BURGESS HILL SCHOOL FOR GIRLS

On Thursday 24 September, on the initiative of House Headmistress, Claire Trevor, I was invited to share my presentation, 'Basketballs and Beyond: Wonders of the Cosmos' with the students, their parents and the teachers of Burgess Hill School. What an amazing place and what an a fabulous audience!

The lecture theatre was just stunning, with an enormous screen and exquisite sound system - tailor made for the musical footage I had compiled to close the presentation. With the lights dimmed and my audience primed, we took our voyage through the Universe.

Resultant feedback was completely overwhelming from students, parents and teachers alike. But I think what made it for me was when one father came up to me afterwards and said that his daughter "had been moved to tears". What more can one ask? It was a real privilege.

With refreshments at the ready afterwards, everyone clamoured to take a look through the various telescopes set up outside, courtesy of my colleague, Geoff Shaw, and friends from the East Sussex Astronomical Society: Paul Foster, Stephen Green, Richie Jarvis and Mark Jarvis. The views of the Moon were simply tremendous, as were some of the constellations as they peeked through the gathering clouds.

A fabulous night all round. Thank you Claire for having the foresight to get astronomy up there and out there, and for making us all feel so welcome. An equally enormous thank you to Geoff for his continued support and enthusiasm, and to Paul for 'rallying the troops' and for being so incredibly supportive, kind and generous throughout. I very much look forward to more such events ... they're incredible!