John Nichol (renowned Optics expert and maker) will give SAS a talk in in June regarding the Espin Telescope Restoration Group (ETRG) was established in order to rescue and restore the historically important 24-inch telescope made for the Rev. Espin of Tow Law.
The original telescope was made for Espin by the famous British telescope maker George Calver in 1914 and set up in his observatory in Tow Law.
After Espin’s death the telescope fell into disuse and was abandoned. David Sinden then chief optician at the world famous firm of Sir Howard Grubb Parsons rescued the telescope and presented it to Newcastle University in 1971.
It was housed in an observatory at the university’s Close House site.
In 2004 the Close House site was sold off for the development of a golf course. Once again the telescope was abandoned.
The group’s mission is to rescue and restore the telescope.
Talks in Person
John Nicholl (renowned Optics expert and maker).
Teams Access
We now have MS Teams for live video streaming of the our monthly talks.
Please try to attend in person if you can as it goes along way in showing you support for our speaker and our Society.
Microsoft Teams
Meeting link: https://sunderlandastro.us1.li
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When Where Who
- Date: Sunday 21st June 2026,
- Time: 7 pm.
- Speaker: John Nichol (renowned Optics expert and maker).
- Venue: At the Washington Wetlands Centre (Discovery Room ) and Via Teams (Video Streaming Link).
