Chilbolton & Wherwell Local Information Day

On Saturday 14 May 2011 a visitors' day was held at the LOFAR Chilbolton site. This was a requirement of our LOFAR planning application, namely that we host some form of public-information event for the local communities of Wherwell and Chilbolton Village. Three members of the LOFAR-UK team (Derek McKay-Bukowski, Brian Ellison and Malcolm Coe) were at hand to show visitors around the Low-Band and High-Band Arrays and to give them a rare glimpse inside the RF-container.

In all, it was a very successful day, with lots of interesting questions. In total we had over 75 guests at the site. We certainly hoped that all our visitors enjoyed the event. Hopefully, we will be able to hold an open day for the general public sometime in the future as well. And many thanks to Brian and Malcolm for giving up part of their weekend to assist Derek with explaining the LOFAR-UK facility.

Brian Ellison (in the high-vis vest) explains how the LBA aerials work to locals including Graham and Brian Patterson (on his left and right respectively).