09-Sep-26 : The Espin Telescope Project : Update

1. We launched our Crowdfunding Campaign at roughly 1000 hours on Friday 28th August. Just two weeks later, we're just shy of our initial funding goal of one thousand pounds. Amazing.

2. The Espin Telescope Community Interest Company has been registered with Companies House.

Thank you so much for your kindness and generosity. We really do appreciate your gifts.

31-Aug-26 : The Espin Telescope Project : Crowdfunding Update

We launched our Crowdfunding Campaign at roughly 1000 hours on Friday 28th August. Twenty four hours later, we had reached fifty percent of our initial funding goal of one thousand pounds. Three days later and we're at seventy five percent of our funding goal, which means we have more than enough money in the bank to get the mirror re-coated.

Thank you so much for your kindness and generosity. We really do appreciate your gifts.

05-Aug-26 : The Espin Telescope Project

Members of the Espin Telescope Project successfully removed the Optical Tube Assembly (OTA) from the main dome and moved to a safe storage location earlier this week. Only the polar and declination axes remain.

Removing the eyepiece ring. The original Calver metalwork can be seen.	Removing the counterweights...
Carefully numbering each part and section prior to disassembly	Removing the RA worm and motor drives.

We have around 200 photographs to catalogue and sort. Should keep us busy,

11-Nov-25 : The Espin Telescope Project

24" mirror before cleaning	24" mirror after cleaning

Members of the Espin Telescope Project were able to recover both the main telescope mirror and the secondary mirror from the 24" Espin telescope. Both are now safely in the hands of mirror-maker, John Nichol, awaiting restoration.

Staff from Beamish Museum visited the site in mid-October to look at how we might be able to extract the telescope without damaging the frame or the adjacent farming infrastructure. This is on-going.

John Nichol has recently reported that he has cleaned the main mirror and, whilst the reflective coating was damaged beyond repair, the mirror surface appears to be in good condition. The secondary mirror also appears to be in a good condition.

Finally, we've been able to locate one of the eyepieces used with the telescope, a 70mm Kelner, although this isn't the eyepiece I remember from my days as an undergraduate astronomer. That one seems to have been lost in the mists of time.

We're optimistic that the full recovery process will be successful but will take upwards of around a year before we can move the heavy lifting machinery into place. Recent rainfall has left the ground very wet and sticky so we'll have to wait a while until the ground dries out.

Once again, we'd like to thank the staff at Close House for their support in recovering the instrument.

09-Nov-25 : The Return of...

The return of The Great Geordie Space Race on Radio Northumberland has been delayed by a couple of weeks due, in the main, to our Autumn lecture programme.

I delivered four talks over the last six weeks and, from my perspective, they were well received. However, the numbers who attended those talks were well down compared to the pre-COVID days and, as detailed below, we're having to travel further and further to reach some of the more remote societies. To make matters worse, we're not reaching the younger generation at all. At sixty three, I was possibly one of the youngest people in the room at the last talk I delivered so clearly something is amiss. I've detailed our recent adventures in the Blog so have a look there if you're interested.

So, after more than three hundred public lectures delivered over seventeen years, we've decided to end our STEM Outreach programme. I still have a few lecturing commitments left but they're not until next year.

I'd like to thank all of those societies who made the work so much fun and so enjoyable over those seventeen years. I think this is the right thing to do. I have a true sense of an ending so...

Onwards and upwards...

02-Oct-25 : The Espin Telescope Project

Team member David Hughes delivered a short presentation on the work of the Espin Telescope Recovery Group at the annual convention of the Antique Telescope Society at the weekend. We were pleased to report that the preseveration efforts were now well underway.

This is very much a suck-it-and-see project. We don't have any engineering drawings for the instrument so our investigations have to be slow and careful, with thorough documentation at every step. We were pleased to discover that the truss assembly was modular and hopefully can be dismantled in sections, once we remove three or four layers of thick gloss paint that cover every bolt. We also discovered that, when the telescope was originally restored in the late 60's, David Sinden managed to incorporate the original Calver secondary support into the assembly.

David also outlined our future plans for the telescope and the team should be able to in a position to make an announcement by the end of October 2025.

Close House staff have been extremely helpful and positive, and we'd like to express our gratitude to their Managing Director, Jonathan Lupton for his patience. We're optimistic that the telescope can be recovered and restored fully, and then put on display where the instrument can educate and entertain the public once again.

