Jim’s dark skies efforts rewarded

Fellow of the Institution of Lighting Professionals Jim Paterson was presented with the Joy Griffiths Award after his years of work to get Moffat officially recognised as a Dark Sky Community, as well as other projects.
The award recognises an individual who has done outstanding and meritorious work on behalf of darker skies.
Moffat resident Jim began his lighting career with Lanarkshire Council and over the years has worked as an engineer and lighting consultant.
His work on the area assessment and formal application led to the creation of the gold award Galloway Forest Dark Sky Park achieved in 2009.
This was the first such location in the UK and in the first tranche of Dark Sky place awards by the IDA outside the USA and Canada.
Jim, who is currently involved with two more Dark Sky projects, was nominated by astronomer and dark skies campaigner Bob Mizon.
The award was presented in Leamington Spa on Friday.