We have been invited to Errington Primary School, Windy Hill Lane, Marske by the Sea, to assist with an event they are holding on March 13th 2020.
The School is running a science week that week, culminating in the Year 3/4s being invited for a sleepover in the school on the Friday night, the theme for the week being space and astronomy. They would like a star gazing evening, maybe with a campfire and stories of constellations myths, as well as indoor practical activities...
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So, what would Saturday evening throw up? Well, Mark first returned back to the Fox and Hounds in the late morning to reload the stored equipment and relocate to the Moors Centre. This took quite a while, but at least it meant equipment was ‘on site’ for the evening. Looking at the forecast for the evening prospects looked quite encouraging... and rather pessimistic at the same time! Evening fell, Keith, Mark, Barbara and Mark journeyed up under ‘pessimistically encouraging’ skies, joining Paul Wood, who had been there quite a while already. Paul Cass and Dr John McCue also brought their scopes along....
Our first event of the Dark sky festival weekend (first weekend that is) saw us return to the Fox and Hounds at Ainthorpe. 
Over the Christmas break society members finally carried out some necessary remedial work on the observatory dome roof, stripping and then re-felting the door flaps. Saul had noticed earlier in the month that the felt looked somewhat ‘dodgy’ especially on the flaps and on closer scrutiny in daylight it was clear it had deteriorated to such an extent it needed to be replaced. 
On the 28th February 2020, we will be back down at Fylinghall School who have invited us to host their Stargazing Party. Again, last year’s event, although successful was clouded out, so the ‘stack yard’ served as the ‘solar system’ for the scaled planetary demo, which went down very well indeed. Then the Barn theatre acted as the venue for the indoor presentation. I suspect if conditions are clear we shall be setting up on the front lawn in front of the main building. 
On Saturday 22nd, weather permitting, be we will be called in to action again at the Danby Moors Centre, for their Dark Skies Week event. The National Park ‘Dark Sky’ events have all been highlighted widely in the media, including Astronomy Now Magazine, various local newspapers and radio, so if skies are forecast to be clear, public attendance will be high (over 50 -60) and we shall definitely require assistance from members regarding scopes /transport. The event runs from 18:30h-20:30h, and we aim to be setting off around 17:45h to allow time to set up. 
