Friday, March 18, 2011

A Hidden Word from nearly 2,000 years ago...

For all 'Story Marker Seekers', the hidden word is CEASAROMAGUS.

If you managed to collect all 12 markers you would have ended in Hall Street in the Moulsham area of town. Nearly 2,000 years ago the Romans built a small town on the site of Moulsham. It was called Caesaromagus (Caesar's market place) and it was the local market town halfway between London and Colchester. In the 4th century Roman Civilisation declined and after the Romans left Britain in 407 this little Roman town disappeared. The modern town of Chelmsford was created in the Middle Ages.

Did you look around the corner of the building the last marker appears on? It has a blue plaque which says: "IN THIS BUILDING was established in 1899 the first Radio Factory in the world by the Wireless, Telegraph and Signal Co. Ltd. later known as "MARCONI'S WIRELESS TELEGRAPH CO. LTD"


To find out more about the Story Markers, the Springfield Time Travellers and the history of Chelmsford Please read through the blog - it will make more sense if you start from the bottom and work your way up!

If you didn't manage to find all 12 story makers, here is a map showing each marker in place.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

The artwork has been installed...


















The Story Markers are all in place! Head Technician and Master Installer - The Amazing Amanda Westbury, has performed a small miracle with the assistance of myself and a small person (whose name we can't mention in case we're accused of child slavery - 'cause we didn't pay him). All 12 'Story Markers' are now installed in Chelmsford town, Moulsham Street and Hall Street. Yay!  Ecstatic and exhausted next stop designing the book...

Friday, March 11, 2011

The artwork has arrived!

The finished artwork arrived today, 12 beautifully etched brass plaques, they look fab!

Class RB have all had a good look and given their approval - and had photographs taken with their wonderful designs.


Installation on Sunday ......

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Postcards now being printed ....

5,000 postcards will be arriving next Thursday.  Designed to highlight our trail and explain a little about our time travel and story they will be available from the library and museum in town. Here's the front:                                                               
  The background is a map of Chelmsford town, right where our trail features, from the 1940's, the image is a radio mast sculpture created by Lucy & Abigail during one of our workshops and the stamp is a penny black (one of many discoveries we made on our time travels).

The curly typeface is 'Snell Roundhand, created in 1965 but  based on the handwriting of a 17th Century English writing master Charles Snell. The larger block of writing is in a typeface called 'Century Schoolbook' designed in 1919 by a chap called Morris Fuller Benton. Morris was asked to create a new typeface which was easy to read for school books. You might remember it way back when you where in reception - or earlier because Century Schoolbook is used in the 'Spot' books by Eric Hill. The last typeface on the postcard is 'Times New Roman' which was designed by Amanda Gulotta for the 'The Times' newspaper in 1931.

and the back:
  
Typeface: Century Schoolbook, map designed by Elaine Tribley, Springfield Time Travellers logo designed by Charlie Hands.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Hold the Front Page! Mesopotamia Island Election Results are in!

So here we are on Mesopotamia Island, the place where the local people would hold a mock election every time there was a general election. Candidates would give witty speeches to win the title and the losers would be ducked in the river!

OK, pop into your time machines we’re going to have a quick whizz through some Prime Ministers from the 19th century, so fasten seat belts, set your dials onto multi random and hold tight .....

Benjamin Disraeli
, born 1804, Conservative, Prime Minister in 1868 and 1874 to 1880, nickname Dizzy, claim to fame - Bringing in a new law in 1875 called 'The Climbing Boys Act' to stop young boys working as chimney sweeps.

William Ewart Gladstone
, born 1809, Liberal, Prime Minister from 1868-74 and 1880-85 and 1886 and 1892-94 ! phew how many times is that! Interests: Reading, singing, collecting paintings and porcelain and chopping down trees (uhu?!)

Marquess of Salisbury
, born 1830, Conservative, Prime Minister from 1885-6 and 1886-92 and 1895-1902 (these chaps had a few goes at the job didn't they!) Interests: Reading, chemistry, the study of electricity, riding a tricycle (oh yeh - not a bicycle - a tricycle!)

Earl of Rosebery
, born 1847, Liberal, Prime Minister from 1894-5, Interesting fact: while at university he set three aims for his life: 1) to marry a rich woman 2) to own a winning racehorse 3) be the Prime Minister, and yes he managed all three!

