SunInfo tries to establish just that publicity.  Surely all must hope these indefatigable workers achieve success and that we might soon see BSS revert to the standards that its founders established?

13.01.15

A 'new' American sundial. What is said to be a unique assortment of top quality homegrown shops, restaurants and art galleries has come to the Sunshine City of St Petersburg, Florida USA to open up a shopping plaza that has been updated over the past year.

The courtyard there is blessed with a superb centrepiece, a colossal, three-story tall 'bowstring' sundial. See ►here or ►here for more details.

21.05.14

06.10.13, 07.02.14

SunInfo's Spring 2015 "Dial Time" Newsletter Published! SunInfo is delighted to publish its FREE Spring Newsletter to accompany the 2015 Conference Season.  In PDF format the four page Newsletter contains news and details of interest to any diallist.  Download it HERE.

With just over 20 days to go, the programme for the 2015 BSS Conference is being put together. Following his absence last year owing to illness, BSS's Vice President Fred Sawyer has however confirmed his attendance this year and intriguingly is to speak about a relatively unknown, 17thC diallist.  See our special  2015 Conference page for details!

BSS has announced its 2015 Conference!!  Owing to the extraordinary delay in the announcement, members wishing to attend the conference were being encouraged to register as soon as possible. In a welcome change from recent practice members of the public who are NOT BSS Members may attend at the same rate.  The conference venue required confirmation of numbers by March 4th 2015 if at all possible.  Not only that but the conference content is still not yet confirmed so all those who might wish to give a paper are asked urgently to make make contact with Chris Lusby Taylor.  Late booking potential delegates are asked to download the booking form and use it to calculate the amount due.  Then they should make an on-line payment to the Society immediately by PayPal or credit card and place their booking form, addressed to the society, in the post. Cheques are also accepted. Go to SunInfo's Conference page for more details of how to do this and how to pay.

17.02.15, 20.02.15, 04.03.15

New questions over delays to the 2015 BSS Conference?  Members of BSS wishing to come to the Annual Spring Conference of the Society (currently scheduled for 10-12 April 2015) have only just been given the opportunity to book.  Now, with only a few days to go and with booking now subject to acceptance on a case by case basis, it is hoped that this may go smoothly from now on.

Ordinarily conference booking is possible from the September of the previous year with arrangements made by which payment may be eased. Sadly for the many retired members that has not been possible this year.

In the meantime, the window within which cheap train travel to Nottingham may be booked opened some time ago  and prices are rising. Additionally,  overseas members are losing the opportunity to book cheap flights.  Booking forms were posted to the entire membership in with the March Bulletin and there is now a pdf version on the BSS website. See here for what information there is about the conference, its venue, cost and travel details. Come back to find any updates.

21.01.15, 27.01.15, 03.02.15,09.02.15,16.02.15,18.02.15, 04.03.15

Concern about the future of the BSS Library Reference Collection continues to rumble on.  A number of BSS members wrote a letter to the Bulletin Editor in March 2013 expressing concern at rumours of a lack of unanimity of the Trustees concerning the future of the BSS library - where many of its works have been loaned/donated by both current and former members on the explicit  understanding of their near perpetual availability to the membership.  A reply to the original letter has been published in the June 2013 issue of the BSS Bulletin making the point (among others) that the cost to the Society of £150pa could be better spent on other things; with the implication that the collection could be broken up..

See others' comments on this reply at our Special 'Library Issue' page.  Comments are coming in all the time from concerned BSS members.  Are you also a concerned member? Or would you be happy to see the library dispersed? Are you a member who has loaned or donated to the library?  Send your views to the webmaster and they too will be incorporated on this page along with all the other comments that have been received. As mentioned further up in this column this matter has now been allowed to explode into a dispute between the Council and the President of the Society. See more ►here.  BSS Members are requested to write to the Chairman of the Council to urge the Society to return Christopher Daniel's loaned books immediately.

NASS 21st Conference - Booking now open. The twenty first annual NASS conference will be held earlier than usual this year on 18-21st June 2015 in Victoria, Vancouver Island, Canada.  Full details and booking forms for this have now been issued and a copy may be printed off here. (683kB PDF).  “Boasting the mildest climate in Canada, Vancouver Island is rated the TOP ISLAND in the Continental US and Canada and is even rated as the #1 DESTINATION TO VISIT IN CANADA by the 2010 TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice Awards.”  Why not make this the conference you attend this year?

On Tue. 23 June, after the NASS meeting in Victoria on 18-21 June, Woody Sullivan will be conducting a Seattle sundial tour (4-6 hrs depending on weather and what people would like to see). If you'd like to join in, email him or phone on +1 206-543-7773
[All information courtesy of NASS and sundial mail list] 24.01.15, 18.03.15

Gian Casalegno has announced that the sixth edition of the Italian Society's web based Bulletin Orologi Solari can now be read on line or downloaded as a PDF from their website www.orologisolari.eu.  Like the previous five editions this one is yet again a real tour-de-force. The articles (all in Italian of course) are wonderfully illustrated in full colour:

- An ancient universal portable dial: the Pros-Pan-Klima - Paolo Albéri Auber
- The new bifilar sundial at Aiello, with not straight wires - Riccardo Anselmi
- The sundial and the clock of the Cividale del Friuli's Cathedral - Miriam Causero
- Sundial design by means of the evaluation of two hour planes - Francesco Caviglia
- Sundials in the "Liberty" period - Enrico Del Favero
- Lambert circles and Seasonal Markers in analemmatic sundials - Gianni Ferrari
- The parallel globe, directed and reflected gnomonic projections (part 4) - Francesco Ferro Milone
- The sundials of "Semplicemente Serra" - Pier Luigi Perino
- A new method for reading a Moon dial - Pietro Poy
- At sundials' school - Ennia Visentin
Then, a bonus containing related files and programs is also available!

15.01.15

That Eclipse!

In the event, much of Britain was overcast at the crucial time though rather perversely, it later turned out to be a lovely sunny day.  Nonetheless some eclipse watchers were delighted to see the event in all its glory and even in cloudy Hertfordshire the clouds thinned for a few seconds around the time of the 'maximum' and allowed the briefest of blurred glimpses through the clouds.  Click on the image here to see a larger version of what proved to be a very rare view on the day!  Certainly, no filters were needed for safe viewing on this occasion.

21.03.15

Another Sundial for Cambridge. Thursday 8th May 2014 saw the inauguration of a new analemmatic sundial which has been created on the city’s scenic Jesus Green, courtesy of members of Cambridge's Rutherford Rotary Club.  It is sited near the base of the old bandstand. See the article about the opening ceremony ►here
 

07.05.14,18.05.14. Image courtesy Cambridge News.

NASS shows the way! Whilst other societies talk about things like this, the North American Sundial Society, [NASS] has done it.  It has conducted a very successful 'outreach' to children and teachers.  This year nearly 300,000 students, parents and teachers attended the 3rd USA Science and Engineering Festival in Washington DC over the period 25-27 April 2014. The Analemma Society and the North American Sundial Society joined forces to encourage interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics through sundials.

They handed out over 1400 (!) sundial cut-outs, that were enjoyed by children, students, parents and teachers alike.  Designs for horizontal and polar dials were the two most popular. Of course of huge importance too were the many additional contacts made with the teachers.  A really excellent result.

04.05.14

BSS Patron Sir Mark Lennox-Boyd's recent sundial creation is the subject of an article in an edition of the American Publication: Architectural Digest.  It takes the form of an obelisk installed in the summer of 2013 in the wonderful grounds of Buscot Park and forms Lord Faringdon's tribute to the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.  It displays six vertical dials around a hexagonal obelisk of Portland Stone each showing 'GMT'. More images are available on the ►sculptor's web site.  Buscot Park is a National Trust property.  Entrance to the House and Gardens is free to NT Members or £10 to others.  Well worth a visit.

19.01.14

A recent addition to the Christopher Daniel Collection is a photograph (courtesy of Richard Riddick) of the splendid miniature “Dolphin” sundial, which was produced by the National Maritime Museum in 1981 to celebrate the marriage of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer. It was a limited edition of 25 signed and numbered models.  There are now over 200 images in the collection covering Christopher's maritime life as well as his sundialling career. 
See it all ►here.

