Park Ramblers

At 10.15am every Monday – including Bank Holidays – the Park Ramblers meet outside B&M to start the week off with a walk around our beautiful park followed by coffee at The Gatto Lounge. If any arrangements change, walkers will be notified by email of any changes. All are welcome to join at their own pace or just join for coffee around 11am.  If the weather is very bad they may just go straight for coffee!! 😊

September Eco Tips

The Season of Creation (also known as Creationtide) is a time observed by denominations globally to reflect specifically on God’s wider creation, His relationship to it and our own relationship with it. During this five week period, 1 September – 4 October, Christians and churches are invited to pray, act and use their voice to advocate for creation.   You can explore more Season of Creation resources at:     Season of Creation – A Rocha UK

Eclipse – August 2026 – Stephen’s experience

Whilst the UK went Eclipse manic around 12 August and the quest for Eclipse glasses resembled the search for loo roll during Covid, I ventured to Spain to the path of totality to see the whole Sun eclipsed rather than the 93% here in the UK.

As a seasoned astronomer I have seen a lot of astronomical sights such as aurora, comets, meteors and partial eclipses but I had never seen totality. This year was the year to break my duck. I, along with my friend who runs Dark Sky Wales and 20 other guests of his company went to Spain for this experience.

It was a bit of an adventure to get there with cancelled flight and ULEZ zones but I made it to the town of Brihuega north east of Madrid. The town was in the middle of a lavender festival having had the harvest the previous week. The spot we arrived at to see the eclipse faced south west, overlooking the harvested lavender fields. This proved an excellent spot. Having setup equipment from about 2pm we eagerly awaited the eclipse starting at 7:15pm. As the time drew nearer more and more people arrived. Despite the crowd, the fields were large enough so that we were all well spaced out.

The 20 guests were treated to views of the Sun with special equipment before the eclipse started which they enjoyed, seeing the Sun in a way they had never seen it before.

I had heard many reports of others experience of totality and I remained sceptical that my reaction would equal theirs. Little did I know how wrong I would be.

As we approached totality at 8:15 pm, the light around the fields changed as it became very dusk like. The atmosphere of the crowd quietened as spectacle was about to reveal itself.  When totality came it became dark as night, the crowd was silenced as they witnessed the corona of the sun visible beyond the shadow of the moon.

As totality ended we were treated to the phenomena called the Diamond ring. At which point the crowd erupted with applause. Then just like that, 90 seconds after it started, totality was over and the sun emerged from its moon mask and brought daylight back to the land.  To an ancient civilisation you can appreciate how scary a thing this would have appeared – the sun disappearing during the day.

For me, the experience and the feelings took me by surprise and remarks made by others that I had heard about totality now made sense.

It was a magical experience, not just seeing the mechanics of the solar system at work, but the effect it had on the landscape and the people witnessing it.  It’s something I will never forget and now look forward to repeating the experience in 2027 when totality will last 6 mins instead of the mere 90 seconds that I have already experienced. We are incredibly lucky to live at a time and place when this sight is visible and that we understand what is happening and can predict to the second when and where the next ones will occur.

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