THE leaning spires of Whitehead clock tower have forced Bury Council to call in the engineers.

Staff at the town hall, which overlooks the tower, spotted that one of the four pinnacles which adorn the crown was tilting and swaying in the wind.

They were worried that the spike might fall off and hit one of the many children who hang around the gardens during the school holidays.

Specialists have put up scaffolding and are making the pinnacle safe. They are also compiling a report on what other repairs the tower may need, which council officers say they will study once completed.

The memorial gardens were presented to the town in 1914 by local mill owner Henry Whitehead on behalf of his late brother Walter, an eminent Manchester surgeon.