I MADE a visit to Stirling recently to attend a concert at the Tolbooth. What a superb venue: history, acoustics, great-value bar prices but let down by one flaw. The magnificent clock tower was not working.

Sadly, the number of iconic chronometers in this state in towns and cities all over Scotland seems to be forever on the increase. Another example is the clock on the Princes Street House of Fraser store in Edinburgh.

Surely it is time – no pun intended – for heritage protecting bodies such as Historic Scotland to take measures to repair and restore these clocks to their former glory.

The irony in the Tolbooth’s case is that Stirling Council has produced a series of postcards, commissioned to represent the building’s past life. One of these is an illustration of the clock-mender at work!

Anne Chisholm,

6 Orwell Terrace,

Edinburgh.