By Joe Locker, Local Democracy Reporter
An old Victorian reservoir in the west of Nottinghamshire has opened up as a new £6.8m planetarium in a bid to “inspire that next generation of scientists and engineers”.
Work at Sherwood Observatory, off Coxmoor Road in Sutton-in-Ashfield, began in August 2023.
The new 59-seat planetarium has been built on top of the old Coxmoor Reservoir, which was built in 1886 to help bring clean water to the area during a population boom.
A discovery centre, complete with several Rolls-Royce rocket engines on display, has also been built inside the old brick structure.
Mineral formations from the old reservoir – called stalactites – can still be seen clinging to the roof, acting as a visual reminder of the site’s history of storing water.
It opened to the public for the first time on Monday (November 25).
Dr Steve Wallace, chairman of the observatory, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “This has been a dream for some of our members for getting on 50 years, and it has accelerated in the last few years with some of the funding we have got from various sources.
“To stand here today on the day it opens, and see members of the public coming in for the first time is fantastic.
“There were two big reasons for putting this here and two big reasons why we got the funding; that was because we needed a visitor attraction in this area to improve the visitor economy, and probably the most important reason was we wanted to get people excited about science, technology, and engineering.”
In total £2m has been invested in the project from Ashfield District Council’s £62.6m Towns Fund, secured from the Government in 2021.
A further £3.1m was also provided through the Government’s Levelling Up Fund in January 2023.
Other contributions came from the society and from donations from various foundations to take the budget above £6.8m.
Cllr Matt Relf (Ash Ind), executive lead member for growth, regeneration and local planning, described the facility as “exemplar and world-class”.
“It’s an area that has a rich heritage in innovation but I think in recent decades that has been suppressed in lack of investment in education and schools, and so actually this I think is going to be a real opportunity for inspiring that next generation of scientists and engineers,” he added.
“The observatory has for years already done brilliant outreach into schools and off the back of that there are people working in fantastic STEM subjects right now.
“Too many people are stuck into what they know, but if you broaden that out and see there is a broader world and broader universe out there, it really opens up doors.
“I remember walking around the reservoir when it was dark and muddy, and having a look around at what the possible was. I was instantly on board. It is a fantastic scheme and a fantastic organisation to be working with.”
