8 April 2013

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EAST Grinstead Town Council has approved the commissioning of a plaque to name the Sackville School observatory in honour of astronomer Sir Patrick Moore.

The Council will also sponsor an annual student award at the school for contributions to astromony.

Sir Patrick, who died last December, was an amateur astronomer who achieved prominence in the field as a writer, broadcaster and presenter of the long-running late night BBC2 programme The Sky at Night.

The President of the British Astronomical Society and the author of more than 70 books, Sir Patrick spent his childhood in East Grinstead where from the age of 14 he ran a small observatory after his mentor, and predecessor in the post, was killed in a road accident.

Photo: Courtesy of the East Grinstead Observer