How brickie Gary Fildes came to be running the UK’s newest and most exciting observatory

MY NAME is Gary Fildes. I’m the head astronomer at the Kielder Observatory in Northumberland. Fifteen years ago now I had a dream: to build an observatory.

Spring 1999, a cold and frosty morning. I was tired and confused. The previous night had been special. A clear night had started with me picking up two lifelong friends, Graham Darke and Jack Newton. The cas was cramped, full of telescopes and cases with eyepieces, star charts and observing lists. We were going observing, looking at the night sky and seeing what we could find, maybe galaxies, star clusters, dying stars, or fields of stars scattering faint glowing paths through the Milky Way.

My confusion came as I was picking my trowel out of my bag. Another day had begun like any other, with me building houses. I’m a bricklayer and have been since I was 17 years old. It’s a proud trade but I was unhappy. One night and I’m looking out into the depths of the universe, today I’m laying bricks. It just seemed like an unlikely mix. It was.

That spring I was to go on a trip, to Norfolk, to a “star camp”. I went with the same lads. We were again very excited. We were geeks and this was geek heaven. A tent, more kit than you can imagine and clear skies. A camp full of like-minded astronomers, all searching for something. The idea is simple, find a clear dark sky and tell all of your friends. Camp, preferably next to a pub and hope for clear skies. If they don’t turn up, then there’s the beer.

The camp came and went, but it left an imprint that would stay with me for a while. I thought: “these camps are brilliant, so much fun.” But Norfolk is a long way.

I was fortunate enough soon after to meet David Sinden, an ageing astronomer who was once of the famous Grubb Parsons engineering company in Newcastle. David told me of “Kielder”, a region I was aware of. It was quite near to me, and it had a reservoir and a forest. It was also dark, very dark. Miles from habitation and light pollution, the forest at Kielder was a superb place to star gaze. I went. It was wet, very wet. The following night, however, it cleared and WOW! Stars, stars everywhere! I was amazed, this place was sixty miles from where I lived, and worked. Kielder was my new astronomical home. I was hooked.

Soon after I met a forest ranger in Kielder, Pippa Kirkham. She wanted me to join in with delivering star gazing nights at the Kielder castle. These nights were for people to arrive, stand around telescopes and observe the night sky. It was so much fun. One night Pippa asked me if I would be interested in talking to the public about astronomy. I reluctantly agreed, so I did it, stood under a starry sky and pointed out constellations, star fields, positions of objects etc. I really enjoyed it, people were listening to me, it felt like work, it felt incredible!

All of a sudden I’m not a brickie, I’m an astronomer!

Things started to move quite quickly after that. I started to do more of the public nights and really enjoyed communicating the science to the public. That’s when I had the thought to hold a “star camp” in Kielder. So I did. I was told it wouldn’t work, that it “won’t attract people that far north”. I wasn’t having any of that. In 2002 we had our first “Kielder forest star camp”.

Clear skies adorned the inaugural camp, what a start! It was incredible; moreover it was full, completely sold out! It became a regular yearly event ran by me and a few other guys, it quickly became well known and in 2006 was voted as being in the world’s top ten “star parties”.

Two years before that was when I started thinking about an observatory. The concept of the Kielder Observatory was born.

People said — many people said: “ It won’t work, it will be a house on the hill.” I tried in vain to raise the £1.5K of finance needed to build a small observatory, a brick observatory. It wasn’t easy, “an observatory.” people said? Why? Where?… Kielder I said. No money for that. It was frustrating.

Then I got my break. It came when I met Peter Sharpe; Peter is the curator for Art and Architecture in Kielder. He was very interested in the idea of an observatory and was about to blow my mind wide open to possibilities. Simply, Peters plan was to use the Kielder Water and forest park development trust to raise the money to build an observatory. The sum needed? £150K.

We formed a committee and held meetings; I was installed as the astronomical advisor on the project and the plans started to roll in. Fast-forward 11.00 a.m. 25th April 2008, The Kielder observatory is opened. At a cost of £500K. I was the director.

So, what now? I mean, I’m a brickie! Brickies don’t run and manage, organise and justify astronomical observatories. I had to learn and learn fast. We started to do here what we had done at the castle, talking to people about astronomy, utilising telescopes we had purchased during set up. It was off and running. We held regular events; I set up a charity to run it and installed a committee with trustees and officials and set up a web site to manage bookings and advertise and promote.

We had an obligation to hold between four and six events per year. The classroom would seat 40, so that meant 160 – 240 guests per year. We couldn’t afford staff, so relied on volunteers, I was one of them and gave up three years of my time to help establish the facility. Slowly it grew. In that first year we had 1,200 guests; this year we will top 21,000. Since opening we have had over 63,000 visitors.

The success of the facility continued. With more resources, I could do more, plan better and improve the visitor experience. The facility was kitted out with the best telescopes money could buy and we slowly developed a technique by which we could deliver astronomy to the public. They loved it, and flock here in the thousands. Of course I could write a book about the detail. Maybe I will, but that’s more or less how it happened.

I could never have believed in my wildest dreams I would build an observatory to tell the story of our universe, to show people things that they would otherwise never have had the chance to see. The Kielder Observatory is now the UK’s number one public observatory and the legacy I have helped create has changed my life completely.

I’m no longer a brickie, but the Director of the Kielder Observatory and an astronomer. In June 2012 I was recognised by the university of Durham for my contribution to astronomy and awarded an Honorary Master of Science and installed shortly before that as a Fellow of The Royal Astronomical society.

As you can imagine the story continues; the legacy must continue, to build and flourish, and so another concept was born: I now aim to create, with the help of wonderful committed people, the “Kielder Observatory Astronomy Village”, a centre of excellence which will enthuse, inspire, educate and enthral… to create the world’s biggest and best centre for astronomical outreach, here in the UK.

I have heard people say: “It will never happen.”

Sound familiar?

ENDS

Gary Fildes FRAS
M.Sc Hon.Caus.
Founder director and Lead Astronomer,
Kielder Observatory.
Former brickie.

For more info, see:
Web: www.kielderobservatory.org
Twitter: @kielder_obs