00:00On Wednesday the 19th of June, South Downs Planetarium received their King's Awards from Lord Lieutenant of West Sussex, Lady Emma Barnard.
00:08As you may or may not know, this is the MBE for voluntary organisations like yours and I am absolutely delighted that you have got it.
00:20We spoke to some of the volunteers and people involved to find out more.
00:24My name's Graham Tutt and I live in Midhurst. I worked at the Planetarium for about five years.
00:32It started by going on a cruise to the north of Norway to see the Northern Lights.
00:40And when I was on deck there was a man up there who was giving a commentary on the night sky and I got to know him and that was Dr John Mason.
00:50And I said, where do you work? And he said, the Chichester South Downs Planetarium.
00:58And I said, well I live in Midhurst, I didn't know there was such a place.
01:01It is well, well, well deserved. Very well deserved.
01:06And I'm glad we got the award.
01:09If you see the work they do here, it's not just the work. Some of the people here travel from Horsham.
01:16There's oil, petrol, fuel, it's not even mentioned. They do it all.
01:20And if someone's in the suit, John will phone them up and they will always come.
01:24I'm Elaine Hulse. I'm a volunteer at the South Downs Planetarium. I've been volunteering here for about three years.
01:31When we have the school groups coming, which we have most days of the year in fact, or during the weekdays,
01:38they mostly sort of ten-year-olds who see the absolute wonder of space.
01:44And it turns them on to science and it turns them on to technology and they just find it absolutely mind-blowing.
01:52And I still find it absolutely mind-blowing too.
01:56This place couldn't run without volunteers. It's completely run by volunteers.
02:01And it's an amazing resource to have.
02:03And the fact that so many people give up their time to provide the experience, I think the award's well deserved.
02:13Well, I'm Annie Mills and I'm a trustee at the Planetarium and I'm chair of the trust.
02:19I think today's been super because we've got practically 90% of our volunteers have managed to be here today.
02:27And it's lovely to be together because very often we work in teams.
02:32So one team may not actually work very often with another team.
02:36So to get together today and for a special celebration like this is absolutely wonderful.
02:44And this morning what we did was we gathered everybody very early and we were all awarded our King's Award badge.
02:53So that's a lovely start to the day.
02:56And then obviously having the visit from the Lord Lieutenant for West Sussex, Lady Emma Barnard, is another jewel in the crown really.
03:04So it's been a lovely day so far.
03:06And the Deputy Lord Lieutenants who were part of our audit have also come back.
03:13And it seems as if everybody's really quite pleased, particularly in the sense that this was not long ago just a building site.
03:22My name's Naz. I'm a volunteer here. This is my 10th year at the Planetarium.
03:27Normally I work on a Wednesday, which is normally the school trips.
03:33So we help all the kids get themselves in, get off the coach, get all the things together.
03:38Loo breaks, lunches, get them into the show.
03:43They're always really amazed, especially when the lights go off.
03:47Which is a really nice feeling. And generally that's what I end up doing on a Wednesday.
03:53I came to the Planetarium about 10 years ago for a show, just because I was new to Chichester and I'd never been before.
04:00And once I'd seen the show I was absolutely amazed and just completely taken with it.
04:06So when I was looking for something to do with some of the spare time that I had at the time, I found the Planetarium wanted volunteers.
04:14So I put my name down, came and saw Annie, and it's been 10 years now.
04:19Made some really good friends along the way.
04:21Yes, I'm Dan Oakley. I'm one of the volunteers here at the South Downs Planetarium.
04:26I've been doing it on and off for a couple of years, but really just started really getting into it in the last year or so.
04:36Oh, it's brilliant. I mean, all the volunteers work really hard and they're really diligent
04:39and really give a lot of their time to help teach other people all about the stars, particularly the kids.
04:45It's great. So to have the award is just a real good recognition of that passion and the enthusiasm we all have for teaching about the stars.
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