Vampire dugout

The Vampire" dugout (known locally in Belgium as the Vampyr" dugout), is a First World War underground shelter located near the Belgian village of Zonnebeke. It was created as a British brigade headquarters in early 1918 by the 171st Tunnelling Company of the Royal Engineers after the Third Battle of Ypres/Battle of Passchendaele.
Rediscovered in 2007, the "Vampire" dugout was the subject of a 2008 British television programme ("Time Team)" which was also broadcast abroad. The structure is inaccessible to the public, but inspected regularly by battlefield historians.
History.
Background.
At the end of the Battle of Passchendaele, having expanded the Ypres Salient by retaking Passendale Ridge, the British were left with little natural shelter from the former woods and farms. The artillery of both sides had flattened the landscape. As the static nature of the conflict gave way to a more mobile war, and the opposing sides developed better technology and tactics, particularly in artillery, the need arose to protect troops within deeper and deeper shelters close to the frontline. What started out as simple blast shelters turned over time into subterranean hospitals, mess rooms, chapels, kitchens, workshops, blacksmiths, as well as bedrooms where exhausted soldiers could rest.
Needing shelter for their troops on Passendale Ridge, the Allied High Command in January 1918 moved 25,000 specialist tunnellers of the Royal Engineers and 50,000 attached infantry to the north-east of Ypres. Most of the men involved had prepared and taken part in the Battle of Messines (7–14 June 1917), where they had dug 26 deep mines as well as nearly 200 individual shelter structures at depths of into the local blue clay. These underground barracks built by the Royal Engineers could accommodate units from 50 men up to 2,000 as in the largest dugouts at Wieltje and Hill 63. Connected by corridors measuring 6 ft 6in high by 4 ft wide, the deep dugouts were fitted with water pumps to deal with the high groundwater tables in the area. The level of these World War I underground activities can be gauged by the fact that by March 1918, more people lived beneath the surface in the Ypres area than reside above ground in the town today.
Construction.
Vampire was built to house a brigade headquarters of up to 50 men and one senior commanding officer. Located close to Polygon Wood, it was named after the supply soldiers whose mission was to come out at night to re-supply troops in the front line. Located below Flanders and dug over a period of four months by 171st Tunnelling Company, the Royal Engineers used I beams and reclaimed railway line in a D-type sett structure. This was then further reinforced, using stepped wooden horizontal beams.
Operational use.
Vampire became operational from early April 1918, first housing the 100th Brigade of the British 33rd Division, then the 16th King's Royal Rifle Corps and then the 9th Battalion Highland Light Infantry Regiment. But after only a few weeks, the dugout was lost when the Germans undertook the Battle of the Lys in April 1918. It was recaptured in September 1918, when its last occupants became the 2nd Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment.
When "Vampire" was excavated in 2008 (see below), the archaeologists found many signs inside the dugout of occupation by the British, but few from the Germans. There was a total absence of metal bed structures, suggesting that the British had had little time to fit out the dugout before it was overrun. The researchers first estimated that the dugout would measure by , but tunnels were eventually found to cover an area of by . Designed by the Royal Engineers to house 50 men, the researchers now estimate that "Vampire" may have been used by least 300 soldiers. Whether "Vampire" was extended by the British or the Germans will take further investigation, although signs of construction in progress have been found throughout the workings.
Occupying units.
These three battalions were the three constituent battalions of 100 Brigade
"Vampire" after the war: 1920 onwards.
After the cessation of hostilities in November 1918, all deep dugouts including "Vampire" were abandoned. When the troops left within weeks of the war ending, the subterranean structures were slowly submerged. After the removal of known munitions at the surface by military clean-up teams, the Belgian locals returned from 1920, recovering the upper sections of the wooden entrance steps for heat and building, and then filled the main shafts with rubble to enable the land to be returned to farming. Locals also resumed extracting the local blue clay for commercial purposes, mainly in brickworks. The gradual expansion of the commercial extraction activities by the "Terca Zonnebeke N.V." brickworks factory has over time led to the rediscovery of several World War I underground structures.
Zonnebeke's underground war legacy.
Today the district of Zonnebeke and its five villages – located at the centre of the area devastated by the Battle of Passchendaele – have the largest concentration of recorded World War I underground constructions. Most deep dugouts are now flooded, which has helped to preserve them, and they are now the most authentic relics of the Great War in Flanders.
In addition to the "Vampire" dugout, 171st Tunnelling Company also constructed a deep dugout in the centre of Zonnebeke, located directly beneath the ruins of the parish church. This dugout was only discovered during archaeological excavations of the Augustinian abbey. Today the outline of this dugout is marked in an archaeological garden within the church grounds, and a model of the church dugout can be seen at the "Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917" in Zonnebeke.
About 180 dugout sites have been located in the Ypres Salient and in the 1990s some of them were entered, at least in part. In 1983, the Australian-built Bremen Redoubt was discovered at the rear of the "Terca Zonnebeke N.V." brickworks in Zonnebeke. Opened to the public until 1998, it is believed that its eventual collapse was due to drying support timbers. On 21 February 1998, a farmer’s wife disappeared into the ground while washing the windows. Beecham dugout was subsequently discovered less than from Tyne Cot Cemetery.
Rediscovery of the dugout.
In spring 2006 it was made public that the "Terca Zonnebeke N.V." brickworks had received a licence for the extension of its blue clay extraction zone. In response, research by the Association for Battlefield Archaeology and Conservation (ABAC) carried out by the Belgian tunnel explorer Johan Vandewalle and the British historian and filmmaker Peter Barton, who compiled a directory of 350 World War I underground structures, managed to show that at least one such structure, believed to be "Vampire" dugout, was near the proposed brickworks development zone.
Following discussion with local preservation, council and state officials, the ABAC was allowed to start a formal research project into the "Vampire" dugout's history. In light of the Highland Light Infantry's use of the dugout, the ABAC also involved the Centre for Battlefield Archaeology at Glasgow University to provide archaeological support.
Excavation and exploration.
After further map analysis in 2006, a joint Belgian/British team led by Vandewalle and Barton went to Zonnebeke in the summer of 2007 to hunt for the "Vampire" dugout. They were accompanied by the battlefield archaeologists Tony Pollard and Iain Banks, the geophysicist Malcolm Weale and a camera team tasked with filming the excavations for a television documentary. Working from original trench maps, using geophysical survey and extensive digging with a mechanical excavator, Pollard and Banks managed to identify the entrance shaft of "Vampire" on the seventh and last day of their investigation. Excavations of "Vampire"'s underground structures started in January 2008.
In spring 2008 the team returned to Zonnebeke with a larger group, including members of Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service who would later carry out a training exercise in the dugout's tunnels. With the aim of clearing the entrance shaft and reaching the bottom, and then investigating the dugout itself, they had a set period before the land would again be reclaimed by the farmer and used for sowing winter barley. As the local blue clay proved too hard for certain extraction methods, and too soft for others, the team eventually used a high-pressure fireman's hose to liquify it, and then extract it by pump into a settlement tank.
After three weeks, the team reached the shaft bottom, from where the researchers used a remotely operated vehicle to assess the structure's stability. Additional props were then inserted by mining experts to ensure the safety of the team. As part of the TV production for Channel 4, presenter Tony Robinson was filmed within the still-damp but highly preserved dugout. The excavation was eventually broadcast on UK television as "The Lost WWI Bunker" ("Time Team" "Special" 33, aired on 10 November 2008), and was also shown on the Science Channel in the United States.
After the end of the filming, the "Vampire" dugout entrance shaft was covered again to ensure its preservation, and the dugout allowed to refill with water. The archaeologists felt that this was the best course of action as the dugout had been preserved in this manner for 90 years. This was in light of previous experience with similar structures, such as the Bremen Redoubt, which were lost due to timber degradation in the dry atmosphere. "Vampire", inaccessible to the public as it is located on private property, is inspected every year by local battlefield historians.
Future of the "Vampire" dugout.
As the Zonnebeke brickworks expands, and as the land in which "Vampire" sits is designated as a potential future quarrying area, the dugout's future is uncertain. Even if it is preserved, the quarrying works could threaten its future due to the egress of water from the nearby works creating cracks in the blue clay. Because of their historical significance, their age and related safety concerns, as well as the experience of Bremen Redoubt's collapse, World War I dugouts are generally not accessible to the public. A lifelike reconstruction of a British deep dugout has been built in the museum in Passchendaele.


Lisa Xu

Lisa Jue Xu (born 1985 in China) is an Australian milliner and nuclear medicine technologist based in Melbourne. Xu's original background is in the medical world of diagnostic imaging and now she is also an emerging talent as a designer of millinery and the owner of 'Lady of Leisure Millinery' and 'Lady of Leisure Jewellery', millinery and accessories businesses.
Fashion career.
Xu is a regular racegoer and part of the inspiration for her business came from growing tired of paying a lot of money for hats and deciding make her own. She studied millinery with Waltraud Reiner of "Torb and Reiner" and started her fashion career by making hats and fascinators for her friends. She also credits hat designer, Philip Treacy, as one of her inspirations. Her hobby/sideline quickly grew and now her label, 'Lady of Leisure Millinery', has many Australian and international clients. The business commenced in 2010 and has already expanded, with the addition of a jewellery range.
In an article in the St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne newsletter, Xu explains that "the average hat can take up to a week to create and is made in various stages, from moulding the base to sewing and affixing different elements and adornments".
In 2010, Xu had her initial success in the mainstream millinery world when she made it to the preliminary finals in the Derby Day Fashions on the Field at Flemington. At the November 2012 Ballarat Cup meeting, Xu was awarded the "Ballarat Cup Lady of the Day" and a number of millinery sashes. At the February 2013 Mornington Cup meeting, Xu was the runner up in the 'Fashions on the Field Millinery Award', with her entry described as "simplistically beautiful". The 2013 Bendigo Cup race meeting was the venue for a Myer Fashions on the Field event and the Myer Millinery Award was taken out by an entrant wearing a headpiece designed by Lisa Xu. Xu was an entrant in the 2013 Flemington Derby day Fashions on the Field event in November and showed the power of online retailing by highlighting that she was able to purchase her outfit via the internet for just $200 including her suit ($100), shoes ($100) and her hat that she made ($0).
Scientific career.
Xu is a nuclear medicine technologist at St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne, starting there in 2010. She has a Bachelor of Biomedical Science from Deakin University BSc(Hons), and a Masters of Medical Radiations specialising in Nuclear Medicine from Monash University.
Personal life.
Xu is based in the Melbourne suburb of Carlton. She has no siblings. Her mother, Lily, was the first person from her small town, Xiangtan - Hunan Provence, China, to migrate to Australia, spending three years apart from her family while she worked to make a better life for them. At the age of five, Lisa and her father joined her mother in Australia. Xu attended Mentone Girls’ Grammar School where she studied VCE dance and balanced this with a great love for calisthenics in her final years at high school. She went on to study classical ballet completing all her Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) examinations. Xu's studied at Deakin and Monash universities resulted in her achieving a bachelor's degree and a master's degree.
Highlighting her interest in the racing industry, Xu is part owner of a horse in New Zealand with her fiancé.


