A historic clock on a church tower in Llanfair Caereinion has started moving again following a brief stoppage after its return to Powys.

The long campaign to repair the clock on St Mary’s Church tower in Llanfair Caereinion took another twist on August 19, as the clock stopped just days after being returned from a huge repair job over the summer.

Residents who were delighted to hear the clock chiming after years of silence were suddenly “disappointed” to find it had once again stopped, leading to clockmakers Smith of Derby dispatching a team member to see what had gone wrong.

When news broke that the clock had stopped, Sue Whitehouse, chairman of the Friends of Llanfair Clock committee, the group who led the campaign to repair the large timekeeper, got in touch with clockmakers Smith of Derby.

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She said: “I know many are disappointed that the clock has stopped working again. I have been in touch with Smith of Derby and made them aware of the situation.

“They have agreed to arrange for one of their clockmakers to visit to carry out an inspection to see what is wrong.

I have no idea how long that will take as they are contacting me direct to make the arrangements.”

A few days later, the clock was once again moving after a visit from Joe Mines, a Smith of Derby engineer who was part of the team that removed the clock so repairs could be carried out and then returned it on August 14, needing to scale the church tower both times to do the job.

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Ms Whitehouse said via social media: “As of this afternoon on Thursday (August 22) the church clock is working again.

“Joe from Smith’s has been here for much of the day and is hopeful that the issue is sorted. Let’s hope and pray all will be well this time”

On why the clock stopped a few days after its repairs, Julie Breward, head of planning at Smith of Derby, said: “There are always a few issues when you do a major job on a clock.

“As the clock had not been running for a while the oil needed to penetrate to get things working smoothly again.

“Our guy returned and just made a few adjustments to the weights. He re-checked everything and set the clock going again and everything seemed fine.”