Got a few spare hours tonight and made up a remote battery holder used a thumbtack for the negative on the battery but managed to pop the positive terminal plate out of the dummy battery and solder it directly to it (picture is wrong).
Made up a few stickers for each battery  with left middle and right so they wont be mixed up, as i also put a connector on the leads the dummy batteries in theory should never be removed from the battery holder.
The remote battery has been velcroed onto the headbox for easy removal when changing batteries.
Photos show the original battery holder which has been replaced, luckily there is no battery damage to the board.
Im pretty happy with the result