BIG brother may not be watching a tight-knit Suffolk parish but the church clock has begun striking 13.George Orwell's famous parable on fascism and the erosion of freedom 1984 famously begins with Big Brother time striking 13 and that is something like the experience in the parish of All Saints in Sudbury.

BIG brother may not be watching a tight-knit Suffolk parish but the church clock has begun striking 13.

George Orwell's famous parable on fascism and the erosion of freedom 1984 famously begins with Big Brother time striking 13 and that is something like the experience in the parish of All Saints in Sudbury.

However, even with no malevolent government spying on residents, the chime of 13 has baffled the community. Virginia Bonner, 70, who lives near the church, said: “I heard it strike 13 today. It is unusual and somebody said they heard it strike 13 last night.

“I don't know if it has happened before as I don't normally count the chimes but it doesn't bother me.”

Simon Gill, vicar at All Saints, said the last time the clock struck 13 was shortly after he joined the parish four years ago.

He said: “I took my family up the tower to look at the parish. My son, who was then aged 8 stumbled over the striking mechanism and that seemed to activate it when it had not been working for some time and it chimed 13.”

Nicky Smith, of clock builders and repairers Smiths of Derby, tasked with maintaining the All Saints clock said it was hard to say what was causing the problem but it could be a simple repair.