Volunteers in Stoke-on-Trent are restoring Newchapel Observatory, a once pioneering amateur astronomy site that fell into disrepair after one of its founders died in 2010. The Friends of Newchapel Observatory hope to reopen it, preserving a locally significant scientific and educational facility while encouraging community interest in astronomy.

Built in the 1960s by four amateur astronomers, the centre included an observatory, planetarium, custom domes and solar-observation telescopes. Volunteers are repairing the floor and supports, installing a new central pillar, and building a new dome and telescope; Keele Observatory astronomer James Albinson is contributing technical expertise.