Numbers 273/84: Anacamptic .. how effective have we been since 2006?

Anacamptical is from Steven Poole … … reflecting, echoes of past sounds and actions. Today it was 10.15am with Darren Barker [below left] looking at all we've done since 2006 and the requirement now for the final steps …. it's the Battle Trust 1745 that's in the spotlight. He's agreed pro bono to think through how we might proceed to fund [i] the Interregnum and [ii] the Construction of the Centre. Meanwhile we await with excitement the outcome for farming on the battlefield and leasing the Town Hall in Prestonpans for 5 years. Darren was polite and congratulatory on all we've been able to achieve over the past 15 years and I outlined the notion of taking the updated Prospectus 3rd Edition to all households in Prestonpans and launching a CrowdFunding initiative at the same time linked to the Town Hall renaissance.

And make no mistake, it's National Battery Day! Observed each year on February 18th, the day serves to appreciate the convenience batteries provide to our everyday lives, the energy they give and which we take for granted! As we learnt at school, a battery changes chemical energy into electricity by bringing the different chemicals together in a specific order; the electrons travel from one substance to another creating the electrical current. Although battery manufacturing for everyday personal use developed in the last 50-60 years, archaeologists found evidence of a device that may have been used to electroplate gold onto silver, much like a battery would. In 1936, during the construction of a new railway near Baghdad, a Parthian tomb was found. Archaeologist Wilhelm Konig found a clay jar containing a copper cylinder encasing an iron rod that was possibly 2,000 years old. Benjamin Franklin first coined the term battery in 1748 to describe an array of charged glass plates. In 1800, Italian scientist Alessandro Volta layered silver, cloth, or paper soaked in salt or acid and zinc into what he called voltaic piles which generated a limited electrical current. It is his name that gives us 'volt' to describe electric potential. William Cruickshank, an English chemist, designed a battery for mass production as early as 1802.
Corrosion in batteries has always been an issue. John Daniell, an English chemist, receives credit for developing a way to reduce corrosion when the zinc and the attendant dilute sulfuric acid are separated from the opposite copper electrode and a solution of copper sulfate by a porous barrier. Over time there were gradual improvements until in 1896 the National Carbon Company [later known as the Eveready Battery Company] manufactured the first commercially available battery, the Columbia. Two years later it followed with the first D sized battery for the first flashlight. It dominated the global market until taking a mis-step on new technologies and losing out to Duracell. By 1957 Hamilton Watch Company introduced the first battery-operated watch and today batteries are available for myriad purposes. Portable electricity isn’t something we think about every day because it is so easily accessible; we recharge our phones from our car batteries as we travel down the road. Solar batteries recharge daily and store power in cells.
Today, 1678, John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress was published by Nathaniel Ponder. It's never been out of print since then …. Twice jailed as a Puritan preacher he lived and worked in Bedfordshire. His allegorical novel tells of the Dream of a Pilgrim on his journey from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City.

Annual Accounts of Scottish Battlefields Trust. Tony Gillingham, who's been in hospital for non-Covid19, has been able to create these for us well in time for the AGM next month … Not much progress as we await opportunities to be outdoors again! Avril and I did manage sunny outdoors, passing the Lunchs [catching up at a distance with them on life in Nepal!] and Jules/ Laura/ Toby as we went … en route to the letterbox to post Bryan's birthday card … shortage of numbers means Avril's creations still using Roman numerals … and now tonight we're off to Tesco Click & Collect at 8pm and back in time for Death in Paradise…. could be Port Vila really … they've got the French and English but can't spot bislama…. I've worn a tie all day, what with meeting friends/ colleagues on ZOOM and Click & Collect …. standards required!