02.11.13

SunInfo - The UK's Dialling Website of choice. 
 

Just see the surge of those interested in the recent BSS 2015 Conference in Nottingham as they turned to SunInfo both before and during the recent BSS Conference to get the latest information about it.  Of course, the BSS website had little or no information about the Conference right up to just before the meeting and as a consequence, delegates and other interested diallists turned to SunInfo for details.

27.04.15

BSS Posts its Conference Joining Instructions. With only four days to go, BSS posted on its website the joining  instructions for delegates intending to come to its 2015 Annual Conference.  In an amusing touch by the organiser and at the top of the emboldened headings - just under the mention of time for Afternoon Tea on Friday 10th, is a request for delegates to bring a cake! Fortunately two people did.

9.4.15

Each quarter one of the articles in John Davis's latest excellent BSS Bulletin may be read on line.  That for September 2014 is entitled "Unexpected Aspects Of Anniversaries or early sundials, widely travelled" and is by Helmut Sonderegger.  It may be read on line ►here

He was a pivotal member of the Dutch society, which he joined right after its formation in 1978. He served as treasurer for 9 years and as secretary for another 19 years. In the meantime, he contributed some 200 articles to their Bulletin.

Many diallists knew him, or at least his work, among which were important contributions to the science of gnomonics. His software ZW2000, which he freely made available to the international sundialling community, was, and is, used by many. He cooperated with many sundialists abroad and he won the first Sawyer Dialing Prize in 2000.

The Dutch sundial society have indeed lost a generous, devoted, enthusiastic and productive person and a towering diallist.

07.04.15

BSS Council Meeting Updates to Members Abandoned In October, 2013 and as is mentioned in this column in December 2013 and in March 2014 too, we reported that BSS had abandoned the practice, first started under the Chairmanship of Christopher Daniel, to summarise in each Newsletter the discussions and decisions of each meeting of the Society's Council.  The September 2014 Newsletter - just like the March and June 2014 ones, issued to Members with the Bulletin, once again gives no such information.

This seems to be yet another example of a wholly unnecessary secrecy which increasingly cloaks the BSS Council's operations today. Another has been the strange way that the new, incorporated charity was registered with the Charity Commission even before the Membership had voted for it. Another is the way that our esteemed President is even being refused the return of his own books that he loaned to the library!  Concerned members wanted to request a change of policy when the Society met for its AGM at Greenwich on Friday the 25th April 2014. Some members also felt they should put others up for election.  Good management is sorely (and always) needed at BSS. Members of BSS who are not booked into the Conference may always freely attend the AGM. Just let the Conference Secretary know that you are coming.

10.03.14, 17.05.14

Following what can only be described as the astonishing apparent disinterest of both the UK's National Maritime Museum and especially of the Council of the British Sundial Society, BSS President Christopher Daniel's lifetime archive of papers and designs has finally been saved for posterity - and in some style too - by its deposit with the prestigious National Watch and Clock Museum, of Columbia, Pennsylvania, USA.  The museum is the largest of a very few in the United States dedicated solely to the history, science and art of timekeeping and timekeepers. They have welcomed the collection in glowing terms. Lynn Schuessler of the Museum has summarised their delight at receiving this important archive in one of her regular Blogs. Read more ►here

Image © Google and used as directed. 18.09.13

Martins Gills gave a most interesting review paper at the 2014 BSS Conference.  It was entitled: "What We Expect From Sundials – a Story from Latvia".  The English language slides for this presentation (4MB PDF) can be seen ►here by kind courtesy of Martins Gills.

In it he takes the audience through a variety of old and modern dials in Latvia and mentions Jānis Klētnieks whose book was for many years the only source of information about dials in the Latvian language.

05.05.14

BSS duly sent out its notice to Members before the 2014 conference, alerting them to the proposed change to the status of the Charity from the present Charitable Trust (that has served BSS so well for so long), to a Charitable Incorporated  Organisation.  It seems that the 'Society Rule' that was established some years ago in Christopher Daniel's time to ensure that any important change to the Society should thereafter be placed before all Members in a postal vote, has in yet another secretive act of this strangely secretive Council of Trustees, inexplicably been abandoned by the present Council. BSS Members might wonder why. You can read more about CIOs and about what it means to be one. ►here.

01.04.14

At the 2014 BSS AGM in April Members voted to convert the charity from its earlier status as a Charitable Trust to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation or CIO. Why?  Well, to 'reduce risk'.  The Charity's risk?  No, only really that of the Trustees.  A risk that has never been significant until the present Council took over. Members might like to probe into what they have signed up to.

Also they might also consider why the CIO itself was registered with the Charity Commission on 7th February 2014 - well before any enabling vote was taken by the Membership.

see: ►New BSS CIO Registered -WHY?
 

►Charitable Incorporated Organisation Implications.
05.02.14, 09.02.14, 19.06.14

'Wastrel Incontinence?' UK MEP Daniel Hannan famously described former UK PM Gordon Brown's economics as "wastrel incontinence". Perhaps in a smaller way this term might also be applied to the way that, from the 2013 accounts, BSS apparently spent the equivalent of 117 annual membership subscriptions (approximately one third of the membership income!!) on getting advice from TWO London based legal firms over matters concerning the conversion to a CIO and related matters.  A charge close to FOUR times that which would have been charged by BSS's own Independent Examiner for the same work and the same result.  Perhaps it is reasonable but why has this exceptional expense not been properly justified in any report to BSS Members or for that matter in its annual report to the Charity Commission?  It's clear that even more money will have been spent on such legal issues in 2014.  Why then, have the membership not been given any forward projection of that?

02.08.14, 22.08.14

A New Analemmatic Sundial has been designed for Johnson City, Tennessee, USA. It is only a small part of an imaginative Public Art Master Plan that was developed in 2012. A local restaurant commissioned this work for the entrance to Founders Park. The new dial was dedicated on Saturday July 12th 2014. More information ►here,  ►here & ►video

09.07.14, 14.07.14

A new human sundial has been placed in the village of Barr as part of the Carrick Community Heritage trail in Ayrshire, Scotland.  Sunday June 22 saw the unveiling of the human sundial which is set to be the latest attraction for Barr.
Villagers and pupils from the local primary school have been working for over a year now to bring their innovative project to fruition as the village’s contribution to the Carrick Communities Heritage Trail.  More ►here

10.07.14

Christopher Daniel announces his Latest Book!!

At the 2015 Conference BSS President Christopher Daniel showed delegates a proof copy of his new book.  This is a compilation of all of his many contributions to the 'Sundial Page' feature of Clocks Magazine that had originally been started by Noel Ta'Bois.

This new work contains all 244 monthly articles that were written by Christopher over the twenty year period 1988-2008.

Once again, Christopher's dominance of the UK dialling world is evident with these authoritative articles that teach as well as entertain those having an interest in time keeping over the centuries. SunInfo will shortly summarise this most interesting work. 

This is a very limited edition with only  a few copies left but anyone seeking to purchase one should contact Elspeth Hill on elspeth@malinriding.com for further information.

05.05.15

Unusual Dials of the British Isles

 A novel use of sunlight prediction!  As of March 2015, planning permission has been approved or is pending approval for no fewer than 236 new high-rise buildings in central London! And to think that even in 1962 St Paul's Cathedral was still the tallest building in London!    In readiness for this new onslaught, Architects NBBJ of Seattle, a company with offices in other world cities too, have devised a way for tall buildings not to bring with them the usual shadow blight.  More here.

15.03.15

Here are two walking tours of Oxford sundials.  Click ►here to print off an illustrated one page summary of a short walking dial tour starting and ending at Keble College Oxford.  It only takes around an hour but in that you will see no fewer than six of Oxford's many wonderful dials.  They include one horizontal dial, two vertical dials, a stained glass dial an equatorial dial and even a Noon Mark!  There are many pubs nearby too!  Enjoy!!  Or, if you are up for it, there is a longer tour of Oxford Dials which includes those of the shorter tour,

 ►here.  Print and fold this one to take with you.

