FROM THE CHAIRMAN
The Cheltenham Conference was a most enjoyable occasion for all those who attended, with the customary excellent talks on a wide range of dialling topics. We were especially fortunate to have Professor John Heilbron to give the Andrew Somerville lecture. He spoke about Pope Clement XI and Francesco Bianchini, one of my favourite Italian diallists!
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This was the last Conference to be arranged by Patrick Powers and I should like to thank him once again for his meticulous efforts over the years. Chris Lusby Taylor will be organising the 2013 Conference.
A novelty at this Conference was a Discussion Forum whose purpose was to give members an opportunity to discuss the Survey that was distributed last Autumn and to comment on two papers by Chris Williams and Jackie Jones which suggested how the Society might build on its past successes.
The new Council has considered all the points made at Cheltenham and has written a document giving a preliminary assessment. The document accompanies this Newsletter as do the papers by Chris Williams and Jackie Jones.
Seven members of the Society were elected to the Council at the Cheltenham AGM and, shortly afterwards, the Council met to confirm the appointments of specialists for the year ahead. As always, lists of Council members and specialists are given on the inside back cover of the Bulletin.
FROM THE SECRETARY
The Chairman’s message and other material circulated with the June Bulletin cover the Cheltenham discussion forum. In terms of practical action and implementation the major outcome is the decision to upgrade and redevelop the Society’s website.
To continue the Society’s past success we must increasingly meet the expectations of tomorrow’s members – essential to that is a flagship, state of the art, website. This is not a minor undertaking: it requires a significant and sustained mobilisation of effort and resources.
The technical and development work required to establish the new website may call for some skills not available within the Society. They may also be of a scale and urgency beyond that which can reasonably be expected to come forward through our normal voluntary process. Council has resolved that any such constraints must be overcome through cash expenditure to procure the critical inputs.
In the final analysis, any website is only as good as its content. Its creation and preparation (e.g. to put a considered sub-set of our Registers on line) is down to us. Since Cheltenham, some have stepped forward and volunteered to help: we need more. If you think you may be interested in helping to create or prepare material for our website please do not hesitate to contact me to talk it over. Similarly if you have ideas of what you think should be on our new website please let me know.
Members will note (see the Bulletin’s inside back cover) that we have a new Webmaster – Darek Oczki. Darek works professionally in graphic design. We are particularly fortunate to be able to welcome him on board at this particular juncture.
Public Benefit
Changing tack completely, the Society is required to make an annual return to the Charity Commission. This includes a statement of the public benefits we provide. An important benefit is all the talks, lectures, tours and presentations we – as individual members – make. So that this can be fully reflected in our return would those members giving any such talks etc. please provide me with their list for 2011? Many thanks.
BULLETIN EDITOR
There were some printing problems with a handful of copies of the March Bulletin – several blank pages had slipped through, despite all the automatic checks by the printers. They were very apologetic (and gave us a discount!) and I hope everyone affected has now received a replacement copy. As always, please let me know of any problems that you find as quickly as possible after receipt and I will do my best to sort them out.
A new edition of the Bulletin Archive DVD is now available for the same price (ÂŁ25 to members, from BSS Sales) as the original. It contains every issue of the Bulletin from our foundation in 1989 up to and including March 2012. For the more modern issues which were produced electronically, the illustrations are of a higher quality than the printed versions. My thanks to Kevin Karney for processing the master file.
John Davis
01473 658646
REGISTER NOTES
Researching a dial can lead down interesting byways. The horizontal with the underslung gnomon, described by Tony Wood in the Recorder for the Cheltenham Conference, which some of you may have seen, is registered in about 20 gardens, an example being SRN 4140 at Waterperry, Oxon. It bears the motto “Make time, save time, while time lasts. All time is no time when time is past”, and I have been trying to find the source of the verse. An employee at Haddonstone, who sell the dial, indicated some ten years ago that Churchill used it in his eulogy of “The Few”, an unlikely claim which nevertheless led me to lengthy but fruitless searches of his speeches. Then it was confidently said to be listed in Garden Ornament, 1918, by Gertrude Jekyll and Christopher Hussey. This is a remarkable volume, about A3 in size, with illustrations of many fine dials, and a list of “Legends for Sundials” but, as it turns out, it does not include the “Make time…” motto. Defeat was looming, when Michael Harley scored a positive hit, tracking it down to a book of mottoes published in 1907 by A L Humphreys, “The House, the Garden and the Steeple”. There, on page 62, was the very verse, and it seemed the hunt was over. Gatty had, of course, been scanned at an early stage, but the motto does not appear in her alphabetical listing. Finally, however, it was found lurking in the Addenda to the 4th edition, where she says “This motto has been chosen by J B Wood Esq, for a window dial which he is erecting at Henley Hall, Ludlow”. That stained glass dial is actually in the Register, as SRN 2299 at Ludlow, Shropshire, reported in 1994 by our President. In his full report at the time he gave the motto, but unfortunately it was not included in the Register entry or the hunt would have been over at the start!