Sole (shoe)


Samuel Mauger

Samuel Mauger (pronounced "major"; 12 November 1857 – 26 June 1936) was an Australian social reformer, hat manufacturing unionist and a Protectionist politician.
Early life.
Mauger was born in Geelong, Victoria, son of immigrants from Guernsey, Channel Islands, Samuel Mauger Senior and Caroline "née" Liz who migrated to Australia in the 1850s. Mauger junior was educated at the Geelong National School, but left school early to become an errand boy for a hat maker when his father contracted rheumatic fever. Mauger later owned the hat manufacturing business. Mauger was a Bible class teacher at St Mark's Church of England in Fitzroy. He later became the Sunday-school superintendent at St Paul's Congregational Church in North Fitzroy. On 13 May 1880, Mauger married Hanna Rice, whom he had met at St Mark's; they eventually had four sons and four daughters.
Career.
Mauger held various memberships to various organisations. He was a superintendent in the Fire Brigades' Association of Victoria and four times president of the Metropolitan Fire Brigades Board. Mauger was one of the founders and secretary of the Anti-Sweating League from 1895. Mauger was on the Board enquiry for unemployment in 1899 and involved in the royal commission of Victorian factories and shops law in 1900.
Being a devout Christian of the Australian Church, Mauger was president of YMCA and president of the Melbourne Total Abstinence Society.
Victorian politics.
Mauger attempted to run for politics in various State electorates before becoming a Member of Parliament. He stood for the seat of Fitzroy in 1892, South Melbourne in 1896 and Portland in 1897. In 1899 he was a firefighter in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond. In 1900, Mauger was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly seat of Footscray. He held the seat of Footscray until May 1901, where he resigned from State politics and ran for Federal politics.
Federal politics.
Mauger served as the member for Melbourne Ports from 1901 to 1906. At the 1906 federal election, Mauger contested the newly created seat of Maribyrnong and became the electorate's first Federal Member of Parliament. He was a Minister without a Portfolio from 1906 until 1907 and then Postmaster-General until 1908. Mauger lost his seat of Maribyrnong to ALP candidate James Fenton in 1910.
Mauger ran for the Senate in 1913 and 1914, but failed to get elected. He was an ardent protectionist and was for some time honorary secretary of the protectionists' association of Victoria; he was for a time president of the Melbourne Total Abstinence Society, and chairman of the Indeterminate Sentences Board; and he presumably found some time for his business as a hatter and mercer. For about 50 years in every movement in Melbourne intended to better the conditions of the mass of the people, Mauger was to be found working incessantly and showing much organizing ability.
Legacy.
In 1934 Mauger wrote a brochure on "The Rise and Progress of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, Victoria, Australia", on page 29 some verses relating to the success of the staff fund illustrate his philosophy of life. Basically it was that if anything is brought forward for the good of humanity, difficulties will vanish if the problem is tackled with sufficient courage.
Mauger died in Elsternwick, Victoria and is buried in the Melbourne General Cemetery. At his funeral, he was given a fire guard honour. Mauger was survived by his wife, two sons and four daughters.


Uganda Landmine Survivors Association

 The Uganda Landmine Survivors Association (ULSA) is a non-governmental organization, focused primarily on advocacy and victim assistance throughout Uganda. The organization was founded in April 2005 in order to campaign against the use, production and transfer of landmines, cluster munitions and explosive remnants of war (ERWs). ULSA also serves as a peer to peer support network for survivors, providing them with training in vocational, leadership and advocacy skills in partnership with other organizations throughout Northern and Western Uganda.
The Uganda Landmine Survivors Association is composed of district-level survivor groups across the country and other like minded NGOs and stakeholders whose mandate include addressing landmine related issues, support to landmine survivors and other persons with disabilities, including survivor groups in Apac, Lira, Gulu, Kasese, Kitgum, Oyam and Pader. There are 2,039 estimated victims of antipersonnel mines living in Uganda.
Contamination throughout Uganda.
Decades of violence and incivility have forced some 1.8 million people to leave their homes in Northern Uganda. Since 2006, the landlocked African nation has been negotiating a peace deal with the Lord's Resistance Army, a rebel group known for terrorizing the Acholi and Lango people of the North through child-abductions, mutilation, massacre and sexual enslavement.
There is also significant contamination in the Western region of Uganda, stemming from conflict on the Congolese border.
Despite improving political conditions, however, landmine survivors continue to face serious injustices daily in Uganda, including inadequate medical support and inability to find sufficient employment or food. Moreover, victims are often shunned by their families for fear of becoming a burden.
While the landmine problem in Uganda is less severe than countries like Angola, Mozambique and Afghanistan, the nature of the weapon has made it difficult to overcome. According to Ugandan officials, there are more than 350 suspected hazardous areas in the country, of which 153 are Kitgum; 91 in Gulu; 61 in Amuru and 57 in Kasese.


James Wedge

James "Jimmy" Wedge (born 1939) is a British fashion designer, milliner, and fashion photographer.
Early life and education.
Wedge was born into a poor working-class family. Having little education and never having taken an exam, he joined the British Navy. Whilst there, he took a drawing correspondence course and was eventually admitted to Walthamstow College of Art, entering the fashion department. Wedge describes hat design as being "like sculpture". Wedge then did a two-year course at the Royal College of Art.
Hat designer.
At the first end of year show, he did all the hats and drew the attention of the designer Ronald Paterson, who asked him if we would like to do hats for his collections. As they were all couture hats, Wedge designed extreme creations to showcase his talents and garner publicity. Liberty of London offered him a free workshop if they could have first choice of what to sell in his shop, although he was allowed to sell the rest elsewhere. Working out of a small house at 4 Ganton Street starting in about 1962, his staff grew to seven people. He was also able to help his art school friends Sally Tuffin and Marion Foale start as designers.
Top Gear and Countdown.
Together with Pat Booth, he set up the boutique Top Gear on the King's Road, London. He also set up Countdown, also on the King's Road, where the rents were low. Wedge preferred the area to Carnaby Street where he didn't appreciate the fashion. They bought their stock in very short runs from local craftwork suppliers. According to Wedge, Mick Jagger's famous white frock, worn at 1969's Stones in the Park free concert in London's Hyde Park came from Countdown.
Influence.
Wedge helped Marion Foale and Sally Tuffin become established as designers and retailers. According to Tuffin, to make their clothes, they "worked on the billiards table in Jimmy Wedge's flat". According to Foale, Wedge had his offices in Ganton Street and told them about a place round the corner in Marlborough Court with a low rent. Soon, they needed more space, so Wedge found space for them above him, and when he moved out, they took over 4 Ganton Street in its entirety.
Photography.
By 1970, Wedge and Booth both believed that the King's Road scene was over and Wedge moved into photography, as did Booth soon after. Wedge was already friendly with David Bailey and especially Terence Donovan, and was persuaded by Donovan's lifestyle – driving a Rolls-Royce, with a model on his arm – to change career in the late 1960s. Wedge had become friends with an actress who purchased her clothes from his Top Gear boutique, and she had bought her husband a camera that he did not want, so Wedge bought it from her.
For four years during the mid-1980s, Wedge lived together with actress Helen Mirren, as her boyfriend, and took a suite of erotic photographs with Mirren throughout their cohabitation. The pair had previously worked together during the 1970s, including a cover photo for the "Observer" magazine for July 11, 1971.


Reston Town Center station

Reston Town Center (preliminary name Reston Parkway) is a rapid transit station under construction on the Silver Line of the Washington Metro in Reston, an unincorporated area in Northern Virginia. It is now expected to open in February 2022
The station is located in the central section of Reston, specifically within the median of SR 267 (Dulles Toll Road) west of its interchange with SR 602 (Reston Parkway). Reston Town Center is approximately to the north of the station.
Transit-oriented development.
As with all stations on the Silver Line within Fairfax County, the Fairfax County Planning Commission aims to transform the surrounding area into a mixed-use, dense, and walkable neighborhood connected to Reston Town Center. The Planning Commission has delineated an area bounded by New Dominion Parkway, Reston Parkway, Sunset Hills Road, Sunrise Valley Drive, and Fairfax County Parkway for transit-oriented development. The vast majority of the precinct is devoted to mixed-use zoning, while some outlying areas are designated for office, industrial, or government use.
Station layout.
As with all Silver Line stations extending northwest from East Falls Church station, Reston Town Center will have a single island platform with two tracks. Since the station will be built within the median of the Dulles Toll Road, there will be two pedestrian bridges crossing the highway, linking the station to bus bays and kiss and ride lots on either side of the highway area.


Harold Charles Richards

Harold Charles Richards (12 October 1925 – 2 June 2014) was an Australian civil engineer who co-founded the consulting engineering firm Hardcastle & Richards.
Career.
Harold Richards studied engineering at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. In 1951, he worked in the Design Section of Johns and Waygood, which was responsible for many of Australia's post-war infrastructure developments. In 1952, the co-founded Hardcastle & Richards with business partner Roy Hardcastle, as a result of winning the design competition for the Olympic Stadium for the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games. However, a change in government caused the cancellation of the project. The firm expanded to have offices in Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, Brisbane and Broken Hill.
The firm was involved in many civil engineering projects, including the King Street Bridge over the Yarra River.
In 1962, Hardcastle & Richards were invited by the School of Engineering at the University of Melbourne to participate in guiding students' final year design projects. These projects were based on actual projects in which the firm had been involved. This association with engineering education lasted five decades.
Other positions held:
Philanthropy.
For almost 50 years, Hardcastle & Richards were major donors to the School of Engineering at the University of Melbourne and to RMIT University.
In 1979, a bronze relief by artist Michael Meszaros, entitled "Compression and Tension" was presented to the Department of Civil Engineering to mark the 25th anniversary of the founding of the firm.
Richards was the founder of the Rotary Club of Carlton in 1985 and its Charter President.


