Kelling Heath Star Party – Autumn 2020

[paulastro]

As above, unless the government comes up with some new restrictions, I cant see why it shouldn't go ahead.  If camping sites havent been closed down,  then I cant see why the organisers should cancel it.  And if they did, all of us who have already booked our pitches could just turn up anyway  🙂. 

If you see me, please say hello, I'll be the one with a mask on 😄.

[Anne S]

8 hours ago, paulastro said:

As above, unless the government comes up with some new restrictions, I cant see why it shouldn't go ahead.  If camping sites havent been closed down,  then I cant see why the organisers should cancel it.  And if they did, all of us who have already booked our pitches could just turn up anyway  🙂. 

If you see me, please say hello, I'll be the one with a mask on 😄.

That was what I was planning to do too, the weather at home is usually totally cloudy this time of year. Most of the attendees, especially for the extended period are of a sensible age with a healthy respect for COVID. In fact we're planning on staying longer if the weather is OK.

If Wales insists on locking the whole country down in around 7 weeks, as they've threatened, we may even be staying in Norfolk even longer as we're booked in for Winterfest too.

Edited September 16, 2020 by Anne S

[PaulB]

I'm also looking forward to seeing everybody and getting back to some sort of normalcy.

Everything crossed for a Sunny week with those dark Norfolk skies above us at night 🙂

Say hello cos I'll be the one wearing a mask 😏

[Celeste]

Just popping by to see if Kelling is still going ahead, and it appears so 🙂

Has anyone spoken to Kelling about it? Are they happy for us to be there, as we are a group booking? We have just been away for a few days and the campsite we stayed at said they weren't taking any group bookings at all. Just thought it might be a thing no sites taking on groups.

But if all is well, see you all there, clear skies 😀🪐⭐

 

[carastro]

I just spoke to Kelling, and they said that they are expecting it to go ahead.  So unless things change it's still on.

Carole  

[Celeste]

20 minutes ago, carastro said:

I just spoke to Kelling, and they said that they are expecting it to go ahead.  So unless things change it's still on.

Carole  

Fantastic 👍 

[Tim]

I'm here at the site at the moment.  Provisions for safety and management of coronavirus regulations is first rate, i'm really impressed.

For the star party,  rule of 6 will apply to pitches, assuming restrictions don't change between now and then. The toilet blocks are being cleaned 3 times a day, including anti-viral fogging. The staff said that the arrangements worked very well with a fully booked site full of families, so are not expecting any issues with the star party which tends to attract individuals or couples rather than family groups, so less numbers overall.

As for booking next year, with the usual queuing being a potential issue, they have a plan to alleviate this, that I think will please most attendees, that you will hear about soon.

The site itself was battered last weekend by a gale that has brought hundreds of trees down in the area, and around a hundred on the site! 

The light cone from Holt area seems worse than I remember, but not too bad from Sheringham way. 

Tim

[PaulB]

I've cancelled this years visit because I and my observing buddy and another camper have agreed the risk from COVID is to higher risk to take home to loved ones.

That's the bad news. The good news. My pitch is safe for 2021.

Fingers crossed we have a vaccine in early 2021. 

Paul and I are really [removed word] off that we will have to forgo our annual pilgrimage to Norfolks dark skies, thanks to COVID...

[Adrian Condon]

Hi Tim,

I was camping last week at the C&C site at West Runton close to Kelling Heath the weather was superb until 17:30 on Thursday 24 September when it started to rain.

Over night the BBC Weather had the winds at 70mph and driving rain. I packed up Friday morning went home and yes Tim, there were numerous trees and branches everywhere.

The campsite toilet was being deep cleaned once a day for 2 hours closed while this was been done, there were a number of other cleanings, so the site personnel did an excellent job and most of the campers I spoke to, were impressed with the attention to detail.

Hope the Kelling Heath Star Party goes ahead and everybody observes the rules, difficult though it may be. Remember the site personnel will be working their hardest to ensure everyone is safe and enjoying the beautiful Norfork skies.

