Businesses urged to support £4million plans for Sutton planetarium and science centre

The ambitious project will see a disused underground Victorian reservoir on the site of the Sherwood Observatory become a state-of-the-art tourist attraction and education centre.

It is already home to a self-built 61cm Newtonian refracting telescope, which is one of the largest publicly accessible telescopes in the UK.

In 2019, its facilities were expanded to include a radio astronomy centre from which it can monitor solar activity and count meteors entering the Earth’s atmosphere.

The new facility would become one of just a handful of UK destinations to

combine a planetarium with an observatory.

It would have the potential to attract at least 20,000 visitors a year to support the local visitor economy.

The centre, which is run by volunteers from the Mansfield and Sutton

Astronomical Society, has been in talks with the National Lottery Heritage Fund and other funding partners.

To progress the project further, it needs to secure £22,500 of matched funding and it is hoped more local businesses will now back the plans.

Project chairman Martin Rigley MBE, managing director of nearby Lindhurst

Engineering, said: “Sherwood Observatory is a real hidden gem which has the

potential to become a science and learning centre of national importance.

“For our region and country to truly prosper, we need to encourage our children and young people of today to become the innovators, the pioneers, the entrepreneurs, and the wealth creators of tomorrow."

Local businesses wanting to get involved can pledge their support by emailing

[email protected].

In these confusing and worrying times, local journalism is more vital than ever. Thanks to everyone who helps us ask the questions that matter by taking out a subscription or buying a paper. We stand together.

Nancy Fielder, editor.