Alarm clock still ringing after 50 years

Is this the oldest working alarm clock in the West Midlands?

Garden centre worker Colin Beard has been woken up by the same ring every morning for almost 50 years.

The 64-year-old has no idea who made the simple white, metal clock that has sat by his bedside for so long but whoever it was certainly built things to last.

Mr Beard from Kinver has to remember to wind up the brass handle to set his alarm each night so he can go to his job selling plants at Dobbies Garden Centre in Kinver.

It has a distinctive face featuring a colourful picture of a cat and two mice playing with a ball of wool and now bears the scuff marks from years of use.

Mr Beard, of Riverside Court, said: "My wife June bought it for me a few years before we married because we both like cats.

"It's an old fashioned wind up alarm. I don't have the box and there's no manufacturer's mark on it at all.

"It's never failed me and it's still working perfectly today. I've no idea whether or not it's the oldest working one or not but I've no need to swap it for anything newer." Earlier this week deputy prime minister Nick Clegg praised the people of Alarm Clock Britain — the country's army of workers who set their alarm clocks every day to get up for work rather than relying on benefits.