26-Sep-25 : The Espin Telescope Project

The Espin Telescope Recovery Group was formed in early 2025 with the aim of trying to rescue and restore the famous Espin Telescope, which had been abandoned by its former owners and left to the elements.

We've been working very closely with the management at Close House, who have been extremely helpful. We're delighted to report that both the Primary and Secondary mirrors have been recovered and have been moved elsewhere for safe keeping.

We've also been working on finding a new home for the telescope and I'm delighted to report that one internationally-known organisation is very interested in acquired and refurbishing the observatory, where the telescope will be put on display and used for STEM activities.

05-Feb-25 : Up Above

We're involved in a new film celebrating Astronomy in the North East of England.

Award-winning filmmaker Carl Joyce is seeking passionate space enthusiasts from the North East to star in his new documentary, Up Above. The film will explore the community of space enthusiasts across the North East: from world-leading experts, backyard stargazers to aspiring astronauts, Up Above will document their unique stories, their shared experiences, and their collective love of all things space.

The introductory talk was held in the Ogden Centre for Fundemental Physics at Durham University, where Emeritus Professor of Astrophysics, Martin Ward talked about the work at the Ogden facility and Carl talked about the aims of the Up Above project.

Principal filming for the projects starts in May...

13-Jan-25 : We're back

We're in the process of restoring the web site on our former hosting service, one.com. Everything, including the programme archive, has now been fully restored.

Let that be a lesson to us all. Don't try to save a few pennies unless you're willing to put up with a rotten service that doesn't deliver. Serves me right, frankly.

17-Sep-24 : GGSR (Not quite) the End

In a previous post, we announced that we'd decided to take The Great Geordie Space Race off the air for the time being, perhaps indefinitely.

The response from our listeners was very loud and very clear!

Please don't!

So, we've decided to have a re-think, see if we can come up with a better format, see if we can involve more people, more interviews, more in-depth studies, that sort of thing.

There's a lot happening in the skies at the moment. The major planets have started to appear in the evening sky plus there's the promise of a bright comet towards the end of the year.

There's also a lot happening in our region right now. One area we'd love to explore is maybe talking to some of the key players in the region's on-going space race, not just in our Universities but also in industry.

Another idea we're actively researching is Podlets - in other words, mini-podcasts, soundbites of less than ten minutes in duration, which will focus on just astronomy. These can be recorded and posted very quickly, and then bolted into a complete show as necessary.

Got an idea? Let us know.

26-Mar-24 : Crook History Society

Last night's visit to Crook History Society marked the final event in our Winter 2023/2024 lecture programme, which began last October. Six months have just flown by. They really have.

Alas, now feels like a good time to put our principle subjects, Thomas Wright and Jeremiah Dixon, back in their respective boxes, at least for a couple of years, and move on to pastures new. I think those two gentlemen deserve to rest in peace after all their hard work.

I already have a few new talks in preparation and a few more candidates waiting in the wings. We'll see.

I'd like to thank all of those wonderful societies who have hosted us over the last few years and we look forward to seeing you again in the near future.

Best wishes,

David & Julie

24-Mar-24 : Astronomy Night (Review)

An excellent review of the Astronomy Night we put together for The Freemen of Newcastle appeared in the latest edition of the Freemen's Magazine.

Here's the full text:

On a freezing cold evening in late November saw us host out last Freemen Family Engagement event of the year.

The astronomy evening facilitated by Coopers Company Senior Steward, David Hughes who delivered an exceptional presentation/lecture on astronomy, the solar system and all using telescopes.

David's session was relevant to all age groups that attended the evening event and on this occasion the weather was kind to us. To rephrase that... the weather was good for looking at the night sky but not kind on the hands and toes as it was probably the coldest evening of the year so far!

However, we managed to keep spirits high with hot drinks and lashings of cakes and other goodies and the evening was well received by all that attended.

A huge thanks to David Hughes for his passion and support towards this event. We are proud to be supporting the wider Freemen community and future Freemen who are keen to learn new skills, understand our local area, how we support biodiversity and of course...have some good fun along the way! Looking forward to seeing many of you in 2024 as we plan further events.

Really chuffed with this even though I look like I have Frankie Howerd eyebrows.

11-Mar-24 : Programme #6 airs

Episode #6 of the Great Geordie Space Race will air this week on Radio Northumberland. Check the programme page here for full details.

29-Feb-24 : New web site. New domain.

So, here we are. Welcome to www.great-geordie-space-race.org.uk.

If you were looking for our old site, www.david-hughes-astronomy.org.uk, then don't worry - it's still alive and kicking although its days are numbered. I'll keep it going until the domain expires and then it will be deleted.

