Great news for Jodrell Bank!

Jodrell Bank - the announcement has just been made that the famous radio telescope built by Sir Bernard Lovell in 1957 is now a Unesco World Heritage Site. As you drive along the M6 or see the wonderful telescope in the distance from the Staffordshire Hills it is an iconic part of the Cheshire landscape. Great news!

When volunteering with National Coastwatch at their St Albans Head lookout, I was fortunate to meet Dr Bill Penley who was in charge of developing radar at the location during the second world war. My dad had been on guard duty! I met Bill on the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain when he came to sit by the radar memorial that he unveiled with Sir Bernard in 2001. He remembered the hut where Sir Bernard worked and pointed to where it had been. So many who worked at St Albans Head went on to great things - Nobel Prizes, great inventions and of course Jodrell Bank. The following photos are of myself and Bill (then aged 99) and the plaque beside the sculpture. I love to thank people who have done so much for the nation and the wider world. What a privilege to have been able to meet Bill and say thank you.

Bill and myself at the Radar Memorial, St Albans Head, Dorset