Following recent renovation work on Selkirk's iconic town clock, it has been beset by problems.

As well as regularly stopping, the four-faced clock has also been seen going backwards.

Up until 1963 the clock mechanism and chimes had been maintained and monitored by the Brown family.

And for over a century it never stopped.

John Brown began maintenance and the daily winding-up of the clock in 1862.

The watchmaker and jeweller, who worked out of the family business at the premises on the corner of Tower Street now occupied by the Red Cross, passed the baton to his son Tom.

And likewise the maintenance and winding-up duties were passed to his son Jack.

The Brown family's century-long involvement came to an end in 1963 when Jack retired.

His daughter, Margaret Smith, recalls: "The clock was wound up every Monday morning at 11am.

"I often went up the tower with my dad - you had to time your jump to avoid the pendulum on your way to the mechanism.

"It had to be wound up four times on each visit, once for each clock face."

Although the mechanism rarely ever showed any signs of faltering, Margaret's father, like his father and grandfather, would position himself next to the mechanism every Hogmanay and Common Riding to provide manual back-up in case the chimes didn't sound.

Margaret added: "With all the problems we have just now with the clock people stop me to ask if I know what's going on.

"It's a different mechanism from the one my father, grandfather and great-grandfather looked after, so I'm not sure what the problem is."