Nils Trygg

Nils Trygg (1914–1951) was one of the recognized masters of twentieth century woodcarving, most famous for the Scandinavian flat-plane style of woodcarving. Nils Trygg was born in Småland, Sweden. He was one of three sons of Carl Johan Trygg and Maria Axelina Andersson. Nils worked with his father carving wooden figures of various common people in the Scandinavian flat-plane style of woodcarving. Between Nils Trygg, his father and two brothers (Lars, and Carl Olaf), they carved over 10,000 figures. Many of his carvings were sold to tourists for approximately US$10. Adjusted for inflation what cost $10 in 1929 would cost $108 in 2005.
Migrating to Canada.
Nils Trygg, at the age of 13, immigrated to Canada with his mother Maria (43), brother Carl Olof Trygg (17) and an unknown relative, possibly his sister, Kally Maria Trygg (8) arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia on 7 October 1928. He was proceeded in immigrating by his father Carl Johan who arrived in Halifax on 3 March 1928.
The Trygg family eventually settled in Montreal, Quebec and there they continued to carve. Together they carved thousands of figures in the Scandinavian flat-plane style of woodcarving. Between C. J. Trygg and his sons they carved over 10,000 figures. Many of his carvings were sold to tourists for approximately US$10.00. Adjusted for inflation what cost $10.00 in 1929 would cost $108.05 in 2005.
Trygg was a craftsman in tune to the tourist trade. Trygg generally carved solo figures from basswood or pine, and mounted them on a base. He had a stylized execution with clean cuts, working from a single piece of wood. A highlight of Trygg's carvings is his use of vibrant paint. He often painted his character's clothing in plaid.
Return to Sweden.
Carl Johan Trygg and Carl Olof Trygg eventually returned to Sweden, where they continued their careers. Carl Johan died there 1954 and Carl Olaf, based on the dates on his carvings, was producing figures well into the 1980s. It is not clear whether Nils Trygg returned to Sweden or stayed in Montreal
The legacy.
Trygg family of woodcarvers.
Trygg family woodcarvings are still sought after today as collectibles. There are over 10,000 carved figures that were manufactured by the members of the Trygg family. Prices range from $50 to $500 depending upon the age, size, and condition of the piece.
Identifying Trygg woodcarvings.
Trygg woodcarvings can be identified by the signatures and dates on the bases.
Signatures commonly found are:
Most of the carvings are dated and include the location carved. For example you may find a carving with "C.O. Trygg 1961 Sweden" meaning it was carved by Carl Olof Trygg in 1961 while he was living in Sweden.


HMS Gipsy (H63)

HMS "Gipsy" was a G-class destroyer built for the Royal Navy during the 1930s. She spent most of the pre-war period as part of the Mediterranean Fleet. The ship was transferred to the British Isles to escort shipping in local waters shortly after the beginning of World War II. Less than a month after her arrival she struck a mine outside Harwich and sank with the loss of 30 of her crew. Her wreck was salvaged and slowly scrapped over the course of the war.
Description.
"Gipsy" displaced at standard load and at deep load. The ship had an overall length of , a beam of and a draught of . She was powered by Parsons geared steam turbines, driving two shafts, which developed a total of and gave a maximum speed of . Steam for the turbines was provided by three Admiralty 3-drum water-tube boilers. "Gipsy" carried a maximum of of fuel oil that gave her a range of at . The ship's complement was 137 officers and men in peacetime.
The ship mounted four 45-calibre 4.7-inch (120 mm) Mark IX guns in single mounts. For anti-aircraft defence "Gipsy" had two quadruple Mark I mounts for the 0.5 inch Vickers Mark III machine gun. She was fitted with two above-water quadruple torpedo tube mounts for torpedoes. One rail and two depth charge throwers were fitted; 20 depth charges were originally carried, but this increased to 35 shortly after the war began.
Service.
"Gipsy" was laid down by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, at Govan, Scotland on 4 September 1934, launched on 7 November 1935 and completed on 22 February 1936. Excluding government-furnished equipment like the armament, the ship cost £250,364. Aside from a brief period assigned to the 20th Destroyer Flotilla of the Home Fleet after her commissioning, "Gipsy" spent the pre-war period assigned to the 1st Destroyer Flotilla with the Mediterranean Fleet. She was refitted at Devonport Dockyard between 2 June and 30 July 1938.
On the outbreak of war in September 1939, "Gipsy" was deployed with the 1st Destroyer Flotilla for patrols and contraband control in the Eastern Mediterranean, based at Alexandria. "Gipsy" and her entire flotilla were transferred to the Western Approaches Command at Plymouth in October. On 12 November she collided with her sister ship, , en route to Harwich, and her new assignment with the 22nd Destroyer Flotilla, but she was only slightly damaged. The ship rescued three German airmen outside Harwich harbour on 21 November and returned to port to turn them over the army.
Later that evening, "Gipsy" set out with the destroyers , , , and to hunt for U-Boats thought to be minelaying in the North Sea. Just outside the harbour boom she triggered one of the two magnetic mines dropped about 2 hours earlier by two German seaplanes, and, almost broken in half, sank on the edge of the deepwater channel. 31 of her crew, including the captain, Lt-Cdr Crossley, were killed or fatally injured, 115 were rescued by the other destroyers and by harbour launches. The inquiry determined that, though the harbour defences had been on alert (UK National Archive 248 Heavy AA Battery War Diary WO 166/2529), and had actually seen and plotted both the seaplanes and their mines, their reporting had been inaccurate. Though the Harwich admiral had told the destroyers to hug the side of the channel opposite to where the mines fell, he had not stipulated why, nor that the ships were in any particular danger. Apart from those on the bridge, Gipsy's crew were unaware of any danger at all as a result some had gone to sleep below decks, and no contingency plan had been made to ready lifeboats.
(sources—Admiralty Board of Inquiry Minutes and Report—UK National Archive ADM 1/22793, logs of "Keith" and "Boadicea" ADM 53/109431 and 107799; correspondence with Captain R D Franks, Gipsy's 1st Lieutenant, and his article in "Highlight" Harwich Society magazine).
There was controversy at the time, and later, about this lack of warning, and also about the failure of the local defences to fire on the German seaplanes (Nore Command War Diary ADM 199/375; 6 Anti-Aircraft Division War Diary WO 166/2168l Captain R D Franks; Highlight). It turned out that their failure to fire had been due to an Army Anti-Aircraft Command order that unidentified aircraft should not be engaged, though the defenders "had", at the time, recognised their nationality, if not their type—and seen their mines. (ADM 1/22793, 515 Coast Artillery Regiment War Diary WO 166/1718).
The wreck remained upright on the seabed with only the bridge and forward gun visible at high tide. Only buckled plating amidships held the two main sections of the wreck together and they were cut by explosives when salvage began shortly after her sinking. The two halves were raised by pontoons, and were subsequently broken up separately of ferrous scrap and of non-ferrous metals were recovered between June 1940 and February 1944.


James A. Smart

James Allan Smart (June 6, 1858 – May 3, 1942) was a hardware merchant and political figure in Manitoba. He represented Brandon East from 1886 to 1888 and Brandon City from 1888 to 1892 in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba as a Liberal.
Biography.
He was born in Brockville, Ontario, the son of James Smart, and was educated at the Canadian Literary Institute in Woodstock. Smart came to Manitoba in 1880 and worked for a hardware firm in Winnipeg until 1881. He then moved to Brandon, where he operated his own hardware business until 1886. In 1883, he married Elizabeth F. Jones.
Smart served on Brandon City Council from 1882 to 1883 and was city mayor from 1885 to 1886 and from 1895 to 1896. In 1886, he was named to the Western Judicial District Board of Manitoba. Smart was a member of the provincial cabinet, holding the post of Minister of Public Works and Municipal Commissioner. He was defeated when he ran for reelection to the Manitoba assembly in 1892. Smart later served as federal deputy Minister of the Interior and was administrator for the Yukon territory from 1902 to 1903.
Smart died in Montreal at the age of 83 after several years of poor health.
His son James served as Director of the National Parks Branch for Canada.


Jose Izquierdo Encarnacion

José Miguel “Pepe” Izquierdo Encarnación served as the 19th Secretary of State of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
A structural engineer by education and profession, he has served in many professional, civic and public organizations. Formerly the Secretary of State and Secretary of Transportation and Public Works for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, he is now Principal of PORTICUS, a consulting firm located in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico.
Biography.
José (Pepe) Izquierdo received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering from the University of Puerto Rico. He joined Capacete-Martin & Associates, Architects and Engineers in San Juan in 1980. Pepe served as a Senior Structural Engineer for the firm for 5 years. He founded (1986) and worked for 15 years in the consulting firm Izquierdo, Rueda and Associates that provided services in the areas of Structural Engineers, infrastructure development and historic preservation.
He has led the structural engineering continuous education program in Puerto Rico for the last 25 years. He has written many papers and spoken extensively on structural engineering and analysis in over 15 countries, promoted the use of simplified methods for structural design and has work in numerous restoration projects.
He has served as President (1994–1996) and Board member of the College of Engineers and Land Surveyors of Puerto Rico. During his 27 years of service to the Institute he has served in numerous committees, Code, Earthquake, Dimension Magazine, Tecnomundo Periodical, Design Built Special Committee, Treasury and Special Activities. He served as President of the Institute of Civil Engineers and San Juan Chapter
He has specialized as an expert witness for structural engineering and in the design of complex structures and historic preservation projects. In addition has served as a member of the jury of the Cemex Building Award since 2007.
He was appointed by Puerto Rico Governor Sila Calderón as the 19th Secretary of State of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, following the resignation of Secretary of State Ferdinand Mercado, he served simultaneously as the United States Commonwealth's Secretary of Transportation and Public Works (2001–2002).
His term as Secretary of State ended on January 2, 2005, when he was succeeded by Marisara Pont Marchese, appointed by Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá.
Izquierdo was the 2003–2004 President of the American Concrete Institute. He has a long and distinguished record of service to ACI International. He is an Honorary Member of the Institute, a member of ACI Committee 314 on Simplified Concrete Design chairing the review of IPS-1, 118-Use of Computers, 369-Seismic Repair and Rehabilitation, 375-Performance-based Design of Concrete Buildings for Wind Loads, and E 705-Educational Computer Activities. Pepe also has serves on the Educational Activities Committee, Financial Advisory Committee, Hot Topic Committee, TAC Metrication Committee, and the Task Group on Centennial Activities. He was the Co-chair of the local committee for the ACI Fall Convention in 1992 in Puerto Rico, Co-chair of the ACI Fall Convention 2007 in Puerto Rico and is a former President and Board Member of the Puerto Rico Chapter..
He has been very active in many civic organizations as well, serving as Board Member and Vice President of the Puerto Rico Chamber of Commerce, Trustee of the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico and Chairman and member of the Board of trustees of the Technological College of San Juan.
He has been Chairman of the Board of several Public Corporations in Puerto Rico, Corporation for the Development of the Capital City of San Juan, Highway and Transportation Authority, Ports Authority, Metropolitan Bus Authority, Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority, Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, Public Building Authority and the Board of Trustees of the Puerto Rico One Billion dollar Trust funds for Special Communities.


