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Grimm Reading April 2011

Once apon a time, long ago and far away, an old couple lived in a forest. The old man cut wood, and the old woman worked her spinning wheel. Miraculously, she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. Nearby, in a broken down cottage, lived a witch...

This could be the start of any number of fairy tales. Fairy tales have as its audience both children and adults, and are cross-cultural. The tales often feature animals, both fantastical, like dragons, and real, like wolves and bears.

Archie Clapham, founder of Clapham's National Clock Museum, had a great imagination and sense of humour, and much of the collection at the Town Basin reflects these values of his. His humour was also child-like (as opposed to childish) and he collected clocks that appealed to both adults and children.

German clockmakers in particular would often incorporate into their creations amusing or thought-provoking elements. One of my favourites is the carving of the "Green Man" into the frame of a particular clock in the collection.

The German brothers Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm, pioneers in linguistics, medievalism and folklore, would have enjoyed Mr Claphams' clock collection that feature cuckoo clocks, a dog with rolling eyes and a clock shaped like a church, which, on reaching the hour, will open doors revealing a monk pulling on a bell.

Large time-pieces and grandfather clocks often feature in fairy tales, including one Grimm Brothers story in which seven young goats (kids) are saved from the jaws of a wolf by hiding in a grandfather clock.

Clapham's National Clock Museum has regular special displays, and the current one is designed to attract younger children, featuring animals, including a Mickey Mouse clock (Mickey has recently celebrated his 75th birthday), dogs, horses, a duck in a pond and many more.

This Monday (Easter Monday and Anzac Day) the Museum is having a "Make Your Own Clock" day – great fun, and you get to keep your own clock! Cost is only $12 for children, $16 for adults and includes entrance to the Museum. There’s another "Make Your Own Clock" day Sunday May 1st. Children can take their clocks home with them and teach their cat to tell the time... just as long as your cat is not black with a partiality for broomsticks!