28.08.13

Time for another look at Piers Nicholson's excellent Sundial trail of Oxfordshire.  Quite apart from the two sundial trails of the city of Oxford (see the links below) you can also see here a trail devoted to the County of Oxfordshire. It mentions the two intriguing dials in Woodstock which are interestingly similar and whose oddities were discussed on page three of the first (April 2003) edition of 'The Recorder' the occasional BSS Newsletter for dial recorders.
03.01.14

The 25th Anniversary (June 2014) issue of John Davis's excellent BSS Bulletin has long been issued to Members of the Society.  Developing a general theme of Dial Decoration, it contained no fewer than fifteen articles as well as an editorial and one reader's letter. One article for those interested in decorative dial restoration is about the Restoration of the historic dial at Isleworth.  You can see the contents of this latest Bulletin ►here. The Society makes one article of each Bulletin available to view on-line and this edition's is Painting with Light - a sculptors take on dialling. It is written by Tim Chalk whose most interesting website is ►here.  Take a look!

If you are not a member of the Society you cannot purchase a complete copy of the current Bulletin. So, click the Membership link at ►Join now!

02.06.14

● An Exceptional Sundial: Denis Savoie & Anthony Turner
● The Slate Dials of Brittany: Mike Cowham
● Sundials on the Tropic of Capricorn: Anthony Capon
● In the Footsteps of Thomas Ross. Part 9: The Mercat Crosses of Scotland and their Sundials: Dennis Cowan*
● The Future of Dialling: Tony Moss
● From Old to New, A Restoration Project. The Nazeing Church Sundial: Ian Butson
● The Littlecote Dial: J. Mike Shaw

*Other articles in Dennis Cowan's Thomas Ross series may be read here.  Ian Butson's article in the December 2014 Bulletin may be read here

BSS announces dates for its 2016 Conference The next BSS Spring Conference is planned for 15th to 17th April 2016 in Liverpool.  See our Special Page about the Conference HERE.  Delegates should plan to arrive by 4pm on the Friday.  The Conference will finish after lunch on the Sunday.  Accommodation will be at Jurys Inn, Kings Waterfront, Liverpool which is situated opposite the Convention Centre.  Liverpool is of course, accessible from all parts of the UK and Europe. Road, rail, air and sea routes bring you within minutes' walking or driving distance from the hotel. There is ample parking on site if you choose to arrive by car. See map

15.05.15, 14.08.15

Gian Casalegno has announced that the seventh edition of the Italian Society's web based Bulletin Orologi Solari can now be read on line or downloaded as a PDF from their website www.orologisolari.eu.  Like the previous six editions this one is yet again a real tour-de-force. The articles (all in Italian of course) are wonderfully illustrated in full colour:

- Does the Pros Pan Klima come from the Merket? A thousand-year old route for a sundial status symbol among ancient Romans - Albéri Auber Paolo
- The vertical disc dial: the metamorphosis of an altitude dial - Anselmi Riccardo
- An unprecedented text from the 10th century shows an ancient rule for making portable sundials - Arnaldi Mario
- Restoration of the sundial in S. Vito al Tagliamento - Caccia Luigi
- Equatorial reflection sundials - Casalegno Gian
- Rectum-Versum sundial - Coco Nicola
- The 'HELIOMETRO FISIOCRITICO' namely the Siena sundial - (part 1) - Goretti Massimo
- Amplitude of the Sun or of a star and length of the day. - Gunella Alessandro
- Given three shadow points find the center of a sundial on any plane surface - Urfalino Carmelo, Urfalino Angelo

As usual a bonus containing related files and programs is also available.

10.05.15

A new dawn for the de Vlamingh Sundial. A sundial memorial commemorating Dutch explorer Willem de Vlamingh’s arrival in Western Australia on the Swan River in 1697 is to be relocated, somewhat further East, to Riverside Drive - Perth Council has decided. 

Perth Council recently voted in favour of reconstructing the memorial, which has been sitting in a warehouse since it was removed in 2012 to make way for the works being undertaken at nearby Elizabeth Quay..

More here
14.06.15

All Hands to the Pumps! The recent announcement by the BSS Council of the place and date of the 2016 Conference (see News entry below) also sets out a new mechanism for the organisation of the meeting.  One good idea is the appointment of a competent member - in this case Mike Shaw - to be a contact in the conference city -  Liverpool - rather as NASS have always done given the enormous distances involved in the USA.  That will surely help to ensure that things don't get missed or forgotten.  However the other announced change is to conduct the conference organisation by a committee of four when in all 26 years of the society's existence, even through periods when society membership exceeded 600, it was only ever - and was necessarily - a one person job, rather smacks of overkill or mistrust. After a similarly strange decision regarding the production of the Bulletin, this Council's propensity to use committees is becoming clear.  It is earnestly to be hoped that this latest 'Fab-Four' do not end up organising a camel.

16.05.15

BSS President Christopher Daniel now has his own website showing the many sundial and other designs prepared during his long career.  Britain's most famous and prolific sundial designer has at last placed his portfolio on the web.  Called the Christopher Daniel Dial Collection it includes pictures of dials in design, development, restoration, at their opening ceremonies and with library shots of the completed projects.  It even includes a few pictures from his many other related interests from sailing to poetry, his meetings with the famous, his career and some awards.  Now showing over 200 images.  A really enchanting collection.

Just click here or the thumbnail to be connected to this amazing new resource or see it as a slideshow!  Whichever way you choose, do keep coming back!

10.09.13, 07.10.13, 02.11.13

NASS Member Claude Hartman recently called the attention of the sundial mail list to a 2011 article (by Jenny Cohen) which in turn reflected an article from the New Scientist in 2009 that suggested that the Pantheon in Rome might be a giant sundial!

Certainly the building seems to have had some religious significance - its very name means 'To every god' - and its N-S orientation is unusual. If not exactly a sundial it may well have been aligned to allow the sun to illuminate the doorway on special occasions, including the equinoxes and April 21, the traditional anniversary of Rome’s founding.

See Jenny's article here.  An earlier article by Robert Hannah on this very topic is here

05.01.15

Happy New Year to you! We are delighted to present our Christmas and New Year Card to you, our visitors.  Click on the image, print off the single  A4 page PDF and fold it to make your own card!

Thank you to all our visitors during 2015.  Please do come back in 2016.  There is a lot of news to come!

Just click on the thumbnail image here to download the one page PDF that can then be folded to make your very own card.  A Happy New Year!

15.12.15, 31.12.15

Gian Casalegno has announced that the eighth edition of the Italian Society's web based Bulletin Orologi Solari can now be read on line or downloaded as a PDF from their website www.orologisolari.eu.  Like the previous editions this one is yet again a real tour-de-force. The articles (all in Italian of course) are wonderfully illustrated, many in full colour:

-Altitude sundial in Este - Paolo Albéri Auber
-Paper sundials - Riccardo Anselmi
-Developing a reflection sundial - Gianpiero Casalegno
-Sundial design from the measurement of two shadow points - Francesco Caviglia
-"Projective" sundials laboratory (part 1) - Francesc Clarà
-The Julian Easter (part 1) - Giuseppe De Donà
-An ingenious altitude sundial of guaranteed failure: the "universal"clock by John Marke (1641 - 1673) - Alessandro Gunella
-A sundial on a pyramid - Miloš Nosek
-The Waldshut Apolyearth (part 1) - Ives Opizzo
-"Operating with the operating nature" The Flora clock in Bacoli (NA) - Ennia Visentin
 

English abstracts of these papers may be read here
 

As usual a bonus containing related files and programs is also available.

02.09.15

More than 24,150 visitors to SunInfo!  Since this web page was set up three years ago there have now been more that 24,150 visitors to see our sundial related news, archives and comment web site! For such a specialised subject that is truly amazing - and rewarding too.

Thank you all for your regular visits.  Please keep coming back to see what's new. 
 

