HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2016-06-02, Page 20PAGE 20. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 2016.
Grandfather clock donation repays Legion's kindness
One heck of a thank you
Chuck Keating, right, gave the Blyth Branch of the Royal
Canadian Legion a hand-crafted grandfather clock, shown
above, as a means of thanking two members of the branch
who had an old photo of the 161st Battalion from World War
I remastered for him. Legion Branch President Ric
McBurney, left, said Keating's story was a great one and
that the Legion was very thankful for the gift. (Dennyscottphoto)
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
Thanks to a few acts of kindness
and a 100 -year-old photograph, the
Blyth Legion has a new grandfather
clock on display.
Chuck Keating, a Wingham native
who used to live in Exeter but now
lives in London, was passing
through the area with his girlfriend
last year when he noticed the
memorial displays in front of Blyth
Community Memorial Hall.
In the display, he saw a picture of
members of the 161st (Huron)
Battalion which was made up of
young men from Huron County who
would fight overseas in World War I.
in the
The battalion was a unit
Canadian Expeditionary
Force based out of London
and, after sailing overseas,
was absorbed into the 4th
Reserve Battalion.
In the photo, Keating
recognized two of his
uncles and decided to
launch an investigation.
"I went into the [Blyth
Festival box office] and
asked where the photo
came from and where I
could find it," Keating said
in an interview with The
Citizen at the Blyth Branch
of the Royal Canadian
Legion. "I was told that it
came from the Legion,
which was just around the
corner."
Keating went to the
Legion and spoke to a
representative trying to
explain which photo he
was describing when he
saw it in a display case in
the building.
"I pointed to it and said
that one," he said. "They
took the photo upstairs and
came back down with a
copy of it."
While the photo was
getting copied, Keating
had a discussion with two
gentlemen who were visiting the
Legion and told them about his
connection to the area.
"I started talking about families
and farms and they knew everything
I knew," he said. "I told them I
appreciated the photocopy and one
of the gentlemen asked for my
address, which I gave."
The photocopy was exactly what
Keating expected: a little faded, with
some crease marks in it. He said he
was happy to have it and planned on
keeping it in his desk to show to
visitors.
Fast forward a little while and
Keating came home one day to find
a manilla envelope in his door.
"It was marked with all sorts of
stickers saying 'do not bend' and 'do
Donation
Len Churcher, a London clock
maker, brought his considerable
skill to bear on a special clock he
made for the Blyth Branch of the
Royal Canadian Legion.
contributed)
(Photo
not staple' and I had no idea what it
was," he said. "I opened it up and
there was the photo, restored.
Someone from the Legion [who
remains a mystery] had taken it to a
restoration location and it looked
brand new. It was darkened and the
creases were gone.
"I was so happy, I took it out and
got it framed," Keating said. "It's
now sitting on my wall in the den."
Keating was so surprised and
moved by the act of kindness that he
decided to do something for the
Blyth Legion Branch, which had
originally put up the photo of his
family members.
Keating turned to Len Churcher, a
London -area clock maker who
builds clocks in the style of the
1700s, to create a one -of -a -kind gift
for the Branch.
"He makes these great clocks," he
said. "The movement is from
Germany and he uses all original
tools. His son works in a machine
shop, so he fixed up all the tools to
make sure they would work."
Churcher works with Herb Kirkby,
a London artist who paints the faces
of the clocks and does so to match
the person or group receiving the
clock.
"For Legion clocks, we do a
poppy with all the military
disciplines on the outside of the
clock face," Keating explained. "It's
hand -painted"
A bronze plaque, also made by a
London craftsman, is also affixed to
the clock.
The end product, which now
stands proudly in the downstairs of
the Legion, is a 7'3" clock that is
made in three pieces that Keating
installed.
"It bongs every half-hour once,
and then bongs every other hour on
the hour with the time," he
said. "It has a nice sound to
it."
Keating said the clock
was just his way of saying
thanks for the display, the
original photocopy and the
remastered photo that he
received.
The clock itself is made
of red oak with a walnut
trim and constructed with
hand tools dating back to
early Canadian pioneers
according to the
documentation that
Churcher provided.
The movement should
last one to one -and -a -half
centuries, according to
Churcher, if it is well
maintained
The clock, which is the
89th Churcher has
constructed, is a Bell -
Strike grandfather clock
which operates based on
the weights in the cabinet
which have to be pulled every week
to make sure it maintains time.
Blyth Royal Canadian Legion
Branch President Ric McBurney
said, in a previous interview with
The Citizen, that the clock is an
amazing gift for the Legion and that
the story about how it came to the
organization was a great one that had
to be heard from the source.
A face for the ages
The face of the clock donated to
the Blyth Legion was painted by a
London artist and the clock itself
was built using antique tools by
London -area clock maker Len
Churcher. (Denny Scott photo)
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