17th May – Sir Norman (aka Bill) enjoyed the celebrations and the review of his life thanks to David Strange’s This is Your Life presentation, and meeting with his relatives.

Christopher and Caroline (descendants from Sir Norman’s daughter Rosaline) thoroughly enjoyed the day and are most appreciative of the efforts being made to raise the profile of Sir Norman and his legacy. Karen Williams oversaw the event with help from many members.

The day was blessed with sunshine which saw many people enjoying a picnic in the grounds and the afternoon wound down with people enjoying tea and cake and generally wandering around looking at the telescopes and the displays in the Jean Edyvean Centre. There was a lively, friendly atmosphere. The foyer and classroom were buzzing with conversations between different groups of people about the displays, equipment, the Lockyer family, and making new connections for the future. Storyteller Janet Dowling entertained the attendees with the story of Isis and Osiris, which is referenced in Lockyer’s book “The Dawn of Astronomy”.

Members of the Astrophysics Group at the University of Exeter visited: Prof. Matthew Bate (head of astrophysics group), Prof. Tim Naylor (The Norman Lockyer Professor of Astrophysics), Dr Sebastiaan Krijt, and Dr Sam Morrell. They were kindly shown around the telescopes and archives by Dr Alison Young (Stephen Hawking Fellow at the University of Leeds), accompanied by Mike Hutchings, Dave Pedder, and Karen. They were extremely interested in observation records from the telescopes that are likely to be in the NLO
archives. Tim Naylor explained how he had looked after a Victorian telescope at Keele University. He and Matthew Bate are keen to develop links with the NLO with a view to greater use of the resources by students. All of them were enthusiastic about the potential for the site and were impressed by the Lockyer Technology Centre.