We shall shortly have an updated page relating to David Payne's own amazing sundial trail in Norfolk and we shall soon also be able to present the John Churchill Photographic Archive.

19.06.15

Tracking hours by flowers?

NASS Member Robert Terwilliger recently drew the attention of the Sundial Mail List to an article in the NY Times about how certain flowers may be arranged to indicate clock time according to when they open or close during the day.  All that is needed is to identify a selection of a few dozen flowers that open and close at regular hours. They can be regulars like lilies, marigolds and primroses. Next, plant them in an organized fashion — perhaps in the segmented shape of a dial or clock face. It became fashionable in Europe as a result of the work of Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus, in 1751.  There is also a mention of this approach in the early BSS Bulletin Vol 91.3 p4.  More.

29.01.15

Sundial unveiled in memory of murdered teacher. Paul Bellion, who taught craft and design at Rosemary Musker High School in Norfolk, and his fiancée Lorraine Glasby were both found dead in 1986 in a field in France in a killing that had all the hallmarks of a gangland execution . The case was closed - unsolved - by the French police in 2006.  Paul had taught pupils about aspects of time, something which involved making sundials. It was felt most appropriate therefore for family and colleagues to unveil a sundial in his memory at the school where he taught.  ►Read more  ►Read about the opening ceremony

08.05.14

'Oldest Sundial' found in Ukraine? In October 2013 a carved slab was discovered in the Ukraine which might be the earliest example of this type of a stone sundial ever found.
It is thought to date back to the 13th Century BC when the Late Bronze Age Srubna culture would have inhabited the area.   See more of this dial and how it was shown to be a dial ►here and ►here

A sundial discovered outside a tomb in Egypt's Valley of the Kings may be the world's oldest Egyptian sundial of its type, say scientists. Dating to the 13th century B.C., the sundial was found in the Spring of 2013 on the floor of a workman's hut.  It appears to be roughly one thousand years older than was generally accepted as the time when this type of time measuring device was first used.  More information ►here. Also see the latest news re Egyptian dials in the panel above right.

26.05.14

The David Thomas Smith Sundial
A new analemmatic sundial has been designed and constructed in memory of the late David Thomas Smith and placed in front of the Harton Theatre at the Southern Arkansas University campus (USA). It was dedicated on Thursday 5th November 2015.  The Smith Sundial is one of only four Arkansas sundials that are registered by the North American Sundial Society, and it is the only one outside Little Rock and North Little Rock. It consists of a 22-foot by 17-foot stained concrete analemmatic dial with Arabic hour numerals of polished brass. The dial perimeter and the hour numeral arc feature a blue decorative polymer mule shoe, representative of the University's Mulerider mascot. Click on the image to see a larger image or here for more information.

07.11.15

A sundial to remember the sacrifices made in WW1 . A gift to the Devon parish of Drewsteignton by the National Trust and by those currently working to restore nearby Castle Drogo, of a new dial designed by David Collier has now been installed.  It marks the sacrifice not only of the heir to Castle Drogo but also of the lives of many of the original craftsmen who worked on the castle, all of whom also died in the first world war.

The sundial was unveiled in Drewsteignton Village Garden on Remembrance Day 2014 at 10.45am.

More information here courtesy Tavistock Times Gazette or click on the image for a bigger picture.

15.12.14

New 'world's-largest' dial envisaged.

A group of enthusiasts plans to make the 368m Berlin TV Tower an international emblem both as a monument of contemporary history, and a massive sundial! Plans are afoot to mark hour lines. Trouble is the gnomon is to be the vertical tower itself so the lines as envisaged in the drawing are incorrect and the shadow of the very top of the tower will not easily allow its use as the gnomon tip. Also, of course the shadow will not be properly visible by an observer at ground level. The organisers are rightly looking for help. More on where things are, here.

27.10.15

Yet more problems at BSS.  With the 2015 Conference only days away SunInfo is being asked more and more for help.  It seems that some BSS Members who have submitted ideas for a presentation and/or who wish to bring items to show to other members or worse, some who have sent money for a booking, have heard absolutely nothing so far regarding confirmation.  Some had earlier been told that their Powerpoint presentations needed to be submitted beforehand yet they do not know how or when to do this!.  In a few cases even their cheques had not by then been cashed so they feel left in limbo.  The earlier mechanism that allowed bookings to be checked on-line was abandoned in 2013 and even enquiring emails now appear to go unanswered.  Whatever the problem, it seems that neither the Chairman, the Secretary nor even any of the other trustees is able to help!  Their advice? "Well, just turn up at the door!" 

Faced with this extraordinary shambles BSS Members have (wryly) been reporting to SunInfo that nevertheless it is 'reassuring' that a Trustees' Report, sent recently by the Secretary to all Members in advance of the 2015 Conference/AGM, apparently asserts that 'The Society is fit for purpose in the modern world'.   That's all right then.

SunInfo's information about the conference is available here.

28.03.15, 05.04.15

Mayor of Southwark unveils Queen’s Walk sundial. In March 2015 Southwark mayor Cllr Sunil Chopra presided at the unveiling of a new sundial on The Queen's Walk alongside Potters Fields Park in London.  It is the brainchild of Piers Nicholson who noticed that there were two plain concrete plinths for water taps on this section of the Thames Path and suggested to the managers of the More London estate that one of them could be 'disguised' as a sundial. It now commemorates the opening of the London Silver Jubilee Walkway 38 years ago, on 9 June 1977.
More about the ceremony here.  More about the dial itself here.
10.06.15

There's a new Dial and Noon Mark in Whyalla, the third most populous city after Adelaide and Mount Gambier, in the Australian state of South Australia . A seaport located on the east coast of the Eyre Peninsula, it is at 33.0333° S, 137.5667° E. Designed by Margaret Folkard and John Ward of Sundials Australia the installation includes a globe that represents where the diverse ethnic population of Whyalla comes from and then an Equatorial Dial and even a Noon Mark.  See some pictures of it all at our photo gallery:  ►here

08.02.14

In another somewhat faulted Consultation Document to BSS Members, one that was enclosed with the March 2013 BSS Bulletin but which, despite promises, was never discussed at the Edinburgh Conference in April that year, the BSS Council suggested that its long standing Restoration Grants Policy should be abandoned! Before replying, BSS Members should consider the reasons behind the original drafting of that policy. Reasons that have apparently and astonishingly, not yet been fully considered by the Council! If you need more information before YOU do reply (or just want to know the background), then several members have supplied further information on the issues here.  Months on, no public comment has been made by BSS about the outcome of this consultation and yet no grants have been announced in the Newsletter and now SunInfo hears that the policy has been quietly abandoned even though at the time members have not been informed and grants were still beingadvertised on the then BSS web site.  Worse, the worrying question 9 in the members' response to this proposal has STILL not been answered. Why are BSS Members not being informed about the outcome of this consultation and the decisions of its Council? 15.07.13,01.01.14,10.04.14,17.05.14

The 'Festa delle Meridiane ad Aiello' 20-22 May 2016

This amazing event will take place in Aiello (NE Italy) where there are already some 104 sundials to see!  Running from 08:30 to 20:00, there will be the inauguration of four new sundials, with a contest, a conference and a photographic exhibition too.  Click on the thumbnail to the left to see a larger image of the front of the programme - in Italian.

Some examples of dials in the Sundial Courtyard

The rough programme in English is given below.  Anyone having need for further information is invited to email Fabio at: fabio.savian@nonvedolora.it

30.04.16, 03.05.16 (Thanks to Fabio for details of this event).

Plan now to visit the 2016 NASS Conference, June 23‐26, 2016. 

Booking Form

The 2016 NASS sundial conference will take place at the 'Holiday Inn by the Bay', Hotel and Conference Centre in Portland, Maine USA.  See the panel on the right for more information or take the Hotel 'Tour'.

18.04.16

Orologi Solari Edition No 9 can now be downloaded!!
Fabio Savian is back writing for this excellent Italian gnomonic magazine! 
Find details here. 

