12-04-2025
Stroud Time: The town's very own time zone
THAT Stroud is a quirky place really isn't up for debate, is it?
I mean that in a positive way – it is what makes us different and what attracts so many people to our town and the surrounding area.
Our somewhat quirky history helps shape the town and communities we have today – and this week I got to be part of celebrating a more unusual part of our town history.
Before the railways and government legislation to standardise time in England, Stroud had its own time – Stroud Time.
Noon, Stroud Time, was the point at which the sun was highest in the sky in Stroud.
As we're around 90 miles west of London, this was nine minutes later than when the sun was highest in Greenwich.
For years this didn't matter, until the arrival of the railway in the mid-1800s – when "Railway Time" was based on London Time (GMT as we know it today).
Jeweller and clock maker Robert Bragg made a clock that was sited at his shop, a location that's now between Oxfam and Subway on King Street.
In public view, Bragg's clock helped our communities ensure they didn't miss the arrival or departure of trains in our town by showing Railway Time.
The clock is now proudly displayed in the Museum in the Park.
It will likely not come as a surprise that Stroud was one of the last places in England to change to London Time from its own time, in the 1880s.
To help celebrate this special part of history, Dransfield Properties have installed an antique clock face in their Five Valleys Centre that's permanently set to 12:09 – that's noon to us who call Stroud our home.
The installation is called Stroud Time.
A significant part of being mayor is being an ambassador for the town and its communities.
Not only was it an honour to be part of the official unveiling, I was delighted to be able to share the story both on BBC local radio and on BBC Points West.
It all helps to put Stroud on the map, for positive reasons.
Changing topic … who do you speak to when you're not happy about something a council needs to look into?
It's not easy to know – I struggle sometimes too.
When at public engagements, I often open with "and I'm not responsible for potholes!" – it has to be the most common complaint I receive.
Not only can it be challenging to work out where each of our tiers of council start and end, it will likely change with devolution.
Already we have work we undertake as a town council that should sit at district level, such as hiring a new team member to keep our town looking cleaner – Mark joined our team this week.
To help navigate who is responsible for what, and some of the likely changes heading our way, it's a major theme within our upcoming newsletter (being printed as I type), so you can see more clearly where current responsibilities sit and where we could be headed.
These changes will impact us all, so it's really important we have the opportunity to understand that impact.
