Soup’er Stars!
Soup’er Stars!
On Monday the 11th December the AONB Team held an evening of stargazing at Moel Famau Country Park and what a night it was!
The evening began at 6pm where we met at outside the Shepherd’s Hut at Bwlch Penbarras. Upon registration attendees were served a portion of soup. The soup was provided by Edenshine Restaurant, Afonwen Craft Centre. Afonwen are members of the Clwydian Range Food and Drink Group whose purpose is to raise the profile of the range of high quality, local seasonal produce to local people and visitors to the area.
AONB Area Manager David Shiel welcomed everyone to the event and gave a brief introduction to the evenings activities before embarking on a short walk along the Offa’s Dyke Path National Trail. David also raised awareness of the importance of conserving and enhancing our dark skies and the AONB’s ambitions for achieving Dark Sky Status.
We were joined by our colleague Dani Robertson from the Prosiect NOS Partnership who led the stargazing activities. Dani has a wealth of knowledge of the night sky and really brought to life some of the amazing stories associated with some of our well known constellations and asterisms.
Did You Know?
Wales Dark Skies Week 2024 will be taking place between 9th – 18th February.
Ranger Edd came prepared with camping mats and participants lay in the heather to hear the story of Gwyn and Gwythur (Gemini) which was particularly relevant to this time of year because of the Geminids Meteor Shower which is set to be at its most prominent on the 14th December. We had mostly clear skies with a scattering of cloud which made for a great event.
After spending some time on the hillside and before the cold set in we returned to Bwlch Penbarras where the wonderful Rachel from the AONB Team was waiting for us with freshly made hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows, a wonderful way to end a magical evening.
We have some great reviews from our attendees and event organiser and Dark Skies Officer Gwenno Jones was really pleased with the level of engagement and enthusiasm received on the evening and can’t wait until Dark Skies Week 2024 which will take place between the 9th -18th February. We hope to see you there too!
© Prosiect NOS
