Back in March, on our way back from Manchester and the incredible
David Byrne gig, Sarah and I stopped at the
Jodrell Bank observatory. This was a place we'd long wanted to visit, and this trip gave us the opportunity as it was only 40 minutes from Manchester, and in the right direction.
We spent a hugely enjoyable few hours wandering around the UNESCO World Heritage Site in the lovely Spring sunshine, marvelling at the awe-inspiring sight of the gargantuan Lovell telescope, and soaking up all the information we could process from the fascinating visitor centre, and from a live science demonstration. We really enjoyed our time there and made tentative plans to return later in the year.
But ( you knew I was leading up to a "but" didn't you? ) recent news has revealed that funding for the site is being cut. The UK Research and Innovation agency, which funds Jodrell Bank among many other projects, wants to save the annual £2.8 million cost of the facility, which will put the jobs of the staff at risk, as well as the work of an estimated 3000 scientists who depend on the site for their research. And, of course, the closure of Jodrell Bank would be a huge blow to the international scientific community and a sad loss of a historic facility. £2.8 million doesn't sound a lot to find in a country like the UK - considering there's always money to be found for building weapons or funding police to arrest pensioners for peaceful protests - but, as usual, anything that isn't seen as instantly profitable gets dumped at the first opportunity. Many people have spoken out about these "hasty and ill-considered" cuts ( to quote Professor
Brian Cox ) and, hopefully, bringing this sad state of affairs to the public's attention will help in the search for new funding.
If anyone would like to further help with highlighting this issue, there's a petition from those wonderful people at 38 Degrees which you can sign here, and which will hopefully help the situation.
Cheers!
