Monkton Movers 2 - Dr Chris Higgins.

The second in our regular series of features about Monktoners with interesting stories to tell.

By Paul Wade

It only occurred to me after our hour long chat that there were any number of subjects I could have covered with Dr Chris Higgins (‘Bishop Monkton’s Resident Astronomer’) that would have made a very interesting read.

Maybe his BSc and PhD in Pharmacology from Manchester University would have provided many of Bishop Monkton’s pill poppers (including me) with some comfort about where their medication comes from. 

Maybe tales from the croquet lawns where Chris is both groundsman and a player in national competitions, having only first picked up a croquet mallet in 2018.

Possibly even his career as a top level hockey player.

In the end after a brief detour around the late Bishop Monkton Entertainments Group, it is his astronomy work that gets the vote.

But first a little background.

Chris’s understated, but highly successful, career in the pharmaceuticals industry meant that he and his family would move to Bishop Monkton in 1998. ‘My job meant travelling a great deal, so Bishop Monkton was an ideal family base. It gave the convenience of being within walking distance of the school, plus the village has great facilities. Like many people it allowed us to make friends, and put down some roots in a lovely environment’

‘I hope Bishop Monkton doesn’t change too much. Villages need to evolve, but I do hope that it retains the essence of the village that we loved when we moved here’. Nicely put.

‘I loved working with BMEG’ (he was in charge of sounds and lights for plays and pantomimes)) ‘I was very sad when it folded, particularly disappointed for the younger members of the cast. It had been a quintessential part of the life of this village for the best part of 40 years and now there is a whole generation of children who don’t know what they are missing. It required a hard core of enthusiastic adults to make it work, but the pantomimes especially were enormous fun.’ 

Many will agree with him, but currently not enough it seems, to get the show on the road again.

These days his time is split between his croquet activities in the summer and volunteering at the Lime Tree Observatory and Planetarium at Grewelthorpe in the winter. It sounds like his version of those sportsmen of the 1930’s who played professional football or County Cricket depending on the time of year. Either way, he is busy.

’Croquet is enormous fun, a competitive battle of wits, and I would recommend anyone to try it if they can - the version we play at Bishop Monkton is a really sociable and fun thing to do’.

But it is the Lime Tree Observatory and Planetarium in Grewelthorpe that is currently grabbing the headlines. The momentum around it has been growing since the early 2010’s and a profile of Chris in January’s 'Yorkshire Life' would suggest it is rightly taking its place as one of North Yorkshire’s most interesting leisure activities.

‘Astronomy as a pastime is really only a goer in the winter months’ says Chris, ‘So we are busy at Grewelthorpe from September through to May.

‘It was set up as a Community Interest Company, so is non-profit making and was started by a land owner, who wanted to diversify away from farming. He started with a campsite and then invited one of his friends to set up an observatory, installing a telescope that had been rescued from a site in Kent‘ he explains.

’I have been involved since 2018. In the winter it takes up 4 nights a week and in the summer a couple of days. Like everyone else, we all work there on an entirely voluntary basis. It is a real team effort now run by 4 of us.’ They do everything themselves from laying floors and painting walls to running high quality presentations. ‘We built a planetarium, where we host events ’, he throws in casually. (Hands up any other BMT readers who have taught themselves how to build a planetarium recently!).

Then we get to the numbers.

‘This season (winter 24/25) we will host around 1,650 people, in groups of 25, for talks and specially created shows. Our audiences are split between school groups and private hire by organisations such as the WI or just groups of friends who are interested in astronomy’ says Chris. ‘The shows go from a ‘Guide to the Heavens’ session for Primary School children, a ‘Halloween Special’, through to the ‘Star of Bethlehem’  which investigates the astronomy behind the Nativity story. Once you have seen the show we then take you outside and look at the night sky through telescopes. You realise the scale of what we are part of. The Universe is truly awesome’

I confess to having been 3 times and I have been blown away every time. I ask Chris what he thinks  makes it so special.

‘The groups are relatively small, so unlike other Planetariums, who will show a pre-set film, we get to engage with the audience and make sure that we are answering their questions. We listen as well as talk. There is the personal touch too -for example, we have someone stationed in the car park welcoming people, encouraging them to look through telescopes pre presentation and getting them in the mood ’ 

He adds that often when event tickets go on sale, ‘they often sell out in minutes’. In case you are wondering all events are sold out until November this year. The fantastic TripAdvisor reviews are clearly an accurate reflection of how popular it is.

’But the very best thing is that the subject is so vast that literally every day is a school day for us and our audiences’.

One of Chris’s colleagues at Grewelthorpe has described The Observatory and Planetarium  as ‘a hobby that got out of hand’ I close by asking Chris where his interest in astronomy originally came from.

‘The Apollo 11 moon landing,’ he says. ‘That day in 1969 I got home from school in Nottinghamshire and built my version of a space rocket with furniture and blankets.’

 I’m sure Messrs Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins would be very pleased if they could see what they inspired.

If you are interested in visiting or getting involved with The Lime Tree Observatory and Planetarium please contact Chris directly on: [email protected]

If you are interested in finding out more about Bishop Monkton Croquet Club click here

For Monkton Movers 1 - Adrian 'Gunner' Mardon piece click here