The Kerċem parish church clock will function once more after being silent for about 30 years. This is really good news and contrasts sharply with the sad news emerging from the Balzan parish.

We are lucky to have various church clocks around the islands, but quite a number of them for some reason or other have been left either dormant or to die a natural death. Many of them go back hundreds of years and were constructed by the famous clock maker from Valletta, Ġan Anton Tanti (1731-1817).

As a boy I remember going up the bell tower of the Tarxien church to wind our parish clock which unfortunately has been abandoned for some years now; thus also condemned to remain silent.

Besides being a tradition, such church clocks helped particular parishioners to know the exact time.

In various countries one can enjoy hearing clocks striking every fifteen minutes. But as usual, we prefer to be an exception in various ways; this is one of them.