mechanism.