Hopefully, the new domain, the Great-Geordie-Space-Race will be easier to remember and more readily associated with the radio show and the book. Similarly, the re-designed web site won't take a life-time to load and it should also display properly on mobile devices. The gallery has been updated properly, too.

Oh, and the blog is back. Check the sidebar for a link. I'd forgotten how much I missed filling this thing in... :)

One more thing : I've restored the programme archive so you can listen to past shows. Use the Hamburger side panel navigation and look up Radio Show. From Radio Show click on the link marked Programme Archive or just follow this link here.

News : Astronomy Night for the Freemen of Newcastle

28th November 2023

Saturday night's talk for the Freemen of Newcastle was a success. The weather was kind to us and those attending were treated to views of The Moon, Jupiter, Saturn and The Space Station.

At the conclusion, the feedback was superb and, from the overall response, I think it likely that another talk will go ahead sometime in the near future.

Looking back, I'm genuinely surprised by the turnout given that it was so incredibly cold, and especially so given that Newcastle had just beaten Chelsea 4-1. :)

Edit : A lot of excellent photos have appeared following Saturday's astronomy night. I'll add a few to the gallery over the next few days though the bulk are on the Freemen of Newcastle's Facebook profile.

Other news... Episode 4 of The Great Geordie Space Race is presently airing on Radio Northumberland. We've changed the format a little and rather than concentrate on just one topic, we now feature pieces on Jupiter and her Moons, The Aurora and the launch of Starship 2.

Check it out on Radio Northumberland or ask Alexa to find it for you.

News : Lecturing News

21st November 2023

This has not been an easy month. The Great Geordie Space Race is still on hold whilst we sort out our production schedules. My talk for Cosmology Night has been postponed until next year and... well... this.

"To err is human, to forgive divine" is a quote from Alexander Pope's poem, An Essay on Criticism. I didn’t know that. I honestly thought it was one of Shakespeare’s. I looked it up just to be sure because I didn’t want to give a false attribution. I didn’t want to make a mistake.





I make mistakes all the time. I honestly thought that building a Log Cabin in the back garden would take no more than a long weekend, maybe a couple of additional days to fit the thing out properly and give it a lick of paint. Three months on and... The roof is watertight but I’m nowhere near finishing the shingles. The floor? Don’t ask me about the floor. Yuk. So, yeah. We all make mistakes.

I’ve found that the best way to deal with a mistake is to take responsibility for whatever you did that was wrong, and try to correct that error. In other words, own it. I also firmly believe that you should be wholly honest and own up to your mistake. And if your mistake has hurt someone or caused offence then you must absolutely try to make amends. That’s just me though. Call me old school if you want.

What’s the point of this missive? I was booked to deliver a talk on Jeremiah Dixon at a local history society on Tuesday 14th November 2023. I had the invitation in black and white. From their Secretary. The date was in the Subject Line of the e-mail. Simple.

Then a new Secretary took over. I should have spotted the signs earlier, really. The Red Warning Light was already flashing when they declined to pay my full fee. They could only afford £40, which meant that once I’ve deducted the cost of petrol (£10) and using the Tyne Tunnel (£4) then I would earn just £26 for three hours of work. That’s less than £9 an hour. Hence the Red Flag.

What went wrong? The date of the meeting was actually Monday 13th November. Their Secretary had made a mistake. Well, both secretaries actually since the second didn’t correct the first.

An e-mail from the society's Secretary arrived at roughly 9 pm on Monday night. Is everything okay? Well, yes. Everything was okay because I wasn’t supposed to be there until the following day. I found a copy of the original booking. Tuesday 14th November in plain, old black and white. I kept my response cool. I kept my response polite. I included the original e-mail confirmation and pressed Send.

No response. A day went by and... no response. I messaged their Chairman. Do you want to re-schedule? No response. A week has gone by. Still no response.

Well, I guess that’s the measure of their organisation. Careless. Rude. Unprofessional. Needless to say, we won’t reschedule the talk. We won’t have anything to do with them again. I’ve already circulated their details to my small circle of speaker friends on the grounds that it might save someone a bit of time and money.

In context, this is the first time in twenty years of Public engagement that something like this has happened.

What it means is that we’re going to double-up on making sure that bookings are arranged properly. A confirmation e-mail will become a binding contract. Tough but this mistake has cost me time and money, and I can’t afford to treat either of those assets so casually. Not these days, anyway.