A team of wind-up merchants has been assembled in Dalry.
The town hall committee recently put out an appeal for helpers to wind the clock as the person who had previously taken on the task had retired.
Ten people came forward, and on Monday most of them got together to learn the basics of winding the clock, which was donated to the village in 1897.
One of them, Gary Blissett, explained: “I’ve just taken over the reigns from someone who has done it for the last five years but he’s in his 80s now.
“I volunteered to take it on part-time but then I had the idea of getting a team together and if there was enough of us, we’d only have to do it once a month.
“I didn’t expect such a response, they all seem to be interested in what it’s about.
“It’s quite eye opening to see it, it takes a bit of effort.
“It’s mechanical, it’s not fixed by electronics, it’s a good bit of Victorian kit and it’s quite a steep climb to get there.”
The clock has to be wound once a week and also has to be adjusted each month as it loses a few minutes. This week it also had to be altered due to the clocks changing.
Gary added: “It’s a bit like some of the old cars from the 1920s and 30s which had a cranking handle to start the engine.
“There’s two things you have to crank up – one controls the clock mechanism, the other controls the chimes.
“I’m trying to do some research on other manually wound clocks in south of Scotland and I can’t find any so far, most of them have gone electronic.
“There’s a similar one in New Galloway but I think that went electronic in the 70s.
“Someone has done research and it would cost, four, five or six thousands to go electronic.”