OK quick stop your machines and jump out, we have some work to do, because we’re holding our own mock elections.... with our ground breaking, world changing, chelmsford based candidates, Crompton, Hoffmann and Marconi.

Facts, figures, drawings and photographs, our election parties prepare their posters and practice their presentations. With five minutes in the spotlight, the candidates agents attempt to win our votes with their slick performances, and then its down to some serious voting.

With the votes all in our polling clerks count the votes, but a re-count is demanded by our Presiding Officer after two forms are found blank and a vote is missing. Finally the results a re confirmed and the Returning Officer announces the results....

Our winning candidate with a total of 10 votes is ....... (drum roll)

MARCONI !

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Macaroni, Crumpet & Hasselhoff

From a place far far away in a time when writing and the wheel was invented (3500BC) we travel forwards in time like true explorers, working as a team, ignoring our rubbling tummies and giggling at our talents in re-naming our newly discovered hero's of Chelmsford ...... !

We venture past the Old Babylonian period (1800-1170BC), past the conquest of Judah (714-681BC), past the Persian wars (490-489 BC), waving to Alexandra the Great (334BC) as we zoom past. We spot Roman Emperor Hadrian as he begins to build his 73 mile long wall (120), and not long after we see the Vikings raiding Ireland (793) and then we whizz by The Battle of Hastings (1066).

No time for toilet stops as we pass the signing of the Magna Carta (1215), see the Bubonic plague start in China (1346) and witness The Spanish Armada (1588). We spot James Cook on his way to Hawaii (1778) and catch Napoleon's navy being defeated at the Battle of Trafalgar by Nelson (1805), but just before the Potato Famine in Ireland begins (1845) we take a detour and land in 1830 right at the back of Debenhams in the car park.

Well it will eventually be the back of Debenhams! (in 181 years time) but in 1830 it's a place known as 'Mesopotamia Island' a piece of land sandwiched between two rivers, and here we witness the 'Mesopotamia Elections', a curious local custom enacted out every time a parlimentary election was held. Witty speeches were given by the chosen candidates and everyone cast their vote, after the winner was announced the losers were ducked in the river!

A quick decision was made, we would collect our three Bright Sparks from the late eighteenth century bring them into the future and stage our own mock election. Who had created the best invention, who had left the biggest legacy, who was the most memorable, who's invention changed the world...... We will find a 19th Century Chelmsford hero for a 21st Century Mesopotamia Island.

With a box of information, photographs and goodies to support each of our three candidates we set to work creating giant posters to influence our voters .....

Designing an Alphabet

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

The Writings on the Wall

We’ve travelled back in time to 1898, to 1878 and to 1899, but now we’re going to go back even further, in fact so far that we might have to pack some sandwiches! Time Travellers adjust your dials, engage your minds, focus your energies, check your fuel and fasten your seatbelts, we are travelling way way back to 3,500BC!

We're zooming past the invention of the computer in 1840, past the very first Penny Black postage stamp in 1839, past the first hot air balloon demonstration in 1783, past the invention of the flush toilet in 1594 - which not many people were interested in and continued to chuck their waste out of the window! and we continue past the invention of the printing press in 1437 - before then people had to write everything out by hand - and if you were doing the school newsletters that's a lot of writing to do one for each pupil! now hold tight and remember this amazing invention of a printing press - we’re going beyond the known into the world of BC right right back to 3,500BC wow I’m not sure if even The Time Lord himself has been back this far in time!

We’re going to steer our machines to a place called Mesopotamia - you might remember we first heard about Mesopotamia when our time travelling journey began. The Cradle of Civilisation where the first writing was being developed - not much like the writing we use now, no A4 paper to scribble notes on to your mates! looks like you needed a chisel and a lump of clay. Imagine having to do that for your homework... !

Not long after, the Egyptians began writing on papyrus, a plant which you pick the stalks from, leave to rot, line up and bash around a bit until it all melts together and voila a bit of paper to write your hieroglyphics on. The letters we use today have evolved quite a bit from those early symbols with different cultures adding, taking away or changing bits slightly. Can you guess what the Hieroglyphics on the left here say?

Ok, hold tight, we're whizzing right back to 1437, back to that amazing printing press which was the beginning of a journey for this type you are reading now! From this point onwards we had the printed letter and the beginning of typography which is sort of the art or the study of type and typefaces - you might know them as fonts, those different letter shapes and sizes.

So lets celebrate that amazing invention by the Sumarians from way way back in their land of Mesopotamia and create our own Springfield Time Traveller alphabet! Sharpen your pencils Travellers and flex those creative muscles we're going from an A to Z for the pavement to embed!

"This lesson has been awesome, we went back in time for when writing was invented" Kyra Fretton

We've got a logo! Thank you Charlie Hands!
STT ... Springfield, inside Time, inside Travellers - how clever is that?!

Friday, February 4, 2011

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Look No Wires....

Ok so now we are stuck in 1878 and I don’t know about you but I’m finding it a bit hard not having much entertainment, so lets get back in our time machines and travel forwards, set your dials to 1899 - just a year after the Hoffman factory was built, so thats a 21 year jump! Fasten seat belts, check your rear view mirrors, switch all your power on, concentrate your minds, pull the throttle up and lets go.

Hang on tight, we’re going to go forwards past..... the first toilet paper being sold by a British company in 1880, the invention of Coca Cola in 1886, past the first thoughts of making glass contact lenses in 1888 - but it took another 60 years to actually make them! and also in 1888 the invention of the first paper drinking straw. Past the invention of the escalator in 1891, and the invention of basketball - which was invented by a Canadian PE teacher who wanted a sport for his students to play indoors in the winter.

So here we are in 1899 in Chelmsford where a chap called Guglielmo Marconi has arrived from Italy and opened the first radio factory in the world in a road just off Moulsham Street.

Now Marconi was working on some ideas to try and send a wireless signal over long distances and needed a big supply of electrical power - so why do you think he chose Chelmsford? yep he’d heard about our chap Colonol Crompton - the electrical whizz who was lighting up the streets with his power supplies - perfect for Marconi’s experiments!

So Marconi is designing and developing and inventing and experimenting like a madman and eventually in 1901 he proved everyone wrong and sent the first transmission of sound across the Atlantic. Everyone thought the radio signals would fly off into space and be lost forever but Marconi was convinced it would follow the curve of the earth and he was right.

From that very first experiment Marconi went on to develop wire...less transmission - (you might have heard some more mature folks call a radio a wireless - this is why) the name we know and use now RADIO was created by the Americans and comes from the word - radiation which describes the spreading out of signals through the air.

Are you keeping up fellow travellers ?!

Well the wireless signal became revoluntionery - it was used during the first world war to listen to messages and pass messages on and when the Titanic sunk the distress signals were sent by a Marconi trained wireless operator - and saved the lives of over 700 of its passengers and crew.

And then the idea of using radio as entertainment was talked about and boosh Marconi’s there experimenting and by 1920 the first entertainment broadcast was transmitted from Marconi's factory in Chelmsford by an opera singer called Dame Nellie Melba.

A bit of a Diva was our Nellie and rumour has it that when she was told her voice would be broadcast from the top of the tall radio mast she said "young man, if you think I'm going to climb up there you are greatly mistaken"!

Now, we're not going to start singing opera, but we are going to 'tune in' to our creative wavelengths and whisk up our own versions of the radar masts used to transmit signals. Lolly sticks, kebab sticks (without the spikes!), paper straws, elastic bands, modelling clay, and some good old masking tape - perfect for some sensational structures!

"I can't believe that Marconi chose Chelmsford to be the place to test his wireless out of the whole world!"

Light Sculptures


Click on the picture to see our Crompton inspired Light Sculptures on Flickr

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Lighten up!

A whole weekend stuck in 1898! no television, no Nintendo DS's, no computers, no i-pods, no electricity...... ! Time to get back in our time machines and take another journey - but not forwards we're going even further back in time.

