Members of the society travelled over to Kettleness on July 18th to host a star party for a visiting party of cub scouts; the Osbaldwick and Murton Cub Scouts, requested by their leader Julie Lund.

All were looking forward at the prospect of being able to view Saturn in the summer night especially as skies were forecast to be clear. Unfortunately almost total cloud cover greeted our arrival, but we still deployed the scopes just in case breaks appeared; they didn’t.

The first part of the backup plan saw a presentation in the activities room using the laptop and projector, and a quick trip through the solar system and beyond. Then, outdoors again to give the scaled solar system demonstration, which worked very well at this venue; the old railway station, the long strip of grass of the rail bed and platform being ideally suited to distances involved.

Certainly the glow lights used for planets showed up nicely along the edge of the platform and there were plenty of eager ‘planet bearers’. It was such a pity that the real planets remained hidden and the optimistically deployed scopes idle. All the same i think the cubs enjoyed themselves, especially those doing their astronomy badge. Thanks to John, Keith, Lee and Andi for support, equipment and transportation.