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Stepping back in time
WHEN Pamela Cressey was growing up, there was a picture of a clock tower on the wall of her family home in Virginia, USA. By GREG LAMBERT
She never really thought it was real until she got older and asked her family about the clock, then was told her grandfather was the architect and it had been built in a place called Morecambe, thousands of
miles away in North West England.
This week Pamela visited Morecambe to see the Clock Tower – which her grandfather Charles Cressey designed and personally oversaw the building of in 1905.
It was archaeologist Pamela's second trip to our town. She first visited two years ago, determined to find out more about her roots and the mysterious Clock Tower she had heard so much about from the other side of the Atlantic.
"I went to Morecambe Library and couldn't believe it when they said the Clock Tower was still here," said Pamela.
"I went to see it and sure enough, there was a stone at the base of the tower with my grandfather's name on it."
Charles Cressey lived in Morecambe during the early part of the 20th Century. His firm of architects, Cressey and Keighley, also designed what is now Barclays Bank on Market Street.
It is believed he met Pamela's grandmother, Alice Livesey, while living in Morecambe.
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He emigrated to the States in 1908, settling in California, where he became a top architect of First World War ships, office buildings and even designed San Diego High School.
Pamela, who had flown to the UK to attend an archaeology conference in Manchester, came to Morecambe to forge links with like-minded people of the town who want to preserve
historic old buildings and monuments like the Clock Tower.
She also hopes there will eventually be a brass plaque somewhere in Morecambe to honour her grandfather's contribution to the resort's heritage.
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Weather for Morecambe
Tuesday 22 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 17 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 18 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
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