Annual reviews and reports

Use the buttons below to download our recent annual reviews and reports. See highlights from the year, updates on our projects and highlights from our customer feedback.

 

Kielder Observatory Annual Review 2023

It was a year of spectacle as our dark skies exploded with meteors and the Northern Lights. It was also a year of further outreach and engagement, working with excluded children, prisoners, and sanctuary seekers to deliver that special Kielder moment. Events continue to sell out at the observatory, showing us how important that connection to the cosmos truly is. In a world that seems increasingly uncertain, we are proud to create a place for inspiration and hope.

Social and Environmental Assessment

Our mission is to create opportunities for people of all backgrounds and abilities to experience moments of inspiration, revelation, wonder and hope through observing the cosmos. Our mission depends on the preservation of our dark skies heritage. To do this effectively, we believe we should operate in a way that is socially and environmentally responsible. In our 2022-2025 strategy we committed to evaluating our performance. This document outlines our B Lab Impact Assessment.

Inclusivity report

Looking up at a dark sky glittering with stars is fundamental to the human experience. However, most of the world's population now lives under increasing light pollution. Places like Kielder Observatory and dark sky parks allow us to reconnect with the cosmos. We recognise this opportunity is not available to everyone - there are financial and cultural barriers to participation so we outline in our new strategy our commitment to becoming a more inclusive organisation.

2022 annual review

It was another exciting year, re-opening fully after the pandemic, taking the time to formulate and launch our new strategy, supporting young artists, visiting hundreds of schools, acquiring some amazing new kit, and even working with Father Christmas! We are proud of what we have achieved to date but it feels as though we are just getting started. We will continue to develop new activities, projects and programmes that convey that very special "Kielder moment" to as many people as possible.

Kielder Observatory Annual Review 2021

While 2021 has been another year with ever-changing circumstances, we are delighted to have survived and thrived. Not only is our team intact, we have new astronomers, more volunteers than ever before, and new trustees to help drive the strategy for the next few years. We’ve delivered inspirational moments onsite, have supported astronomy study in schools, and launched new arts programmes. Our new radio telescope is installed and community groups helped to create learning resources for it.

Kielder Observatory Annual Review 2020

2020 was unprecedented: a rollercoaster ride for small charities such as KOAS. The national lockdowns for COVID-19 forced us to close the observatory doors for several months through the year. We’re looking forward to helping people to experience that "Kielder moment" in pioneering new ways. Most importantly, we're immensely grateful to everyone who managed to visit us during the year, and to those who lit up our website with bookings as soon as we were allowed to reopen our doors.

Kielder Observatory Annual Review 2018-19

The opening of the Gillian Dickinson Astroimaging Academy in 2018 enabled us to offer a wider range of events and to welcome and inspire many more visitors on site. We've also increased capacity across the team, and we are very pleased to welcome our new CEO, Catherine Johns, who will already be familiar to many in the space industry. And we were delighted to be awarded a contract by the North of Tyne Combined Authority, through which we will visit schools through the region over the next three years.


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