Contents of this edition (in Italian but Google Translate is great!):

- How to determine the operating hours of indifferently oriented flat sundial by the stereographic projection - Riccardo Anselmi
- An outline of the equation of time on the sky of Florence - Stefano Barbolini
- "Projective" sundials laboratory (part 2) - Francesc Clarà
- The Julian Easter (part 2) - Giuseppe De Donà
- How to recover an ancient sundial by means of an ellipse - Alessandro Gunella
- The Waldshut Apolyearth (part 2) - Ives Opizzo
- Platonic and Archimedes solids for gnomonics together with a polyhedric scaphen (part 1) - Fabio Savian
- A multiface sundial - Joan Serra Busquets
- Federico Commandino method revised without the ellipse construction - Carmelo Urfalino and Angelo Urfalino
As usual a bonus containing related files and programs is also available.
21.02.16

You heard it here first!  In its December 2015 Newsletter, BSS confirmed, September 2015's  SunInfo prediction of the venue for its 2017 Annual Conference. 

It is indeed to be Oxford and at an all in one venue on the outskirts of the city.  Trustee gossip just in from 'around the traps' suggests that it will be The Oxford Hotel OX2 8AL.  More news as we get it.
 

BSS has published its December edition of the Bulletin.  However, even though it is issued only to Members, this latest edition includes the usual free article which this time gives a fascinating account by the Society's patron, Sir Mark Lennox Boyd of the construction and alignment of a sundial-adorned tetrahedron cairn on the land of David Heathcote Amory, 1km NNE of his house Glenfernate Lodge in Perthshire.  Decorated by two sundials, the initials of those involved and the date and the Equation of Time, it represents a celebration of love for the property and the area.  A list of the other key articles in this edition of the Bulletin can be found here. The Bulletin may be obtained by joining the Society.

03.12.15

Rare sundial discovered! An ancient sundial that was unearthed by a ‘lost’ metal detectorist in Chetwode, Buckinghamshire (UK) as he walked back to his car, is tipped to sell for £80,000.  Simon Neal went to the 'wrong' part of an enormous field in his hunt for some Roman relics and was leaving the site when his machine detected a metal object.  Horology experts and scholars including BSS's John Davis have since identified the treasure as an incredibly rare 14th century English horary quadrant made of a copper alloy and a very important early scientific instrument; most probably from Chetwode Priory.  More here.  Or, click on the image for a closer look! An explanation of the use and operation of a quadrant of this age and type is here.

17.10.15

The Prague Clock at 605 years old!

See this article and at the bottom, a wonderful Excel simulation here or to go straight to the simulation just click on the image.

With the simulation you can make your 'own' Prague style clock for your own location - and be amazed at just how much can be achieved in Excel!

09.10.15

Following publication of the June 2014 edition of the BSS Bulletin, BSS Members can now read in it an article about the 2013 restoration of the interesting, historic and decorative vertical declining dial at Isleworth. 

Everyone, including those who are not BSS members, may read a PDF version of the same article ►here.
17.06.14

BSS Photocompetition 2016 - The Results  At most recent Annual Conferences, BSS has held a photographic competition.  Once they were judged by a panel of experts and experienced amateurs,. Now they tend to be judged by 'general acclaim' from those delegates present at the meeting.  The winners this year were:

First - Ian Butson: Does anyone have the right time, please?
Second – Darek Oczki: Playing with the Sun
Third – Margaret Ribchester: How soon will it be lunchtime?

You can see these photos together with all the other entries Here

23.05.16

NASS, the North American Sundial Society recently issued a very comprehensive, on-line PDF summary of their 2015 Annual Conference that was held in Victoria, BC. This excellent twelve page summary, which is approximately 1MB in size, covers all the presentations, includes several photographs and commendably, even includes other details about the Society and its AGM.  The thumbnail here shows the near record number of delegates around the analemmatic sundial at Ogden Point on the Victoria waterfront.  That dial is 16ft in diameter. The image may be seen full size in the PDF.

The NASS Conference summary may  be read or downloaded as a PDF here.

24.09.15

The June Edition of the BSS Bulletin is published. Information about recent Bulletins of BSS is no longer maintained on the BSS web site, so SunInfo provides it here.  The June 2016 edition of the Bulletin included the following interesting articles. Copies are available to Members of the Society.

A Mystery Welsh Horizontal Dial - John Davis
Postcard Potpourri 35: The High Hall, Steeton, Keighley, West Yorkshire - Peter Ransom
A Scottish Sundial Holding Secrets - Alastair Hunter
New Dial: A Direct East Moon Dial - David Brown
A French Three-in-One Dial - Mike Cowham
Kitchener's Sundial in Palestine: Further Information - John Davis
BSS Sundial Awards 2010-15
Beware Elephants! - John Foad
In the Footsteps of Thomas Ross. Part 15: Sundials on Scottish Churches - Dennis Cowan
An Early English Horizontal Dial - John Davis
Grand Garden Dials in 1908 - Martin Jenkins
Newly Reported Dials, 2015 - John Foad
Crossword Puzzle - John Lester
BSS Photographic Competition 2015-16 - Ian Butson
BSS Annual Conference: Liverpool, 15-17 April 2016 - John Lester and Alastair Hunter
Minutes of the 27th BSS Annual General Meeting - 2016

12.06.16

Fred and the Sundial Search Prior to the recent 2016 NASS Sundial Conference, Fred Sawyer mounted a search for a known, though missing, sundial in Portland Maine.  Sadly it has not yet been found but view his local TV Interview about this and about the Society generally here. 05.08.16

SunInfo's 2015 "Dial Time" Newsletter!

SunInfo was delighted to publish its FREE Spring Newsletter to accompany the 2015 Conference Season.  It is still available here to read.  In PDF format the four page Newsletter contains news and details of interest to any diallist. 
Download it HERE.

06.04.15

The 2015 BSS Conference a Review. The Conference took place in the East Midlands Conference Centre and with accommodation in the nearby eco-friendly Orchard Hotel, Nottingham over the weekend 10-12 April 2015.
 

SunInfo opens its 2017 BSS Conference Web Page giving details of the 2017 BSS Spring Conference which is to be held in April 2017. The Society disclosed a considerable loss of assets in the latest accounts - something that was not apparently explained even at its recent AGM but which (we hear) is believed to hinge around the recent poor conference attendances. The next conference is planned to be held a few miles from Oxford  - a venue that usually attracts a higher delegate attendance.  Accordingly SunInfo has opened its web page about this meeting especially early so that as many delegates as possible may hear of it and later book to attend. Click on the link below to learn more about the meeting and do keep coming back to see how it is updated.

***Time to think about BSS 2017!***

09.05.16

The 2016 EoTs. As usual SunInfo has published Equation of Time  figures for 2016.

Additionally we have provided a simple one page version that may be printed for easy reference.

Click Here for more information.

06.10.15

Now BSS plans its 2017 Conference! It is nice, at last, to be able to compliment the BSS Trustees.  Their latest Newsletter to Members promises an announcement in the next (December 2015) edition of the arrangements for their 2017 Annual Spring Conference! Now that really is forward planning.  This time it seems the need for a return to greater numbers of delegates might be pushing consideration more towards a southern venue. Chat among the trustees suggests a return to Oxford is being seriously considered and with an all-in-one hotel venue in the frame again too - though, for cost reasons, not one in the city centre but rather one just a bus ride outside. Of course things may yet change but nevertheless keep the dates 21st - 23rd April 2017 free in your diary for now!!

22.09.15

Tyttenhanger Dial (with the house) is for Sale!!  It's not often we mention a house sale on SunInfo but this is no ordinary house.  It is the 20 bedroomed mansion that BSS Sleuth Ian Butson saw mentioned whilst browsing through a 1910 dated document of listed properties - as one does!  In it was mentioned a stained glass sundial that had once existed at this Grade 1 listed property near St Albans in Hertfordshire and which now is used only for offices.  The owner refused Ian permission to visit it but, undeterred, Ian then discovered that the owner had accepted a public grant and was therefore required to open the house one day a year to local ratepayers.  It transpired that Patrick Powers, then a member and trustee of BSS, was indeed a local ratepayer and so the strangely mounted, though very old, dial was discovered, photographed and measured.  More on this discovery here.  And more here from Geoffrey Lane.