Claude Mercier-Ythier

Claude Mercier-Ythier (19313 July 2020) was a French harpsichord maker who ran a shop and workshop in Paris dedicated exclusively to harpsichords. Instruments that he built and restored have been played in many concerts and recordings, including a recording of Bach's complete keyboard works by Zuzana Růžičková. He wrote a standard book on the topic, "Les clavecins", published in 1990.
Life.
Mercier-Ythier was born into a family of cabinetmakers and engineers. He was passionate about music from a young age and at the age of 18 built his first harpsichord in his garage alongside his friends. After studies at the Conservatoire de Toulon, he went to Bavaria to work with Kurt Wittmayer, where he perfected his skills. He also worked for Neupert and Pleyel et Cie.
In 1962, Mercier-Ythier opened his first workshop in Paris, specializing in the production of harpsichords. He was the first Frenchman since the reign of Louis XVI to specialize solely in harpsichord production. Mercier-Ythier diversified his business, catering his harpsichords to businesses, theatres, and concert halls. The instruments have also appeared in over 50 films, including "L'Allée du Roi" and "Brotherhood of the Wolf". After a 45-year career, Mercier-Ythier's harpsichords had appeared in over 9000 concerts and 700 recordings.
The historic instruments that he had restored were used in concert and for recordings, such as a 2-manual harpsichord by Jean-Henri Hemsch built in Paris in 1755/56, played for Bach's "The Well-Tempered Clavier", Book II, by Helmut Walcha in 1974. He prepared the instrument for Bach's complete keyboard works played by Zuzana Růžičková.
In 1990, he published a book about harpsichord making history and technique, "Les Clavecins", which is cited in other books about the topic such as "The Historical Harpsichord" and "The Harpsichord and Clavichord: An Encyclopedia" edited by Igor Kipnis. The book is also referenced in Howard Schott's overview "Early Keyboard Instruments" published in "Revue de Musicologie" in 1993.
Mercier-Ythier died on 3 July 2020.


Two Corridors, One Belt

The Two Corridors, One Belt (abbreviated as TCOB) is a connectivity initiative involving Vietnam and China. It is a part of the Belt and Road Initiative, a Chinese global development initiative fostering connectivity especially across Eurasia.
Planning.
The TCOB was first proposed in 2004 by then Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Văn Khải during a state visit to China. The joint communiqué produced from the visit called for a joint economic commission to cooperate on discussing "building the 'Kunming – Laojie – Hanoi – Hai Phong – Quang Ninh' and 'Nanning – Liangshan – Hanoi – Hai Phong – Quang Ninh' economic corridors and the Beibu Bay economic rim.
The TCOB is included in the list of corridors and projects of the Belt and Road Initiative. The list is annexed to a joint communiqué of state leaders including Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc who attended the 2nd Belt and Road Initiative Forum in April 2019.
Despite continuous affirmations of the Vietnamese government to develop TCOB progress has stalled due to tensions over disputes in the South China Sea and border and naval clashes between 1979 and 1991. Sentiment among Vietnamese people to Chinese investment is generally positive. There is even sensitivity by the Vietnamese government to blending together the profiles of the TCOP and Belt and Road Initiative because of public perception.
Projects.
The only infrastructure project counted as part of the TCOP is the Hanoi Metro's Line 2A. The $868 million project is mostly financed by preferential loans from the Export Import Bank of China with the remainder of funding from the Vietnamese government.
Vietnam participates in cooperation frameworks of the Belt and Road Initiative outside of economic corridors. The country is a member of the Silk Road International Alliance of Art Museums and Galleries, an organization of the National Art Museum of China and 21 art museums or major fine arts institutions. It is a member of mechanisms for agricultural cooperation, trade facilitation, and accounting standards.


Harry Drake

Harry Eugene Drake (born in Kansas on May 7, 1915 – July 28, 1997 died in Nevada) was an archer and bowyer. Drake was an early pioneer in work on modern implementations of the composite bow design.
Biography.
Drake broke the world record for the longest shot with a footbow on October 24, 1971, with a shot that flew (one mile, 268 yards or 1.854 kilometers) The record stood until 1983, when a new mark of 1.873 km was set.


Kari Voutilainen

Kari Voutilainen (born in 1962) is a Finnish watchmaker residing in Môtiers, Switzerland. He started an independent watchmaking business in 2002, building a limited number of handmade timekeepers. In 2005, he introduced the world's first decimal repeater sounding hours, ten-minute intervals and then minutes.
Voutilainen is Member of the AHCI and created together with Andreas Strehler the watch "Chapter III" for Maîtres du Temps in 2012.


John Horsefield

John Horsefield (18 July 1792 – 6 March 1854) was an English handloom weaver and amateur botanist after whom the daffodil "Narcissus" 'Horsfieldii' is named. Horsefield had little formal schooling, and acquired most of his botanical knowledge through self-study and involvement in local botanical groups, which provided a venue for working class people to share knowledge, in part by pooling money to purchase books.
Horsefield founded one such society, the Prestwich Botanical Society, and was later president of a larger botanical society covering a wide area around north Manchester. He made several botanical discoveries and cultivated two new plants. A number of his writings about the working class and also some poetry were published, but nothing concerning botany other than in connection with the subject of the working class. He lived most of his life near Whitefield in Lancashire, in dire poverty. At the time of his death he had been married for 42 years and had fathered eleven children.
Early life.
Born on 18 July 1792, John Horsefield was the eldest son of Charles Horsefield, a barely literate man from whom he received encouragement in his early botanical interests. He reminisced in later life that both his father and his grandfather had been interested in botany and in floriculture. His birthplace was probably Besses o' th' Barn in Whitefield close to Prestwich, which became his home. His mother claimed he was born "dead" and had to be revived; his childhood was dogged by poor health.
Horsefield learned to read during a single year's attendance at school when he was six, after which he went to work for a gingham weaver. His education continued with twice-weekly evening tuition in writing and arithmetic until he was around 15 years old. James Cash, a journalist, amateur botanist and the first chairman of the Manchester Cryptogamic Society, says Horsefield received some education for a short time when he started work: the weaver for whom he served charged two shillings (10p) per calendar quarter to instruct his young employees in reading. This instruction took the form of the employees reading out lessons to him while they worked at their handlooms. An avid reader, his interest in botany was piqued when he obtained a copy of Nicholas Culpeper's 1653 book, "The Complete Herbal", of which he said, "The wonderful properties that are there ascribed to plants excited in me a strong desire to get acquainted with the plants themselves." Thereafter he attended working-men's botanical societies and meetings in public houses, thus meeting a broad church of people with interests not only in the science of botany but also in floriculture, herbalism and horticulture.
Horsefield and his father were members of an early 19th-century loose grouping of Mancunian amateur botanists, and of a short-lived botanical society for working men in Whitefield. Horsefield attended meetings of the former group in 1808, which was referred to as the "Manchester Society of Botanists" or the "Botanist Society". Anne Secord, a historian of 19th century popular science, quotes an attendee of the society, Thomas Heywood, who describes it as being "without any regular place of meeting, without funds, without books and without rules; a sort of members, but no body, having only one object in common – their love of plants".
The Whitefield society arranged for funds to be pooled to buy books for communal use, enabling the 16-year-old Horsefield to read James Lee's 1760 work, "An Introduction to Botany". It provided information on Linnaean taxonomy as it applied to plants, and from it Horsefield copied details onto a piece of paper he pinned to his loom to commit them to memory while he was working. He earned the respect of other botanists for his abilities in the sphere of collection and identification of species and was the first to find the "Entosthodon templetoni" moss in England.
Horsfield met his future wife Esther Eccorsley (1793/94 – 1872) at a botanical meeting in 1812. The couple were married on 20 December 1812 at St Mary's Church, Oldham.
Leadership.
The meetings he attended in his early life were a part of a movement in the study of botany by artisans. This had been initiated by George Caley, James Crowther, John Dewhurst, John Mellor and Edward Hobson, the last of whom Horsefield met in 1809 at a meeting held at Radcliffe Bridge and whose knowledge he held in high regard. It was part of a broader working class movement involving the study of nature and natural history that developed in the late 18th century and continued into the next.
There is some evidence to suggest that in the period of social unrest that followed the end of the Napoleonic Wars, and which saw the introduction of the Seditious Meetings Act, gatherings of botanists may have been used as cover for the activities of politically radical reformers such as Samuel Bamford. Horsefield, who witnessed the Peterloo Massacre of 1819, had such sympathies and recounted that
The Peterloo Massacre was the last political meeting Horsefield attended, although he retained a general interest in the subject of radical politics. He attended the Manchester Mechanics' Institute, supported the idea of self-education and, according to Harvey Taylor, a historian, "typified the Lancashire autodidactic seeker after self-culture." Having obtained his own garden in 1819, he promoted his interests by founding the Prestwich Botanical Society on 11 September 1820, presiding over meetings in a pub where plant specimens were brought together for identification and where those who could not read were taught the science of botany by those who could. He was president of the society for 32 years, during which time at least 131 books were purchased by the society for communal use. Writing in December 1829, Horsefield explained that the Prestwich Society met on the second Monday of each month and usually had between 12 and 20 members, who were charged a monthly 6d. (2½p) subscription. The subscription, which was common to such societies, was intended to pay for books and create a fund for the purchase of drink; the pub landlord provided the meeting and storage space at no charge as long as sufficient drink was consumed, a practice known as "wet rent".
In 1830 he succeeded Hobson as president of an organisation with a wider geographical base and which held Sunday meetings in pubs for the purpose of educating the amateur artisan botanists. The Manchester botanist Leo Grindon (1818–1904) described this body as "the united societies of the whole district", while another, Richard Buxton, who led an impoverished life like Horsefield, referred to it as the "General Botanical Meetings" whose gatherings took place at venues between Clayton, Eccles, Manchester, Middleton, Newton Heath and Radcliffe. Horsefield explained the didactic purpose of these societies as
He noted how the procedure for imparting the knowledge had to be changed such that, certainly by the 1850s and possibly as early as 1830, the president's role was to select specimens from those brought to the meeting and identify them to the attendees, who sat in silence. Horsefield describes this change as being necessary because previously the president
He championed these working people in print, praising their self-taught skills, demanding they be accorded the respect of others working in the botanical field and using them as an example to counter generalised accusations such as those made by John Claudius Loudon that the textile workers of Lancashire were ignorant and degraded. He composed verses, including "The Botanists' Song", which acknowledged the conviviality obtained from meeting in pubs with the words "science circles with the glass". But he did not produce any written works directly relating to botany, and in 1847 turned down the opportunity to write on the flora of Manchester with Buxton, whom he met in 1826 while they were independently studying plant life on Kersal Moor and whom he introduced to the Prestwich Botanical Society. Buxton was of the opinion that Horsefield was "not a mere country herbalist, but an excellent scientific botanist", and the 1826 meeting presented Buxton with opportunities to meet a like-minded circle of men where previously his had been a solitary pursuit.
Horsefield did not confine his scientific interests to botany, as he also studied algebra, mensuration and astronomy. Charles Horsefield had also encouraged his son in the last pursuit, taking him to meet Robert Ward, an astronomer in Blackley who had a telescope. John Horsefield developed an interest in the subject to the extent that he constructed an orrery, much to the bewilderment of his neighbours.
Cash notes that when constructing his orrery, Horsefield asked a local man to manufacture a golden ball to represent the sun and the man replied that "Aw'll mak' thee one an' charge thee now't for't; but, let me tell thee, fancy folk like thee 're a'lus poor". Indeed, he was: all of his interests were indulged despite a background of dire poverty, and he remarked of his celebrity in botanical circles that "fame is not bread". He remained a gingham weaver and during his lifetime the sole financial benefit from his interests came when he raised a new hybrid lily – "Tigridia conchiflora" – in his garden and sold it to a Manchester nurseryman, Thomas Watkinson, for £10. His poverty caused him to be exempted from contributing to the book fund of the Prestwich Botanical Society from the mid-1820s, and he was later exempted from paying into the liquor funds of both that society and the wider-based group. These concessions demonstrate the extent to which his knowledge was appreciated and occurred despite the teetotal Hobson having to pay into a liquor fund of which by definition he took no advantage. Horsefield received £13 10s. from a subscription that was started in 1853 in another attempt to alleviate his penurious state. After his death on 6 March 1854, Esther, with whom he had six sons and five daughters, received £37 from this fund, and he left 37 bulbs of one of the earliest hybrid daffodils to be cultivated, "Narcissus horsefieldii", that raised another £2 11s (£2.55). "N. horsefieldii" became one of the most popular and extensively grown varieties of daffodil.
Death.
John Horsefield died on 6 March 1854, aged 62, probably as a consequence of a strangulated hernia that had been masked by a tumour. He was buried on 10 March 1854 at the St. Mary's Church, Prestwich, although at some point in his life it seems that he had upset the authorities of the established church for reasons unknown. His table tomb was listed as a Grade II monument by English Heritage in 2012.
The epitaph on his tomb was written by Charles Swain (1807–1874). It reads:
Bamford commemorated him in a poem written in 1855, and Grindon wrote in 1882 that Horsefield was "one of the most celebrated of the old Lancashire operative botanists". Esther died on 17 June 1872. Their son, James, and his wife, Alice, are also commemorated on the headstone.
References.
Notes
Citations
Bibliography


