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: http://star.arm.ac.uk/annrep/annrep2003/node68.html
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Visits by groups to the Armagh Observatory Grounds and Astropark have continued to be encouraged. During 2003 these have included visits by young people from schools within Northern Ireland, for example 40-50 children associated with the Steering Committee for the Proposed Integrated College in Armagh, who organized an Easter Egg hunt in the Astropark on 12 April 2003; approximately 50 pupils from the Armstrong Primary School, who used the Observatory Grounds and Astropark for a summer walk programme and picnic on 20 June 2003; and a group of approximately 20-30 children with Special Needs and some 20 adults, namely the Fair Play Group, who used the Astropark for a picnic on the morning of 21 June 2003. In addition, others have come from farther afield, for example the Niels Steensen secondary school, Denmark, primarily on a visit to the Armagh Planetarium; and a group organized by the Rotary TABU (`Towards a Better Understanding') programme, aimed at promoting greater understanding between students in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and corresponding groups in the USA.
During the year the Observatory also contributed to the UK and Ireland-wide Archive Awareness Month and the EU-wide European Heritage Open Days (see star.arm.ac.uk/publicevents/), activities which together attracted more than 100 visitors to the Observatory. The first of these, during the period 15-18 September, was a joint venture in partnership with the Armagh Public Library. Both the Observatory and the Public Library were founded by Archbishop Richard Robinson (in 1790 and 1771 respectively), and the event involved the display of relevant papers, archives and other items of historic interest held by both institutions. This partnership helped to demonstrate the historical links between the City of Armagh and Archbishop Robinson and highlighted the strength of the archival heritage of the City. The exhibition attracted some good publicity for Archive Awareness Month, and a number of visitors were accompanied on tours around the Observatory by the Librarian, John McFarland.
The European Heritage Open Days event took place on 20 September, and was organized in collaboration with six other specialist library and archive collections in Armagh: The Armagh County Museum; The Royal Irish Fusiliers Museum; the Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich Memorial Library and Archive; The Armagh Public Library; the Queen's University of Belfast Armagh Campus, Cardinal Daly Archive; and The Irish and Local Studies Library. This event also highlighted the value of developing collaborative links in this area with other institutions within Armagh. Six guided tours, each lasting about one hour, were arranged between 10:00 and 17:30, during which approximately 90 visitors took the opportunity to look around the Observatory and its historic telescopes and telescope domes. The tours were accompanied by John McFarland and PhD students Babulakshmanan Ramachandran, Miruna Popescu, and Ignatio Ugarte Urra, who used the opportunity also to explain some of their research to the visitors.
A selection from the list of group visits to the Observatory during 2003 is provided in Table 5. In addition, 481 people signed the Visitors Book, suggesting that at least 500 people were accompanied on tours of the Observatory during 2003. It is noteworthy that those making such visits originated from more than 20 separate countries.