There may have been fog outside but nothing foggy about the friendly experts' and enthusiasts eager to share their experience, knowledge and theories. The air was damp but electric with debate, questions and answers & buying and selling. This is one event the weather cannot spoil. The carparks were jammed and we heard that lectures were sold out . It was a pity that ill-health prevented Sir. Patrick Moore from attending but there was plenty of his memorabilia on hand plus the famous typewriter. There were some old friends to catch up with and some new friends to meet. The whole place buzzed with animated chatter. I enjoyed wandering round, talking Astronomy and Physics with a young lady who had come all the way from London to the Fair ( as had some others), whilst keeping one eye on James who was finding it difficult to resist the many temptations on offer. I engaged in some extremely interesting exchanges especially with Professor Don Kurtz of the University of Central Lancashire on the subject of Helioseismology, learning a great deal in a short time.I think Professor Kurtz must be an excellent teacher and I wish I had the aptitude to follow such a challenging course. Professor Kurtz also introduced James and I to the Stellar Music of Zoltan Kollath. The University of Central Lancashire offers a part-time by distance learning course in Cosmology that I rather fancy. The Open University tutor who I met last year was also extremely informative and we had quite an excellent discussion on the Cern Project coming up in September as well as the many courses on offer by the OU next year.....the Energetic Universe is looking attractive there. James spent ages with the Widescreen Centre guys and also enjoyed talking to the SPA and Stargazers Lounge people. I managed to get him to leave without buying one of the tempting Observatories on show which were really drawing crowds. People were enjoying the Fortune Cookies from the 'China' stall. The Space Odyssey display was colourful but didn't managed to get into the planetarium this year ( too much chatting). James said the food was wonderful... so good he had two large HotDogs with mustard, the smell of the fried onions driving me mad. We chatted to the various volunteers giving talks about the various telescopes on show. Can't believe how amazing the photos turned out. Thanks to all who made the day so enjoyable and look forward to next year and hopefully clear skies !! -- Felix -9th August

ASTRONOMY NOW report and photos