Oh, and if you might wish to snap up the house, estate and its dial, it's only for sale at £12M - a snip!

04.03.16

The September Edition of the BSS Bulletin is published. Information about recent Bulletins of BSS is no longer maintained on the BSS web site, consequently SunInfo provides it here.  The September 2016 edition of the Bulletin included the following articles. Copies are available to Members of the Society.

Sundials by the Davis Dynasty - John Davis
The Sundial - Gillian Clarke
A Visit to the 24-Hour Sundial in Longyearbyen - Douglas Bateman
A Sundial Search that Found a Toposcope - J Mike Shaw
Margaret Ribchester-Obituary - John Foad
New Dial for Historic Garden in Switzerland - Alastair Hunter
Postcard Potpourri Peter Ransom
A New Sundial for an Old School - Jackie Jones
A Universal Dial by G. Wright - Mike Cowham
In the Footsteps of Thomas Ross - Dennis Cowan
A New Islamic-Inspired Sundial - Frank King
A Visit to World Museum, Liverpool - Douglas Bateman
Holiday Pictures - Peter Meadows & David Payne
An Interesting French Dial - Mike Cowham
Come, Light! Visit Me! A Sundial Revealed - Ian Butson
Weybridge Hospital Sundial, Another Mystery! - Martin Jenkins
Saltcoats, Sundials, Storms - Christine Northeast
A Sundial Puzzle from Gouda - Douglas Bateman and Frank H. King
A Sundial in the Sand - Jackie Jones
Study Trip to Poland - Bohumil Landsman

14.09.16

A Day out with Edward Martin and Mass Dials. A rare record of a day which CLIVE FEWINS of the Independent spent  with the late Edward Martin has been discovered.  Published in the edition dated Saturday 20 July 1996, the article describes how they looked at the 'marvellous mass dials' on St Peter's Church in Hanwell near Banbury.  Click HERE to read it.  Edward is known for being largely responsible for building interest in the British Sundial Society for English Mass Dials and he started the first Register of them.

14.08.15

BSS Files 2014 Accounts.  BSS has filed its 2014 accounts with the Charity Commission - its first as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation.  Given the massive expenditure last year on this change of questionable necessity, BSS Members will undoubtedly be dismayed to note that in only four months, there has been a  further diminution  of society assets of £2,704 (3.1%).  The trustees have collective responsibility for the society's finances.
A copy of these latest accounts may be viewed here.  A selection of earlier society accounts is available here.

05.06.15, 09.06.15

The unique pillar dial/former drinking fountain in Bury St Edmunds might be restored! The Abbey Gardens' Friends, and St Edmundsbury Borough Council, are hopeful that a Grade II listed Victorian drinking fountain with a sundial on top, can be restored to its former glory.

The whole was a gift to the people of Bury St Edmunds in 1870 by the 3rd Marquess of Bristol. Both the fountain and the sundial have weathered over the years, and are in need of restoration. The friends' group and the Mayor of St Edmundsbury, Cllr Robert Everitt, unveiled a plaque on 14th October which explains the historical significance of the sundial since it has what is thought to be a unique Equation of Time scale.    Read more.  The Bury EoT [Courtesy Kevin Karney]

David Payne recently described the latest dial to be installed as a part of his amazing sundial project to introduce the public to a number of dials along the Woodland Walks around Burlingham in Norfolk.  The walks cover Burlingham Green, the parishes of Lingwood and Burlingham, Hemblington, South Walsham and the market town of Acle. His talk, which was given at the 2014 BSS Conference, was entitled "Take 5,  a black granite cube dial". You can see David's presentation slides ►here.  Another dial has recently been installed in Farrows Wood.  See notice of this above right.
07.05.14, 08.10.14

A second sundial for Norfolk's Woodland Walks.  Norfolk County Council has for sometime supported the Woodland Walks around Burlingham and even issues a leaflet describing them.  The walks cover Burlingham Green, the parishes of Lingwood and Burlingham, Hemblington, South Walsham and the market town of Acle. There on p28 of their leaflet is the first sundial to be found in these trails. It is in Jubilee Wood and is an analemmatic dial with two time scales.   BSS member David Payne recently designed a second sundial which has now been placed in nearby St Austin's Wood. This latest one is a large cube dial. We look forward to receiving reports of it. A good place to start these walks is from  St Andrew’s Church Car Park in North Burlingham. You can see a presentation about this latest dial, linked-to by very kind permission of David, ►here

14.01.14, 08.05.14

For some years now David Payne has been on a mission to provide a sundial trail in Norfolk and so to introduce the public to a number of dials - including some existing mass dials on the churches there - along the Woodland Walks around Burlingham in Norfolk.  The walks cover Burlingham Green, the parishes of Lingwood and Burlingham, Hemblington, South Walsham and the market town of Acle.

Although progress on this has always been mentioned regularly in our News here, we have now started a page devoted to this fascinating and very ambitious project.  At the 2014 BSS Conference David described the then latest dial to be installed.  This was his Cube dial.  His talk, was entitled "Take 5,  a black granite cube dial".

Another, a polar dial, was then installed in Farrows Wood.  That dial has been dedicated to the memory of Kevin Pettigrew with the quote from Sylvia Plath "There Was a Beautiful Time".

David is now working on the final dial - a composite of three declining dials which is to be installed in Jary's Wood. 

You can already visit the special page  ►here. It is in its initial stages and will be updated as more information arrives.  Keep coming back!!

07.05.14, 08.10.14, 22.05.15

Tribute to those who fell at the Battle of the Somme at Plymouth's sundial.

On the first of July 2016, nearly one hundred Volunteers dressed in the uniform of World War One soldiers were just one part of a UK-wide event as a modern memorial to mark the centenary of the battle.

In Plymouth this was performed around the huge Plymouth sundial.

Click on the image for a larger picture or click here to see the eight minute video of the 'flash mob' as it performed at the sundial
02.07.16

The March 2017 Edition of the BSS Bulletin is published. Information about recent Bulletins of BSS is no longer maintained on the BSS web site, but SunInfo provides it here.  The March 2017 edition of the Bulletin included the following articles. Copies are available to Members of the Society. The Restoration of a Horizontal Dial by Henry Sutton - John Davis Comment on a Delhi Sundial – Frank King Two New Dials of Saint Petersburg - Valery Dmitriev (cover image) In the Footsteps of Thomas Ross. Part 18 - The Kelbum Castle Obelisks - Dennis Cowan Sundial Artist, Dorothy Hartley - Mike Cowham The Sundials and Dial makers of London's Moorfields - A Perambulation - Graham Stapleton Investigation of a John Bird Sundial - Ian Butson The Exmoor Sundial at Lynton, Devon – John Davis History on a Sundial - Jackie Jones Three Sundials of Barcelona - Anthony Capon Dial Dealings 2016 - Mike Cowham How Wrong Can You Be? - Graham Stapleton Review: 'Isaak Symmes and the Ridlington Dial' – John Davis Trustees' Annual Report 2016-17 BSS Accounts for the Year Ended 31st December 2016 01.03.17

The December Edition of the BSS Bulletin is published. Information about recent Bulletins of BSS is no longer maintained on the BSS web site, but SunInfo provides it here.  The December 2016 edition of the Bulletin included the following articles. Back copies are available to Members of the Society.

An Italian Cruciform Dial - Mike Cowham
Constructing the Sundial and Planet Garden at West Park, Long Eaton - Stuart Allan
Postcard Potpourri No37. Town Square, Brechin - Peter Ransom
Who was Jeanie Crowley? - John Lester
Joshua Springer of Bristol An Eighteenth-Century Provincial Dialmaker - John Davis
Vertical Dial, Chateau de Chillon, Montreux - Doug Bateman
A Solstice Sundial - Jackie Jones
A Historic Sundial in Old Hastings: A Recent Rediscovery - Bob Wilcock
An Ancient Dial Fragment in Hastings - CHN
In the Footsteps of Thomas Ross. Part 17 Some Sundials of East Fife - Dennis Cowan
How to Measure the Declination of a Wall A Beginner's Guide - J. Mike Shaw
Newbury One-Day Meeting - 24 September 2016
The 'Lost' Sundial of Ham House - Graham Stapleton
Beaconsfield Revisited - Frank King
What it is to be Young - Jenny Brown
The Portable Vertical Dial - Mike Cowham

16.12.16

Decyphering Progresses on the Antikythera Mechanism
Alexander Jones speaks behind a possible reconstruction of the more than 2,000-year-old Antikythera Mechanism during a press conference in Athens, Thursday, June 9 , 2016. An international team of scientists says a decade's painstaking work on the corroded fragments found in an ancient Greek shipwreck has deciphered roughly 500 words (3500 characters) of text that explained the workings of the complex machine, described as the world's first mechanical computer.

The greatest hope is that archaeologists currently revisiting the shipwreck will uncover pieces overlooked by the sponge divers who found it a century ago — or even another similar mechanism.

More & More again!  And then this from the New Scientist 23.09.15 and this from an article in Nature   Then this

10.06.16, 03.08.16

Ancient mosaic sundial found in Southern Turkey.

Uncovered in 2012 in Turkey's southern Hatay province, the mosiac shows a skeleton lying down with a jorum in his hand and a wine jug and bread to the side. Recently noticed however and next on the mosaic is a representation of a sundial!

Click on the image for a larger image and click here for the report.  The mosaic has been dated to the 3rd century BC.

Archaeologist Demet Kara at the Hatay Archaeology Museum said "...there is a sundial in the mosaic and a young man is shown running towards it with a bare-headed 'slave' behind. The sundial shows a time of between 9 and 10 am solar time. 9am would have been the bath time in Roman times. He would have had to arrive at supper at 10am. There is writing on the scene that indicates that he is late for the meal!
26.05.16

Celebrate the Solstice! Built in 3,200BC - YES, some 5,200 years ago - Newgrange is the world’s oldest known building.  Every year at sunrise on the winter solstice, but for only as much as 17 minutes, the sun shines directly down a long corridor of stone and illuminates the inner chamber at Newgrange. Professor O'Kelly who excavated and restored the megalithic passage tomb, remembered a local tradition which said that 'the sun always shone into the tomb at midsummer'. Discovered in 1699 by chance and first excavated in 1969 by Professor O'Kelly, a slit over the entrance, the 'roofbox', as it came to be known, was designed to admit the summer sun to the tomb without the entrance stone having to be moved. But, he said, it was quite obvious to us that it couldn't happen at midsummer because of the position of the sun' says O'Kelly. 'So if the sun was to shine in at all, the only possibility would be in midwinter.' So we have today's marvel.  Watch it one year, if you can, at Newgrange itself or see the link here. And -  More about the Solstice itself

21.12.15

Were penalties incurred by BSS at their Nottingham Conference? SunInfo recently learned that the lower than expected numbers of attending delegates at the recent 2015 Nottingham Conference might have actually triggered a penalty clause in the contract with either the conference authorities or with the hotel - or possibly both.  If, on further investigation, this proves to be true and it turns out that committed bookings and the numbers of likely attendees had not been kept in synchronism during the process of conference organisation, then it will constitute yet another in the (very) long line of blunders by this BSS Council.   Not only that but using charitable assets to subsidise a section of the membership may in itself be contrary to charity law and be something which, under current rules, the society may be required to report to the Charity Commission.  We shall report in due course.  In the meantime SunInfo has learned that the new committee that is organising the 2016 conference is aiming for an attendance of at least 80.  That would indeed be good news for the society and for the membership too.  STOP PRESS! BSS's Net Current Assets Fell 5¼% in the 2015 year and attendance at the 2016 conference was apparently less than 55.

15.05.15, 04.06.15, 25.04.16

Just look at this!. This year the December Solstice was December 21, at 10:44 UT, the first day of winter in the north and of summer in the south. To celebrate this why not watch this amazing timelapse video tracing the Sun's apparent movement over an entire year as seen from from Hungary. During the year, a fixed video camera captured an image every minute. In total, 116,000 exposures follow the Sun's position across the field of view, starting from the 2015 June 21 solstice through the 2016 June 20 solstice. See it here - or click on the image.

22.12.16

Sundial created in memory of Arthur Whitehead. In early April 2017, a number of Magenta Living residents from North Birkenhead, Wirral, worked together to build a sundial, fulfilling the wish of Arthur, who sadly passed away recently.

Arthur Whitehead was an active member of the community who wanted to do something different with a patch of land or ‘pocket park’ in Solway Street, Birkenhead. He came up with the idea of installing a sundial then set about working with Magenta Living to see how to achieve it. Unfortunately Arthur passed away before he had chance to realise his dream, but the community soon rallied together to ensure his vision came to life.
Magenta Living used a community grant to fund the stones and the installation, then Skills to Build – a social enterprise - stepped in to help. Skills to Build taught the volunteer residents how to level the ground, mix cement then lay and point the stones.
 

The sundial will now serve as a memorial to Mr Whitehead. Community Resource Coordinator at Magenta Living (Adam Woodcock), said: “This is a really fitting tribute to a man who gave a lot of his time to help improve his community. His gardening skills were admired by all, and the work he did at Bidston Rise Community House was invaluable. Skills to Build did a fantastic job teaching residents all the key skills needed to make this project happen, but more importantly it’s the residents who deserve full praise for creating a lovely focal point for everyone to enjoy.”  More about this here

 SPECIAL - SOLAR ECLIPSE 2017!!

On Monday, August 21, 2017, all of North America was treated to an eclipse of the sun. Anyone within the path of totality could see one of nature’s most awe inspiring sights - a total solar eclipse. This path could be seen, from Salem, Oregon to Charleston, South Carolina. US observers outside this path saw a partial solar eclipse where the moon covers part of the sun's disk.

Would you buy a 'faulty' sundial for £200? Perhaps you might if you thought it had artistic merit?  This isn't really a sundial as such, of course, but rather a 1960's original of a UK railway poster advertising the summer delights of Devon.  Click on the thumbnail to see a larger image.

Sadly this poster was clearly not designed or drawn by a knowledgeable sundial enthusiast.  It has the hour lines arranged like a clockface and of course there is something unusual about the gnomon.

The original (poster) was on sale from Original Railway Posters for £200 here.  Lots of other railway posters available too if you happen to be interested in railway posters.

01.06.17

Orologi Solari 13 Issued. A new issue of the Italian magazine Orologi Solari is available for download from the usual site http://www.orologisolari.eu/.
Here is the list of articles
-The globe dial of Prosymna: the "horizontal" layout" by Paolo Auber Albéri
-How to find the gnomonic point starting from three shadow points" by Francesco Caviglia
-The Sun transit in San Petronio" by Giuseppe De Donà
-Personal considerations on the gnomonic history (1st part)" by Alessandro Gunella
-The Analemma and the Universal Compass" by Alessandro Gunella
-Sun transit and culmination are not simultaneous" by Willy Ory
-Not always the Sun culminates in the meridian of the observation site" by Jozef Pauwels
-Wandering-Gnomon Sundial Design" by Fred Sawyer
12.07.17

A chance to learn the secrets behind Stevenage’s mystery sculpture? It may seem that things have come to a pretty pass when a special event has to be organised to explain to the public that something is a sundial, but Yes, we have come to it!  Hertford Astronomers group came to Stevenage on 23rd September 2017 to put on a day of astronomical 'fun and knowledge' in Stevenage's Forum Square. Along with a telescope for the public to use to see the moon - which was visible in daylight then (clouds permitting) they also explained Stevenage’s ‘mystery object’ - its elegant  armillary sphere. It was designed by David Harber and was installed in 1999. and bears the words from William Blake’s poem “Auguries of Innocence”: ‘To see the world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower, To hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour.’ 19.9.17

The Gardom Edge Monolith

In 2012, Dr Daniel Brown, an astronomer with Nottingham Trent University, surveyed one of the several standing stones within the Peak District National Park where there are many ancient monuments ranging from Neolithic times, through to Roman and the more modern. Gardom’s Edge has a very interesting stone which is believed to be Neolithic and specifically erected too.  The stone is unusually (for us!) angled to the South and one surface is only illuminated by the sun around the time of the summer solstice. Brown took many measurements and wrote up the results of his work in the BSS Bulletin.  No other such 'seasonal' sundials are known in the UK. Anyone know of some in Europe?  Read Dr Brown's fascinating BSS article here, and more here. [C-466/12].
12.07.16

Several long standing BSS 'Stalwarts' sadly did not attend the 2016 BSS Conference in Liverpool.   Some of them, we learned, because of illness and cost but others put off by the society's current management.

