WORK to complete a £13,000 revamp of two well-known clock faces in Derby has been delayed after heavy rain stopped paint from drying properly.

Two employees from Smith of Derby, the company behind the refurbishment, spent yesterday afternoon removing the gilding from the clock faces of Derby Cathedral.

The pair, who had to abseil from the top of the cathedral's tower to work on the faces, have been renovating the clock for more than two weeks.

They repainted the faces and began gold-leafing the Roman numeral figures on the clock.

But rain ruined the finish – so the company told them to take off the leafing and start again.

New paint will be applied to the faces in the next two days but will need at least two weeks to dry before the clock faces are gilded again.

Steve Morson, contracts manager at Smith of Derby, said he now expected the work to be finished in three weeks' time.

He said: "We were not happy with that final top coat because the rain had splashed on to wet gloss paint and made it uneven.

"This is a landmark of quality and we want to get it right, so we'll have to sand it down and apply another coat.

"We do most of our jobs in the summer months to avoid bad weather and, while we do our best to keep an eye on the forecast, it's unlikely that we can avoid all rain."

This is the first time the clock faces have had work done to them in four decades, with the last renovation in 1964.

Both faces are being hand-painted before the gold leaf is put into place, with the hands, also revamped, fitted on afterwards.

Mr Morson said the last time Smith of Derby renovated the clock, they used scaffolding to reach the faces rather than abseiling.

He said: "It was obviously a long time ago but I've been told it was scaffolding that was used in 1964, which now would be quite expensive and more disruptive.

"We prefer our clock-makers to abseil because it's much easier for them to do their work and it means people can still see all of the cathedral on a day-to-day basis.

"All our workers go through training on how to do this safely and in some cases, like this job, we send a third person from a safety company to make sure everything is safe."

The work to the cathedral clock faces will cost £13,000 and is being funded by the Friends of Derby Cathedral.

David Stanbridge, senior executive officer at Derby Cathedral, said: "I'm delighted that work has begun on restoring the cathedral clock because we are looking forward to seeing it back to its best.

"It's wonderful to see the workers suspended from the side of the tower and I'd urge anyone who is passing to come and watch."

Friends of Derby Cathedral still needs money for the refurbishment and is inviting anyone interested in sponsoring them to call Derby 341201.

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