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Northamptonshire church's clock winder made redundant by tech

Kate Bradbrook/BBC Man wearing red sweater pulls on the handle of a clock mechanism inside a stone towerKate Bradbrook/BBC
Walt Thompson said he had had to book holidays between Monday and Friday so he was back to wind the clock in time

A man who has wound a church clock up by hand for 25 years will not be needed for much longer.

The mechanism in the clock at St John's Church, Boughton in Northamptonshire, is being automated.

Walt Thompson, 77, says he has cut holidays short to make sure the clock gets wound up for the weekend.

He said he would still climb the steps once a month to check that the automatic system is keeping good time, but the weekly visits would stop.

The tower of St John's church in the village, near Northampton, dates from the 14th Century but the clock, like most of the rest of the building, dates from the 19th Century.

Walt Thompson was already familiar with the tower when he took on the job of maintaining its timepiece.

He said: "I was a bellringer. Harry Lovell [the previous winder] taught me to ring, and, one day, he said to me 'would you mind winding the clock up? I can no longer climb the stairs'."

Kate Bradbrook/BBC Stone tower of a 19th century church, with a small square clock faceKate Bradbrook/BBC
Walt Thompson said looking after the clock was a "labour of love"

Mr Thompson decided to have a go and found the job was not as straightforward as it looked.

"It wasn't till I started doing it that I realised how methodical Harry was at keeping it more-or-less spot on, certainly within a few seconds, so it became a challenge and really a labour of love to continue Harry's work," he said.

"Someone has had to climb these steps every week for the last 100 years, so the steps are well worn and quite dangerous now.

"There's no handrail, so one has to hold on to the central column - I've only fallen down twice."

Kate Bradbrook/BBC Stone steps inside a tower, showing how they have been worn by feet over the yearsKate Bradbrook/BBC
Walt Thompson said he had only fallen down the worn steps in the tower twice

One thing Mr Thompson will not miss is having to book holidays from Monday to Friday, so he could back for his winding duty in time.

Kate Bradbrook/BBC Man with very short hair and glasses wearing a white collarKate Bradbrook/BBC
The Rector, the Reverend Stephen Trott, said he was relieved no-one would have to go up the tower to the clock any more

The Rector of Boughton, the Reverend Stephen Trott, said he felt "a great sense of relief that nobody is forced any longer to go up there and wrestle with the mechanism".

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