Capturing the Night Sky at Tisbury StarFest! 17th March

It was a brilliant and illuminating evening at Hinton Hall on the 17th March with two true “leading lights” of the astrophotography world, Josh Dury and Louise McKenna.

Josh and Louise hosted “Capture the Night Sky,” where they stripped away the mystery of long exposures and showed us how to turn a dark Wiltshire sky into a work of art from star-filled nocturnal landscapes to stunning captures of the Milky Way and Aurora. It was the perfect roadmap for any beginner looking to start their own photographic journey. The talk was part of StarFest Week 14-21 March, organised by Tisbury Parish Council and Cranborne Chase International Dark Sky Reserve.

A big thank you to Louise and Josh for sharing their knowledge, and to everyone who joined us!

If you want to see more of their award-winning work or pick up a copy of their books, check out their bios on our Who’s Who page: Josh Dury Louise McKenna

Star-studded Concert – 17th March

Tisbury’s Methodist Hall was packed out on Monday night to hear a celestial concert by Shaftesbury Symphony Orchestra under the expert baton of Sarah Freestone. The specially curated event for StarFest Week included brilliant performances of Chabrier’s L’Etoile Overture; Debussy’s Clair de Lune and Hoagy Carmichael’s jazz classic, Stardust.

Galactic Quiz Champions! – 16th March

Huge congratulations to Team SE25 – (right) John and Emma Procter and Sue and Duncan Glover—for their stellar victory at The Boot on Tuesday night! Hailing from West Tisbury, the team proved they know their pulsars from their planets, taking the top spot in our StarFest Planetary Quiz. A brilliant night of brain-teasing fun in a packed-out pub! Thank you to Oli Turner and well done to the winners and a big thank you to everyone who came out to test their cosmic knowledge!

A heavenly Evensong under a starlit St John’s Church on Sunday, 15 March

A stellar start to StarFest Week 2026 in Tisbury! 14 March

Huge thanks to the Deputy Lieutenant of Wiltshire, Helen Birchenough, for joining our local Councillors to launch StarFest Week, a joint initiative between Tisbury Parish Council and Cranborne Chase International Dark Skies Reserve. Don’t miss out on the talks, tours, and stargazing happening all this week (14–21 March)!
L-R: Cllr Monica Carlile, Cllr Liz Coyle-Camp, Deputy Lieutenant of Wiltshire, Helen Birchenough, and Cllr Kevin Gamm.