Dials set to 1878, backwards another twenty years, hold tight fellow time travellers; we are going past the invention of X-ray in 1895, past the first zipper! in 1890, past the invention of the dishwasher in 1886, past the very first roller coaster in 1885! wow I didn’t realise how long ago they were invented! and the same year the first petrol powered motorcycle, past the invention of the fountain pen in 1884, past the invention of the safety razor in 1880 (before then you risk serious injury when having a shave!) and we’re stopping just after the invention of the telephone which was in 1876. Ok slow down turn off your engines..... here we are in 1878. Did you notice how many inventions were going on in that short 20 year journey - wow! dishwashers, x-rays, pens, zips, motorcycles...... and thats just a small handful!

Ok so here we are in Chelmsford in 1878, and we meet another gentleman who decided to build a factory in
Chelmsford, meet Colonol Rookes Evelyn Bell Crompton - an English chap born in Yorkshire. Crompton was an electrical engineer and an inventor and he was a bit of a whiz with electricity. He built 31 trains for the worlds first tube line and he built the equipment for the first electric trains on Southend pier, he even provided lighting for Buckingham Palace! and his company, Cromptons, was one of the first companies to install electric street lighting in the country.

Just imagine how different the world would be without all that light! Time Travellers 'bottle' up your creative energies and lets get making - Springfield Street Lights, from strips to spots, bees to bugs, we tripped the multi-coloured light fantastic - and inbetween all this action we designed the most amazing futuristic street furniture - Chelmsford Borough Council look out!



Street Lights


Click on the image to see our Crompton inspired street light designs

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Finding our Bearings... !

Fully trained and ready for adventure we attempt our first real journey back in time.

Focus your minds and turn your dials to the year 1898 - 113 years ago! are you ready to go? ok lets travel back in time, way back 

past your arrival in the world (if you're year 4 or 5 that is!), past the first ever text message being sent on a mobile phone (1992), past the invention of the post it note (1974)
, past england winning the world cup (1966), past the first skateboard to appear (1958)
past the second world war, (1939-45), past the invention of bubble gum (1928)
past the first world war, (1914-1918), past the first helicopter flight (1907)
, past the invention of the vacuum cleaner (1901).....

OK, slow down time travellers, we’ve arrived in 1898, turn off your engines, take your goggles off and park up your time machines.... !

So here we are in Chelmsford in 1898 where two cousins, Geoffrey and Charles Barrett, had set up a ball bearing factory in New Street near the town. But their bearings were tear drop shape and they couldn't no matter how hard they tried get their bearings to be round. So they persuaded an American chap, Ernst Gustav Hoffman (think he was Swiss American actually!) who had invented a machine that made perfect little silver balls, to join them and there you have it The Hoffmann Manufacturing Company Ltd. The country's very first ball bearing making factory!

By 1901 the company had perfected its mirror finished steel balls to such a level of accuracy they had earned world-wide-fame. From bearings for bicycles to motorcycles and then aeroplanes during the First World War, Hoffman bearings were everywhere. The company became so huge at its peak it had over 7,000 people working there!

And now, could we survive without ball bearings? well we have them in roller skates, skateboards, bicycle wheels, cars, trains, vacuum cleaners, typewriters, motorbikes, fishing rods, computer hard drives.......

"Wow! It's amazing what a little silver ball can do!"

Surrounded by all this new information, a table of clay, some watercolours and a whole bunch of wonderful sticky glueing materials, we set about designing our very own ball bearings!

bearings


Click on the image to see our Hoffman Bearing inspired artworks on flickr

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Turning back Time

But wait, we need to get there! Engage imagination, search supplies, adopt a co-pilot, pop on the inventor specs and get creating...... !

We made Time Machines of every design, from square ones to round ones, from silver ones to multi-coloured ones. Gadgets, wires, dials, buttons and levers, beads, paper, card and sticky plastic. We even took time apart and explored the insides of mechanical clocks - using hands, cogs and the clock faces for our machines.


Then we tried them out and we travelled forwards in time to 3011 and even 9011 to see how the world has changed and if people lived on the moon, to 2020 to see what happened after the olympics, to 2012 to see if the world had ended, and we travelled forwards for short periods of time to see what we got for our birthdays.....!

and we travelled backwards in time, way way back to see if mulan really existed, to roman times to do some sneaky research for school work, to the middle ages to just soak in the atmosphere, to tudor times to see if they really did chop off peoples heads, and to when our grandparents were ten years old to find out what they were like as children
.
"Wow, this is fantastic, I can't believe we just made a Time Machine!"