Achimota School Clock Restoration Appeal

Achimota School Clock & Bell: Save a Heritage (and Future) at Risk

What do the Sydney post office in Australia, The Royal Exchange in Manchester (England), Cape Town City Hall in South Africa, the Custom House in Shanghai (China) and Achimota School in Accra, Ghana have in common? The proud heritage of JB Joyce & Co. fine clocks, tick-tocking to their respective productive ventures. What is different, though, is that all these clocks have been lovingly maintained and are in good working order except Achimota’s!

Achimota School, one of the first and finest co-educational high schools in Africa that has produced the most heads of state in Ghana and for other African countries, is now the not-so-proud owner of a Joyce Whitchurch (1690 –1965) signature time piece on the verge of becoming an unkempt museum artifact. Incidentally, China’s Custom House clock was installed in the same year Achimota School was founded: 1927.
 These clocks are so cool there is a heritage centre in the United Kingdom dedicated to their production history. In 2012, a time bid auction held to dispose of surplus items at the old JB Joyce & Co factory premises saw historical collectors and interior designers bid to own a piece of horological history.  

Achimota’s skyline is recognised the world over and incomplete without it’s iconic tower clock. Those who come to see it in this age, find it standing in a state of catatonic stupor. A far cry compared with it’s contemporaries around the world requiring more than a time reset. We who claim it as ours, have not been the best of stewards. A reset of our thinking and a drop of maintenance juice is well overdue if we dare to look and enjoy it’s splendour far unto centuries of time.

 There are rusty, dusty planks to replace and fluff with a broken, unsafe stairwell to mend. The clock enclosure is a bird haven with sprinklings of bird poop all over the  carillon it is no wonder that it fails to coo coo it's tunes. The graffitis from wall to wall saying, ‘this person and that person was here‘ are no Maya murals that a fresh lick of Azar paint should not coat over. The scarred four clock faces need a makeover but nothing prepares one for the sheer scale and magnificence of the 92 plus year old engineering marvel, sitting pitifully amongst it all in great need of tender loving care starting with a full workshop overhaul according to renowned clockmakers Smiths of Derby, UK who have looked at it .

show stopping vintage clock which does not work  to enrich the experience of students and its community  in this century  makes very little sense.  We have not descended into total chaos without a working clock for indication of passing but we have allowed decay to be part of our solution which is problematic. 

A restoration project of this magnitude and launch of a clock fund is long overdue. It will first get the clock working well into the future, add value, enable regular servicing and ensure that the aging process of time does not adversely affect the clock. Indeed a working heritage clock has a positive effect on its surroundings and well being of the community it serves.The bells and carillon of the old warrior who guards the realm of time on the outlaws hill must toll and chime melodies with the passage of time. It must once again become a real students companion reminding them of the importance of performance, growth and development. The crowning glory of the schools administration block, alive, ticking away, heard and not ignored as students cross the forecourt to their meals, prayers, studies and sleep.

For our 25th anniversary homecoming legacy project, the class of 1995 in collaboration with The Old Achimotan Association  are proud  to remember and honour time through this fundraiser and heritage clock restoration . The cost is astronomical and we cannot bear it all on our own. The weight of history and what Achimota stands for in principle should not only matter to Achimotans. For founding fathers and for country, we humbly call on all who love Ghana as much as we do to invest a little in this restoration.

Thanks for your support today. Let’s have the time of our life.

1995 year group