As a footnote to all this, a snippet about the wife of Oscar Wilde. Biographers have suggested that Constance’s relationship with the publisher of Oscariana, Arthur Humphreys, was potentially more than a business friendship. Two love letters from Constance to Humphreys are known to exist in a private collection in the United States, although no biographer has yet had access to publish them [New York University Libraries]. And this Arthur Humphreys is the same A L Humphreys of the 1907 book mentioned above. Truly the web throws up some fascinating as well as some useful information!
John Foad
01622 858583
MASS DIAL MEANDERINGS
A relatively quiet quarter for mass dials.
The Conference produced a little activity: Ian Butson brought in a shoebox of Norfolk dials, that county has now been covered and “Now for Rutland” says Ian. Maureen Harmer appeared with an iPad full of dials – technology rampant! – and Patrick Powers found a couple of mass dials extra at Bishops Cleeve whilst on the coach trip. He then e-mailed them to me from the Hotel using his magic ‘little phone with camera’ – all waiting for me when I got home – more T R!
One unusual new dial has appeared. A HORIZONTAL mass dial at Caldecot in Hertfordshre, only the second one in England. It is inside the porch and Dave Everest, who found it, will be writing in the Bulletin and explaining how it might have worked.
Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire and Kent are now entered into the Mass Dial Register, the booklets are printed and the data files will be archived away in York. As the booklets take ages to print some thought is being given to a laser printer. Anybody who would like a copy of these counties (or any other so far entered), please contact me.
Are there any volunteers willing to take on Wiltshire, or parts of Wiltshire? I can cover some northern bits of this rather big county; a good going over with digital technology is becoming more necessary. I can provide lists of where to go and re-photo dials.
LIBRARIAN
I have recently taken over as the BSS Librarian. I work in the centre of Nottingham, and am a regular visitor to Bromley House, the subscription library that houses our collection. I am therefore on hand to answer any queries about the collection, or indeed, Bromley House itself. Thanks go to Graham Aldred for all his hard work as the retiring Librarian; his offer to me of continued support will be gratefully accepted.
TREASURER
Many thanks to all those who donated items, and to those members who bid for them, during the auction at the recent conference which raised ÂŁ448 for Society funds.
Graham Stapleton
ROYAL VISIT
H.M. Queen visited Yeovil on Wedensday 2nd May as part of her Diamond Jubilee Tour. As Master of the Somerset Guild of Craftsmen, I was presented to The Queen by our President, Lady Elizabeth Gass, Lord Lieutenant of Somerset, and I was able to show her some of the very fine pieces of work by our members that we had on display. During a short conversation with her I showed her a sundial I had made for a Yeovil resident last year, a retired Methodist Minister, which had the inscription on it ‘OUR GOD REIGNS’ – a nice pun for English weather. I think she was amused, when I said that I thought it was an appropriate one to show her. She expressed surprise that there was a sundial at the Olympic Park that I have had the privilege of designing and delivering, and of which there was an illustration on display, and I invited her to go and try it out when she visits the Olympics. Whether she will or not remains to be seen, but it should provide a bit of interest for sundial watchers to follow her moves around that time! Sadly, no photos of her with the sundials have yet appeared!
David Brown
NEWBURY BSS MEETING
This Newbury meeting is one of the highlights of the dialing year. It is on the fourth Saturday in September. We are meeting again at the same NEW location as last year, in a lovely country village hall. Free parking, no traffic wardens, easy access. See www.suttonhallstockcross.org for pictures inside and out of the Hall. Look for the flyer with all the details enclosed with this month’s June Bulletin. Again, easy access by bus, 10 minutes from Newbury Bus / Train Station. If you would like to come but do not have transport, send me an email of your area to info@towertime.co.uk, and I will try and link you up with others coming by car. Likewise, if you are coming by car and can offer a lift, please send an email also of the area you are travelling from. I cannot promise linkups, but if everyone would send me an email I will try to do my best. You enjoy the day, this is your chance to enable others to enjoy the day too. Likewise, it is helpful to have some idea of numbers attending – so kindly email or write. No booking required, just turn up, but just drop me a line of your intentions. Look forward to seeing you all, with your grand displays and talks.
BSS PHOTOGRAPHIC COMPETITION 2012-2013
After a break of a year, the Society will again be running its Photo competition, with the results being announced at the 2013 annual conference.
A prize and certificate will be awarded for the winning entry, and certificates will also be awarded to the runners-up.
As in recent competitions those delegates attending the conference will be given the opportunity to consider the photographs, before the results of the official judges are announced, and take part in a “Conference Vote.” A small prize will be awarded to the winner of this vote.
Now that the sunnier summer months will soon be arriving, perhaps this may be just the right time to dust-off the camera, iPhone, Blackberry or even the latest capable electronic device, and to seek-out that winning photograph.
Competition Rules and Entry Forms will be included in the September and December 2012 issues of the Bulletin.
Ian Butson