Time's up: Health and safety tells fifth generation clockwinder it's too dangerous

But now council officials have called time on the practice - because they say it might cause an injury.

Mr Rees, 68, is the fifth generation of his family to keep the clock ticking in the market town of Llandover, Carmarthenshire.

Hands tied: David Rees, whose family have been winding the market hall clock in Llandover for 150 years, can no longer carry out his labour of love

He said the council is destroying a beloved local ritual.

'The council just told me not to do it any more - because their health and safety officers said I didn't tick any of their boxes,' the retired engineer said yesterday.

'Looking after the clock has been a tradition in my family for five generations and there has never been an accident.

'I'm climbing up through a narrow hatch onto the roof.

'Of course its precarious, but who cares? We've been doing it for 150 years.

'It's something for the community, and people like to see the clock displaying the right time.'

The grandfather-of-four earns £8 a week for the job, which is a labour of love.

Every Sunday morning, he clambered up the 12ft clock tower onto the roof of the old market, and moved the heavy weight to wind up the clock.

The first winder of the 18in-wide clock was his great-great-grandfather Thomas Davies, a local watchmaker.

At the request of the town's elders, he regularly wound all the local clocks - on schools, churches and other public buildings.

When he died, his son-in-law David Morgan took over and he was followed by his son David Thomas Morgan. They were both watchmakers.

Jack Rees was the next in line, and his son - the present winder - has now been doing the job for six years.

His wife Margaret, 67, never worried about Mr Rees's safety, and the couple had hoped their two grown-up sons would take over when he retired.

But Carmarthenshire County Council has ruled that the working conditions in the clock tower are too unsafe.

Officials want the clock to be mechanised, so it can be wound up electronically.

Mr Rees is not convinced. He said: 'If they want to pay me to push the button instead then I will. But I don't think it'll work.

'When it breaks down, someone will have to go up there and sort it out.'

The council's head of corporate property Jonathan Fearn said: 'It has become necessary to cease the clock-winding activity in its current form due to the danger posed by the extremely difficult conditions within the clock tower.'

The council's aim now is to find an alternative means of keeping the clock going, he said.

'We are saddened that we have had to cease the clock-winding, but it is imperative that we do not put our employees at risk of injury while undertaking their duties,' he added.