Consequently attendances and the number of speakers were once again seriously affected. In fact fewer than 55 delegates registered this year, that was even fewer than those attending last year's conference.

Those interested to know more about this conference can see more details at:
 

SunInfo's review of the 2016 BSS Conference.

01.09.15, 12.03.16, 03.04.16, 11.04.16, 12.04.16, 14.04.16, 24.04.16

Guy Fawkes has nothing on the Brighton run! Well, maybe not, but to mark this weekend's London to Brighton Run - The World's Longest Running Motoring Event - we show a picture of the famous dial  on the North side of Sun Dial House, 111 Queens Rd in Brighton. SRN 0605 and dated 1897. The dial declines 16W and at one time it had two mottoes as surface mounted lettering - now sadly lost. They read  "Our days on earth are as a shadow and there is none abiding" and "Ut Hora Praeterita Sic Fugit Vita". Click on the thumbnail here for a better view of how it is today. Go here for a few details about this year's Brighton Run which commemorates the Emancipation Run of 14 November 1896, that celebrated the passing into law of the Locomotives on the Highway Act. It was this Act that raised the speed limit for 'light locomotives' from 4 mph to 14 mph and abolished the requirement for these vehicles to be preceded by a man on foot.  A wonderful display of really old vehicles. 02.11.17

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EoT The full daily listing of the Equation of Time for 2017 (and of course for 2016 too!) is available - Here

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Geoffrey Lane has published an interesting article in both the Pewterers’ Annual Review 2014–2015 and in the June 2015 edition of the BSS Bulletin.  Entitled Re-imagining the Pewterers’ Glass Sundial, It describes  a recent refurbishment of the Pewterers’ Company Hall in Oat Lane, London EC2, that well shows the stained glass sundial the Company commissioned a decade or so ago from the Sussex firm of Opus Stained Glass. 20.10.16

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The BSS Reference Library satisfies an important original Constitutional 'Object' of the Society and is located in Nottingham, roughly at a median distance for a majority of BSS Members.  Its 400+ book collection is maintained at the Bromley House Library in Angel Row, Nottingham.  The books are catalogued by author and in 18 sub-categories such as modern sundial theory, historic and classic works, scientific instruments, dial construction, exhibition and auction catalogues, scratch dials, restoration, stone circles, astronomy, horology, dial registers and, of course, miscellaneous. The library was awarded a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund in May 2011 to fund the creation of an electronic catalogue which will encompass all of the library's contents.   A short description of the Library is here and its website can be viewed here.  There was some concern about the long term future of the BSS Library after a recent trustee vote on its future was apparently not unanimous. As a result of continuing inaction by the BSS Council- for well over a year -  those who have so kindly placed books on expected-permanent loan with the Library and even some of those estates of deceased members who have done the same or even made absolute gifts, are now becoming concerned as to whether they should request return of their property. Come on BSS sort this out and fast. 01.11.13, 05.06.14 See our Special Library Issue page for more details of the concerns and the ongoing discussion and outcome (so far!).

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Just the one! The 'Quilt Trail' Sundial A quilt trail in the USA is a series of painted wood or metal, hung or free standing, quilt squares installed at various locations along a route, emphasizing significant architecture and/or aesthetic landscapes. Currently North America has quilt trails in 43 of the United States as well as in three Canadian provinces. Only one of these squares is in the form of a Sundial, this being designed by Bob Hampton and Martin Webster. It lies on the Western North Carolina trail and the quilt block sundial was installed in downtown Burnsville in 2010. The eight-foot by eight-foot wooden structure, visible from town square, features three sets of numerical scales for telling time. There's a set for daylight saving time, a set for standard time and one for local apparent time. The shape of the 'mountains' reflects the EoT. The stars at the top of the dial are those at the first sunrise over Yancy County at its formation on December 29, 1833. The dial declines 2.5 degs west of south.  A plaque beside the block explains how to use the sundial and the trigonometric principles involved.  Read more about this dial here. For even more info on the sundial or the region's nine quilt trails, visit www.quilttrailswnc.org, 13.01.17

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Yet another blunder at BSS. Just what is going on at BSS?  For a long time the BSS President had been reasonably been requesting the return of his loaned books from the Society Library.  Strangely, the present Council refused. The matter came to a head at the post-discussion period of the 2014 AGM held at Greenwich when BSS President Christopher Daniel found it necessary to address the delegates on the matter.  THEN the BSS Council suppressed all comment from the floor!!!  A number of senior members of the Society were so appalled at the Council's attitude that they wrote to the entire membership in the June mailing requesting that the Council return the books and asking for the full support of the membership in this.  In a strangely argued case in the same mailing the Council asserts that the books were an outright and irrevocable gift to the society despite the fact that there is no document of ownership-transfer and even though the librarian of the time had confirmed way back in Feb/Mar 2014 that it was a loan - this was not of course disclosed to the membership in the mailing!  Then the trustees argued that they were not able to return a properly donated gift but now - at least from one opinion seen by SunInfo - it seems that charity law fully provides for gifts to be returned to their original donor! So no matter what argument BSS chooses there appears to be no excuse to return the books!!  Not only that but we now hear that the Council is proposing to give back books in return for the title for the Society's logo (currently owned by Christopher).  So now we know, they CAN give back the books despite a year of nonsensical equivocation. And then we heard that the Council had attempted to set a date by which they would consider the issue closed.  Anyone think that that is not bullying? Just what are BSS playing at? Full details of these issues together with the text of Christopher's speech to the meeting, many other supporting documents AND now some letters supporting Christopher and even the LATEST legal communication can all be found ►here.

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'Backwards sundial' yields a compass that is said to be able to locate North to better than 100th of a degree. New Scientist (05.08.15 edition) reports that for an outlay of around £70 a digital camera can be fitted with a slit lens to measure the angle of the sun in the sky. By combining this with a GPS sensor that provides the location and time, the compass can calculate the relative positions of the sun and Earth, and tell you which way is north. More here at Optics Letters. 06.08.15

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Sent: Saturday, July 12, 2014 10:43 AM To: Patrick Powers Subject: Your letter Patrick, Thanks for sending me a copy of your letter concerning Chris’s books. I wholeheartedly concur. There seems to be something fundamentally wrong with the running of the BSS. We have seen a significant number of Council members leave after acrimonious disputes. This is no way to run a Society.   ►More

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Obituary: Richard Mallett It is with very great regret that SunInfo has to announce that Richard Mallett, former BSS Trustee, Council Member and experienced Webmaster for the Society, died on Nov 7th 2016.  His funeral was held at St Mary's Church, Eaton Bray, on Monday Dec 12, 2016. Our sincere condolences go to his cousin, family and friends. Read our obituary for Richard here. 11.12.16,  12.12.16, 20.12.16

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The BSS Beach Sundial - washed up!  There was no tour of local sundials at the BSS Conference in 2016 and there are not many nearby 'working' dials nearby either.  So with no dials to look at, a small group of diallists came armed with plans, tape measure, straight edge and a broom and made their way to Crosby beach to construct their own analemmatic dial using one of Sir Anthony Gormley’s life-size sculptures as the 'human' gnomon!  Accurately laid out to tell the time - year round too, though it would always have had to be shared with Gormley's 'man' stood on the April date - it was set out with sunrise and sunset markers and even a sort of motto - well, really only the name of the society. Sadly the sun never shone and the tide soon made sure it was never going to work!  An unachieved goal really. 16.04.16

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