Team update August

Published on August 18, 2026 by Blackstone

August has brought holidays, camping trips and, of course, a solar eclipse.

The eclipse on 12 August promised to be quite a spectacle. For those of us who weren’t particularly well prepared, however, the reality was perhaps a little underwhelming!

Clare was away camping for a few days and, thinking ahead, had asked a friend to bring some welding glasses. There was a slight communication problem, and her friend duly arrived with a piece of welding glass. Technically correct, perhaps, although not quite what Clare had in mind.

Louise Hebson’s family took things rather more seriously, constructing a fairly complicated contraption which managed to produce an excellent image of the eclipse. At the other end of the technical spectrum, Gareth discovered that pointing his phone at the sky seemed to work surprisingly well and managed to capture a pretty decent image too.

So, between welding glass, homemade viewing equipment and a mobile phone, we eventually managed to see what all the fuss was about.

Elsewhere, Josie and Gareth are both settling back into work after some time away, so the team is gradually returning to normal as we head through the rest of August.