Taunton station (Old Colony Railroad)

Old Colony Railroad Station is an historic Italianate train station located off Dean Street (US Route 44) in Taunton, Massachusetts. The historic station, also known as Dean Street, is proposed to be joined by the modern Taunton station around 2030 as part of Phase 2 of the South Coast Rail project.
History.
The first Taunton station was constructed in 1866 when the Dighton and Somerset Railroad (owned by the Old Colony & Newport Railway) was opened. Originally to be called Taunton, it was renamed as Dean Street in 1865 (before the station even opened) because of the completion of Taunton Central station across town.
The 1876 building, a distinctive brick Italianate structure, is the only surviving railroad station in the city. It has a main hip roof with modillioned eave and corbelled cornice, and a steeply pitched central gable section. At the track level a second roof is supported by large wooden brackets. The building's corners are articulated by stone quoining. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places as Old Colony Railroad Station in 1984.
Around 1882, the Old Colony began consolidating service at Taunton Central, beginning with through services. By 1895, only the Boat Train still served Dean Street. All service to the station ended around 1897 (though the station appeared on local maps for some time afterwards), and the line was abandoned from Dean Street to Raynham in 1932.
A new MBTA Commuter Rail station, Taunton, is proposed to be built at the site by 2030 as part of the second phase of the South Coast Rail project. An 800-foot-long high-level platform would be constructed just north of the historic building to serve a single passenger track; a freight passing track would also be added. The passing track was not present in original designs, but was added because the original one-track design would have prevented some wide freight trains from using the line.


Bruce Nelson (naval architect)

Bruce Nelson is a Naval Architect who specializes in high-performance yacht design, and who has competed as a sportsman at the upper echelons in his chosen field.
Biography.
Nelson is a University of Michigan graduate in Naval Architecture. He won the 1972 Sloop National Championship at college. He has been most notable as a principal yacht designer for the America’s Cup contenders and America One challenge. Nelson is a veteran America's Cup racer as well as designer, he teamed with Dennis Conner on three Stars & Stripes boats (12-meter, catamaran, and IACC) from 1985 to 1995 as both a racer and designer. In 1995, he was the principal designer for the PACT 95 defense syndicate yacht Young America, which was ultimately chosen to be the defender.
Nelson is also an Etchells 22 sailor of some note, having won many local regattas in the San Diego fleet at the National level.
Bruce Nelson and Bruce Marek were the principals of a prolific San Diego California yacht design team, Nelson Marek, formed in 1979. Their first custom design was the incredibly successful One Ton class "RUSH". Built in just 72 days, and launched 3 hours before the San Diego Yachting Cup, it lived up to its name. It was the most successful racing yacht in the U.S. in 1980 winning 21 races including the North American One Tons, Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac, Port Huron to Mackinac Boat Race, and Great Lakes champion. Nelson continues to operate Nelson Marek, while Marek is an independent designer on the East Coast. Most of their designs are for custom built yachts including world class racers, although they have designed some production models including the Catalina 42 hull and the Merit 28.
One of the more interesting stories is the Catalina 42, the hull of which was originally designed as a limited production ocean racer. Catalina Yachts which at the time produced mostly smaller yachts and under, acquired the rights to produce the Nelson-Marek designed hull in the late 1980s. Designer Gerry Douglas modified the hull to accept a higher cabin top and cruiser style cabin—the result was Catalina's largest sized offering for many years, with roughly 1,000 hulls on the water.


Te-2 remotely controlled mine

Te-2 remotely controlled mine (Specialized-2 (特-2, or Te-2)) is the second generation remotely controlled naval mine that is manufactured in China.
The project was jointly developed by the Vanguard Instrumentation Factory (前卫仪表厂), Shanghai Electric Automation Research Institute, Shanghai Jiaotong University, and
The mine has three states: safety, armed, and detonation. The bottom mine can remain in any one of these three states, though most of time it remains in the safety state. Upon receiving the remote commands, the mine can be switched to any one of the three states. The minefield consisted of Specialized-2 bottom mines can thus be inactive when friendly force passes by while the activated when enemy is in the area. Currently, all Specialized-2 mines are upgraded to the Specialized-2-1 standard.


Hong Kah MRT station

 | mpassengers =
Hong Kah MRT station is a proposed Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station on the Jurong Region line in Tengah, Singapore.
History.
On 9 May 2018, LTA announced that Hong Kah station would be part of the proposed Jurong Region line (JRL). The station will be constructed as part of Phase 1, JRL (West), consisting of 10 stations between Choa Chu Kang, Boon Lay and Tawas, and is expected to be completed in 2027.
Contract J103 for the design and construction of Hong Kah Station and associated viaducts was awarded to Eng Lee Engineering Pte Ltd - Wai Fong Construction Pte Ltd Joint Venture (JV) at a sum of S$274.3 million. Construction will start in 2020, with completion in 2027. Contract J103 also includes the design and construction of Corporation station, and associated viaducts.
Initially expected to open in 2026, the restrictions on the construction due to the COVID-19 pandemic has led to delays in the JRL line completion, and the date was pushed to 2027.
Location.
The station will be located within the future Tengah planning area.


Ernest Collins

Ernest Collins (18 February 1851 – 20 April 1914) was a British water supply engineer.
He was born in Harefield, Middlesex, the fifth son of the Rev. Robert Cave Wood Collins, then Vicar of Harefield, and his wife, Rachel Vernor Miles. He was educated at Aldenham Grammar School and Neuchâtel.
After serving his articles to Messrs. Ruston, Proctor and Company, of Lincoln, he took a post with Hopkins, Gilkes & Company.
In 1880, he joined the staff of the New River Company, which provided a supply of clean water to London via an artificial waterway. He was their chief engineer when the company was transferred to the Metropolitan Water Board and in 1905 was appointed Engineer of the New River District, a position he held until his retirement in 1911. He was elected a Member of the Institute of Civil Engineers (M.I.C.E) in 1892.
In 1883, Collins introduced the almost universally adopted system of testing and stamping water fittings.
He was also Chairman of Council of the Hampstead General Hospital.
He died in Christchurch, Hampshire in 1914, aged 63.


Land mine contamination in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Land mine contamination in Bosnia and Herzegovina is a serious after effect of the Bosnian War which raged from 1992 until 1995. During this time period, all 3 conflicting factions (ARBiH, HVO, and VRS) have planted land mines near the current-day political entity borders, and as a result the country has had the most severe land mine problems in the world.
Land mine situation.
Bosnia and Herzegovina's contamination with land mines stems exclusively from the 1992–95 war in the country. By 1996, some two million land mines and unexploded munitions littered Bosnia. By September 2013, land mines and unexploded munitions remained scattered in 28,699 locations. A total of 1,230.70 km² (2.4% of the country's territory) was mined. Extensive landslides and the worst flooding since the 19th century, in May 2014, unearthed landmines prompting authorities to send in de-mining workers to locate and deactivate mines that were threatening residential areas.
Land mine clearing is done by various government agencies and NGOs as well as some NATO military units. Between 1996 and 2017, more than 3,000 square kilometres have been cleared of mines. Bosnia and Herzegovina's strategic vision in 2008 was to clear all land mines by the year 2019. In April 2017, experts thought it would take at least five years longer, citing a lack of funds as the primary hurdle. 80,000 mines were estimated to be yet uncleared, located across 2.2% (1,125 km²) of the Bosnian territory.
On 4 April, International Mine Awareness Day, the government, the UN and a number of other international and local NGOs inform citizens about the dangers of land mines and the efforts to clear them.
Land mine casualties.
From 1992 through 2008, 5,005 people were killed or injured by land mines or unexploded munitions. Wartime casualties stood at 3,339 killed and injured. Peacetime casualties, from 1996 through 2008 number 1,666 of which 486 persons were fatalities. From 1996 to 2017, more than 1,750 people were injured, at least 612 of them fatalities.


