Thank you to Alice Wilson – we’ve just watched this fascinating programme by Border Life and are sharing here with you.
Alice says: “Robert Waland lived in Glencaple, he built his first telescope there and it’s a great story. His great niece & nephew are Stewart Wilson’s son & daughter (my stepson and stepdaughter).”
Here is the link for you to watch, featuring Robert and the Kielder Observatory.
www.itv.com/news/border/2019-02-28/watch-border-life/
And here’s a piece on The Herald website too. (somebody have a word with them about the amount of adverts all over their site, jings…)
I was told by the late James Urquhart( retired school teacher) that Robert Waland worked for Curries Lemonade and built his first telescope by grinding the glass from a lemonade bottle to use as a lens. I wondered if there was any truth in this or if it was purely a story.