Our first meeting of 2022 got off to a perilous start. Our speaker John Hope dutifully arrived on time, his equipment was unpacked and set up when disaster struck! A vital lead for his laptop was still back at his home…and no one present had a spare sitting in their bags. Time ticked by relentlessly and our valiant committee tried to entertain those of us patiently waiting while at the same time playing hunt-a-lead. In the nick of time help came in the guise of a guardian angel from the library next door bearing a brand new lead and a very relieved Mr Hope was able to begin his presentation.

The people who had the greatest influence on the first attempt of time measurement were the Egyptians, by sub-dividing the hours between sunrise and sunset. This was in1500 B.C. when they introduced the sundial which was used for the next 3,000 years.

So many discoveries and inventions great and small have led to the sophistication of today, from the humble egg timer to GMT by which we can know to the second what the time is to the second in Japan or Johannesburg. Time – where would we be without it.

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