Chris Eccleshall

Christopher J. Eccleshall (26 May 1948 – 13 August 2020) was an English luthier, guitar designer, guitar dealer and authorised repairer of Martin, Gibson and Guild guitars, and also received the blessing of Mario Maccaferri to make reproductions of his Selmer-Maccaferri jazz guitars.
Biography.
Born in Gosport, Hampshire, Eccleshall was the son of Doreen Eccleshall (née Davies) and Leslie Eccleshall.
His main business was making custom-built acoustic and electric guitars, although he also produced a standard range of solid body electrics under the name "Electric Lady." He also made solid-bodied electric mandolins, acoustic mandolins, mandolas and bouzoukis.
Eccleshall originally trained as a violin maker with W. E. Hill and Sons of Bond Street, London, who at the time were the number one violin company in the world. He was also an engineer in the Fleet Air Arm. Later he moved to Ealing Strings on Ealing Common, London. During this time Eccleshall still found time to make and repair guitars, eventually becoming so busy, especially with work on multiple instruments owned by Rory Gallagher, that he set up his own workshop and went into making guitars full-time. British guitar makers were virtually unheard of at the time, but Eccleshall was one of the first to win recognition, along with Tony Zemaitis and John Birch. Week after week the three were involved in a competition to get their outlandish guitar designs onto Top of the Pops during the heyday of British glam rock. Although his name is better known to insiders than to the general public, Eccleshall became well established as one of the world's leading guitar makers.
Eccleshall was married to Antonia Del Mar from 1977 to 1991. The couple had two children, Michael and Morwenna. The marriage ended in divorce. Eccleshall died on 13 August 2020, at the age of 72. His survivors include his two children, a grandson, and his sister.
Celebrity customers.
Over the years Eccleshall's customers included Pete Townshend, Dave Davies, David Bowie, Rory Gallagher, Paul Weller, Davey Arthur (The Fureys), Sweet, The Cure, The Levellers, New Order, The Alarm, Echo & the Bunnymen, This Picture, The Men They Couldn't Hang, Steven Woodcock, Richard Stilgoe and Richard Digance.
Collaborations.
In the early 1980s Eccleshall struck a licensing deal with the Japanese-made brand Kimbara to make and distribute an Eccleshall-designed Stratocaster-style guitar. Eccleshall travelled to the Japanese factory to supervise the setup and was very pleased with Japanese engineering standards. These guitars are very rare in Europe and are mostly now in Japan and America.
In 1986 Eccleshall uprooted from his native Ealing to move to Dartington and a few years later moved his workshop again to Buckfastleigh. In 2008 Eccleshall and local timberman and guitarist Eddie Cameron created a series of co-designed guitars handmade by Eccleshall to a standard design and marketed under the name Electric Lady, again based on the Stratocaster but with locally sourced timber and British humbucking pick-ups. Eccleshall's last home and workshop was in Totnes.
Training.
Eccleshall worked with many apprentices and assistants, and trained and advised other luthiers including George Lowden and Kevin Chilcott throughout his career.
Innovations.
Eccleshall was responsible for several inventions for which he never received the credit. He claimed to have been the first to house a guitar neck's truss rod in an alloy U-channel, made the first sideless hardtail bridge for a Telecaster (without the original design's raised edges, which are intended to hold a chromed pick-up cover which hardly anyone uses), and pioneered the rectangular solid machined steel block bridge saddles which are now the standard type on modern Telecasters & Stratocasters. He also built a solid body electric sitar – not a sitar guitar but a real sitar – for the late John Perkins
Historic guitars.
Eccleshall was responsible for rebuilding Pete Townshend's smashed guitars until he found it too upsetting to continue. Until his death he kept an SG body with a Meher Baba sticker from that era. He was Rory Gallagher's favoured guitar technician from 1971 to 1985, rebuilding and re-fretting his battered Fender Stratocaster 18 times (and replacing the neck once), and was responsible for disabling the Strat's vibrato mechanism using a wooden block, a modification he was later also commissioned to apply to Eric Clapton's "Blackie".
Original designs.
The Eccleshall Scimitar (24.75" scale), Barracuda (25.5") and Excalibur bass have original shapes based on outward curves, rather than the inward curves of traditional electric guitars derived from the rounded classical guitar - and the pointed lower horn of the Scimitar is reminiscent of that of the Gibson mandolin.
Variations.
Eccleshall's C-Model acoustic guitar has a classical guitar shaped body, but for steel strings. His "Special" is a variant of this. Many of Eccleshall's standard designs are modified versions of shapes associated with Gibson guitars. His B-Model acoustic is based on the J-200 acoustic, but is smaller. The Kestrel and Falcon electric guitars have solid bodies but with a 335 outline. The MC Model has the 175 outline but in 3/4 size with a slimline body. His 335-style bass is a unique hollow-bodied instrument used by Eddie Macdonald of The Alarm, Peter Hook of Joy Division & New Order and Simon Gallup of The Cure. Eccleshall's solid electric mandolin is used by many electric folk bands and features a pick-up hand-wound by Eccleshall.


Thomas Cunningham (Canadian politician)

Thomas Cunningham (April 12, 1837 – February 16, 1916) was an Irish-born merchant, farmer and political figure in British Columbia. He represented New Westminster City in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 1889 to 1890.
He was born in Ulster and was educated there. In 1853, he came to Kingston, Ontario. In 1859, Cunningham travelled to Victoria, British Columbia following the discovery of gold in the province. The following spring, he travelled to Antler Creek in the Cariboo. In 1861, he moved to New Westminster, where he sold stoves and hardware. In 1864, he took over the Vancouver Coal Co. in Nanaimo. In 1867, Cunningham was elected to the assembly for Vancouver Island and voted for the union of the two colonies. From 1867 to 1882, he lived in Salem, Oregon, where he was a merchant and manufacturer of wagons, carriages and agricultural implements. Cunningham then returned to New Westminster, again employed as a hardware merchant. He later became involved in fruit growing and raising Jersey cattle. Cunningham served on the New Westminster municipal council and was president of the British Columbia Agricultural Society. He was elected to the provincial assembly in an 1889 by-election held after William Norman Bole was named a judge. Cunningham married Emily Woodman in 1864. In 1900, he was named provincial horticulturist. In 1906, he was British Columbia's first inspector of fruits. Cunningham died in Vancouver at the age of 70.
His wife's twin sister Mary Ann married his brother James, who served in the provincial assembly and the Canadian House of Commons.
Cunningham Island, north of Bella Bella, was named in his honour.


HMS Dundalk (J60)

HMS "Dundalk" was a Hunt-class minesweeper of the "Aberdare" sub-class built for the Royal Navy during World War I. She was not finished in time to participate in the First World War and sank after striking a mine in 1940.
Design and description.
The "Aberdare" sub-class were enlarged versions of the original Hunt-class ships with a more powerful armament. The ships displaced at normal load. They had a length between perpendiculars of and measured long overall. The "Aberdare"s had a beam of and a draught of . The ships' complement consisted of 74 officers and ratings.
The ships had two vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one shaft, using steam provided by two Yarrow boilers. The engines produced a total of and gave a maximum speed of . They carried a maximum of of coal which gave them a range of at .
The "Aberdare" sub-class was armed with a quick-firing (QF) gun forward of the bridge and a QF twelve-pounder (76.2 mm) anti-aircraft gun aft. Some ships were fitted with six- or three-pounder guns in lieu of the twelve-pounder.
Construction and career.
HMS "Dundalk" was built by the Clyde Shipbuilding Company. In July 1937, "Dundalk" was recommissioned for the 3rd Minesweeping Flotilla in Malta. On arrival she was placed in Reserve and recommissioned in 1939, returning to England to work on the East Coast.
On 31 May 1940, "Dundalk" took part in the Dunkirk evacuation to Margate with 500 British troops. She sailed back to Dunkirk and on 1 June was attacked by 12 Messerschmitt aircraft. "Dundalk" then sailed back to Margate giving assistance to the "Havant" en route. She arrived at Margate at 12.15 on 1 June and disembarked 280 troops. She returned to Dunkirk, embarked about 450 French troops and arrived back at Folkestone on 3 June. The ship was mined on 16 October 1940 and foundered under tow the following day off Harwich at South Cutler Buoy.


Daniel Burnap

Daniel Burnap (November 1, 1759 – September 26, 1838) was a clock-maker from Coventry Township (present day Andover), Connecticut. He may have been one of the first to use interchangeable parts and mass production, as his written records imply that he built more than one clock at the same time.
Burnap took on several apprentices during his career. The most notable of his many apprentices was Eli Terry who become the world's largest manufacturer of machine-made clocks and introduced mass production to the art of clockmaking.


William Holme Twentyman

William Holme Twentyman (31 October 1802 – 7 May 1884) was a silversmith in Cape Town, who amassed a considerable fortune on Mauritius and retired at the age of 39. Whilst on Mauritius he created a sealed case for a pocket watch to be worn under water. After trials soldered lugs were incorporated and a "strong canvas" band was tied to the wrist for ease of use. Twentyman also painted the dial orange as to be more clearly seen underwater. This creation was known as the Twentyman "orange gorilla" due to its large size.
Life.
William Holme Twentyman was born in Liverpool, the son of John Middleton Twentyman (a cooper and trader) and Phoebe Holme. In 1818 he went to the Cape with his elder brother Lawrence Holme Twentyman (a silversmith and watchmaker), after they inherited money from a great uncle. The brothers arrived in Cape Town on 12 June 1818 on the "Ann". William was apprenticed to Lawrence as a silversmith and watchmaker, and later became a partner in Twentyman & Co, running his own shop next door to that of his brother.
In 1828 he moved to Mauritius, arriving on the "Winscales" on 19 January 1829, where he ran a business as a watch seller and jeweler in Port Louis. On 2 June 1832 at the Anglican Church of Port Louis he married Celia Pinch, daughter of John Pinch the elder an architect in Bath, Somerset. During June/July 1832 he was caught up in the slave rebellion on Mauritius with his shop coming under siege. By 1841 William had amassed a considerable fortune and, with his family, had returned to England, residing at 21 Avenue Road, Regent's Park, London.
William Twentyman was elected Special Constable in 1848; was admitted to the Freedom of the Spectacle Makers' Company by redemption on 3 June 1861; admitted to the Freedom of the City of London by redemption through the Spectacle Makers' Company on 6 June 1861; was Sheriff of the City of London from 1861 to 1862; and Justice of the Peace (JP). He died on Wednesday 7 May 1884, at his residence, Ravensworth, St. John's Wood Park, London, and was buried in Highgate Cemetery. William Twentyman left a personal estate of £28173-15-6d.


