About the author

D. Rod Lloyd

<p>As a kid, whenever I saw an old clock at a jumble sale or going cheap, I would buy it and take it apart to see how it worked. I don&#8217;t think I ever got one back together again, but I enjoyed tinkering with them.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Twenty years later when I was getting married, now living in the USA, Auntie Florrie wrote to me saying I could now have my Grandfathers clock.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>I arranged to have the clock shipped over and it was proudly placed in the entrance hall to my home. It was built in about 1880 in Maghull England by a local clockmaker, [before the electric light was invented], had a stately mahogany case, hand-painted dial and ran nicely.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>After a few years, it stopped. I was frustrated that I didn&#8217;t know what was wrong with it or how to get it going. I ended up having it serviced by a local repair shop and it ran again. I was fascinated with the clock.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1995, my family decided to spend a year in England including putting the kids in school. It was a big challenge to arrange to swap houses with an English family. Finally, we were settled, and the kids started school, my wife was volunteering at a local charity shop and suddenly I had time on my hands.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>I read the paper that morning and came across an ad for a clock course starting nearby at Manchester City College. I called the college and they told me it was a three-year course, one day per week. I explained I was only in the country for one year, so I persuaded them to let me take the course, coming all three days.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>I enjoyed the course and did very well. The final exam took several weeks, making a &#8216;suspension bridge&#8217; from scratch to exact specifications, restoring several old clocks and watches. I documented the process and took the extensive final written exam all set by BHI [British Horological Institute]. I did pass the exams and became a Horologist.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>25 years later I teach clock repair classes and &#8216;pass it on&#8217;. This is the class workbook.</p>