As a schoolboy late 1920's early 1930's I used to like to watch the night sky, the Milky Way a great stream of stars stretching through Cygnus and Aquila down into Sagittarius.

  In 1950 I took astronomy up sincerely and the sky has deteriorated so that over the years since then I cannot see the milky way with the naked eye. I used to see stars to the naked eye limit of +six, now I am lucky to see to the +three visually.

  Now with bigger, brighter and more street lights with all their glare, the proliferation of security lights, that show thieves how to get into peoples' premises, we also have football lights that glare out half the sky. What with track and field events, to name a few, we almost have 24 hours of daylight all year round.

  There are on average about 1-3 nights good for observing in this country, and that is being taken away. My hobby, astronomy causes nobody any trouble and I pay for it all myself.

  If there are any guidelines they don't seem to make any difference, the night just gets lighter.

  In this technical age light should be able to be measured and necessary lighting should light only where needed and cause no glare.

24 April 2003