HM LST-420

LST-420 was a United States Navy that was transferred to the Royal Navy during World War II. She was lost on 7 November 1944, after hitting a mine in heavy seas off Ostend, Belgium, sinking with great loss of life, particularly amongst her Royal Air Force passengers. It was the greatest loss of life on a British landing craft during World War II.
Construction.
"LST-420" was laid down on 6 November 1942, under Maritime Commission (MARCOM) contract, MC hull 940, by the Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard, Baltimore, Maryland; launched 5 December 1942; then transferred to the United Kingdom and commissioned on 15 February 1943.
She was a purpose designed “tank landing ship” capable of transporting vehicles and personnel to anywhere in the world. She had served in the Mediterranean and in the landings on D-Day. From 20 July 1944, she was commanded by Lieutenant Commander Douglas Harold Everett, Royal Navy Reserve, a 30 year old professional Master Mariner serving with the Royal Navy for the duration of the war.
Background for final operations.
The weather was very poor and had resulted in a relative lull in aerial fighting in North West Europe. This presented the 2nd Tactical Air Force with an opportunity to conduct necessary servicing, repairs and overhaul of radar installations in North West Europe as “partial downtime” was unavoidable in the process and the defences could not be "down" when the Luftwaffe was active. The process involved taking a radar installation "off line" but leaving the site still functioning on its alternative systems.
All such major maintenance after the D-Day landings on 6 June 1944, until November 1944, had been accomplished by small “Mobile Signals Servicing Units” (M.S.S.U.) which had been enormously successful. The tactical plan was for the “No. 1 Base Signals and Radar Unit” (B.S.R.U.), which had completed eighteen months training at “Signals Battle Training School”, to land in France once the Normandy bridgehead was sufficiently stable but due to the MSSU’s success and the greater rate of territorial advance than expected, the BSRU had been held in England until a more suitable time.
After meetings at the Air Ministry in London and the HQ of 2nd Tactical Air Force in North West Europe, it was decided to move the unit, its vehicles and personnel to a site at Ghent, Belgium where workshops were set up and equipment began to arrive. On receipt of movement orders in the marshalling area in Essex, the 303 men comprising the unit began boarding "LST-420" which took aboard 19 officers and 250 enlisted personnel of No. 1 BSRU (some sources say 263 officers and men) with their 50 vehicles, equipment and supplies, the remaining officer and 33 enlisted men boarded another LST with several of their vehicles.
Loss.
On 7 November 1944, a small convoy of vessels comprising , , , and "LST-420" crossed the English Channel bound for Ostend, Belgium. The weather had been very poor for a week and a severe storm was rising. By mid-afternoon when they arrived off the Belgian coast conditions were terrible, and as a result they were refused permission to enter port at Ostend due to concerns that an accident in the harbourmouth might cause considerable disruption in the supply line for land forces. The convoy duly altered course back towards England planning to shelter overnight in the Thames Estuary before returning to Ostend on the following day.
At approximately 15:00, within sight of Ostend the bow section of "LST-420" struck a powerful German mine which tore a large hole in the ship's hull causing it to break into two parts. The ship's galley fires were lit at the time due to the evening meal being prepared and gallons of petrol from the damaged fuel tanks of the vehicles caught fire enveloping the stern section of the ship in flame. "LST-420" sank very rapidly and due to the heavy seas only larger vessels were able to attempt to rescue survivors in the water.
Of the ill-fated “BSRU” only 31 or 32 men were saved from life rafts.
The position of the wreck is recorded as .
Casualties.
At least 292 persons were killed, with the total loss of life probably being over 320. (Calculations based on the records of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission coupled with the “Armed Forces Register” of the General Register Office of England & Wales and Scotland and records held on the “Air of Authority” website.) The dead were washed ashore as far north as the north German coast, on the beaches of the Netherlands, Belgium, England and as far south as Calais, France.
Notes.
A section of the bow of "LST-420" was raised in 1990.
A yellow marker buoy is located above the wreck today.
Bibliography.
Online resources
External links.


Karl Hals

Karl Marius Anton Johan Hals (27 April 1822 – 7 September 1898) was a Norwegian businessperson who co-founded the piano manufacturer Brødrene Hals. He also served as a members of the Norwegian Parliament with the Conservative Party.
Background.
Hals was born at Sørum in Akershus, Norway. He was the son of Caspar Andreas Hals (1772-1846) and Martha Maria Nilson (Nielsen) (1787-1828). His father was a colonel and later customs inspector. When his father was appointed customs inspector in Christiania (now Oslo) in 1828, the family moved there.
He was a student at the Oslo Cathedral School and attended Strøms Military Institute which he resign in 1840.
Together with his younger brother Petter Martin Emil Nilson Hals (1823-1871), he took a carpenter's education between 1840 and 1842. After this, Karl Hals spent time in Copenhagen and Hamburg to learn the skill of piano building.
Career.
He then returned to Christiania to found the piano factory "Brødrene Hals" in 1847 together with his brother.
Originally they employed only one person; in 1866 this number had risen to 36. They production facilities were moved around in the early years, eventually settling at the site of the later Hotel Continental. His brother died in 1871, however Karl Hals had several sons and grandsons who became involved in the company as managers and owners. By 1897, a year before the death of Karl Hals, the company peaked at 100 employees. It delivered pianos not only to Scandinavian customers, but also to the United States and Australia. One piano is on exhibit in the Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology. From 1887 to 1908 the company also ran a music store and a concert bureau.
Hals was the chairman of the employers' organisation "Den Norske Haandvaerks- og Industriforening, Christiania" from 1878 to 1897. In addition he was elected to the Norwegian Parliament in 1889, representing the constituency of "Kristiania, Hønefoss og Kongsvinger". He only served one term.
Personal life.
In 1851, he married Thora Alvilde Christina Svanekiær (1820-1904). Their daughter, Marie, married the musician Ole Olsen.
Hals was proclaimed Knight of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 1874, and in 1889 he was upgraded to Commander of the same order. He was also Commander of the Order of the Dannebrog as well as Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur.


James Walker (engineer)

James Walker (14 September 1781 – 8 October 1862) was an influential Scottish civil engineer.
Life.
Born in Law Wynd in Falkirk, the eldest of five children of John Walker and his wife Margaret, James was educated at the local school and was sent to Glasgow University in October 1794, aged 13. He studied Latin and Greek for two years, and logic during his third year. During his final two years he studied natural philosophy and mathematics, taking the first prize.
He returned to Falkirk in May 1799, aged 18, and his family discussed a career in business or law. But, by chance, in the summer of 1800, he was asked to accompany his ill brother-in-law on a sea journey to London. Once there, he visited his uncle Ralph Walker in Blackwall, intending to return to Scotland after a week. However, Ralph discussed his work at the West India Docks, and was so impressed by his young nephew's grasp of engineering that he immediately took him on as his apprentice.
Around 1800 they worked on the design and construction of London's West India and East India Docks. At the age of 21 he took on his first engineering work in his own right: the construction of Commercial Road in London, connecting the West India Docks to the warehouses of the City. Later, he worked on the Surrey Commercial Docks from about 1810 onwards, remaining as engineer to the Surrey Commercial Dock Company until his death in 1862.
In 1821 Walker built his first lighthouse, the West Usk Lighthouse, near Newport, South Wales. He went on to build another 21 lighthouses.
Walker was the senior partner of the consulting engineering firm of "Messrs. Walker and Burges" (of Limehouse), Burges having first became his pupil in 1811 and risen to partner in 1829. In 1832 their offices moved to 44 Parliament Street, Westminster (which lies at southern end of Whitehall) and then to 23 George Street. In 1853 he promoted James Cooper, one of his assistants, to the partnership with the firm then being known as "Messrs. Walker, Burges & Cooper".
Walker succeeded his associate Thomas Telford as President of the Institution of Civil Engineers, serving from 1834 to 1845. One of his first major roles as President was to oversee the choice of three new harbours to serve Edinburgh: a major extension to Leith Docks; a new harbour at Trinity; or a new harbour at Granton. The choice resulted in the building of Granton Harbour.
He was also chief engineer within Trinity House, hence his considerable involvement with coastal engineering and lighthouses. He was conferred with Honorary Membership of the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland in 1857.
He died at 23 Great George Street in Westminster, London on 8 October 1862.
He is buried beneath a humble gravestone in St Johns churchyard in Edinburgh against a retaining wall on one of the southern terraces.
Projects and other work.
Walker worked on various engineering projects, including:
Walker was also involved in designing a dock harbour in Hamburg (1845, with William Lindley and Heinrich Hübbe). He was also involved in the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, preparing a report on the merits of stationary and locomotive engines along with other notable engineers of the day. He was also for a long period consulting engineer to the Board of Admiralty.
Memorial.
A memorial to Walker was commissioned by the Institution of Civil Engineers to stand at Greenland Dock and was unveiled in 1990.
References.
Obituaries.


USS Ida

USS "Ida" (1863) was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used as a towboat and dispatch boat by the Navy, and she provided her services to ships in the blockade squadrons.
Ida was chartered by the Navy in New Orleans, Louisiana, 3 February 1863 and purchased 6 March.
Assigned to the Mortar Flotilla in the Mississippi River.
She was assigned to the mortar flotilla for use as a dispatch vessel and for towing the motor boats in the swift and tricky currents of the Mississippi River. She operated primarily below Port Hudson, Louisiana, maintaining communication between the flotilla and the squadron flagship. She was also used commandeering and towing off any boats suitable for military use found in the river.
She came under fire while assisting "Iberville" 3 July but escaped damage. After Port Hudson fell 9 July clearing the entire Mississippi River for Union shipping, "Ida" continued to operate in the lower river towing oceangoing vessels between the mouth of the river and New Orleans.
Early in 1865 she was ordered to Mobile Bay, where she arrived 1 February. Two weeks later she took on board two smoothbore howitzers in preparation for picket duty.
Struck by a mine in Mobile Bay, "Ida" sinks.
While clearing the main channel of Mobile Bay, "Ida" struck a torpedo (mine) which crushed the timbers on her starboard side, burst her boilers, and tore up her decks 13 April 1865. In a few moments she flooded and sank in mid-channel. Three members of her crew were killed and two were wounded. Her wrecked hull was sold 11 September 1865.


