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!