iPSWICH: These days most of us have watches on our wrists but there are times when it is easier to just look up at public clocks that have been put up for our benefit.

However in Ipswich that isn’t always as easy as it sounds.

The Ipswich Society, the town’s wonderful heritage watchdog (has there ever been a more accurate description of its work?) has recently completed a survey of our public clocks.

It found that eight out of 26 are not working - their hands are stuck at all hours of the day or night and this can be very confusing for those without watches.

At least the most prominent clocks in the town centre seem to be working now - for months the clock outside H Samuel in Westgate Street wasn’t a good advert for timekeeping, but that is now ticking over like . . . well, clockwork.

One of those not working properly is the clock on the old County Hall building in St Helen’s Street - but as that is being rebuilt I’ll let it off.

But there is no excuse for Elim Church at Barrack corner being stuck just after six - it’s a prominent building at the entrance to the town and it would be good to have it back in order.

And surely the time is right to get CSV’s clock in Portman Road and the clock in The Walk ticking over.

Maybe we should give the job of getting all the clocks telling the right time over to the borough - they know how to respond to a timepiece crisis (try saying that at the end of a long night!).

When the Town Hall clock threatened to give up the ghost just hours before the end of 2009 technician Steve Mann shinned up to the top of the tower to move the mechanism and ensure that the bongs rang out right on time and everyone could celebrate.

That kind of thinking is clearly needed elsewhere in the town to ensure that we all know exactly what the time is as we go about our business