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First Move Literary Festival: 15-17 June

30 May 2007

Celebration of 50th anniversary of Lovell Telescope's first move under power

The Hot Spot, Jodrell Bank's very own 'Summer Pavilion', hosts the First Move Literary Festival to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the first move of the Lovell Telescope under power. The programme is now finalised and is as follows:

Saturday 26 May

National Poetry Competition Run by The Times (see the Books Section and Times Online), leading poetry publishers Carcanet and Jodrell Bank in order to find a poem to send to the moon on 17 June.

Friday 15 June

10.30am to 2pm  Talking to the Moon. Schools poetry workshops writing poems destined to be sent to the moon and back on Sunday 17 June. (Attendance arranged by Cheshire Education Authority).

7.30pm  Alan Garner. The award-winning author speaks about his sense of time and place. Introduction by Erica Wagner, Literary Editor of The Times. Book signing to follow.

9.15pm  Jodrell at 50. Astronomer Ian Morison introduces Jodrell Bank and the Lovell Telescope.

Tickets for the evening are £6.00 for adults and £5.00 for concessions. Available from:

Saturday 16 June

2pm  It Dances - An Interpreted Move. The Jodrell Bank Observatory is delighted to invite you to a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Lovell Telescope's First Move. Come and be talked through the moves the Telescope makes as it points across space and time to observe the universe. Cream teas available on the lawn.

7.30pm  Jeanette Winterson. The stellar author of Tanglewreck, Gut Symmetries, The Passion and Oranges are not the Only Fruit. Introduction by Erica Wagner, Literary Editor of The Times. Book signing to follow.

9.15pm  Moving through Space & Time. Astronomer Tim O'Brien introduces our view of the Universe.

Tickets for the evening are £6.00 for adults and £5.00 for concessions. Available from:

Sunday 17 June

2pm  Moonbounce. The poem written by the winner of the national competition run jointly by Jodrell Bank and The Times will be read out, transmitted to the moon, bounced off its surface and its echo picked up by the Lovell Telescope. Poems written by children at the workshop on Friday 15 June will also be moonbounced.

Tickets are £6.00 for adults and £5.00 for children. Available from:

7.30pm  The Space Race - Jed Mercurio and Alastair Gunn. Jed Mercurio, author of Bodies and currently working on a new TV adaptation of Frankenstein, discusses his most recent book Ascent, a fictional account of a Soviet manned mission to the Moon prior to the launch of Apollo 11. Alastair Gunn, an astronomer at Jodrell Bank, sets the discussion in the context of Jodrell Bank's contributions to the Space Race. Introduction by Erica Wagner, Literary Editor of The Times. Book signing to follow.

Tickets are £6.00 for adults and £5.00 for concessions. Available from:

For further information, visit: