We are delighted to announce that another of our villages has become a Dark Skies Friendly Community. Husthwaite joins the ranks of Terrington, Bulmer, Crayke and Ampleforth Abbey in earning the marque.
The scheme, which helps communities raise awareness of the need to protect our skies, is run in conjunction with the North York Moors National Park, which has granted the same status to Lastingham and Sleightholme Dale.
Ellie Hook, Manager of the Howardian Hills National Landscape, said:
“This scheme has caught the imagination of people across both the National Landscape and the National Park. Light pollution is an issue on a local and global scale, affecting people and wildlife. Empowering communities to help raise awareness that we can be smarter with our nighttime lighting has found an enthusiastic audience. Some of the projects we’ve supported as part of the scheme look fantastic – just showing what can be done.”
As part of gaining status, an audit of external lights was carried out in Husthwaite and a demonstration project was undertaken. This involved replacing lights at the local village hall with dark sky friendly ones. The work was grant aided by the Howardian Hills National Landscape and the result is impressive.
If you would like to find out more about your community becoming dark sky friendly, or about grants available for dark sky lighting, drop us a line at [email protected]
Unshielded lighting
Dark skies friendly lighting