Cuckoo !

A collection of more than 600 clocks gathered by a retired quarry worker is to be auctioned.
Ron Kendrick, who died this year aged 74, spent 14 years filling his home at Bodelwyddan, Denbighshire, with clocks of every kind. In addition, Mr Kendrick amassed boxes of clock parts and spares.

One clock, a musical, carved, wooden Black Forest cuckoo clock, is expected to sell for around £2,000, although few others are considered valuable.

His daughter, Mary Roberts, said the family spent three weeks sorting through the collection at his bungalow after her father's death.

She said: "The clocks just took over the house, they were everywhere, cupboards, the bedroom, one in the bathroom, others in the kitchen, lounge, there was no spare room really for anything else. "He just had one square bit round the bed, everywhere else was clocks.

"Near the end, 12 months ago, we told him not to buy any more, because he wouldn't sell anything.

"We said to him, 'don't buy any more, it's stupid you've go nowhere to put them', but he'd go off and come back with about three clocks, three clocks he didn't need but three clocks he liked."

But, when the clocks go under the hammer in Colwyn Bay on Tuesday, experts say the best ones will not fetch more than between £80-200.