Cheers

Adrian

[NGC 1502]

On 30/09/2020 at 23:09, Tim said:

The light cone from Holt area seems worse than I remember, but not too bad from Sheringham way. 

The last time I was at Kelling star party the light pollution from Holt was very obvious, agreed that in the Sheringham direction was not as bad.  For me the most annoying lights come from some attendees who are definitely astronomers but seem to not care that much about lights.

”Glowing Tent Syndrome” when the sky is clear is VERY avoidable......so please guys & gals......try not to add to the LP of this semi-dark site.

Cheers, Ed.

[PaulB]

There is also, as I recall one very annoying naked light near the car park which I found very irksome.

[mike chadwick]

Not to mention the light from the caravans and motor homes  , we are all astromeners visual or imaging  we all  need dark skys

Dont forget your mask lets have a great star party

[Tim]

Yep, there's really no excuse for white light anywhere, tents or caravans included. We use two LED colour changing bulbs set to red inside the caravan so my family are not sat in complete darkness, and make sure the skylights and everything else are shut up. Red Lane marker tape  available online is great, less sticky than standard insulation tape, it comes off easily, and comes in rolls 75mm wide, ideal for red screening any lights.

I'm wondering what Kelling are going to do about the toilet blocks. At the moment they have signs saying all the windows and doors must be open, for extra ventilation. But at the SP they cover them up with black butyl, with the windows shut. I guess they will have something in mind. Last year we were pleased to see that Nick had been round with red/orange film and screened off a load of the lights, which made a real difference before and after the SP, and at other times of the year.

 

 

[icpn]

LAS have posted a lot of information about the star camp at http://las-skycamp.org/index.php

Owen

[daz]

@Tim - looking forward to catching up at a safe distance matey!

If you're passing 351, say Hi!

 

[PaulB]

LAS are doing a 1st class job of keeping everyone safe.

But It still won't be the same atmosphere. Let us all hope we have that vaccine before too long, so we can enjoy this event in 2021. 

[paulastro]

Well, not long to go, and so far so good.  The one thing that may scupper us is if there is a decision to limit where we can travel - depending where we travel from.

This is obviously under discussion from what we are hearing, and there could be an announcement any time now.

I'm pretty pragmatic about it, but it would be particularly galling to have Kelling snatched away from us at the last minute.

I for one have everything crossed 😏.

[mike chadwick]

Fingers .crossed in deed , it the star party goes ahead it will be my first nights away this year.

does any one now how many if any trade stands will be at the star party ?

[paulastro]

On 06/10/2020 at 13:50, mike chadwick said:

Fingers .crossed in deed , it the star party goes ahead it will be my first nights away this year.

does any one now how many if any trade stands will be at the star party ?

Mike, If you look on the LAS Star Camp website, it says there are no events taking place this year and I think it includes trade stands.  I have spoken to three traders who usually attend and none of them are attending.

Edited October 7, 2020 by paulastro

[mike chadwick]

Thanks Paul

i shall assume there will be no trade stands may save me some money.

Fingers crossed the government do not torpedo the event on Monday with travel restrictions.

[M13Roy]

I've just checked on the LAS Website and currently two traders are listed as coming, including Altair not surprisingly as they're based not far from Kelling. 

[icpn]

Webb Soc should also be there.

 

Owen

[michaelmorris]

I'm hoping to be there.  As with others, this will be first (and possibly only) trip away all year ☹️.  Due to a huge confluence of poo over last year I had completely lost my astronomy mojo.  So I've decided to keep it simple and just bring my C9.25 to do some visual double star observing.

I'll be in a large blue airbeam tent on pitch 361.  Do pop by to say howdy if you want.

[Anne S]

We"ll be on our usual yellow 149 in a white motorhome. It'll be nice to see other astronomers. Socially distanced or course!

[baggywrinkle]

Still going..even thought the current 7 day forecast is not the best.

I've not been before, so a question. Do we set up our equipment by our pitches? or is there a specific pitch area?