Matthew McIntyre-Wilson

Matthew McIntyre-Wilson (born 1973 in Hastings, New Zealand) is a jeweller, weaver of accessories inspired by traditional Māori artefacts. He is a Ngā Mahanga and Titahi descent.
Biography.
In 1992, McIntyre-Wilson gained a certificate in Craft and Design from Whitireia Polytechnic, and a diploma in Visual Arts majoring in Jewellery from Hawke's Bay Polytechnic in 1996.
In 2008, the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa purchased the woven silver and copper tātua ("bum belts") that McIntyre-Wilson made after visiting their taonga Māori collection stores. McIntyre-Wilson also investigates the museum's archives in search of items labelled as "marker unknown", and document those items specifically.
Work.
The work of Matthew McIntyre-Wilson borrows from the techniques and styles of traditional Māori artefacts to create woven geometric patterns with copper, silver, gold, or stripped electrical wires. He combines his interest for raranga whakairo with his formal training in jewelry to make tātuas ("bum belts"), arm bands, hinakis (eel pots) and brooches. His master weaver and mentor is Rangi Kiu (Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairoa).


Benjamin Abbott

Benjamin Abbott (1732August 14, 1796) was a Methodist Episcopal evangelist.
He was born in the Province of Pennsylvania in 1732 to Mr. Benjamin Abbott and his wife, a daughter of John Burroughs, sheriff of Hunterdon County, New Jersey. His parents died, when he was a lad. He started out as a hatter's apprentice in Philadelphia, later leaving that position to work on his brother's farm in New Jersey. He is said to have been addicted to card-playing, cockfighting, drinking, and brawling.
In 1772, he converted to Christianity because of the Methodist preacher, Abraham Whitworth, and became a local preacher himself. In 1790, he was ordained a deacon, and later, in 1793, he became an elder of the church and a circuit preacher. In Abel Stevens History of American Methodism, 1867 Stevens writes, " He had a temperament deeply mystic and subject to marvelous experiences which baffle all scientific explanation". Stevens also noted, "His whole soul seemed pervaded by a certain magnetic power that thrilled his discourses and radiated from his person, drawing, melting and frequently prostrating the stoutest opposers in his congregation. It is probable that no Methodist laborer of his day reclaimed more men from abject vice. He seldom preached without visible results, and his prayers were overwhelming". He died in Salem, New Jersey, in 1796.


Roger Gaskell Hetherington

Sir Roger Gaskell Hetherington CB, OBE (10 February 1876 – 24 February 1952) was a British civil engineer and civil servant.
Life.
Roger Gaskell Hetherington was born in Sherborne, Dorset on 10 February 1876, the eldest son of William Lonsdale Hetherington and his wife Mary Gaskell, daughter of John Dakin Gaskell, a barrister of Highgate, London. His father was assistant Master at Sherborne School when he was born, but the family soon after returned to Highgate.
He entered Highgate School in 1889. After school he attended Trinity College, Cambridge, where he gained a half blue for rifle shooting. In spite of coming from a distinguished academic family Hetherington did not shine academically at this time, in fact he retained, to the end of this life, a copy of the Granta magazine (16 June 1897) that included the comment "I understand that Mr Hetherington of Trinity, is exceedingly annoyed at having missed the wooden spoon. It is one blot on an otherwise blameless career." This comment resulted from his coming bottom but one in the Mathematical Tripos. The bound copy of Granta is now held by his grandson, Roger Hetherington Macdonald.
Hetherington served as an officer in the 4th (Cambridge University) Volunteer Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment but resigned his commission as Captain on 24 November 1897. Hetherington returned to the British Army during the First World War when he was appointed temporary Inspector of Works in the Staff of the Royal Engineers with the honorary rank of Lieutenant on 14 April 1915.
All his life he suffered from a weak heart and was never passed fit for active service. He relinquished that commission upon the completion of his service on 25 February 1919, retaining his rank. Hetherington married Honoria Ford on 24 April 1906. She was the youngest daughter of the solicitor Arthur Ranken Ford, who lived close (1 Broadlands Road) to Roger's parents in Highgate (3 Broadlands Road). They had a daughter and three sons, the second of whom was Sir Arthur Ford Hetherington (1911–2002) who was Chairman of British Gas plc. Honoria studied Classics at Girton College, Cambridge but as Cambridge did not then grant women full degree status she in fact received a degree from Trinity College, Dublin. Both Roger and Honoria were strong believers in women's education and as well as making sure that Mary had a university education Roger always travelled to Cambridge to vote for women having full degree rights at Cambridge.
Hetherington had become a governor at Highgate School in 1917. He served the school as treasurer and chairman of governors from 1929 to 1944. He had an interest in education and was also chairman of the council of Wycombe Abbey School. Hetherington's career as a civil servant began in 1930 when he became the Chief Engineering Inspector at the Ministry of Health, a post he would hold until 1944. He became an official adviser on water and the Director of Surveys for the ministry in 1941 in which capacity he served until 1952.
Hetherington had been appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1918, a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1932 and was made Knight Bachelor in 1945. On 24 June 1947, at a special general meeting of the Institution of Civil Engineers, he was elected their president for the November 1947 to November 1948 session. Hetherington was only elected because the death of the president-elect Sir Frederick Cook following his election in May. This was the second successive year that the ICE's president-elect had died before entering office. Hetherington died in 1952. His eldest son Roger Le Geyt Hetherington (1908–1990) was president of the ICE for 1972-3.
References.
Bibliography.


Gwadar International Airport

Gwadar International Airport () is an international airport situated 14 km (9 miles) north of the city centre of Gwadar, in the Balochistan province of Pakistan.
History.
In 1958, the town of Gwadar was purchased by Government of Pakistan from the Sultan of Muscat. Air operations started in 1966. The airport gained international status when two weekly flights from Karachi to Muscat via Gwadar were initiated with Fokker F-27 aircraft. The terminal building was inaugurated in 1984 and new departure/VIP lounges opened in 2008.
The current airport caters mainly to the population of Gwadar. Pakistan International Airlines, the main airline flying out of the airport, connects Gwadar to Karachi, Turbat, Quetta, Peshawar, Islamabad, Lahore, Dubai, Doha, Kuwait City, Riyadh, Tehran, Mashhad, Bahrain and Muscat. Other airlines had recently launched their flights to Gwadar and currently had been doing pretty well due to successful performance. These included Oman Air, which flew to Muscat using ATR 42 aircraft, and airblue, which started twice daily flights to Karachi through its joint venture partner JS Air.
New Gwadar International Airport Construction.
A New Gwadar International Airport (NGIA) is being built and will be country's biggest when completed in late 2022. Occupying 4,300 acres (17 km²) of land, it is located in Gurandani, 26 km north-east of the existing airport in Gwadar City on the south-western Arabian Sea coast of Balochistan region. NGIA is expected to cost $246 million. It is fully funded by China as a grant.
PM Imran Khan had laid down the foundation stone for NGIA on 29 March 2019. This greenfield airport will include a modern terminal building alongside a cargo terminal, with refrigeration facilities for perishable items, with an initial handling capacity of 30,000 tonnes a year. NGIA will have the capacity to accommodate aircraft wide body aircraft including Airbus A380 & Boeing 747-400 and including narrow body aircraft such as ATR-72 & Boeing 737-900.
It will have a single runway with 3,658 metres of length and a width of 75 metres that will have the capacity to accommodate wide bodied aircraft. A taxiway of 23 metres length alongside a 10.5 metre paved shoulders for both sides. The airport will also have the capacity to build the second runway in the north direction of the first runway. An Air Traffic Control (ATC) Tower, crash, fire and rescue facilities will be built as well as a fuel farm.
The CAA Pakistan had awarded the design to build contract of the new airport to the China Communications Construction Company (CCC), which is expected to be completed in late 2022.
The New Gwadar International Airport will be constructed at a cost of Rs55.4 billion.


Jim Bryan

Jim F. Bryan (1931–2009) was a noted player and maker of the Northumbrian smallpipes. His interest in the pipes began in 1950, and he acquired a set of pipes a few years after that. His widow Marion recalled
"Jimmy was out walking by himself, which he did very often, in the countryside of Northumberland, and he heard this sound and he went over to hear where it was coming from and it was, as I say, Phillip Foreman playing the pipes. And then Jim said I must have a set but, of course in those days you couldn't just buy them. He didn't know where to start I think Phillip must have helped him. A friend of his got him a chanter, and it was a Reid chanter, and he made some drones for Jim and he got it going."
Bryan served the Northumbrian Pipers' Society first as Treasurer, then as Vice-Chairman (1961-4) and as Chairman (1964-8), and, finally, at the end of his life, as President (2006-9). Bryan had a huge influence on pipemaking, co-authoring with William Cocks a detailed book, on the instrument and its construction. The figures in this book, based on historical examples, were drawn by Bryan. The book played a major role in the revival of interest in playing and in making the Northumbrian smallpipes. His interest in pipemaking continued throughout his life..


Christopher Buckley (journalist)

Christopher Buckley (22 May 1905 – 12 August 1950) was a British journalist and historian working for "The Daily Telegraph" newspaper.
Buckley studied military history at Oxford before he started as a war correspondent in 1940. His reporting from battles and front lines in World War II earned him international prestige. He was the author of "Road to Rome, An Account of Military Operations in Italy, 1943–44" (1945) and wrote official accounts of military operations (e.g., the "History of the Second World War") for His Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO). He was the author of two novels, "Rain Before Seven" (1947) and "Royal Chase" (1949). The first of these has been described as "something of a forgotten late golden age classic" in the crime fiction field.
In 1950, while reporting from the Korean War, he was killed (with journalist Ian Morrison and Colonel M. K. Unni Nayar) by a landmine exploding under their jeep. He is buried at the United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Busan, South Korea.
Richard Knott's 2015 book "The Trio" () is an account of Buckley's work as a war correspondent and his friendships with Alexander Clifford and Alan Moorehead.


Shoe tread